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Well, I've done it again. Been quite a while since getting back to The Blog. There's always so much going on. Writing always takes a backseat.
For one, it's been a busy school year. Transferring to & working at an "F" school can keep you on your toes...constantly. We've had Dept of Ed visits & loads of trainings. While Spring break this week has been awesome, I'll be even more thankful when it's Summer break. But enough about school. I'm already sick of it, and Spring break isn't a time to dwell on it.
The economy has continued on its downward spiral. And as a result of "someone wasn't paying attention" in my Hubby's biz (not him, someone else higher up), my Hubby was told he'd have to travel for three months to make up for the idiot(s) who didn't do the business correctly in the first place. So Darlin' Hubby has been gone Monday thru Friday for the last three months. I can't lie & I won't kid. It was hectic. Anything & everything having to do with the kids, home, & pets was busy, busy, busy. Appointments everywhere I turned. Between running all over the place & not being able to sleep well without Hubby by my side, it wasn't unusual for me & the kids to arrive home at 10 p.m.-ish.
While I hated his travel, I will say that it had a positive side that I'm not willing to admit to his superior. We became closer. What time we had on weekends, we cherished. We blocked out as much as we could to have time together those precious few days. We made it through, but I wouldn't want a repeat. Hubby's co-worker unfortunately did not have the same experience. On his last day of travel he was told by his wife (via phone, no less) that she wanted a divorce. Long story short, they are working on "working it out".
Sometimes you wonder what makes one marriage work & another fail under these circumstances. Love, of course. But it takes work, too. Hubby & I stayed in touch daily. Not just once, but many times throughout the day. We shared the ups & downs from both sides of the phone, & tried to keep it light when things were difficult. What else did I learn from this? How much I appreciate all that my Hubby does for me. And it's a LOT! Since he works from home, he's often made up for the shopping & appointments when he can. I really can't thank him enough for the wonderful man that he is. I've also learned to say "no" more often to things "on the outside" that suck time away. That one is hard since we're dealing with the school's "F" status & time demands. But at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And I AM getting better at "no".
This week was Spring break.
We drove to Tennessee to visit my soon-to-be 94-yr-old grandmother. She'd not met our newest adopted children, & wished to see "all the grandbabies". All told, we have ten, but five are still living at home.
So we took the kids to stay at Fall Creek Falls state park in Tennessee. If you could ask for the "perfect" Spring break, this was it! Check it out online when you get a chance. We couldn't get a rental with the cabins, so we stayed at the inn. (Probably due to the newly opened turkey season.)
My kids are "outdoorsey" kinds of kids, for the most part. So while I sat around drinking iced coffees, enjoying FIVE magazines & actually finishing TWO whole novels, Hubby & the kids took hikes, scoped out the waterfalls (& climbed down to the bottom of one & back again), and played ping-pong & pool (in the inn's game room). Hubby got some jogging in. One son took his bike & rode all over every day, while another rode his skateboard until we found out it wasn't allowed.
They also had a heated pool & horseback riding there, which we missed for a "wow" reason.
Two days after we arrived, snow flurries started..and didn't stop. Although the snow melted when it hit the ground, by the following morning, we had a winter wonderland. Since it was colder thru the night, we awoke to a picture postcard, thanks to our youngest son who couldn't contain himself or wait any longer to get out there. The lake was outside our balconies, snow blowing diagonally across it. The fishing dock, picnic tables & pine trees were coated with a blanket of snow. So was everything else within eyesight. I witnessed a squirrel come out, look around, and chatter, as if to say: "What the hell is this???" It was like Spring had sprung & Winter came back to bite him! ha! Quite a funny moment. We also saw other beautiful birds playing in the trees...what looked like chickadees & bluejays. Deer were everywhere. I literally lost count. We'd see them in groups of three to four or six almost everytime we encountered them. Our daughter made an attempt to build snowmen on the dock & tables. The best one looked like a giant white chocolate kiss. She got a kick out of that description!
Yes, we did "the usual" for Floridians. Grabbed the cameras. Got tons of pictures, especially the expected one of the kids sticking out their tongues to catch the snowflakes. Our kids thought they'd died & gone to Heaven, worth every minute of missed horseback riding. Especially to our newest children who'd never seen natural snow. The one time we took them to Maggie Valley, we had to settle for man-made snow.
Snow! What entertainment! And it's FREE!
Then just about as soon as it'd started, it was all over. The next morning was spent watching the snow melt & disappear. Some of the more mountainous areas were still sugared white. While we appreciated this, we took a drive to the Cumberland Caverns. The whole family took the tour underground. Once again, the kids loved it! Like one son said, you have to wonder what makes someone suddenly want to go into a cave & continue to follow it to who-knows-where?? One area called the Meat Grinder was so narrow that the original discoverer, literally pulled out on the other side, was all cut up & bloody (hence the name Meat Grinder). What possesses someone to want to do that, not knowing what's ahead?? It's beyond my comprehension!
We all had a restful, breathtaking vacation! We're back home now, decompressing, trying to get back into the "work" mindset that will hit full-steam tomorrow. But we made some memories for us and the kids.
And I cherish having my Hubby back again.
In his element...Hubby at the Unity Temple (Oak Park, Chicago area), designed & built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Here's a role hubby played many times as an actor. He's always disliked typecasting! ha!Isn't he gorgeous!? Sure wouldn't put ME to sleep with his preaching! ;->~sher
Coming home from Chicago left me with mixed feelings! I'm proud to say I survived the plane ride home much better than going up. But being home was a readjustment!
After landing, we had to swing by my in-laws to pick up the kids at 10pm. Hubby & I had had nothing but time for ourselves for soooo long that I had to try to get back into the "mom" mode of listening & talking with teens. For the most part, no problem. It's just trying to pick up again on the quick pace that teens live by. The kids missed us & had a lot to fill us in on.
The next day was "the big day" at my school. State & county officials came in to observe us, classroom by classroom. I can honestly say I was EXTREMELY fortunate & glad I'd had all the time off with Hubby. Just from the time in the a.m. that I opened my classroom to the time I walked to the office to check in, I had no less than four people pass me who looked tense & expressed concerns over how we were going to do with all the officials coming in. I was unprepared for those comments & felt bewildered by them. They had no "scary" affect upon me. I am convinced that it is due to the time I had to relax in Chicago the previous week. Thank goodness I did because when lunchtime rolled around, some anxious people had some nervous moments to share. Turns out all the officials showed up in groups of three & four & sat down right behind the kids to listen. Some actually plunked themselves down IN THE MIDDLE OF A READING GROUP AT THE TABLE!!! Geez...
Such a high number of visitors threw the kids off, to hear the teachers talk about it. Many turned around & gawked at the visitors. And I say rightly so. I believe the state & county folks should know better than to overwhelm the kids like that. They are used to a couple of visitors at a time & we worked at getting them used to having people come in. But higher numbers were not wise.
Anybeehova...I still wasn't too bothered by their presence, perhaps because I was also more rested.
The rest of the week stayed busy. Tuesday included two more meetings. Wednesday was a required PNE update training that all PNE support teachers must take after three years. (PNE teachers are coaches to new teachers in their first, and sometimes, second years of teaching.) Thursday & Friday brought conferences with parents that I had to make up due to my Chicago departure. Friday night also brought with it a school skating party & pizza dinner out with four of our sons, who also skated. Today our daughter had a regatta for her high school rowing team. Nothing like getting up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday to slog through weeds, mosquitoes & ants at the Hillsborough River. ha! This was Daughter's first race...women's novice 4. They placed 8 out of 9, but hey! As we've tried to instill in her, it's not the destination...it's the journey!
I feel Hubby & I pulled back in a bit closer to one another as a couple. We've spent many moments this week just hugging & reminiscing about Chicago. We'd had so little time together lately, between my job & our kids. I already can't wait to do it again when possible! It was a sorely needed time away!
~sher
Saturday we slept in late AGAIN! Gotta love Lynn & Em's place! They have a 2 bdrm/2 bath condo, and we love the way the second bedroom is made. It is on the inside wall & doesn't have any windows. However, the top of every wall is open about 2-3 feet from the ceiling. So you get filtered light. Nothing direct from a window. We'd been offered the master bedroom for our use, which was sweet of the girls. It has a huge tub & a TV you can watch in bed. But we ended up spending most of our time in the kitchen getting & eating food & drinks. So we were always at the counter bar area or the couch watching the bigger TV. What we loved about "our" bedroom the most, though, was that secluded feeling that kept the light out. It felt great to just sleep in without any light coming in. Sleeping was real cozy! The only downside...if you can call it that...is the fact that you lose track of time sleeping so much. So it wasn't unusual waking up around 10 a.m. CST, which for us was like waking up around noonish since we were used to EST. BUT we aren't complaining. Hubby & I both couldn't think of a time when we were able to sleep in for so long so often. Oh yes, we did get up to take "the boys" for a walk (Em & Lynn's greys). I should say HUBBY did because he was more of a morning person, and I'm sure part of it was that he didn't want to wait for me to try & wake up & get myself dressed. I'm too slow for him. You know guys...throw on a shirt, slip into jeans, and they're good to go. Definitely not as easy for me. Factor in trying to put my contacts in, brush my hair, etc & you'd be waiting WAY too long, according to Hubby. But hey...I love him anyway. I traded him the walk for preparing the boys' food & making him a pot of coffee. So I THINK we may have evened out. No matter what, it was sweet of my Hubby to walk the boys without me.
After taking the boys out, sleeping, taking the boys out again....we went over to Starbucks for another cup of coffee. It's been pretty cold here. Lows were in the 40s. Freezing to a Floridian. We jumped back on the green line & headed back to Oak Park. Hubby had said yesterday that he REALLY wanted to get into the Unity Temple...to see it & hear more about it. So we bought tour tickets. They are only $8, and the docent was a very knowledgeable woman. I was so tempted to ask her if she was an architect now or in a previous life, or possibly even a professor at a nearby college. She was very thorough.
Another strong glimpse into Frank Lloyd Wright's work & life. He loved this little temple. He called it his little jewel box & felt it was his best work of all his religious buildings. He began the design in 1905 to replace the Unitarian Universalist Church that was lost in a fire. As you go into the foyer, look on the wall behind the display of t-shirts & bags for sale. You will find gold-plated nails children pulled from the rubble after the fire of the original church. These nails were given as keepsakes to the people of the congregation. One woman donated hers back to the church upon her death, and it is the one hanging in a frame on the wall.
The church had only a very small budget, so FLW was confined to that budget for rebuilding on the narrow lot & so close to the street. There was also the need to build it in such a way as to its use in a variety of functions. It is currently used for public gatherings, such as musical performances. So FLW built the temple (as the people asked it to be renamed) between 1906 & 1908 for the cost of $60,000. He mainly used reinforced concrete slabs, formed by pouring a mixture of Portland Cement & crushed red granite. Pea gravel or crushed stone aggregate added texture to the exterior roof, floor & walls. His use of concrete helped him stick to within his budget, & it made him one of the earliest to use poured-in-place concrete. (Personally this part of FLW's preference is not one that I like about him. I understand why he used concrete & how it was supposed to be more modern for the times, but I find concrete to be rather bland.) FLW used art glass in doors, windows, skylights & in the light fixtures. He used natural oak in the wood millwork in the window frames, doors, in bands around the concrete areas, & in the organ screen, which is a beauty in & of itself. Much of the furniture was designed by him, but wasn't intended for the temple. He did design church pews for it, but they were never built. A simpler & less expensive set of pews was chosen, again probably due to cost.
On the outside of the temple, the words "FOR THE WORSHIP OF GOD AND THE SERVICE OF MAN" are carved. The temple has two distinct areas. One is for the worship of God & the other is called a meeting room, to be used for social occasions. The two-story social room has a huge hearth & fireplace. The bottom had kitchen, study and classrooms, and balcony classrooms are above. Reopened galleries offer views from the main level through upper clerestory windows.
There's so much more to tell about the Unity Temple, even as simple as its form is. But there is nothing like going to experience it for yourself.
After Hubby & I enjoyed the tour, bought a book & a CD to go with t-shirts from the day before, we headed out on a walk around town. We'd visited inside the township's library before heading in for the Unity Temple tour. Now we headed behind the temple for a few blocks & over to another section south of the loop. There we ate at a simple family restaurant called George's. It had a mixture of all-American & Greek food. Try the gyro pita! The sauce was on the mark! Then we discovered K9 Cookie Company, "the bakery & boutique for discerning dogs", voted best bakery for dogs in Chicagoland. Of course, we just couldn't resist taking homemade doggy treats back to our "furry nephews" back at the condo. We also bought extra to take home to our own furry "relatives" who always expect SOMEthing upon our return. The boys here LOVED them! You can find them at k9cookiecompany.com if interested.
Then we headed "home". We debated going down to Grant Park. We really wanted to see the fountain at night. But we discovered that part of the Loop was closed down for renovations. So we decided to stay in & ordered pizza (Pat's Pizzeria, 628 S. Clark, (312)427-2320..."not affiliated with Pat's Pizza at 2679 N. Lincoln Avenue"). Their saying is "we think our thin crust is the best in the world", and if you like crispy, credit-card-thin pizza like Hubby & I do, this is the place to order. (By the way, a relative owns the one at Lincoln Avenue, though they parted ways. It ALSO has fantastic pizza!) Be sure to try the garlic bread, baked with mozzarella, while you're at it, too!
Tomorrow: Sunday...time to head home... :-(
But we enjoyed this so much. We hope to be able to come back soon & discover more of Chicago. With over 9,000 restaurants ALONE to try, there's still a lot of adventure left!
~sher
Hubby & I had a very nice day in Oak Park, Illinois on this day. It is where the home & studio of Frank Lloyd Wright is located. My hubby is a huge fan of FLW, so it was a "must" to go see while in Chicago. We started out with a Starbucks..can't miss them here...one at every corner, practically. On the Loop, we took the green line out towards Harlem, getting off one stop before at Oak Park. Quaint little area. Beautiful park, library, schools. What most would consider the "perfect" place to raise your kids. Tree-lined streets with leaves falling in red, yellow, orange & still speckled with a bit of green. Parents & their children outside in the breeze setting up Halloween decorations. Even Hubby & I got into the mood by sliding our feet & kicking at the various piles of leaves by the road.
First we took the self-guided FLW tour, visiting 20 different buildings built by FLW &/or his contemporaries. We followed that with a tour of his home & studios. You just can't get the depth or beauty of his work, nor the organizational & utilitarian skills (minimalism, prairie style) he must've had, unless you visit here. No longer will I feel an architectural picture book does him justice. You have to FEEL & be within the architecture for yourself to appreciate it.
We wanted to stop in at the Unity Temple, too, but didn't have time to catch the tour. So we decided to go back on Saturday.
Instead, we ended up dining at Wineberries...not sure I spelled that correctly...will have to fix it later. Food to die for!!! Hubby had London broil while I had a type of tilapia. The sauce had Greek black olives, sundried tomatoes & wine. Various hearty breads were served with butter. Wish I could remember the names of things. I've never been good at it. But if I can figure out the name of the dish I had, I'll post it.
The train ride "home" was nice. We passed the observitory area. Maybe we will explore it another time.
Then in for a quiet ending to our evening.
~sher
Thursday was beautiful, but chilly in Chi-town. Hubby & I walked downtown to the river, under the bridge of Michigan & Wacker streets. It is there that you pick up river cruises. The Mercury cruises were closed. We took the Chicago Architectural Foundation's 90 minute cruise. You can take one of the lake AND the river, and on Wednesdays there is a fireworks cruise. But Hubby enjoys informational & historical tours, as do I. He especially enjoys architecture, including Frank Lloyd Wright. (More on him later.) The river cruise offers a tour of Chicago's architecture, albeit not in historical order.
Four hundred years ago, Native Americans used the Chicago River for travel & trade. Then in the mid-1600s, French fur traders made their living there. When settlers arrived in the 1830s, the river was very different from what we see today. It was slow moving, marshy, and emptied into Lk Michigan. The river eventually became a symbol of agriculture, commercial & industrial strength. With railroads coming in the latter half of the 19th century, it moved shipping away from the river, & the city continued to grow as a major business area. The river now flows westward, but didn't always. Early residents polluted the waters by dumping animal, industrial & HUMAN waste there because there wasn't an adequate sewage system. Chicago's solution to their problem was to change the flow of the river. It took 11 years to do it, but a new 28-mile canal opened. This connected the south branch to the Des Plaines river. The canal's depth was lower than the river, so it pulled clean lake water into the river. Industrial traffic continued to shift over time. It wasn't until the 1970s that interest in the river came about again, thanks to a volunteer citizens' group called Friends of the Chicago River. Due to their efforts, the river's status of "toxic" has changed to "polluted", & ordinances & guidelines have been established re: construction & beautification. Since the 1990s, new residences & hotels have been added. Old buildings have been turned into new commercial use or reused as residences.
Now the CAF offers tours year-round, including walking tours. Hubby & I can attest to the fantastic job the docents do. The boat tour runs from May to November. Other tours can be taken almost every day of the year. Highlights include: Merchandise Mart, Marina City, Tribune Tower, Lake Point Tower, the Navy Pier, the Sears Tower, and the soon-to-be Chicago Spire (just announced Friday, the 17th: architect Santiago Calatrava & the builder are in dispute, so all is halted on building it right now until a settlement is reached.) The CAF is a not-f0r-profit organization. Check them out at www.architecture.org. If you head to Chicago, this is something worth doing!!!
~sher
Rainy Wednesday. Chicago had rain all day. We could see it coming in down the street, heading toward the condo, which is 9 stories up. It was amazing to literally see the front rolling through Chicago.
And what did we do for the day???
We decided to stay in & relax.
It was sleep, eat, watch TV, eat, watch TV, sleep.
Basically, that was it.
And it was really, really nice to NOT have to do anything for a change...
A beautiful day!
~sher
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