Why I Oughta...

I've mentioned in all of the recent Lemax Christmas Village posts that Mantleburg isn't annexing any new structures into town this year and with the recent election of a slate of Libertarian candidates taking on new leadership roles in town, they've even moved to de-annex some existing portions of Mantleburg and just focus the town's operations on the seasonal train. This year, I've covered a handful of Lemax Christmas Village buildings that are part of the Menards holiday setup including: 1. Draft Brothers Craft Brewing Supplies Store from the Harvest Crossing Collection. 2. The Elf Workshop from Santa's Wonderland Village. 3. Nora's Christmas Boutique from the Caddington Village Collection. 4. The Round-up animated carnival ride from the Carnival Village Collection. The one in the post today is interesting because it *is* potentially train-related.  And that's why, despite their anti-growth/anti-government leanings the new Mayor and

Go out yonder, peace in the valley Come downtown, have to rumble in the alley Oh, you don't know the shape I'm in. Doesn't get much better than that song, right?  Go ahead...hit 'play',  then keep reading the rest of the post.   Those of you who have been following along at home over the years know about our Thanksgiving tradition of watching a little bit of The Band play live for their last show.   (Note:  I say "our" tradition, but Nat has made it *very* clear that this is *my* tradition alone...) I've been posting about it since 2004 here on the blog with a few years skipped.  Turns out, this is the 12th postin the series over the years. Here's my post from 2017 on The Last Waltz . Here's my post from 2016 on The Last Waltz . Here's my post from 2015 on The Last Waltz . Here's my post from 2014 on The Last Waltz . Here's my post from 2013 on The Last Waltz . Here's my post from 2012 on The Last Waltz . H

Like a lot of you guys, I have a whole bunch of Christmas traditions.  Sure, there's the Christmas Train and all the various foodstuffs, but there's also one that is gardening-related:  Planting an amaryllis bulb.  Here's a post showing the two bulbs I planted last year (one from Wannemaker's and one from Menards) .  If you look at that post, you'll notice that the one from Menards - that cost $2.99 - never took off while the $15 version from Wannemakers shot up and bloomed right around Christmas Day.  This year, I simplified things and decided to just do one of these and (obviously) went with what worked last year and bought the $15 version from Wannemakers.  You can see how they pack the bulbs above in a kind of foam carriage to protect the bulb while keeping it free from trapping moisture.  When I was at the store recently, I couldn't remember what variety I bought last year, but remembered that I went with a double flowering version.  So, I poked arou

Just a little bit over a week ago, I posted a photo here in the [garden diary] of our Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees and discussed their potential marcescence (retaining of their dead leaves).  Fast forward to now and if you look at the photo above here, you'll notice that one of the trees - the fourth from the left - has now dropped all of its leaves and is bare.   I took a closer look at the tree and it has, indeed, put out some buds, so I am not sure if the leaf loss is a sign of anything.  But, we'll know in the Spring when/if the tree comes back.

If you look closely at the Marshall Field's Macy's State Street windows you'll notice a little bit of corporate synergy showing.  Or corporate strategy at least.  In one of the window scenes you that you can see above, you'll see Santa in the midst of his North Pole glory with what I think is an Elf and a bunch of presents.  Right next to the center 'tube' is a little dog.   Zoom in and you'll see his collar.  Says "F. A. O. Schwarz".  Struck me as odd. So, off I went into the Web to find out why.  Does Macy's own F.A.O Schwarz?  The answer?  Nope.  But they're working together.  This NYTimes story from 10 years ago points to the partnership .  Apparently, I haven't been paying any attention. Two of New York’s most venerable retail brands, Macy’s and F. A. O. Schwarz, are teaming up for a risky experiment: bringing toys back to the department store.  F. A. O. Schwarz will open shops inside 685 Macy’s stores over th

I just noticed these two plaques on the Fairview Avenue Metra Station in Downers Grove.  The bottom one says 2016, so it has been there for some time.  But, perhaps the top one is newish?  At least, I've never really noticed it despite walking by it a few times a week. They both mark the same thing:  the station as a 'landmark'. I found t his set of minutes from the Village of Downers Grove Village Board that recommended a resolution making the station a "Landmark Designation" . Here below is a closer look at the story in the bottom plaque: If you read closely, you'll see that this isn't the original station, but was built in 1916. I'm a little bit 'get off my lawn' on this landmark status.  Have you seen the Fairview Station?  Go look at it here in all of it's stucco glory . I love me some old, vintage buildings.  But it isn't the original station.  And now we've effectively handcuff our government into NOT changi

Another of the new items that Menards is showing in their O Gauge train section in stores this year is a series of gondola cars like this Santa Fe one you see above.  I've written before about how my Dad runs a vintage (Post War) Santa Fe F3 locomotive and over the years I've gifted him a few Santa Fe cars from Lionel .  I've never given him one from Menards, but I've bought a few on my own and while I LOVE the prices (see above..$20), I don't like two things: 1.  the boxes that Menards sells these in.  The packaging is NOT very re-usable.  2.  the couplers.  They're not great. #1 in the list above is really the biggest thing for me.  We're Christmas train people.  That means that we pack away our train for 10 months a year and then bring it out for the holidays.  The boxes that Lionel ships their cars in are a big part of that storage process and the orange boxes have meaning to me whenever we get them out.  These Menards clamshells don't reall