A Day in the Park

Sunday, 8/24/2008, was a beautiful day. Not too hot and not humid at all. Since I purchased a new Nikon D60 and my friend, Ben, purchased the Cannon Xts, we decide to put our photogrpahy chops to the measure. We spent a lovely day with a few other friends walking around Lincoln Park, the Conservatory and the Zoo and took some pictures. You be the judge.





It was really hot in the Conservatory/Green House but I think it was well worth the effort.

Part 3 to the Journey of 2 Parts

So, the famous rant about the journeys of 2 parts now has a part 3. Because of their delays and equipment failures, all passengers on that fateful flight to Narita, Japan was offered a discount voucher. So, I was thinking that I would use that discount voucher to purchase a ticket to New York City to visit my cousin who just had a baby girl (Yeay!!!!). So, I booked my flight on United.com and when it came time to pay for the ticket, I could not find a place to enter the voucher code. Ok, time to read the fine prints. Therein lies my rant -- the fine prints indicate that in order to validate the "authenticity" of the voucher, it must be turned in at a ticketing counter or mailed to the office in Detroit. I guess there must be tons of these vouchers floating around or something. And, to compensate you for the inconvenience of a delayed flight or equipment problem, they give you more inconvenience -- having you drive to the airport to get a ticket issued. I should charge them for gas. And because the flight is less than 14 days away, I couldn't mail it to Detroit. Sigh! I guess I really felt like being cheap (hey, New York is expensive) so I drove to the airport -- it was a $150 voucher so it was nothing to sneeze at! Finally, after an hour and a half drive round trip, I finally have my ticket. NYC here I come!

Crazy Summer Weather in Chicago

Wow -- so, Monday evening was perhaps one of the scariest weather I have ever experienced. It started to get really dark with all the cloud coverage and then it got really windy. I wasn't even sure how windy it got until I surveyed the damages the next day. Continuous lighting bolts with thunder claps following immediately after. The news was plastered all over the paper and news report on Tuesday. According to the Chicago Tribune, at the peak of the storm, more than 800 bolts was fired per minute. For the duration of the storm, nearly 90,000 thunderbolts hit Northern Illinois. There were reports of three tornado touch down in Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana. Roofs were ripped off homes in Bolingbrook, IL and Griffiths, IN. Trees fell on cars, and street lamps were strewn around like toys. I did a survey of the nearby parks along the lakefront -- another devastation. A lot of the beautiful, gigantic trees had branches torn off, garbage bins were blown over, debris everywhere. Again, Mother Nature is retaliating. My deck was a mess, plants blown over, dirt everywhere, broken pots. Sigh . . . time for cleanup.

Green Zebra

Celebrated my friend, Ben's, birthday last night and we went to Green Zebra. A vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the River West area of Chicago. It is mostly vegetable dishes with the exception of one Tofu dish and a Halibut dish. A lot of the dishes were raw too -- uncooked vegetables. The food was of high quality -- fresh ingredients -- and tasty with a nice use of herbs. But for the food, the restaurant was kind of ackward. The tables were mostly at at angle and tight, there is pillar right in front of the main entrance and, again, the entrance is set at a 45 degree angle. But I think the most noticeable thing is the price tag -- the portions were tiney but any measures but with a pretty hefty price tag attached. I know, I know -- we are all used to the LEYE portions and I, for one, could use with smaller portions but COME ON! Four little ravioli and a bunch of shaved asparagus on a salad plate (I think if you reconstituted the shaved asparagus, you would get a total of 1.5 asparagus) AND costing 12 bucks is a little pricey! The waitress even went as far as to inform us that we should order something from each of the four sections -- Salad, Soup, Appertizer and Entree to have a filling meal. That's how small the portions are. Another pricey point is the wine list -- nothing in the $20 to $25 range. The wine seems nice but the price, to me, are really pricey. The cheapese is a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for $28. Although I liked the food, Green Zebra is probably something that I would reserve for VERY SPECIAL occassions and only with people who absolutely have to have vegetarian.

Deck 2008

Some pics of plants this year.

The Deck 2008

Some of the plants on the deck this year. Most of it came back from last year except the annuals.

It's been awhile -- I am boring!

It's been awhile since I posted and I guess it is because I am basically a pretty boring person; often choosing sedentary over activity. I have been planting and taking care of my plants though. They are on the deck and enjoy the (arguably) warmer weather here in Chicago. This year, I spent only about $100 on plants -- which is significantly less than past years.

Most of my plants came back this year -- which is great! The Clematis are blooming like crazy -- the Josephine is gorgeous, and I am seeing the Crystal Fountain for the first time this year. Seems like the Crystal Fountain will need another year to get fully established. One of the Brugmansia finally bloomed at the end of the season last year but I think it is in need of a little more time to establish itself again this year. I sort of cut the tree in half in late winter and rooted the top half again. The bottom half had root so it just put out additional branches. I am hoping that the Brugmansia will bloom mid season this year as opposed to late season like last year. From what I saw, the blooms are large and very fragrant.

The plumeria all came back this year as well. Some took a little longer than others but they are all putting out leaves now. Don't know if I am going to see bloom anytime soon but I am just glad that they are all alive. I got a Clivia from a friend last year that was a baby from his mother plant. I didn't expect much but, the little darling, is blooming right now. What I did was started watering in early Spring and used some Bloom Plus fertilizer, it didn't do anything for a while and then when the weather was warm enough (above 50 degrees), I put it outside. I kept watering but didn't really paid much attention and then the other day -- lo and behold, there was a flower scape. I have 2 other baby Clivia that I bought last year, they are getting bigger and putting out more leaves. Hurray! I started a bunch from seeds as well last year and of the lot, five survived. Will keep working on them but who knows when they will become a tree like plant!

The Goldfish plant was looking pretty sad during the winter after having lost quite a bit of leaves but it is rebounding well since it has gone back outside. New branches are coming out and it looks like it is going to be pretty full looking by mid season. Don't know if it will bloom this year but the other one is blooming so I am not complaining.

The Michelia Alba also rebounded well. I went on a three week vacation in the winter this year and when I got back, the leaves on the Michelia Alba had all dried up. I watered it on and off during the winter and in the spring it started putting out buds. Some of the buds are now branches and the tree looks a littel lop sided but who cares. As long as it is alive and happy and will, eventually, bloom for me, I am happy.

The fuchsia also came back strong this year. Hasn't started blooming yet but I am expecting it to bloom soon.

The Amaryllis Lemon Lime also bloomed in the winter and even had a seed pod even though I did not propagate it this year. One of the bulbs seems to be putting out a side-shoot as well. I stared some from seeds too and three survived. I repotted them this year into one large bowl. I noticed they are starting to have their own little bulb. How cute!

Tuber rose came back too! I think it decided to do it by itself. I had it sitting on the window sill in the kitchen and then, all of a sudden, little green shoots started coming out. I think it decided that it was warm enough to take a peek.

So, that's all of the major plants I have -- at least those that I can name and those that I can't are doing well too.

Now, a moment of silence for the casualties -- Alocasia Black Mask, Brugmansia Coral Pink, Euphorbia, Star Jasmine, and a Gardenia plant. Rest in Peace.