Another Great Chicago Adventure

We went to the BYU men's Volleyball game vs. Loyola back in Feb. and can I just say that Loyola fans are rude to the players. They showed no class in chanting FU BYU. I was wondering do other schools gets treated this way? Some of the students dressed like hicks with short overalls and some even wore shirt and ties, making fun of our missionaries.. REally? When was the last time you saw a Mormon in Chicago wearing overalls?
The gym was sure up close and personal and made for great entertainment.





Too bad BYU lost but it was so worth the five bucks. and the hour and half drive there was a whole other adventure.


It's a culture experience just driving the five miles on Devon Ave, first we noticed Big Beautiful Catholic churches then Jewish shops with signs written in Hebrew. Then all of sudden we were in Little India.





This one's for you Leslie.



It was another great adventure in Chicago. Now you know.
Oh and the BYU men's volleyball team is still ranked 2nd in the nation. Go Cougars!

Another Adventure in Chi town

My friend Beck and I don't get out as often as we would like but we did take an excursion on the metra last month for her belated birthday.

First stop French Market All these years of riding the metra and I had no idea this market was even connected to the train station. It's because when I go downtown, I get off the train and head east not north so what a fun find.

We had lunch then sampled. I know, I know, backwards, but it was our first time so now we know. The other cool thing is you can get on the metra from this cute French market instead of going all the way around. Yes I'm so excited to avoid the crowds from here on out. Like my secret lil passage way.

15 minute walk down LaSalle and we were at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on the right.
The building in front is the Chicago Board of Trade



I've been here how long?
Never knew about this FREE money museum. (Thanks Sam and Haley)
We even came home with a bag of money -- shredded of course.
Interesting, educational and no one goes here. Not sure why. I loved it.

Ok so here's my Cliff Claven tidbit.
Why is a thousand dollars called a GRAND?


Don't those zero's look like watermelons? They called it the GRAND Watermelon bill, then shortened it to just Grand. Bet you didn't know that? 1890 trivia

Million bucks under glass. For some reason I was afraid to touch the globe, fearing I'd be Lazered Tazered I guess.

Grabbed our free bag of shredded loot and headed across the street to the Chicago Board of Trade. A pic I snagged from Wikipedia. We weren't really there at night. It's quite the building with a great history - another time.
I have a candle customer who's husband is a commodity broker and he was going to hook us up with his guy in the yellow vest to give us a tour and see the "pit" but dang coppers wouldn't let nobody in - day after Chicago elections and security was tight. Really?

Headed towards the lake to the Art Institute of Chicago My membership is good till Feb, so gotta use it while I can.
The grand staircase was new and lit up so we had to have a photo shoot since we could. They're quite rigid with taking photos in the art museum but here we could shoot away.
It's called Public Notice.


This artwork was from a landmark speech given by Swami Vivekananda over a hundred years ago on Sept. 11th to the World Parliament of Religion to end bigotry and fanaticism and the artist, Jitish Kallat used the five colors to represent our levels of homeland security. Different
Back to the French Market for some Gellato - Did I mention there was nothing French about this place, all kinds of cuisines. I'll definitely be returning on another adventure. I LOVE Chicago!!!

Shadow Divers

What a fascinating story. Wreck divers discover a sunken German U-Boat off the coast of Jersey and try and identify it. Not as easy as you would think. I learned so much about not only wreck diving,but history. I had no idea what the military assessors do after a war til I listend to this book on tape, very interesting. This book was suspenseful, sad, and historical

I loved the reverence that the divers paid to the men whose bodies lay deep in the ocean trapped in the war sub. Their personal stories and how they solved a mystery and found the families of young men drowned on a U-Boat. So dangerous diving 230 feet in the ocean. You'll never catch me putting on flippers and and an air tank. These men are just crazy adventurers who became obsessed with this find.

I've been to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and I was so amazed at how big a U-Boat is. I thought the sub was a little guy like in the Battleship game, nothing doing. It's huge.


At the end I listened to the author interview the two main divers and I had no idea that hundreds of these U-Boats lay in the bottom of the ocean, mostly around Europe.
I wouldn't recommend it for kids. Too much cussing - that's what macho war men do I guess.

My friend Kim in Arizona also read this book back on March 13th and her post is so much more well written than mine. I should have just copied what she wrote cuz that's exactly how I feel too.

Cougar Mama?

My friend Ellen invites me to meet her and some friends in Chicago for dinner and free tickets to see Jersey Boys. Oh yeah I'm there baby. I love plays. Thanks Ellen

Ellen -"Let me warn you I heard there's a little bit of cussing."
I was not prepared to hear the F word over and over again. I sure loved the songs, the acting, and the plot, but man - I don't understand why so much dang cussing. (I'm so glad I didn't go with my MIL & Family)

Lori, Ellen and Me.
Earlier I rode the train downtown by myself and walked down Wells Street to meet up with this fun group at the famous Ed Debevics. I took my sweet time and took some pictures since I had never walked down Wells street before.

Crossing the bridge over the Chicago River.
World famous Gino's East (not my favorite - they don't put enough cheese to my liking) But you gotta admit this is one unique building.

I walked in and saw Lori H. waiting for me I was then announced over the microphone "Tami has arrived". Talk about embarrassing. I wasn't warned that this joint loves to make fun of their customers and it's all good. The place was packed and everyone is just so happy to see what the next insult or joke will be from the wait staff.

Kevlar (if that's his real name) our waiter " Ok I'll bring you a pitcher of toilet water, have had it - cheap people"
to Ellen's son Jeff, "Get a haircut" and I won't even say what he said when he brought Jeff his meal.
OK is that the biggest hot dog you've ever seen in your life? It is for me. Holy cow.

Fun quirkly thing this restraunt does is everything stops and the waiters and waitresses jump up on the counters and tables and dance
notice the hats they give everyone to wear
After the song, Kevlar jumps down, shakes his chest in my face and says, "I saw you taking my picture Cougar Mama, I know you want some of this." Ok not only was I embarrased I was insulted. Yeah that's what they're good at.

I might be a BYU Cougar from way back when but I'm no cougar mama. Old lady seducing younger men. oooohhh that just made me mad.

Later I asked him what the name of the group was that we were listening to. He went up to the DJ's mike and announced to everyone there. "To my cougar table.............." I didn't even hear what the name of the group was cuz I was screaming and everyone else was laughing. hhahha

Ellen thought he was giving us a compliment by calling us that. unhunh, they don't hand out compliments there. She took it that way and that's why she's so positive and upbeat about life and that's why we love her.
Jamie - she served her mission here a couple of years ago and came back to visit Ellen. Too bad the pic is blurry. She goes to school at Utah State and knows Caitlin Porter - my friends daughter from AZ. small world.
We then got a free ride in a taxi all the way back home. whoohooo it pays to know people. Thanks Lori (We didn't want to wait two hours for the train.)

David "Norman" Allred, Sr. 1935- 2009

My father in law was a wonderful man. He was quiet,kind,friendly,artistic, extremely helpful, worked hard,smooth dancer, loved to hunt and fish,endured pain without complaint, great listener,a tease and loved his family as well as the gospel.

Norman and Sandy were together for almost 53 years and I mean together. This picture was taken out on a boat tour of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Grandpa love to help even combing Anna's tangles out before church.


Grandpa Norman love to play and Molly even got Grandma to come play frisbee. See what I mean about always being together. :-)

Ok I had to put these in here because Norman loved to hunt, we saw these deer when we were in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mississippi river is right behind this group of trees. Good thing he didn't have his gun with him that day.

Norman was a very spiritual man. He loved our Savior and was very knowledgeable of the scriptures. He was a great teacher.

He enjoyed traveling but more important he loved being with his grandkids. He is probably the most playful grandpa I know. Actually I don't know if he really enjoyed traveling, I think it was more of just being with his extended family,

Anna loves her huggy grandpa. He always had a hug for everyone.
One of the kindest things anyone has ever said to me was by my father in law who after hugging me goodbye when I was dropping my in laws off at the airport said, "You are a good mother, love you hon"

He will be greatly missed.
My son also wrote a lovely tribute. You can find it here.
http://jk38.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-grandpa.html

Casimer Pulaski Day

When we first moved here my kids had Casimer Pulaski Day off, WHO THE HECK IS CASIMER PULASKI? I asked my neighbors and I got a different answer from each one. "I think he was a civil war veteran?" or "Oh I think he was a WWI hero" and "I have no clue" So I finally looked him up and here's the story. Pulaski was a count in Poland who had just lost a war so headed to France and met up with Ben Franklin who said, "Hey we're having a war in America, come help us" So off Casimer came to help Washington with the horses, so he's known as the "Father of the American Calvary" He was killed in the war a couple of years later. So I was wondering why is this guy celebrated and I've never heard of him before? So here's the real scoop.

Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw and several years ago when Martin Luther King got a holiday, the Polish community wanted a holiday and they had some civil war hero but his birthday was around Columbus day and you just don't mess with the Italians in Chicago so their next best hero was Casimer and that is why only in the Chicago area do we celebrate Casimer Pulaski day even though they don't teach anything about him in school. I ask you have you ever heard of Casimer?
thought so...
So how do you celebrate Pulaski Day? I think we'll go eat at "Tommy's" They have the best polish dogs in town.

STuPid ChiCaGo ParKing MeTers

While Jonathan, Kate, and I were taking pictures of Ellie in the Lincoln Hall at Northwestern Law School, our parking meter expired at 3:30, the $50.00 ticket was written at 3:33 and we jumped in the car at 3:35 not even realizing we had a ticket till the next day when I turned on the wipers.
Lesson learned -It's cheaper to park in a $30.00 garage - or maybe don't let the meter expire even 1 second in the great city of Chicago since the street cops have great response time.
Oh well I got a couple of good pictures of my grandbaby.

RATS

Apparently when one is not happy with the builders out here, a few protesters brave the cold and put up this huge blow up rat. I personally think it is quite comical. I never know what exactly they are protesting against but I like the rat.

2009 Interfaith Calendar

I received this calendar sponsored by the Chicago Center for Cultural Connections yesterday at church. I am so impressed with the work and unity that went into producing such a beautiful calendar. Fourteen different faiths are highlighted throughout the calendar. Of course I was very pleased to see my religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints listed in the month of Sept 09. What was more intriguing to me was some of the other religions that are practiced out here in the midwest that I had never even heard of such as Zoroastrianism or Jainism. Each religion has a page devoted to their beliefs with pictures and perspectives which I find informative and educational. I love history and I love learning about other faiths.(not sure that I've ever seen that Gold Book of Mormon symbol down in the right side though)

One of the great beauties of living in the Midwest

I love that businesses out here put up the Nativity set during the Holidays. There's a couple of banks that display them, a tool maker and even Wild Buffalo Wings. Just makes my heart happy that these businesses can show what this season is all about. A quote that my friend Diane wrote on her blog that I really like is "Are you part of the Inn crowd or part of the Stable crowd?" Just a thought.