I wanted to share a couple of recent Igor’s articles
And last but not least – an article, in which he himself became a part of the story with his editor’s follow-up:
Category: everyday life
In Milwaukee
This weekend was a birthday weekend for my granddaughters. Since I had Friday off, I thought that I would go there for a long weekend, possibly leaving on Thursday evening. It was only later that I realized that that was the same weekend I had to leave for Europe (and early enough to work on Monday). Fortunately, due to the very convenient scheduling of the direct flight, I could still accommodate the whole project; I just had to leave Milwaukee on Saturday night instead of Sunday.
On Friday, I took the first Metra train from Rogers Park (at 5 AM) to take the first train to Milwaukee at 6 AM. It felt insane to get up that early, but it was the best decision – I had the whole Friday!
So Kira is now two, and Nadia is five, and I do not even know which of this more unbelievable! Or maybe it’s the fact that Anna is a mother of two:). Nadia and Kira are such different personalities, and both are just absolutely amazing. It feels wonderful to see them growing and their stories unfolding. Looking forward to many many years of this journey!
Some weekend pictures:
Window Washing
In my old house, I used a special window-washing attachment with my garden hose to wash the outside part of the windows. The was enough pressure to wash the second floor. Since I moved to my new house in May, I decided that I will think about the windows next season. Now, next season has come :). I started to ask my neighbors in April, and one of them showed me the trick. Interestingly, he only knew about this trick because his father worked in this industry. The house didn’t come with a manual!
But now, that I learned about it, I know how easy is it to wash the windows here – and I can do it even better than in Palatine!
Summer Grocery Shopping
Three things make grocery shopping in summer fun. First, I need to shop less because I decided to keep both of my CSA sign-ups (a half-share with Urban Canopy and a small share with Nichols Farms), and both are delivered to my house.
The second is that Glenwood Street Market moved back to its location right by Morse CTA station, so it is now super-close to my place, and it operates on Sunday! Saturday markets are always challenging because there are too many things happening on Saturday mornings!
And the third one is that I can bike to the stores. Earlier this year, Boris found a perfect bike “saddle” bag: it is extremely spacious, easy to attach to the bike rack, and perfectly balanced.
Urban Gardening
This season, almost everybody in our building beautified their balconies, and the courtyard looks just splendid.
Also, at the end of last summer, one of the neighbors put together two large planters using the pieces of old furniture that those who were moving in and out were throwing away. This neighbor has also moved since then, but the planters were ready to be used.
Eight people from the building including me were interested. We bought the solid together, and one of the neighbors fixed the planters (they were too low). And thus, we opened our first urban gardening season.
As you can see, I am trying yet again to grow dill. Maybe it will work this time???
Salonen and Kuusisto
Continuing on the topic of cultural activities. Last week, when Boris was in Chicago, we went to two CSO concerts, both with Esa Pekka Salonen conducting. I like him a lot and didn’t mind at all that after a couple of ticket exchanges I ended up having two pairs of tickets to two concerts just a day apart.
It was a very exhausting week in terms of work, and I was not sure whether it would be a good idea to make myself sleep-deprived for two days, but both concerts were exceptionally good!. One piece which stood out was Dessner’s violin concerto performed by Pekka Kuususto. On my way home from the concert, I found a recording of this very piece performed by Kuusisto with a different orchestra.’
If you watch it, I guarantee you would feel what I felt!
It Was Perfect!
Don Quixote at Joffrey – just perfect. Every single little detail was just perfect. Such a treat! Can’t go to bed although it’s super late – remembering details of the performance and smiling 🙂
Rogers Park In Census
Most of my neighbors saw this article, and I had the post in Drafts for a while. This article in SunTimes makes me proud of my neighborhood, and reminds me why I love living here so much!
It turned out to be challenging to copy the whole article here, so I hope that my friends will be curious enough to follow the link!
I Said I Was Not Fast Enough…
I guess, not anymore since now I have three customers at the same time, and sort of covering all three full time. Do not ask :).
I am running around the house to fit in some minor chores and take 15-min lunch breaks. No lunch breaks at the beach for some time 🙂
Post-pandemic Air Travel
It took Boris two hours today to get through the passport control and security. No special measures or anything, it’s just the lines were that long!
I miss pandemic travel!!!
Hettie's Reflections 