Why I Oughta...

I saw this old photo of downtown Elmhurst in an office building earlier this week and while the shot of the old York Theatre is neat, the two things that jump out to me are the two stores to the south.  Elmhurst had an A&P and...a Montgomery Ward & Co.  Click that photo above to make it bigger.  Wards is three signs to the south of the York marquee.  And the A&P is just south. What a neat, vibrant downtown, eh? Oh...and the film "Dirigible" was released in 1931 , so I suppose that *must* be when the photo was taken.

This is what Costco looked like this week:  Christmas wrapping paper, gift tags and lights.   That's a full week ahead of when I spotted the Christmas stuff set up last year . So much for fall, I guess?

Last year it was mice .  This year...I woke up to find 2 squirrels devouring my corn!  I ran outside and chased them off.  But after the meal they had, I'm guessing they'll come back.  I can only hope they don't like tomatoes and carrots. I managed to grab one fully-intact ear off the stalks, but there was close to a dozen more shredded ears laying on the ground.   Based on this story , I'm not the only one to loose their corn harvest to squirrels. Take a look at that ear, though!  Those are some juicy kernels, eh?  Once we taste the ear that is currently in the fridge, I think we'll resolve to give it another go next year.

After the news of the closing of Elmhurst's Bleeding Heart Bakery, I assumed that there would be a void in the cupcake/baking scene in Downtown.  But...that didn't last long.  In what was the Serene Teaz location on Park Avenue right on the tracks is a sign for "Courageous Bakery".  They bill themselves as home of Cupcakes for Courage which is a cupcake truck that we've spotted parked in town.     Hopefully they'll get the doors open soon and we'll find out if they're better than Heavenly Cupcakes which we didn't love the first time we went there.

I took both of my girls to see the Menards Halloween display.  The Babe loved everything but the scary ghosts/witches while The Bird mostly just hung out in her car set. Here's the photo I took of The Babe just one year ago .  Can't believe how much she's grown!

Menards has their Lemax Halloween village back up this year with a few new additions including this Tombstone Quarry with skulls on a conveyor belt.

We made our way to the happiest place on earth this weekend - Menards - and found their entire Halloween display up and running.  One thing I noted is that they've expanded their blowmold collection.  It seemed like they downsized their inflatables at the same time. See those pumpkins on the second shelf?  The two on the right (grey and white) have a glitter on them. They're pretty neat.  The cute ghost on the bottom and the witch on the top are the same ones they had last year.  They did, however add some black lawn flamingos.  See them on the top right in the boxes? I still don't think we'll be getting any blowmolds this year, but I hope to add to our yard display, though!  Those details to come!

After getting back from vacation, I took a peek at the garden and wanted to see what, exactly, the carrots were up to.  My suspicion got the best of me as I thought that the seeds were just wasting away below ground, so I pulled one.  Guess what?  They're growing!  A few more weeks and we'll have a harvest.

photo from the Elmhurst Patch Catching up with the local news after our vacation, I see that Mark Mulliner has announced that he's running for Mayor of Elmhurst in the Spring 2013 election.  What's Mayor Pete going to do if he loses his county board seat this fall?  I presume he'll run for re-election. Not sure what to make of the VERY early announcement from Mulliner.  He's now raised his profile, so he's going to be a target and every move/vote he makes will be scrutinized.  On the other hand, maybe he's trying to clear some folks out of the field. Anyone know others who are going to run?

3 Weeks later and look at the difference in the melon!   Here's the same melon on the last day of July .

A year ago, I wrote that Elijah's was planning on opening a coffeeshop in downtown Elmhurst - which would be their second location .  (here's the photo from the pre-opening phase:) Happy to report that a year later, they're still here.  Pretty great for them.  Great for Elmhurst.

With a little bit of help, The Babe bested me in this water-gun shooting game on the Disney Boardwalk in Orlando.  This was our first visit to the Boardwalk area - and we came just for dinner -but it sure feels like it won't be our last.  There's an ESPN restaurant, a couple of hotels and a brewery...which is where we went for dinner.  

One year ago today, we got on our way with our basement renovation .  Is it done yet?  Not really.  Lots of painting and some trim carpentry left.  Not to mention the entertainment center!

Two years ago today , I went fishin' and didn't post anything substantial, so I figured it was a good day to take a break, again!

We spent the past week on Oglethorpe Drive and had a pretty amazing, relaxing vacation.  Now on to the circus in Florida!

There's this weird glass-walled board room in the back of Elmhurst's Cocomera.  What's the story?  The  store is HUGE and this was just a way to make a little private space?  I don't understand why they built it.

Our Boxwood Basil has really taken off this summer in the giant pot we placed it in near our fence. I think if I bring it back under the pavilion near the garage we can create a little micro-climate and it *might* survive the winter?  But....that's not for discussion for another few months, right?

It has been in the ground just one year and it has gone crazy.  What was maybe a plant that stood 18 inches off the ground and 18 inches wide is now four-to-five feet tall and wide.  I guess we planted it in the right spot?  It is very happy with it's current location.  Can't wait for early next Spring when the it blooms!

One of the problems with rehabbing an old house is that doorway to the basement is tiny.  Really tiny.  And the hallway (if you'd call it that) leading to the basement is really tight.  That makes for getting a couch down there all but impossible it is turning out.  See that drawing above?  That's of one piece of a couch that Nat really liked.  We were going to get it for our basement.  But....guess what?  It won't fit.  Bummer.

Pretty neat to see how home buyers are using the web.

This is just what would fit in the shot!  That means that our little cherry/grapes as well as the bigger Heirlooms are all ripening up in big numbers.  Add to that the pest that is zucchini and the cucumber vine coming of age, and we're swimming in produce.  I don't think we're going to get around to canning these guys this year, so our family and neighbors who don't have gardens might get a bag on their front porch in the next few days.

We were driving by the mixed-use building on the west side of York Street - just south of Hamburger Heaven - and spotted this "Coming Soon" banner for a Papa John's pizza place.   It was back in September of 2010 that the Papa John's location closed in downtown Elmhurst .  This new place is 2 blocks north and on the other side of the street.  Is there a back entrance to this building?  I would hope so, because it doesn't appear that parking is plentiful there?  Or, does Papa John's mostly do delivery?  Not a lot of takeout?  The timing appears right with the students coming back soon at Elmhurst College.

 The early march of Halloween continues on as we came home from our most recent trip to Costco with this very cute Vampire nightlight.  This is August, folks?!?! Now...don't get me wrong.  I welcome our new holiday season retail overlords.  I await the Christmas lights showing up in late September so I can get ahead of our decorating challenges.

The Heirloom tomatoes are starting to come in.  That big one on the left is a Mr. Stripey and the one in the bottom picture is a Black Krim.   The Black Krim has that odd crack on it that runs around the circumference.  Can't quite figure out why?  It can't be from 'uneven watering' because I run the soaker hose on a timer every day.  

We were in (my favorite retail store) Menards today and we spotted the Halloween display of candy already out.  They do a pretty sizable Halloween setup full of decorations and the like, but those weren't out just yet.  They still have their back to school and summer stuff up like bug spray and grass seed. But, based on last year when I spotted Halloween stuff on August 14th , it won't be another week or two until they're fully in Halloween mode.

Look what showed up at our house in the past few days.  A Nexus 7 tablet. When I got a Moto Xoom a while back, I took the same shot .  The blog them has changed from red to orange.  (or o-gent as some of us say!) Also changed from standard Android browser to Chrome.

I planted four different kind of pumpkin seeds in Late June and after a month, we have some definite winners and losers.    The only problem is that I didn't label the seed locations.  So, I don't really know what's doing well and what is suffering. You can all see that big vine/plant in the middle of the photo.  It has gotten itself wrapped around the wheelbarrow handle.  That one is doing great.  But, see that little green spot on the far right hand side of the photo?  That's a different variety of seed.  Not doing so well. And in this photo, you can see a 3rd variety on the far left.  It is doing better than the little scrubby one, but hasn't taken off like the big vine.  I'm guessing that the big one are the Sugar pumpkins and the gourds are the ones on the left/right.  Time will tell, I guess?

Earlier this year, I was speculating about what a great opportunity existed at 151 N. York Street for a killer retail or restaurant location.  Earlier this week, I walked by the new storefront that is now the home of Cocomera Frozen Yogurt.  And the place is HUGE!  There's eight self-service yogurt stations and dozens of tables.  I have no idea how they expect this many people to eat yogurt at the same time, but they know their business. We'll be heading there soon to give it a try, but I know I'm hoping to see a scene like this one:   nice try granny!