We’ve been interested in the concept of the S24O, or sub-24 hour overnight trip, which usually refers to a bike trip where you ride out, stay over, then ride back the next day. This weekend we were invited to dinner with friends in Evanston, so decided to do an S24O without bikes, but with more sightseeing. Here’s a map for orientation purposes: First, we went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens, where we walked all around, including on the prairie walk. Definitely a winter landscape out there right now, but it was very mild, sunny and pleasant for a walk! With…

This was meant to be a second half of January wrap up, but February sneaked in already! So instead we’ll cover the end of Miles’s winter break to the present, a day in mid (is it? so hard to tell…) winter. First, knitting. I completed a second hat using the Saoirse pattern in January. Miles enjoyed his last week or so of his winter break and flew back to Portland on Jan. 20. Here’s a real highlight of having Miles home – hanging out with him and his friend Dylan in the kitchen! Back to school – second semester! Also…

As Colette often reports, some pictures have built up on my phone so it seemed like time for a post! We did a lot of fun stuff last weekend, which was a nice way to ease back into the normal routine. On Friday night we went to the art studio open houses in the Flat Iron building in Wicker Park with some friends, Lisa and Glen. We hadn’t been to the studios there in decades! It was a lot of fun and really nice to catch some new art that’s being made here too, thanks to Lisa for suggesting this!…

On New Year’s Eve, Miles, John and I went for lunch to Dove’s Luncheonette in Wicker Park. It was my first time there but a favorite for John and Miles. The goal was for John and I to have a biggish lunch, since we knew we’d be eating later than usual that night, and to get Miles a meal, since he had slept quite late (that’s been a theme since he’s been home!). No pics from lunch, but mmmmmm it was really good. I had a grain bowl, Miles had burnt ends hash (nod to KC’s BBQ specialty of burnt…

The temps dipped again to almost freezing and so Sarah and I decided it was perfect weather for a winter activity – ice skating downtown. So with such a wintery activity in mind, how surprising to get on an el at division that was completely wrapped on the inside with Qantas ads highlighting the new direct Chicago to Brisbane flights! The scenery was all very lush and of the Great Barrier Reef. Honestly it was about as festive as the holiday train (and that’s high praise coming from me, as you all know!) Here’s a view from the east showing…

Continuing with our staycation theme, John and I went downtown yesterday. In case anyone is concerned about Miles being left out, he is very happy to sleep late and then meet friends. One could even say happier than the alternative of getting up early and hanging out with his parents 🙂 First, we  picked up a package from the mail room at his office – we had jointly gifted ourselves a hot new cookbook, Alison Roman’s Nothing Fancy. I saw her at the Chicago Humanities Festival this year and really enjoyed it, and we have been loving her recipes in…

John and I took advantage of today’s extremely mild temperatures and went to a favorite place for a nice long walk – the Indiana Dunes. It was 57F / 15C, sunny and with a warm wind – could not have been more opposite of the December weather we usually get! Here’s John down to a t-shirt, and me applying sunscreen (and both wearing sunnies!) There are poetry signs all around the Indiana Dunes area – this one was all the more intriguing because it’s fallen over, seemingly referencing the lost city of Lake Michigan in the poem. We went on…

We had a lovely couple of days here for Christmas Eve and Day. But first, I wanted to share a funny series of beard photos that John and I saw at the Chicago Athletic Association when we were downtown at the Art Institute. OK, so back to this post, Liam and Kat were hosting her family on Xmas Day, so we opened some presents here on Xmas Eve. Nana and Grandpa set up a series of gifts on a theme by giving them this cheese board. With some cheese that their local elf helped purchase Then I added in some…

John and I went downtown today and kept remarking on despite not being in Sydney this year, there’s a lot to enjoy about Chicago for the holidays. Especially with the clear skies and very mild temps that we got today! Here’s our big decorated tree in Millennium Park. Note John and others are unzipped and not wearing hats! It was about 45F / 10C and felt very warm. There were a lot of people down at the bean as usual. Our destination was the Warhol exhibit (From A to B and back again) at the Art Institute. It was excellent.…

Readers who haven’t heard Maddie play piano or sing are in for quite a treat! We were invited to her piano concert and choir Christmas show last weekend, and she really did a great job! Saturday was the piano recital at a college chapel in Naperville. Maddie played three songs, and I got video of Caravan (one of my favorites due to a Duke Ellington version we used to have on cassette that we really liked!) [wpvideo jQ36Uldz] And Rockin around the Christmas Tree, which she also did great on! [wpvideo 2kpAqq0r] Here she is with her friends from piano…