Why I Oughta...

It was just two weeks ago that I planted the Dahlia Tubers in one of our planters and when I peeked at them yesterday morning, I saw that some of them are already popping up.  They're hanging on one of the low sections of our fence and are getting a ton of sun.  With all the rains that have come down lately, they've been getting well feed too, it seems. We gave a set of Dahlia tubers to my mother-in-law about the same time so I'm hoping that her's are popping up as quickly as ours have.

Back in June of 2010, our little pear tree snapped in half during a big storm.   Here's the sad photo of it being cracked off at about 4 feet tall.  I didn't have much hope for it to survive, but we left it in the ground. By September of 2010, the tree showed some life and started to have shoots coming off the cracked trunk.   Photos of that growth here . This year?  Well...it hasn't stopped and now is in the running for the tallest tree in our backyard.  Here is how it looked this morning. And the pears?  They're starting to come in. Come September, I'm thinking we'll have some fruit to pick.

Sad news is being reported by multiple outlets :  The Qdoba Burrito joint on St. Charles near 83 is set to close as part of a restructuring.  And it is happening fast.  As in TODAY. All total, they're closing 67 stores.  17 of which are in our area. I have to be perfectly honest.  It always felt like a knock-off of Chipotle.  I have no idea which one came first, but in my mind it was the Burger King to the Chipotle McDonald's.  And...while I ate it a few times, I didn't love it.  I think that was largely because in my head a "quick serve burrito" was supposed to taste like Chipotle. Too bad for Elmhurst.  Too bad for the folks who worked there, too!

On Monday night, Nat and I attended the Opening Night Celebration at Mariano's in Elmhurst.  ( Disclosure:  Mariano's is an Edelman client.  I work at Edelman these days.  Got it? ) If my experience was like any one elses, they made quite the impression on the community. The team that Mariano's assembled went all out.  They had the front half of the store decked out in a pretty incredible display of color and style.  From the faux-Chihuly pieces hanging from the ceilings, a DJ and dancers and tons of food and drinks. The current Mayor Steve Morley was in attendance as were the past two Mayors along with a bunch of elected officials (City Council and School Board). The store itself, while we didn't get a total look at the place, is HUGE. We had a great time and can't wait to get back to do some shopping at the store.  While I certainly am hoping that Mariano's will succeed, I am very wary that our Jewel, which is in the City Centre will suffer...

Looks like our Hydrangea tree that we planted in very late May is happy with where we put it.  It was billed as a "Pinky Winky" tree with the label, but the buds sure don't look pink to me!  Guessing this was mis-marked at some point?  The blooms are linear-shaped, so it isn't something that we have around here currently - which is nice.

We lost Glam! Nails and More and we ge Deja Vu Hair & Nail "Lounge" right across from City Hall on York Street.  I guess it is too much to hope for something else here based on the location and the set-up of the space, right?  I wish them a lot of luck and hope they do well here in Elmhurst!

I had my time-lapse camera focused on a set of bulbs here in one of our beds and I'm hoping the focus/capture area are set properly to see these little bits of green pop out of the ground and grow upward.  It is currently taking a photo every hour and these are - in theory - fast moving bulbs, so we should have a nice little video in 10 days or so.