New Baby

We visited Sam at Bradley for Parents Weekend, and forgot the camera! But, while there, we took Sam out to eat for lunch and dinner Saturday, and brunch on Sunday.

And Saturday afternoon we took part in a silent auction to benefit St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, and we scored a DY jersey for Sam, and a nice portable gas grill for me.

Lori actually got the grill by sneaking her arm around a couple of people at the last minute and putting in a bid $1 over theirs.

Here's a picture of the new grill in action.

Halloween

character




A couple of weeks before Halloween, we went into the city to see a production featuring my friend and colleague, Keith Green. It was a fun play about a group of psychic mediums/scholars, written and produced by the troupe and put on in a theater space above a mechanic shop on the NW side. That's Keith in character. Before the show, we stopped in at an Irish pub nearby for fish and chips--that's our waitress, but I can't remember her name. Let's call her Connie--there's lot's of Connies in Chicago.

A couple of weeks later we saw Richard III at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier--a good, but not great, production. Second only to Macbeth in the number of murders in a Shakespeare play. No pictures of this--sorry.

Finally, you see my Halloween night get-up, spider puppets on each hand--to hand out candy. We spooked a few young-uns with the outfit and with XM Radio's sound effects channel and our black cat!

On the Road Again

Heading home on Tuesday, we caught the noon ferry, then rain into overcast skis and some rain in the northern LP.

We stopped at our favorite restaurant in Lake City for a late lunch, then got back into Chicago around 7:30.

Fall on the Island, Part 5

Our last day before heading back to Chicago.

We had tea, Lori went for a run, took some pictures, and we did a few more small chores like moving wood around, closing windows, etc.

Fall on the Island, Part 3

Sunday we went to church. Mom and Dad went over on an early ferry, and Lori and I walked onto the 11:10 boat, then walked up the hill to the church.

After the service, we went to to Fisher's Restaurant for hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy.

Then we waddled into a little gift shop next door, where Mom bought Lori some mittens.

Fall on the Island, Part 4

After supper we've been playing Euchre in teams, Sandra and Lori vs. Jim and Greg. The girls won 3-1 Friday night, and 2-0 Saturday. Sunday the boys were back, winning 3-0. We go into the final night with the girls holding a 5-4 edge.

Fall on the Island, Part 2

Saturday we worked in the morning--got a lot done--had a breakfast of bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits, and then went out and did some more before the weather turned ugly. We had high wind and rain, and some places on the island got sleet, too. For most of the afternoon, we sat inside and watched weather and stayed warm. (I've got a video of the winds, plus some other videos which I'll post when we get back to our faster internet connection.)

Suddenly, it was happy hour!

Fall on the Island, Part 1

On Friday, we got up and out of town by 6:30, and drove through the rain for several hours. A scant nine hours later, we were having a beer and waiting for the 4:40 ferry. Saturday we got up and did chores, then we sat around and waited for the Cardinals game to start.

Happy Birthday to Lori (and More)!

Back in Chicago, we put off Lori's birthday celebration for a day, to wait for Bonnie to arrive on her way to England.

Cameron came over, and we had a nice dinner with cheesecake on Tuesday the 22nd.

Wednesday night, Lori and Bonnie took the train in to the Loop and met me at a little soup and sandwich shop where we had a light dinner, then went next door to the Goodman Theater to see a revival production of the Marx Brothers musical, Animal Crackers.

It was a very fun production--funny, with lots of great songs and dancing.

The next day, Lori took Bonnie to the O'Hare. She comes back in town for a couple of nights on Sunday the 4th.

Emily and Kevin's Wedding

So, Saturday night was the wedding at the Catholic cathedral in Kansas City.

We drove our cute little red rental car--doesn't it look great with Lori's dress?

We finally got to meet Emily's sister, Nancy.

We got to see Linda and Vince again, which was great.

We got to see Steve again, which is always fun.

We got to hang out with Glenn and Marlis's other friends, which reminds of of why we love them so much.

And we got to be a part of Emily and Kevin's big day.

Thank you for inviting us, Emily and Kevin.

Best wishes for a long and happy life together. You deserve nothing less.

Shopping in the Plaza

Saturday morning we went out to see what the Plaza looks like in the daytime, and it's pretty cool.

They have lots of fountains, and lots of statues.

And we bought a few fun things that we would never have bought had we not been in Kansas City for a wedding.

And we had some really good barbecue at Jack Stack--it was a Fred Flintstone kind of experience.

Then we went back to our hotel to get ready for the wedding.