Tag: chicago

Lena In Chicago

My friend Lena, who used to live in Palatine, and now lives in Ann Arbor, is in Chicago again!

She is my only friend who moved away a while ago, but still,l we not only keep in touch but visit each other regularly. Moreover, through the years, we came up with the annual visit schedule: she visits me for Christmas cookies baking, for the Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show in spring, and for one summer weekend, and I visit her at the end of summer.

This time, in spite of completely unpredictable weather, we had an almost perfect weekend. The only item on our agenda that we didn’t check was a Millennium Park concert, and that’s because of the rain – again! Actually, I am sort of proud of us because we waited for the first rain to stop, still went to the Riverwalk, had a nice dinner facing the Chicago River, and then looked at the forecast and saw that the rain was about to start again, and when back home instead of tempting our good fortune :).

We visited the Art Institute, saw the Van Gough exhibit and Japanese drawings, had lunch there, went to the Lurie Garden, then – to the Field Museum for the Kings of Europe exhibit and 3D dinosaurs movies, and then to the beat the rain and still made it to the Riverwalk 🙂

Today, we went for an early morning bike ride, then, after breakfast, went to the Glenwood market and then – to the beach.

Finally, it’s that time of summer when the lake is warm, even in the morning. I think it was the first time this summer that I could lay on the sand and do nothing for an hour!

(I am still three chapters behind in the book, and still have piles of work, but I am glad I am not giving up on my summer :))

Another Crazy Week Weather

One thing is for sure – Independence Day was perfect weather-wise. My friends visited Chicago during the holiday week. They stayed in a hotel on the Near North, and I volunteered to give them a city tour on July 4 (having that most of the museums were closed anyway). It turned out that not only museums were closed! We could not get in neither Chicago Cultural Center, nor Rookery building Foye, nor Chicago Fine Arts Building.

Nevertheless, we had a great walk around the city in a perfect weather, and then I took then for the Brown Line Loop to see the city from the unique perspective, and then I we went to Rogers Park and I showed them how I live, and how close the lake is.

Although it was a perfect beach weather, the beach was so packed that I didn’t think I could find any pleasure and enjoyment being on the beach on in the water, co after I saw them off, I returned to catching up with life :).

Then, there was 90F on Wednesday followed by this horrible thunderstorm that started during the concert. I still can’t get over of how bad it was, and how quickly everything was flooded, and my mom had such a horrible experience (in addition, she could not sleep the night before that because of the illegal fireworks).

And then there was Thursday, when it was barely warm (lower 70-s), but since the lake was already warmed up, it was a beach weather, and it was such a fun to jump. in the waves!

Summer is the only time when I try to work from home one or two days a week to be able to have a lunch break ar the beach!

Thoughts On What’s Happening…

SCOTUS decisions … I do not even want to talk about it. During my escort shift on Saturday, we talked about what happened last week, and the verdict was unanimous: we don’t know what was worse; every day was just new craziness. However, I think that the end of affirmative action is the worst. I don’t know what universities will do. I do not know how in the world these judges could think it was a great idea… How were they thinking?!

… upon returning from Finland, I started to go to the beach each time I worked from home. Same as last summer, it is a most satisfying relaxation, even if for a very short time. Most days, the Park District Day Camp is out there. Each time, I pass a large group of eight-nine-year-olds playing in the sand, splashing in the water, building castles, hugging and piggy-backing, all skin colors mixed – a perfect emblem of Rogers Park. I hope these beach memories will stay with them for the rest of their lives…

***

So, the recent events didn’t bring Ukraine back to the front pages… They brought Russia to the focus of attention. Since the start of the war, I have become used to the adverse reaction to the fact that I am Russian. These reactions subsided through the last year, but on Saturday, I had it again: “You are dangerous; what are you guys doing?” I replied to the effect that “it’s them, not us,” because I do not want to be associated with the fight between two evils. Maybe I am not expressing it clearly, but I would be instead blamed for Russian aggression toward Ukraine than the mutiny and what’s not. I am sad that people focus more on Russian internal affairs than the war. 

***

We had heavy rain for most of the weekend, but especially today, and our gym flooded again! Less damage that time, but still…

And working on the book – lots of tedious tiny things…

This Week In Chicago

Although I arrived on Saturday and, technically speaking, could attend the Pride Parade, it was not on my mental list, so I ended up not going there. Instead, I tried to catch up with tons of little things and was petty successful with that.

Some Pride in Rogers Park:

Continue reading “This Week In Chicago” →

Saturday Morning

On my departure day, I went biking early in the morning, and first time dared to venture from the bike path into the Loop (there is very little traffic thee Saturday morning, and I decided I needed to start from something!)

A Beautiful Day In a Beautiful City

Weather-wise, the day was perfect, and the whole city was outside again! There were at least ten events I wanted to attend, but It has been a month since the last time I was escorting, so making a shift before another long period of absence was a must.

Just to give an idea of how bad was the situation at the clinic:

Somehow, they always get police protecting them, not the other way around!

I had some time between escorting and the next thing on my list, so I decided to take the Riverwalk, to get at least a glimpse of this amazing day!

Continue reading “A Beautiful Day In a Beautiful City” →

Nature In The City Center

Another lost and forgotten post. On Memorial Day, when all the wedding-related festivities were over, Boris and I went to the Art Institute – I wanted to show him both Dali and Van Gogh exhibits, and after that, we went to the Luiri Garden. It is not even close to the prairie, which I miss dearly but still stunningly beautiful.

Asylum-seekers and racial tensions in Chicago’s Black neighborhoods

Over the past few months, Chicago has been dealing with waves of migrants from Central and South American countries, many of them bused in by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The African-American backlash to the  proposal to set up shelters in majority-Black Woodlawn and, more recently, majority-Black South Shore has been covered extensively on the news, but the migrants have been arriving in the Austin  community area as well.

Continue reading “Asylum-seekers and racial tensions in Chicago’s Black neighborhoods” →

Warm Weather Is Back, And Lots Of Work

I found one more biking opportunity – after the evening rush hour. Now, and for the next two months, there will be enough daylight to bike after 6 PM. Yesterday, I left the house at 6-15, and the traffic was much better than it is between 4 and 6, and probably even better than during lunchtime.

And today in the morning – the sunrise from the same place 🙂

I am almost sad that I have breakfast and lunch at work and do not have an opportunity to eat breakfast outside. The closest I can get to it – sit by the window at the cafeteria:

The weather is amazing, and the whole city seems to be outside. I took a stroll after lunch, and everywhere on the Riverwalk, there is people ]sitting, eating their lunches, and enjoying the weather.

And there are so many things I need and what to do that they hopelessly do not fit anywhere, and I do not even have time to write down my to-do lists :). So instead of blogging about what I didn’t do or do not have time to do, I should better tell what I’ve actually done!

And it was this beautiful morning bike ride, and an exceptionally productive day at work, and a walk along the river, and dinner at the ODS (only a partial success since most residents were somewhere outside :)).

Spring Arrives For The Second Time