Bad weather, good weather

[mojosmom]

I had intended to go to the 61st St. Farmers' Market yesterday, but when I got ready to leave the house, it was raining! Naturally, by the time it cleared up, it was too late to head over there, so I missed out on a local chef making Spicy Shrimp and Grits. I ran a bunch of errands later, but other than that did nothing too terribly thrilling.

Today, however, there was a strange bright light in the sky when I woke up. And it wasn't cold, either. Perhaps spring has actually decided to pay us a visit? I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and take a walk along the lakefront. The original plan was to walk over to the lake out to Promontory Point Park, come back in on 57th St. and then head home, which would have been a walk of maybe a mile or so. But it was so beautiful that I decided to go down to the 64th St. Beach. I encountered all sorts of interesting things, from people doing yoga:


to big, wet dogs:


and dead seagulls:


I walked past the boat harbor:


to the 64th St. Beach Pavilion, which is modeled after a Daniel Burnham design:


It has courtyards and a second-story promenade, and makes one feel as though one should be wearing a long dress and carrying a parasol (as opposed to jeans and sneakers!). There was drumming going on in one of the courtyards:


and jerk chicken making a delicious aroma. I passed on that, as I'd had breakfast not long before, but I was definitely ready for some fresh lemonade.

I took the underpass to the other side of Lake Shore Drive and headed north through Jackson Park and the Bobolink Meadows, admiring birds:


sharing flowers with the bees:


and generally enjoying the quiet:

(Yes, this is in the middle of the city! Hard to believe, isn't it?)

So, basically, I spent about 2 1/2 hours and walked at least three times as far as originally intended.

Got home, took a much-needed shower, and put my feet up briefly before heading over the Hyde Park Historical Society. Historian Neil Harris was giving a talk about "The Chicagoan"


Chicago's answer to "The New Yorker", it was published over a nine-year period beginning in 1926. For whatever reason, its history fell through the cracks, and it wasn't until Harris found a nearly-complete run at the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library that it was rediscovered. Unfortunately, there are no archives in existence, so Harris had a lot of work to do to find out about some of the writers and illustrators. He's put together a book containing a lot of the articles and images, including one entire issue, complete with advertisements. Naturally, I bought a copy. (It's well worth the cost, as the reproductions are excellent and it's a big, hefty tome!)

Then I came home again and had lamb shishkebab for dinner.