Hanging at the Lake

I haz wifi's.  Who knows for how long but maybe long enough to get out  a quick post.

Went down to Lake Michigan today for a quick visit.  It was not so very nice out.  Grey and windy and not freezing cold but that penetrating dampness that I so don't miss living in Colorado.

The lake looked more irritated than angry.  You should see it when it's angry.  But don't go in it when it's angry, trust me on this one.

I tracked a ton of sand into my aunt's car after tramping around on the beach in my trail running shoes.  Oops.

Nice view of the Bahai Temple from the Wilmette Harbor.  More pictures of the temple here from a trip 2 years ago.

The Village of Wilmette loves rules.  Lots of signs everywhere to remind you of the rules in case you forget.

They especially like rules when it comes to dogs.  Dogs, even on leash, have not been allowed in any Wilmette parks since the 70's.  Now there is a dog beach that you can take your dog to but there are lots and lots of rules and you have to take your dog on a designated route to get to the beach.

There were even more signs about stuff you'd better not even think of doing but the pictures came out too blurry.  I think my poor point and shoot camera is starting to go.

Wilmette is also very particular about businesses, signs, etc.  This is what a Starbucks looks like in Wilmette.

Do not even think about opening a Walmart or Target or McDonalds in Wilmette.  Though maybe it's a good thing that there are some places somewhere that don't have a Walmart or a McDonalds.

Today's big family drama was all about timeshares.  My grandfather bought a bunch of weeks of timeshares up in northern Wisconsin during times of the year that no one in their right mind would want to go to northern Wisconsin.  Like in February or the end of November or I don't even know when.  And the maintenance fees on these weeks . . .  yikes is all I have to say.  Nobody in the family wants to inherit the timeshares and pay the maintenance fees and go to northern Wisconsin, well, ever, let alone in February.  You cannot even give these weeks away and we know because my aunt tried.  She gave away 2 of the weeks that weren't in February but the others?  No way.  And the other aunt is telling me I'm going to eventually be responsible for my share of the maintenance fees even though I haven't been to northern Wisconsin in 20 years or so and I argued vehemently against buying the timeshare back in the 70's.  Because even as a teenager I could see this was a bad idea.  But my grandfather fancied himself a genius investor and I was just a dumb teenage girl.

Anyway, after much searching for 35 year old pieces of paperwork and going around in circles about this and freaking out by me because I'm having enough trouble right now with my own mortgage let alone property that I don't even want and why on earth would I ever go to northern Wisconsin in February and good gravy people, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.  So I googled and according to the internets I don't have to inherit anything I don't want to, especially not timeshares with ridiculous maintenance fees in the frozen tundra no matter what sort of genius agreement my grandfather entered into.  Now I know googling in the internets is maybe not as good as consulting a lawyer but since we can't find the paperwork that the lawyer needs I'm going to assume the internets knows what it's talking about.  Unless any of you would like a free week or three in the frozen tundra.

Two more days.  I wonder what adventure awaits tomorrow.

A small tour of Chicago

I don't usually take pictures of the city during my trips home. For one thing I have a lot of photos that I took back in the day when I lived there. They're film of course and maybe one of these days I'll scan them and share them here but yeah probably not, mostly because I'm not so sure there's anybody interested in them. Anyway, I took a few photos this time around with the point and shoot. I can't go very far from my grandmother's suburban house these days because the main point of my trip is to visit her. But I did manage a trip into the city to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Tecalitlan. It's on Chicago Ave. between Ashland and Damen and if you're ever visiting Chicago or you live there then you should go. But shhh, don't tell my grandmother I parked her car in that neighborhood. It's not exactly the 'hood, well o.k., maybe a little bit of a dumpy area but it's not that bad and I've never had a problem except for that one time and really nothing bad happened in the end. And if you happen to do a google search and see the thing about the health inspection closure do not fear, they passed their inspection a couple weeks later. Now it is probably even safer to eat there. At least that's what I tell myself. You can look up at the ceiling and enjoy these views while you're stuffing your face with the world's largest, bestest avocado burrito.  The iconic Alcala's Western Wear is across the street and down the block a bit. I'm not sure who wears Western Wear in Chicago but if you're in need of a cowboy hat and chaps this is your place. O.k., maybe I have seen guys in Chicago wearing a cowboy hat and chaps but that's a different neighborhood. It was dark for the photos, thank you Daylight Savings Time. The lakefront path in Evanston/Northwestern University is only 15 minutes or so away so I go there often on my trips to Wilmette. It's a great place to walk and clear my head and maybe stop at the dog beach for some doggy therapy. Chicago skyline from the south point at Northwestern University. Sometimes it's hard to explain the vastness of Lake Michigan to people who've never been there. It may as well be an ocean. Grosse Point Lighthouse. I'm sure I've been in it and you can go in it too if that kind of thing floats your boat. I like this shot because to the right you can see the top of the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette peeking up above the trees and the lighthouse to the left. There are only 7 Baha'i Temples in the world and they're all different. Kind of weird that one of them is in my hometown. It's a beautiful, amazing place, one of these days I'll post some pictures of it. Here's a link to a video showing some nice shots of it in the meantime. What did we ever do before Youtube? That's all I got for now. Maybe one of these years I'll post some of my old photos or even go into the city and take some new ones. I'm home now, so so happy to be home. You should have seen the greeting I got, especially from Strummer. I thought the poor guy's brain was going to explode.