Why I Oughta...

On my way to the office this week, I spotted the marquee at the Chicago Theater marking the passing of Gregg Allman.   You can't see the sky in the photo above, but yesterday morning, we had quite a blue sky.  How nice.  I have never been a big Allman Brothers guy, but.... Early morning sunshine tell me all I need to know.

A few weeks back, I stopped at an Estate Sale in south Elmhurst and came across a house that was basically frozen in the 60's and 70's.  They had a lot of interesting furnishings and built-ins, but nothing seemed like a fit for us until I wandered into an upstairs bedroom and saw this lamp.  It is a tall, floorstanding lamp that has a wood (teak, maybe?) base that is made up of three 'prongs' with a bronze/gold rod running up the middle.  The shade, as you can see, has a butterfly scene on it, but it is totally replaceable and appeared to be a standard-size shade that you could easily buy today.  I really liked the base and how the legs give that Mid-Century/Danish/rocket-age look to it.  I also love how the teak blows through the top of the shade. This was a deal, I think based on this one listing I found that shows a pair of companion table lamps that were listed for $625 for the pair.  They'd be a great grouping put together, right? Here's a screensho

I found myself in Philadelphia recently and unfortunately, I didn't have time for much outside of the scheduled events.  (sounds familiar, right?  Just like my recent trip to Denver where I didn't get to go to the Cherry Cricket !)  And that means my trip didn't include a visit to Pat's and Geno's for the typical tourist showdown.  Let alone Steve's - which I think the eaters have coalesced around as being tops in town, right?   I did, however, have time for a steak at the airport where Geno's has an outpost. I got my 'with wiz' and it wasn't awesome. But, shame on me for thinking it was going to be right?  Kinda like the equivalent of getting pie at the DiFara's in Vegas at the Ceasar's Food Court , right?  You know what you're doing when you enter into an agreement like this.  It always turns out the same.

My sister Vic sent me this photo above from Oli's in Triberg, Germany - the home of the Master Carvers Club who handcraft *real* cuckoo clocks .  She was in Triberg with my folks recently to show them the town (it is awfully cute) and to show them how you can see/tell the difference between clocks (hint:  look at the side and if you see plastic in the little circle, pass on it.).  My sister and Equation Boy/Man bought a clock from Oli's and while they were there, they sent the photo you see above.   The one in the middle is the clock that Nat and I picked up when we were there all the way back in last Summer.  It has 'balusters', which is kinda awesome if you have been keeping up with our house build . It's funny, though:  we shipped the clock to Elmhurst from Germany and when it arrived, it was so well packed that, since we didn't have a place to put it, we just left it in it's box and mostly forgot about it.  This photo, though, brought me right back

More tree posts!  Yeah...just what you were hoping for, right?  Another post about the tree situation at our new place in Downers, but this one is a bit special.  It's because the kids and I went out and picked out this tree just for Natalie.  She wanted a Willow, so we went hunting at Menards and came up with this interesting one:  a Corkscrew Willow.  Salix matsudano 'Tortuosa'. As a refresher, there's been a bunch of new trees that we're adding/added to the backyard. We picked up a Dawn Redwood .  And planted it.   I posted about the north side of our backyard and how we're going to fill it in.   I am trying my hand at the art of espalier.   With two Linden trees .   And, after being inspired by the Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo, I picked up a flowering Cherry tree . And now add this Willow to the mix.  We picked it up at Menards and it was priced to sell. Listen...I know the reputation of willows.  Dirty, filthy trees.  That don't last long.

Earlier this week on my walk to the train, I noticed this "Office Suites Available" sign at 152 York Street - right sandwiched between the Gaming Goat and the York Theatre .   The door leads to a 2nd floor suite that used to be occupied by the Theatre Historical Society of America .  Yeah...the Elmhurst City Centre used to be home to them.  And they were tucked away in a 2nd floor suite above the York Theatre.  But, now they're gone. Turns out, last summer, news broke that the group was moving to Pittsburgh .   Somehow, I missed all of this.  And that, right there, might have been the problem.  We just weren't paying attention: After more than two decades in Elmhurst, the Theater Historical Society has decided to move its headquarters to Pittsburgh.  In a newsletter published on the organization’s website , the board of directors said the move is motivated mostly by the space limitations of their location above the York Theater, 150 N. York St., in downtown

In the vestibule of the Aurelio's in LaGrange are a series of vintage newspaper advertisements including this one you see above.  It is announcing the opening of a new restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona.  But, it is from 1974.  Who knew!?!  They had expanded beyond the southside of Chicago by the mid-1970's?  From the copy in the ad, it appears that Joe Aurelio, himself, had relocated to Scottsdale. Joe Aurelio formerly of Homewood Illinois cordially invites you to an evening of friendly family atmosphere and delicious foods.  For that extra special touch and Free Gift to the ladies say --- "Joe sent me." That's the move, right?  Have a Chicago eats place, retire. Move to Arizona or Florida.  Open up another place where there are other Chicago snowbirds.