Attention: Chicago Crime

Yesterday a coworker told us about a now common crime in Chicago. Her son fell victim to it. He went to a popular bar and a bartender put a ruffy in …

Attention: Chicago Crime

Which Way Challenge

The Which Way photo challenge is all about capturing the roads, walks, trails, rails, steps, signs, etc. we move from one place to another on.  You can walk on them, climb them, drive them, ride on them, as long as the specific way is visible.  Any angle of a bridge is acceptable as are any signs. There’s no topic to this challenge.  All you need have is the “way” visible and the main focus of your photo.  To enter, simply add a link in your post to this post and leave a comment down below.

Here is a list of acceptable “ways”:

• Roads:  gravel, asphalt, cobbled, dirt, freeway, expressway, highway, bridges
• Indoor walkways:  hallways, aisles, people movers
• Outdoor walks:  sidewalks, paths, trails
• Stairs, elevators, escalators, or steps
• Railway tracks, monorails, ski lifts
• Runways and tarmacs
• Ferries, canals and locks
• Parking lots, private driveways
• Tunnels
• Signs of any kind:  directional, informational, store signs, wind vanes
• Maps that are posted as sign

You can see more Which Way Challenge posts by clicking here.

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The Story Behind Rhapsody in Blue

An entertaining, short explanation of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Guaranteed to delight.

Weekend Coffee Share

Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some timely catching up with friends (old and new)!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that we’ve had a break in the high temperatures. I’m not designed for 90° weather so I’m delighted with the 80°s which is where it’s supposed to stay this week.

On Thursday, my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. My brothers and their wives and I went out for a nice dinner with my parents. My mother wanted to go to Ruth Chris, but as we had 7 and the county’s COVID limit is 6 in a room, we couldn’t go there. Instead we went to a restaurant called Wildfire, which had a large patio area for outdoor dining. The food was great and it was nice to celebrate.

I watched Hitchkok’s thriller Topaz, which plodded along. I keep getting sleepy so it took me a week to get through it. Not a good sign.

The Republican Convention was last week and I was surprised with how well it was produced. The speakers from all walks of life were particularly inspiring.

Work was uneventful this week. No threats! We went to a higher end organic grocery store two days. Another day we were at an Arabic bakery. There we only got one person to respond, but as luck would have it we met a man who works for the Illinois Complete Count Committee and he gave us T-shirts, a couple bags of masks we can hand out and a good poster.

It’s hard to get people to do the census. One man said he was “too old.” Of course that makes no sense. He didn’t want to listen so I don’t think that was his real reason.

School has started around here. Each one is handling COVID differently. My nephew’s high school started back with students rotating on campus once every 4 days. After a couple days, some students tested positive so everyone’s back online.

Chicago #Walkaway Event

August 28, 2020

Brandon Straka brought his #Walkaway movement to Chicago.You

Which Way Challenge

The Which Way Challenge, that Cee began, has been picked up by the Alive and Trekking blogger.  The beauty of it is that it’s free form.

You can include images of doors, gates, roads, streets, exits, signs, paths, waterways, canals, railroad tracks, you name it.

See more Which Way photos by clicking here. You’ll be amazed at where people are going.

Weekend Coffee Share

Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some timely catching up with friends (old and new)!

If we were having coffee, we’d be on our patio so we can enjoy the warm weather, the blue sky and the quiet as the roof is completely finished.

I’d tell you that I finished reading Swann’s Way, the first book in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. It’s a challenging, beautiful book. I savored it and didn’t want to finish reading it. I had read it in 2008 and a friend suggested be both read and discuss it. I enjoy reading and discussing this sort of book with my wise, well read friend. Proust jams so much observation in every page so I didn’t want to finish the story (even though I can read the next one anytime).

On Friday I went with a group of women to bring lunch to the police at a station in Chicago. It was great to show them some support and to let them know that people are grateful and know that not all cops are rotten. Most are brave and professional.

We had more protests cum riots in Chicago yesterday. When will this stop? This weekend (and Sunday isn’t even over) 50 people have been shot and 4 of those were killed. The riots yesterday resulted in 17 police injured and 24 people arrested for aggravated assault.

 

A Good Day

I’m glad I could join a new women’s group who brought lunch to a Chicago Police Station on Friday. We were lucky to express our gratitude to the 75 police officers and staff who protect the city.

While police forces across the country have some bad cops who should be removed, the vast majority of officers are willing to die for our security. They’re brave, strong, kind and rational. In Chicago, they’re working 12 hour shifts every single day with no days off since May. They’re getting sworn at, insulted, beaten, and targeted weekend after weekend and often every day of the week.

It was a great chance to meet some wonderful people and to show thanks and support, which doesn’t come through when rioters are making havoc as they did again last night.

Excitement at Work

Today while my partners and I were out in the field at a supermarket, a man came up to us and started raving about how awful the government was and how the Library of Congress was hooked up with the CIA and FBI and how everyone in the government since 1776 was a murderer. He pointed at us and said we were definitely murderers.

That’s a first.

Weekend Coffee Share

Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some timely catching up with friends (old and new)!

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you what the schools are doing in your town vis-a-vis reopening. Every school seems to have a different approach even in areas with the same CCP Virus statistics. Then they form a plan and change it. Some people think the schools require special ventilation even if they have windows that open, i.e. the system used throughout the world and advocated by healthcare professionals. Now some schools and offices don’t have windows that open, which is a shame.

I’d tell you that work is proceeding along. It’s hard to get people who don’t want to do the census to do it, but there you are. Many think that although the Census did get a two month extension it’s not enough time to complete it. They seem to not know that we’ve already got higher response rates in much of the country compared to 2010. If people have seen thousands of ads and received mailings that they throw out, another month isn’t going to help.

Easy Living 1937

I would recommend you see Easy Living with Jean Arthur from 1937. It’s a fun screwball comedy and I’ll soon post a review.

I’m learning a lot about Albany Park, the Chicago neighborhood where I’m working almost every day. It’s a neighborhood with lots of diversity. I’ve come across a lot of people from Korea, Syria, Latin America and Mexico.

I’d tell you that we had a fun barbecue last night to honor my niece’s departure for her sophomore year of college. She leaves this morning for University of South Carolina. I hope she gets a full semester there. She’ll have 5 of 7 classes online. This year she’s in an apartment so if they do close down, she can stay down there.

Last week we had roofers installing a new roof. Every home in this subdivision has to get one. Ugh. It’s been quite a controversy for 3 years as many people don’t need new roofs but everyone’s got to have the same look. The workers from Apex roofing were terrific, but it’s a hell of a lot of noise from early morning till about 6pm. I am working in the field much of the day, but not all day. I tried to escape the noise, but there’s no seating in the library, the nearest Starbucks only has outdoor seating and across the parking lot is a fitness center that’s moved outside and the exercise music and coach’s yelling are not the same as the usual café music so that wasn’t a good spot to work. I wound up taking my conference call in my car in another parking lot.