Why I Oughta...

Inside of a bag of baby carrots from our dear friends at Trader Joes was this weird carrot paw.  The kids got a kick out of it and you can see that we kept it on the counter for a few days admiring it while it dried out.  This seems to certainly count as a novelty in the baby carrot game, right? We aren't in the "imperfect produce" world , but I would think this might not have made it past their folks?

The lighting of the trees around City Hall and the County Building happen every Fall and I've been documenting it on my walks to work for the past few years.  Here's the lights going up this year in the photo above.  I took this photo more than a week ago, so despite me posting it on the 26th, they technically started the lighting the trees in mid-October.  Here's the post from 2017 showing the lights going up  on October 27th. In 2016, the lights went up in early October . And in 2015, the lights went up in September . This raises the age-old question about Christmas Creep when it comes to holiday decorations:  Is this genuine Christmas Creep?  Or is it just good planning?  

Here comes #31 in the [coaster collection] on the blog.  This one is from Half Acre Brewery in Chicago and is part of a series of local breweries in the collection.  The first one in the collection from the local brewery collection is the Saugatuck Brewing Company in January of 2016 .   Then one from Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville , and then most recently Alter Brewing Company in Downers Grove.   I haven't been to Half Acre, but like all of you guys, I've had plenty of their beers including some of their more popular ones like Daisy Cutter.   Glad to add them to the collection here to keep the coaster part of the online archives.

Ferns are shade lovers.  And, as you know, I'm a shade gardener.  This is a big fern that I harvest out of Nat's sister's yard earlier this Summer  and it is happy in this photo.  I took this earlier this month on one of my after-work walks as things started to head into their Autumn state and the plants start to die back.  This fern weathered the transplant shock and is now thriving with new growth.  It is very different than our Ostrich Ferns, but I'm not sure what variety it is quite yet.  I ended up tossing it into the ground all the way in the back and you can see it mixed in amongst weeds - for now.  Next Spring, I'll see how big this clump comes up and maybe I'll be able to split it into two ferns - and think about putting one down as part of the garden walking path that I've sketched out in my own mind somewhere along the northern fence line.  In my head, next Spring (of 2019) was going to be the season of building out more hardscape surfaces (

Looks like Marshall Field's Macy's is once again prepping their annual State Street window display, but this year, it seems that they're ONLY going to be using windows *on* State Street.  And that means that they're NOT going to be using the theme for this year's story on the windows on Randolph Street.  Here's my post including a photo of the 'reveal' windows at the State Street store - but you'll note that the window in the photo is actually on Randolph Stree t. The folks at Macy's already have the three windows on Randolph Street dressed up for the holidays - in a tinsel-strewn vintage-inspired way, too.  Which is really nice, right?  We always make a trip down to the Walnut Room, so with our three kids - who will press their noses up to the glass - we'll be sure to take them in. Can I guy dream about an Uncle Mistletoe-themed story this year?  Please?

Recently, we joined our kid's cousin at his birthday part at the Lego Discovery Center up in Schaumburg where they have a couple of rides a show and other assorted Lego-related things.  The first room you enter is a LEGO layout of Chicago and includes some signature members of our skyline including the building I work in:  the Aon Building.  There are a few touchscreens around the layout that give you the details on the various buildings.  Here's the screen for the Aon Center: 91K bricks.  Holy moly. 

Over the years, I've posted a series of photos of various, interesting train cars that I've come across on my rides on Metra.  The first one was this MTA Metro North car from New York that I saw on the Union Pacific West line in 2012 .  Then in 2015, I saw these neat passenger cars from Union Pacific sitting in the Proviso Yard .  Today, I'm adding a bunch of interesting cars to the collection here on the blog.  And all of these were in one long line sitting in the yard just south of Union Station.  They are all passenger cars starting with the two you see at the top:  a Pennsylvania passenger car called the "Frank Thomson" and a The Milwaukee Road baggage (I think) car.  Here's a closer look at the car from The Milwaukee Road: You can see in the photo above another passenger car with a maroon horizontal strip in line next to The Milwaukee Road baggage car, but I didn't get a better picture of it.  Also note that these photos are taken th