Why I Oughta...

For shame.  It wasn't until yesterday - July 21st - that I finally remembered to turn the wall calendars in my office over to July. On the left, the D23 Disney calendar is celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the opening of Disneyland.  On the right, the University of Illinois Alumni calendar has a photo of the plaza of Harker Hall.  ( Not too shabby for the #9 ranked public university in the country .  What what?!?! ) I - L - L... Anyway...back to the calendars. Here's the history so far this year: In June, I nailed it.   Turned on June 1st . Here's the post from May with the calendars . Took me until the 12th. March's post - where I turned them on the 11th. February post introducing the concept . On the 17th.

I tried to whip out my phone as fast as I could to try to snap a photo of these beautiful yellow and red Union Pacific passenger cars.  Those are them in the middle of the photo just behind the locomotive.  If you want to see them closer, click on the photo and I *think* a larger version will show up so you can zoom in a bit. These were in Berkeley and were sitting there north of the commuter tracks.  I haven't seen them before nor since, so it was a nice little treat to see! Based on snooping around the UP site, it appears that these might be part of the historical equipment program and based out of Lake Bluff.  There's a set of sleeper cars based there . From their site : No other railroad in this country has retained its historical equipment and honored its past like the Union Pacific. The preservation of its fleet speaks to the high value UP places on its heritage and its role in America's history. The fleet itself dates back to 1912, but most of the passe

Our little 'pear tree that could' is back this year with a plentiful bounty on it's limbs.  Here's a look at just some of the fruit that is hanging pretty low.  The branches are droopy with the weight of fruit clinging to them. Last year, I didn't post any shots of the tree or the pears because I *think* it didn't produce anything?  Do pear trees take the occasional year off?  Those of you who have been following along for a while might remember that this is the same tree that snapped in half back in a big storm in 2010.   Check out this photo showing how skinny it was and how it - at basically chest height - snapped the top off . And now it is this big, healthy, vibrant tree!  Pretty cool to see it come back to life.  Here's what the tree looks like today: Here's a post with a photo of the tree from 2013 .    Not sure how much it has grown, but it is filled out a bit.  Hopefully the tree will pay dividends for some new folks for years to co

One of the varieties that I planted this year (that I've never tried before) is this Indigo Rose.   I posted about it back in May when I put them in the ground .  The first fruits are starting to be produced it it shouldn't be long before they're harvestable.   The bottoms have to turn from green to red, but the tops are looking a beautiful purple!

Our little blueberry bush is starting to throw off fruit this summer.  Mind you...not A LOT of it, but a handful of berries are ripe now and more are coming in soon.   The plant isn't doing as well as it did last year - see the post here - but I think the birds have gotten to some of the fruit this year. This year has been bad for just about all of our garden.  I haven't been tending to it as close to other years, but I've noticed that while the pumpkin vines are going crazy, the tomatoes are struggling.  Anyone else feel like their tomatoes are lagging behind other years?  Is is the lack of heat?

When we were up in Michigan, one of the little traditions I have with the girls is an early morning trip to pick up some donuts and cups of ice.  We typically go to the Wesco gas station. But the last time we were in Coloma, Nat had the good idea for us to head out across the highway to Grandpa's Cider Mill where we have devoured apple cider donuts.  That usually happens in the fall and is coordinated with a trip to either Crane's or some other orchard for some picking. Grandpa's Cider Mill instead of the gas station? As Vince Vaughn said in "The Breakup" about lemons for the centerpiece:   What my baby wants, my baby gets. Thus....off we went.  Only to be 'Wally World'd' by this sign. Sorry folks.  No donuts for you.  Come back in August, September or October. We sulked back to the gas station and picked up a few long johns and apple fitters and went on our way.

Back in June, I posted about the new "Art @ The York" film series at the York Theatre in the Elmhurst City Center .  Their first film was the Bansky movie "Exit through the Gift Shop". Walking by the theatre on my way to the train this am, I noticed they're advertising the next in the film series:  Little England. It is set to show on August 12th at both 1 pm and 7 pm. From the York Theatre's site  comes this synopsis of the movie: One home, one secret, one man, two sisters. The 20 year old Orsa is madly in love with the lieutenant Spyros Maltabes. As a closed character she won't reveal her secret to anyone. Her little sister, Moscha, dynamic and full of dreams wants to leave Andros, to escape the fate of the women of the island that marry sailors that are always away or drown at the sea. For their mother, Mina, wife of a captain who prefers the Atlantic Souf than his home, love means only big trouble and pain. Leaving aside the feelings of her

We were at a wedding over the weekend and as part of the candy bar, the bride and groom had a bunch of blue-ish candies including these bazooka bubble gums. You remember Bazooka, right?  The ratty gum that is usually hard and chalky with a comic inside?  I sure do.  This time around, the gum was pretty good.  It was blue raspberry (I think), but there wasn't any comic.  It was something *else* in there that was the same size as the old comics, but it was some sort of little prank sheet.

Anyone who has been to Disney World has heard the song from the Main Street Electrical Parade . You know the one.  It either drives you crazy or makes you starry-eyed. It makes me smile just thinking about it. But, I had no idea that it was a *real* song - as in - it exists OUTSIDE of the gates of the Magic Kingdom.  It was/us a real song.  I came across the name of the song on a Disney message board.  It is called 'Baroque Hoedown'. It is a creation of Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gerson Kingsley back in 1967.  Here is video below of Perrey playing it at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood back in 2006.  The guy who posted the video calls it "possibly one of his most recognized songs of the twentieth century."  One dude.  With a Moog synthesizer plays this whole thing?!? From Wikipedia : "Baroque Hoedown" was created by early Moog synthesizer pioneers (and frequent collaborators) Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley (Perrey-Kingsley) in 1967.  It

We found ourselves up in the northern suburbs last week and made a spur of the moment decision to give Burt's Place a try.  After trying to call them ahead of time (per the rules) and getting a strong busy signal (thinking Burt just pulled the phone off the hook once he had enough orders for the night), we just 'popped in' and asked if they had any availability that night. The guy who greeted us at the door turned and asked Burt, with his long grey beard, slung in a back booth, who said:  "Nope.  Not tonight." We thanked them and said "we took our shot". Off to Pequod Pizza we went.  (That's for another post). We went to Burt's back in 2011 and I wrote a post about the experience here on the blog .