and then we made it to Chicago

Conrad still thinks - I think! - that I hate his family.  I don't.  Far from it.  And I don't hate his hometown either.  But I have to admit, I don't find it especially fun or interesting to venture up there.  It's like my own hometown - small, centered on a dying industry, brain drain, isolated.  The advantage to going to my home town (twice since 2003, that's it) is that I still know people there.  When we go to Escanaba, we visit no one.  No friends.  Just family.  Lovely family, but as they grow older, we do less and less with them.  I wish we did more.  Ah well.

I am writing this on Sunday night (May 28).  A week ago, Conrad and I flew down from Green Bay to Chicago. 

I love Chicago.  Come on - if you have read this blog in its distant past, you will know that I - we - had a rich, happy life in Chicago.  Ten years in SoCal, and yet, Chicago remains my favourite US city so readily.  Bring me there any time.

We made the rookie mistake of taking the Blue Line

into the city from ORD to our hotel - I say that because we were blithely unaware of service disruptions because of line improvement.  An hour and a half later, which included a shuttle bus between Addison and Western, we made it to the hotel.  And then it was over an hour until we could check in.  We wandered up to Eataly and grabbed an afternoon snack of calamari

and a spritz. 

At long last, though, we checked into the hotel.  Ahhhhhh.

So good to be back in the city no matter the inconvenience!

..., paper, scissors

I really am behind, aren't I?

Saturday, May 20 (!!), Conrad and I had some free time on our hands before going to spend time with his family.  Not enough time to go somewhere like Marquette, but free time nonetheless.  So we hopped in the car and motored around his corner of the UP.

Which included Rock, MI.

Which led to us joking about paper, scissors, and even lizard and Spock.  BBT reference.  Someone might get that.

People in Chicago who knew the UP a little (and a number of people did) would rave to us about how beautiful that part of Michigan is.  And in some parts, it is.  Not in Conrad's part, not really.  Very scrubby, very swampy.  Pretty in parts, wet in others. 

It has its own appeal, but it's far from majestic.  That said, it was a lovely day for a drive.  We stopped only once, at a park by the Rapid River to walk down by the river and get some shots of the falls.  Or rapids - you decide.

A nice drive, though.  I like when Conrad points out to me the places that have some meaning to him from his younger years.  And I just like time with him, period.

two great tastes that, well...?

I know that I am not the only one out there who does this when traveling:  go into grocery stores to see what sort of local/regional/non-US items that may be for sale.  Sometimes you find things that you want to try or bring home (if you can), and sometimes you just sort of look at those things and think, hmmm.

S'mores and wine?  Tough to pair, perhaps, though likely easier with some dessert or fortified wines.  S'mores flavour in wine?  Ah.

Look, I didn't try it.  No opportunity, basically.  And look, I get called a food snob, but I am totally for anyone eating the things they like.  So there.  Would I try this?  Yep.  Am I likely to enjoy it?  Probably not.  But it really was cool to see this product and imagine all the winery developing it, testing it, and marketing it.  Clearly, there is some audience for it in Escanaba!

a good boy and his stick

In our brief time together with Conrad's family on the Saturday afternoon and evening, we visited Conrad's nephew Dan at his home.  That meant we got to meet Ace. 

Ace is a good boy, very friendly, and hey!  Look at that stick he was so proud to tote around.

What a handsome, happy dog!

A week ago I was in a plane

And then I was on another plane.  But yes, a week ago at this time, I was most of the way to Chicago.

It was a very early morning when I headed to LAX. 

I was out of bed shortly after 3 that morning, so you can well imagine I had a mighty good nap on the plane!  It was a smooth flight, on time, nothing remarkable.  I made it to Chicago, had a Zoom meeting while I refueled in the United Lounge, then boarded another plane.  Green Bay was the second destination, and flying in, that adjective was apt.  Wisconsin looked marvelously green down there. 

It was fully spring, mayflies and all.  Conrad (YAY!) met me at the airport

and drove us north to the land of Old Dutch dill pickle chips. 

Yep, Escanaba for two nights together. 

Not quite as deep into spring there, but definitely spring nonetheless!

More to come from the most recent Midwest jaunt!

catching up on last week

I'm behind, sorry!

I had every good intention of blogging whilst in the Midwest, but, well, you know.  Anyway...

Last Thursday (a whole week ago!), Van and I went to dinner.  Conrad was already out of town, so it was just the two of us.  Usually Thursday night is sushi night, but we decided to try some place we hadn't been before and wandered into Bodegon 69.  A Peruvian restaurant, I was startled to learn it had been in business a couple of years already.  Good job with supporting new businesses, Peter!

We started out with a pisco sour each,

and it brought me back to our vacation in Chile earlier this year when we had tried both the Chilean and Peruvian versions of the drink.  I know that Peru has its own cuisine, but given its neighbouring position to Chile, it's unsurprising that the food kind of reminded me of what I enjoyed in Chile as well.  For one thing, not a lot of vegetables on offer.  Rather, the menu was meaty/seafood-y.  I don't recall having super starchy meals in South America, per se, but having yucca, rice, and potato all in the same dinner did feel to me true to my vacation experience.

I liked the food.  The pork was rich, for sure, but it was tasty. 

That yellow sauce on the yucca? 

I could ladle that over many things happily.  Yum.

It was good to see that the place was reasonably busy.  I'd be happy to go back some time.  I wonder what Conrad would think of it.

Pasadena City Hall

When I maintained a Flickr account, I had an entire album devoted to Pasadena City Hall.  It's a glorious, gorgeous building.  Really lovely.  I often enjoy looping around it on morning or other walks, and yesterday morning, with the May Grey burning off, it made for a fine sight.

would you take a drink from this man?

No?  Yes?  Maybe?  You really should.  He's a lovely man, and he makes a fine drink.  We circled back to The Naked and Famous this week, and we enjoyed them immensely.

Cheers, Van!

traveling again

Checking in from the United lounge in the F concourse at ORD to say hello!  It was a very very early start this morning - I was out of bed a little after 3:00 to catch a Lyft to LAX.  Ah, Lyft.  This week Conrad and I learned that the pre-booking of early morning rides on Lyft and Uber is pretty much a sham.  I made it on time, as did he earlier this week, but you know, I doubt I'll ever trust that option again.

No matter.  I'm transiting through Chicago, heading north in a little while.  And I have a meeting to chair from in the middle of this lounge.  Fun times.

So for now, how about a photo of planes taken at LAX this morning?

some lovin'

Short posts in recent days - Conrad is out of town, and Van and I have been catching up on our television shows in the evenings.  This weekend is Michigan and then Chicago for me, joining Conrad and then heading to meetings on Monday and Tuesday.  I'll have things to post from the trip, but I admit, this week has been pretty low key.

Olive had a scare this past Sunday.  Van let her out early in the morning, as is his habit.  Usually she does her business then wanders back inside through a patio door left partially open for her.  Van dozes, she cuddles him, and they really start their morning later.  On Sunday, though, he was awoken by the sound of Olive in immense distress.  She came back into the house, limping and bloody.  Van spent much of the day at the vet with her where they treated her for what was apparently a coyote bite.  Poor girl.  I saw her Sunday evening, and between the event and then the drugs, she was a shadow of herself.  Understandably!  She's been peppier since, happily, and the shaved areas (for IV and for stitches) will grow back.  She had oh so much love to give us the other night.  I never mind the ear and nose kisses from her.  May she not encounter a coyote again (but, I should add, I well know that we share the town with coyotes - I stay away from them when I see them, and I hope the same from them when they see me!).

twice in one week!

And four times in one month!

No, it's not something to be proud of, my sad record of swimming this year, but I am pleased that

• I have gotten in the pool more often this month than the previous four months combined;
• I swam the most yardage yet this year (2100 - paltry by past standards, but hey, it's an improvement or recent times);
• I mixed in intervals (50s on :50, which, again, is sad, but at least I tried pushing it a little)

So congratulations to me, I guess.  Maybe I can make it five times this month?  We shall see!

not my best effort

Monday night dinner (yes, I know it's Thursday, sorry), and it was pork tenderloin for me and Conrad.  Nothing special.  Seasoned, seared, put in the oven to finish.  I roasted a couple of carrots and a couple of wedges of cabbage and made some farro.  It worked well enough for an easy dinner in, and that's about all I can say.  Man, my cooking is in a rut.

Saturday night out and in

I didn't blog through the past weekend - we all had a lot to get done.  Conrad and I had a house guest Friday night, and after we took him to the airport on Saturday, we came home and got some things done that were long overdue.  Sunday we did some more things, and I know the long weekend ahead will mean more of what Conrad and I refer to as GSD:  Getting Stuff (ahem!) Done.

Van, meanwhile, continues to work on fitting things from the Rancho Mirage house into his Pasadena house.  That will take him some time more, and it's not something we can assist with, alas.

Saturday, though, we got together for a nice evening.  Natasha (not pictured) joined us, and together we wandered to Mama M for some sushi. 

They were super busy, but we were able to grab the last table (hooray!) and have a nice meal in.

When we got back to the condo (having dropped Natasha off on her floor), the three of us opened some wine,

chatted, and just had an easy evening hanging out before Van had to go home to Olive.

No, not a thrilling weekend, just a chance to share a sushi photo and one of us!  But it was a nice enough night.  😀

May 15: still sucking, but this time in long course

1700m this morning.  I weep to admit that that is the longest swim I have had all year.  

Another week, another Monday swim and then no others - I'm traveling at the end of this week, so that makes the likelihood of splashing all the smaller.  And so, yes, the once a week swims still suck.  Today, though, I was surprised to see on arrival at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center that it was set up for long course, not short.  Long course usually means the irritation of circle swimming with people of varying speeds (though that wasn't the case on a curiously quiet morning at the pool today), and it also means fewer turns and longer stretches from wall to wall.  Ugh.

Ah well.  I made it through.  Three swims in May.  Wow.🙄🙄🙄

it's the end of an era as we know it (and I mostly feel fine)

Yesterday Van officially no longer owned the Rancho Mirage house.

Van owned the house for only 2.5 years, but it was a very particular 2.5 years, overlapping a great deal with the pandemic.  That meant that all of us were able to work remotely (or required, for at least some of that time), and that meant that it wasn't a problem spending multiple days in the desert working there and then enjoying the house and surroundings.  By my estimate, between us Conrad and I visited and stayed at least 40 times in that period.  

We had two US Thanksgivings and one Christmas and NYE there.  I had one birthday there.  We cooked for friends a few times, we had many cocktails.  I used the gym far less than I intended.  We splashed in the pool and soaked in the hot tub.

We lived there fully when there, and we looked forward to being back there when we weren't.

Six days ago I drove Van and Olive out to Rancho Mirage.  Van and I did what little was left to do.  On Sunday, I had a full trunk and Olive in the back seat, and before noon I was heading down the driveway, the view of the house in the mirror my last look at it.

So then, the end of an era.  A short era, an important one.  It's fine - the sale of the Vancouver condo to come might hit me harder - but it's not 100% happy.  It's fine.  Mostly.

Thank you, not-so-little house on San Gorgonio.  You were a good home to have.

May cocktails

Tonight was the monthly cocktail online happy hour for the gang, and yay for that!  May means mothers, and that was our theme.  Because today coincided with the sale of the Rancho Mirage house (closed!  no longer Van's!), we toasted that at our end with Mumm's champagne (get it?). 

I veered into pulling out a cordial glass I got from Mum and poured a little apricot brandy, which was one of her drinks for years. 

If only I had found the Barbara Ann cocktail before the end of cocktails tonight.  Ah well.  I finished us off with The Mother cocktail, which was tastier than it had any right to be. 

A beer float?  Madness!

Next month our theme is Lionel Richie!

A river used to run through it

What a difference a week makes!

Two weekends ago, Conrad and I walked down to the arroyo below the library in Rancho Mirage and admired the flow of the Whitewater River coursing by.  A week later I got up on the Saturday morning and walked down to see the river one last time.  That last time, alas, was the weekend before.  All that was left was a muddy bed showing where the river had been.

I'll be back in the desert for sure.  Tennis, concerts, getaways - there will be things that pull me down there.  Nothing, though, will beat out this past winter and spring in my mind for how I saw the desert in its abundance when water is available.  Goodbye little river, heading to the Salton Sea.  I was glad I got to see you when I did.