Fitzgerald's Fun

We went down to Fitzgerald's to hear Bill O'Connell's Chicago Skyliners big band on Sunday.

It was fun. There are a couple of snippets of Christmas tunes below.

The photos are us enjoying the show, and one of me and my deep winter garb.

Getting Ready

We've been getting ready for our Christmas guests this weekend.

Here's a preview.

Thanksgiving in da Burg, Part 2

Friday afternoon Chris and the young-uns arrived, and the pace of things picked up considerably.

We all got reacquainted with the boys and Nini, had supper and then on Saturday we went bowling at UCM.

Thanksgiving in da 'Burg, Part 1

We left Chicago on Wednesday morning, headed to Peoria to pick Sam up, and then we drove SW toward Warrensburg through wind and rain--very heavy at times.

We made it by 5:30, just in time for happy hour.

After supper, Dad and I beat Lori and Sam in two straight rounds of Euchre.

Thursday, we put out snacks early--that's Mom in the first shot, offering one of her increasingly rare opinions.

David and Kay came over for Thanksgiving dinner, which we had at about 2:30, and Thanksgiving football, all afternoon.

Later in the evening, Mom and Dad beat Sam and Lori in two straight rounds of Euchre.

Catching Up

Well, this post is several posts in one.


The first couple of pix are from a couple of Thursday evenings ago, when we met in the Loop, and took the Red Line up to the Steppenwolf Theater to see Laurie Metcalf (she played Roseanne Barr's sister on the TV series) in "Detroit." It was a rather strange litlte play about a suburban disaster, and Metcalf was amazing--worth the admission just to see her.

Anyway, you can't take pictures in the theater, so one of these is of Lori in the little restaurant/bar where we had supper before the show--down the street from the theater. The other is of the street through the restaurant window--it was a dark and stormy night, and cold.

The next three shots were taken a little more than a week later at Jimmy's Place in Forest Park, our favorite Italian place in our neck of the burbs. That's the proprietor in the first shot, and he makes a return in the short video at the end--which I took just to give you the flavor of the place.

The last photo is me raking leaves just last Sunday, after watching the Bears whomp Bret Favre and the Vikings. That was a good day.

Halloween, 2010

We were home for Halloween for once!


And we had candy, at least for a couple of hours, until the big, threatening kids came around.



When that happened, we closed up shop and headed down to Fitzgerald's to meet Glenn and hear the Chicago Grandstand Big Band.



The video is of the cool but scary motion-activated cat that Glenn and Marlis gave us a few years ago. We put it on the porch, and when the little kids walk by it scares the crap out of them.


It's okay--we put a changing station out on the front lawn.

Parents Weekend at Bradley

We went to Peoria a couple of weeks after getting back from Drummond, for Parents Weekend.



We got there around noon on a Saturday, and took Sam out to lunch, and to do some shopping. We took his stuff back to his room in the DU house, and sat around there until the silent auction. They didn't have anything cool this year to bid on.


So we all went to dinner, then Lori and I went back to our hotel to watch the MU-OU game, which Mizzou won, unbelievably. And on their Homecoming.

The next morning we got up, and took Sam to brunch. Then we headed out back to Chicago.