Category: Just Fun

Visions of Sugar Plums

Happy Christmas Eve!

Here’s to a Happy Christmas Eve to all who celebrate the holiday and as well as to those who don’t. May visions of Sugar Plums dance in your dreams. 

And if you’re looking for a very interesting bit of reading and look back, check out this column from the late Mike Royko from 1966 called Mary and Joe, Chicago Style. 

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

The Subtle Difference Between Making Noise and Making Music

Strike up the band

Young kids are great at making noise. If you pay attention, you discover that even while doing so with toy musical instruments (or anything else they can lay their hands on) they might actually have a predisposition to eventually making music. Or at least that they have a sense of rhythm. 

Or maybe not.

No Translation Needed

Kid’s gibberish making more sense than our political leaders

This afternoon while sitting and listening to my grandkids chatter in their own language, (at a volume that continues to set off the Loud Environment notification on my Apple Watch, I can say that not only is there a silly, naive innocence about everything I can’t decipher, but it doesn’t matter because I somehow understand it all. 

What’s a bit insane about that is it that their gibberish makes more sense than all the words coming out of our supposed leaders, even as they string words together that actually form complete sentences.

Well, except for that one guy who yelled at the country in desperation.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

The Stillness of A Snowy Night

Last night, after a day of shoveling snow, we headed out to a friend’s house for a Christmas tree decorating party we attend most years. Given that most of Chicago was still digging out and our friend lives on a very narrow street, we decided we’d bundle up to walk there and take an Uber home rather than fighting icy streets and trying to park if our friend’s street hadn’t been plowed yet. 

Our path took us through Portage Park. We were largely alone through that part of the 45 minute hike, save for one man and his dog. Given the snowfall and the absence of others there was a quiet eerie, yet comforting stillness. Always fascinating that the park was plowed, yet several of the streets we walked along were not, but that’s Chicago.

Here are a few photos I took along the way through the park and before we got there. Even the alleys felt a bit magical under the moonlight. 

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

 

Snow Day and Night

Winter wondering

It’s a snow day in Chicago. Not exactly the fun kind. The kind where you need to make at least three passes at the sidewalks before calling it a night. They’re predicting 10 inches or so. At the moment we’ve got about six with more to come overnight.

The good news the snow blower is working harder than we are.

It sorta feels quite appropriate for the weekend after Thanksgiving for colder temperatures and snow in Chicago, even though the calendar says it’s still Fall. So, no complaints.