Ordinary Time

As I mentioned, last week L. and I tried to take advantage of the Adler Planetarium's free Wednesday night deal, but after four plus hours of driving the best we could do was to see the outside of the museum before heading back home. Last night we made our second attempt. We did things a little differently this time. First, before getting tickets, I checked the Soldier Field schedule to double check there weren't any more huge events. Second, we parked at my sister-in-law's house in the South loop. (No, I don't know either why we didn't do this the first time. In fact somewhere along Michigan Avenue last week I was realizing the magnitude of that missed opportunity.) These two things made for a much different... and significantly more enjoyable... outing.  The walk from my sister-in-law's is about twenty-five minutes to the Adler. It's a lovely walk along the south side of Grant Park and then along the museum campus. After you go around the Shed Aquarium, yo...

Yesterday I had promised L. that we would go to the Adler Planetarium and take advantage of their free Wednesday night for Illinois residents policy. I even sprang for tickets to a  star show because I didn't have to pay an entrance fee. The budding astro-physicist was extremely excited.  Our tickets were for entry after 4:00 pm and our show tickets were for 8:15. We left at around 3:20 figuring that even with bad traffic on 290 (the highway into the city from the western end) that we would be at the Adler by 5:00. That would give us plenty of time to wander before the show. I've done this particular trip numerous times and I have my timing down pretty well at this point.  Until I didn't. You see, in the fall or on the weekend, I know to check the Soldier Field schedule because it can be impossible to get to the museums in sports or concert traffic. But a Wednesday not during football season? It never crossed my mind. (And there was certainly no alert on the Adler's web...

This should probably have been titled, "Lots and lots of sunset pictures". The sunsets on the western side of Michigan overlooking Lake Michigan are particularly stunning.  These photos are all by K.  And J. took this of the photographer himself.

Kenzie is a very old man now. We're not entirely sure of his age, but fifteen wouldn't be an unreasonable guess. We decided that it would be less stressful for him to go with everyone to the beach house. To clarify, less stressful for Kenzie, not less stressful for J. because Kenzie has barely medically controlled excessive anxiety and possibly dementia as well.  All that said, Kenzie enjoyed his vacation with many of his people and his people took many photos of him.  Getting ready for the trip.  I'm the car. At the beach. Resting in the house. More beach. More house. Worried that people were moving suitcases again.  Happiness resting on the way home with his people.