Tag: itssummer

Summer Never Ends!

Twice, I washed my swimsuit and beach towel “for a season,” and twice, I stashed them away “until next summer.” And on Monday, I took them out for the third time :).

I was in the office for half the day and then rushed to my mom’s house to meet with the nurse. After the nurse’s visit, I had a long and not very productive conversation with my mom, and it was still relatively early when I left there house.

While I was walking back along the beach, I realized that it was still warm, and even with the shorter days, it was still enough time! I rushed home, pulled my neatly folded beach towel from the top shelf along with my just-washed swimsuit, pulled a pair of shorts from the bottom of the summer clothes box, and quickly walked back to the beach!

It was warm! And the water was warm! There were some people sitting on the sand, but nobody in the water. I don’t know why – the water was warm, and there were no lifeguards, and oh my, how perfect it was to be there at that very moment!

Thank you, Lake Michigan!

Last Week Of Summer

There are many ways to decide when the summer ends. I have already posted more than one “End of Summer” blog. Before I left for London I thought that my swimming season was over (having that I would miss the next weekend and one after) so I washed and stored away my swimsuit and beach towels, but I was happy to pull them out again last week.

I want to say explicitly that although we have an ongoing situation now, and my weekend plans had to be canceled, I can’t say it was a bad week. In fact, it was a gorgeous summer week, filled with all these bitter-sweet “last” gelato, “last” balm evenings, an incredibly warm lake, and fun in the sun. Also, I want to see ‘Harry Potter” and the opening of the season of the Chicago Symphony with a violin virtuoso Benjamin Beilman.

I have nothing but thanks to the Universe for this gift.

My Summer Recap

Summer is over. It was still very warm during the week: I spent some time at the beach on Thursday evening, and it was 82F, and the lake was warm. And today was the first fall-like day: it was only 55F in the morning and very windy. I still went for a semi-log bike ride, but even though I switched to the warmer biking jacket and put on the gloves, it was not exactly enjoyable.

The Labor Day weekend went great. I didn’t go on any trip; instead, everything I’ve done during these three and a half days was a good combination of picking up loose ends, finishing things I didn’t have time to finish before, and doing many things I love doing.

On Friday, I went to a Howard -Evanston CC End-of-Summer event (being on a Community Board there is a new thing I started in 2024 to make a difference close to home). It was a lunchtime event; I worked from home for a change and took a half-day off. Then I returned home and spent time with a friend who lives on the other side of the world in Oak Park. We planned her visit for months, and then had to reschedule because she was afraid to travel during the DNC.

On Saturday, I went escorting for the early morning shift, and I had a private yoga class with my teacher and made a plum cake

Sunday was Bike the Drive, and I had coffee with my mom, and on Monday, I went to Fort Sheridan.

I talked to Boris for about an hour every day of this long weekend. Every day, I visited my mom. Every day, I was at the beach. I watched three movies that required some concentration: Atlantis, Nuremberg, and Filmmakers for Prosecution. I finally changed the light bulbs in both bathrooms (it was not like I was sitting in the dark, in both cases, one of two bulbs was burned, but it is the whole project to change them). I won two battles on the phone with two customer services (more details to come – maybe!), and I finalized my conference presentation.

I feel like all these activities represent an accurate wrap-up of what I was doing this whole summer. Summer was very busy, but not like I was too busy to enjoy life. I had life and a lot of it!

Mornings At The Beach

Why have I never done it before?! Why did nobody tell me about paradise right here?! How many mornings were wasted!

Boris went to the beach early in the morning on Monday when I went to work, and he said going there “before breakfast” was great. I suggested we do the same on Friday (I decided to work from home on Friday), and that was amazingly good. Today, we did it again, and it was even better. It changes how your day goes! Walking into Lake Michigan toward the rising sun, feeling the first touches of the daylight on your face, immersing into the warm water (almost warmer than the air!) – priceless… I will try to do it as many times as possible as long as the weather stays like that…

(and in case you are wondering – I biked before that!)

Morning Biking

The days are becoming shorter, and I see the sunrise only by the time I reach Montrose Harbor.

Before Sunrise

A Little Bit Foggy Sunrise

It was not even a fog, just a mist, and the morning was balm.

It was not exactly like this IRL, but it was very close!

Another Chicago Weekend – 2

Sunday was equally amazing. As it became our tradition, when Lena comes in summer, we do Loop activities on Saturday and Rogers Park activities on Sunday. And once again, it’s great that she enjoys the same activities as me.

We started the day with a bike ride. In the past, Lena was way slower than me, and she said she didn’t do much biking this season either, but somehow, this time she kept pace with me without any issues. If I only knew, I would suggest her to wake up earlier, and we could bike all the way to the Field Museum. But even a relatively short (15 miles) ride was great!

A spectacular sunrise!
Continue reading “Another Chicago Weekend – 2” →

Other Things To Do In Chicago

This week, I didn’t take any time off, and moreover, I had something after work almost every day, so my guests were mostly on their own. I am glad that they finally realized that biking is a way to get around, that they were at the beach pretty much every day, and that they could explore the city on their own.

Today, the interested parties went to the Grant Park Music Festival concert. The highlight of today’s show was Rachmaninov’s “Rapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” with Clayton Stephenson as a piano soloist. That was an outstanding performance, and the audience was ecstatic. I bet my friends never heard Rachmaninov that way! Clayton Stephenson said that he thinks of this piece as American music (and he has good reasons for that if you ask me). And the way this piece was performed today – OMG, it was something! And definitely American 🙂

Before the concert, I took my friend to the Riverwalk, and then they finally had a chance to taste Chicago Hot Dog, so two more boxes were checked!

ORD

I am sitting in Terminal 5 of ORD, waiting for my friends from Helsinki to arrive. I know that the aircraft landed more than twenty minutes ago, but nobody can tell how long is the security line.

I have a full fridge and places for five people to sleep, and that’s exciting – I didn’t have any international guests since pre-pandemic, and that will be the first time I have international guests since I moved to Rogers Park.

The first line from today’s WBEZ newsletter says:

It’s a fact we Chicagoans hold dear: No city summers better than ours.

And don’t you dare to tell me otherwise!

… And More Summer!

May 15 Reset (WBEZ newsletter) started with the following paragraph:

As a Chicagoan, taking a summer vacation is risky. You might enjoy yourself in Michigan or California or somewhere else, but is it worth missing a time when Chicago shines? 

And that’s exactly how I feel – each summer!!!