It’s been a long time since we’ve posted, and some photos are piling up! A few weeks ago we went to an exhibit at the MCA by Nicole Eisenman. In the exhibit it was mentioned that she has a cat named Edie, which is the name of the black cat that Liam is fostering. Not sure if this is Edie in the painting below, but it reminded us of her! This trip to the MCA was part of a day organized around the 66 bus. We’d taken the bus to the MCA, then walked over to the lake, where the…

After enjoying the long weekend, we were both back to work on Tuesday. Merida is very well suited to a working location. During the day staying inside working feels fine since it’s so hot and bright (it’s winter here, but for us very hot and bright!). Then after the sun goes down around 5:30 we go outside and enjoy the cooler temps. There’s so much activity outside in the evenings! This week our local park had its regularly scheduled Tuesday evening Merida symphony band playing with big crowds and dancing, then every other night has had other bands playing as…

There’s a town in the state of Yucatán that is called the magical yellow city of Izamal, and we have tried to visit on previous stays in the area but never made it there. Today, really our third time trying in earnest, we spent the morning in Izamal. It really is quite a magical place, and even more vibrant and lively than we anticipated. Anybody can paint a city yellow, but Izamal is really charming. One of the first things we saw was a row of horses and carriages, many wearing hats. The main commercial street in the city has…

We arrived in Merida a week ago and it’s really hard to know where the week went! Well maybe not that hard. We’ve done a lot of enjoying – enjoying walks around the city and seeing familiar and new things, enjoying frequent dips in the airbnb plunge pool, enjoying trying out some Spanish, enjoying the Yucatecan food, way of life, and warmth (both people and temperature!) We arrived at our beautiful airbnb around 5pm last Saturday, about a half an hour before sunset. After settling in, we went for a walk and dinner and ended up on Calle 47. There’s…

The days between Christmas and New Year’s Day got a bit blurry, which actually feels kinda nice since the rest of the year can be pretty tied to weekdays vs weekends and all too easy to keep track of. So in summarizing the fun things we did, I’m not even sure if I’ve got these in the right order but also don’t really want to spoil the feel of the week by tracking it down too much. A real highlight of the week was when Maddie and I went to have pizza and see the movie Migration in Naperville. We…

On Christmas morning, Liam came back over around 10am and we opened presents. Somehow the only photo taken was this of me wearing my new dry robe – a robe with a fluffy towel like inside for warming up after a cold water dip. Also included in the gift bag were 2 tickets for John and I to do the polar bear plunge in late January at the lakefront! He has a dry robe too. Wish us luck! Other notable pressies were a toaster for Liam, a book of short stories for Miles, t-shirts from Canada for both of them,…

John and I both had Dec 22 off work and decided to check out the grand avenue design / vintage shops. Salvage one was particularly impressive, with huge spaces that are also rented out for events and generally so much massive scale! Liam has talked about needing a coat rack and we found one there that was about the size of his whole apartment! (Only a slight exaggeration!) Miles arrived Friday evening and we had a nice dinner out with him at local segnatore. Then on Saturday we had our traditional outing in the city planned. The plan went from…

Last weekend we hopped on a bright and mild moment and went to Northerly Island for a walk. After walking on the official path the southernmost tip of the island (ummm, peninsula) we noticed that there’s a really sturdy walkway along the harbor side headed back north. Great views of the city from there! The views from the whole area really can’t be beat. We have both been sick for the last week – with John having about a 4 day head start and so he’s better now, and I am getting over this bug now. Other people we haven’t…

On Saturday we went out to the national museum of Mexican art in pilsen. It was a really nice sunny day and not too cold, and we first walked up and down 18th street, stopped for coffee and treats at a coffee shop, then went to the museum. We then went home and read and relaxed some, had thanksgiving leftovers burritos ( turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy rolled up in a large flour tortilla and toasted on a griddle) – delicious as always. Nice day!