Million Dollar View

My job takes me a variety of places. Most are what could be termed "usual"; a house, a business, a building. Occasionally, I find myself in some place different. Such was the case a couple months ago.

The City of Chicago is a big land mass. If you live "in the city", you generally reference where you live by the neighborhood. In November of last year, the magazine Mental Floss, published an article explaining how the various Chicago neighborhoods got their nicknames. It's worth a read to see how much of a melting pot Chicago was and still is.

The job I had to do took me to the tony "Gold Coast" area, so named for the rich members of Chicago society settling here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I had to inspect parts of a building around a remodel. The area to be remodeled sold, a few years back for over 5 million dollars. You read that right. Five MILLION dollars. It's 5500 square feet in a building that dates to the 1930's. The elevators are tiny, tiny and parking is, well, almost non-existent. There is a reciprocal agreement with adjacent buildings for condo owners in this building to park "overflow" vehicles for a monthly fee. I don't know what "overflow" actually means.

What would compel someone to toss that amount of money at a condo? Well, you're steps off Michigan Avenue, although I don't know where a grocery store is. If you bought a new sofa, I'm not exactly sure how they would get it into your home, given the dimensions of the elevators. And although I see why the current owners are doing a remodel of the space for which they paid millions, the sheer movement of old material out and new material in is going to be a headache for the construction company. Why would you spend that kind of money?

Perhaps it's the view.

This particular building, once you got above the 9th floor had unobstructed views of Lake Michigan.

There was a bit to the east, but more to the northeast and north.

Is this a million dollar view? I don't know. It was cool the day I was there. The windows had deep sills where you could put pillows and sit and read while looking out over a large expanse of water. But I wonder how I would feel about night.

One of the attractions of a city like Chicago is how it looks at night. There's an almost Christmas quality to the city, with all the lights. I am, also, a big fan of dark skies, mainly because I love to look up and see stars. Do you get that with a view like this or do you simply get the mass of black, black gray, gray, and blue black which comes with night in the city.

On the day I was there, the view was lovely, not impressive, but lovely. The lake is always in motion; some times more active than other times. It would be ever changing. For my money, it's not worth millions to watch it. What do you think?

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Morning and Evening

Here are a couple more shots of Chicago on my travels. This was sunrise last week as I headed north to a job. For those not in the know, this is looking out at Lake Michigan from near the intersection of the lake and the Chicago River.

I wish I could get a photo of the sunlight reflected off the condo buildings on the north side of the river. They look edged in gold leaf.

Here is a photo taken a couple weeks ago from Navy Pier.

One of my best friends, Terry, was in town to do a show at McCormick Place, a behemoth of a convention center south of downtown proper. I drove in to pick her up and go get supper. I decided Navy Pier, which juts into the lake, would be a good place; a variety of restaurants and ample parking.

When I picked her up, it was a lovely 70 degrees and sunny. She was staying at a hotel to the left of the buildings on the left side of the photo. It would be a 15 minute drive north to Navy Pier. As we turned onto Columbus Drive to head north, the Jeep was rocked with a blast of wind. We'd had the windows down but the wind coming into the Jeep was about 10 degrees colder than the air temperature when I picked her up. The locust trees in Grant Park, bright yellow, lost a chunk of their leaves which created this yellow curtain as we drove north. The smell of fall in the Midwest was instantly upon us. As we prepared to turn right to head into Navy Pier parking, the clouds rolled in. This is the view when we came out of the parking garage to the pier. Skyscrapers in Chicago were effectively cut in two.  The predicted cold front had arrived. Although I'm afraid of heights, at a time like this, I wonder what it would be like to be in the clouds or if there was a way to be above these.

We had a lovely 2 and a half hour dinner, with very attentive service. The sky grew dark as the sun set. When we left the restaurant, the clouds had passed. I should have tried to take some photos of the night skyline; it's beautiful; but I'd neglected to bring a coat and it was downright cold.

There is a joke in this neck of the woods. "Don't like the weather? Wait 10 minutes and it will change." Yeah.

Beverage:  Black Cherry Sparkling Seltzer

Deb

I Love This Town

I don't think I could live in the city. I value my more than postage stamp lawn, although I have to admit that it's more care than I can do right now. But when I have to go into the city, as I did in July to take the above photo, or last week, this town has a beauty I enjoy. Even though I don't partake of all it has to offer, and it has a lot of free stuff, just knowing I could is good enough for me.

Of course, getting there can be an exercise in supreme patience.

It's 7:05 a.m. and the Eisenhower Expressway going into the city is a parking lot. It's not any better to the left leaving the city. It used to be that going in didn't get "bad" until 7:15. Now, if you have to be somewhere in the city by 8, you best leave at 6:15 to be sure you get there on time. Still, when the skyline comes into view, it's so distinctive.

It doesn't matter that I've moved exactly one and a half football fields from the previous photo and it's 20 minutes later.

We're working in one of Chicago's oldest neighborhood called "Uptown". For many, many years, this was the end of the elevated streetcar line. Wealthy Chicagoans bought up the land and built large homes in the area and it was, if you can believe it, a vacation destination for those living in the city proper. Gradually, the city overtook the area. It's now not the nicest place to be. The grand old houses were torn down and the land used for apartments. Or the homes were converted into apartments which have long ago lost their sheen.

Neighborhoods come and go with the rise and fall of the merchants around them. There is a branch of Harper College here which provides a captive populace for those business owners, mainly restaurants, to eek out a living. Infrastructure improvements, including quirky bike racks, help make getting around the area easier.

One of the biggest projects is to completely redo the elevated line and its attendant station. There is a lot of history contained in the buildings.

The "glory" days of the neighborhood were in the 1920's-1930's when most of these buildings with the terracotta trim were erected. A lot of renovation and demolition has happened in the intervening years. Sometimes things were saved. Most of the time, they were not. The terracotta on this building, which is slated for demolition, will be removed and saved. The building behind the terracotta is not structurally sound anymore. The pigeon will have to find other digs.

In some cases, building owners understood the value of keeping the architectural details.

This is an example. I really like how the owners have maintained the colored terracotta features. It doesn't work for every building, but where it can be saved and preserved, it's beauty enlivens a neighborhood. This is an apartment building from the 1940's.

I finished my job and headed home.

Heading south on Lake Shore Drive gives you another view of the city part of Chicago. The John Hancock building, visible here, is not visible when you're coming in on the Eisenhower. That's the Sears, no Willis Tower you see coming in from the west. The two are too far apart to get into a small photo at these distances.

On a day like this, the best view was the one out my window looking east.

I don't have anything to compare this with. I have very little experience with the ocean so I don't know if it ever looks this blue green. The boats are inside the break waters so that area does not have waves. It was so incredibly placid and still. The big boat is The Tall Ship Windy which can be rented out for private parties.

Even when I curse my luck of having to drive in on a hot summer day when traffic ceases to move at 7:10 in the morning, they are the images that make me happy to live here.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

It Can Be Lunch, Photo 11

It feels like I'm meeting myself coming through the door. While some aspects of what I do have changed in the 14 years I've done it, some things, such as hands on customer service have not changed.

This year, starting in January, there's been more hands on required. My boss said it's like there's this pent up demand for all things building. The recession hit Chicagoland, but not as badly as it did other places. I don't know why, but we managed to weather the downturn decently. It wasn't easy, but we did it.

Now, we find ourselves with phone call after phone call asking for our hands on services. It's meant a lot of time in the car for everyone, even me. Last month I went to Iowa and Wisconsin. This month, it's so far just been around Chicagoland, but there is the potential for another trip overnight somewhere to provide services.

I tend to eat better if I am forced to find lunch rather than scrounge the inner shelves of the fridge. I've been so tired at night that supper tends toward cereal or a peanut butter sandwich, neither of which produce leftovers. Yet, I know where there are really good salads and I rarely eat hamburgers on the road. The offerings around the office are very good and lunch can be the best meal of the day for me, unless it's 11:45 and I'm in the city and heading back to the office.

Such was my dilemma on Friday. I was in the city. It was a gorgeous day to be in the city, even if I was working.

The 98% ice on Lake Michigan is gone, thankfully. The sky was clear and there was a wind out of the south, carrying the warmth from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the shores of the Great Lakes. I had hoped to stop and take photos of this spring beauty but I had to get back to the office. There was no time to gawk, no time to marvel, no time to sit and be.

I needed gas, but in the city, there is no such thing as "cheap" gas. In the last two days, I've seen prices climb 20 cents and I'm not sure why. I probably could have made it back to the office, but why chance it. There was a station next to the job I was at so I put a bit in the car and got myself a soda and a candy bar. There would be no time for lunch today. I had work to finish on deadline. I had to be back. And, as tired as I was, the caffeine and sugar in these products would keep me going just enough to get home and a ham and cheese sandwich and sliced fruit.

Actually, I just needed a bit to take the edge off, so to speak. It was so wonderful out that I didn't notice I was hungry until I got home and collapsed in a heap in the recliner. Some days, soda and a candy bar are it. That can be all you have time for. Yesterday, I probably could have gone without and just lived off the day.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

It's Just Rotten

Perhaps you have seen this image taken from the space station.

It's been in the news a lot in the last couple of weeks. To the left is Lake Superior to the right is Lake Ontario. In the middle, almost completely obscured are Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie. Around here, a big deal has been made of Lake Michigan being 90% covered in ice. The Coast Guard has had one of their biggest ice breakers in the far southern tip of the lake, breaking the ice so essential goods can travel by barge out of Chicago and Gary, Indiana harbors. Three weeks ago, a TV news crew went with them and the crew said it's one of the worst winters they have seen for lake ice. They think they get a channel cut and two days later, it's frozen again.

Here we are in March and, true to the aphorism, "In like a lion, out like a lamb", we got a heavy snowstorm on March 1st.

Yeah yeah. It's pretty, but Ive grown exceptionally tired of it. 

There is beauty in the pattern of white snow and blue shadow cast by an afternoon sun but I came down with a cold, the first heavy cold I've had in several years and this limited anything I was going to do, including shovel snow. Of course, that makes me frustrated because it needs to be moved from one location to another because it's too deep to be walked through in just shoes. I have to wear my boots and, as much as I like my boots, I'm tired of putting them on; of ear muffs, of scarves, of zippers and snaps and gloves. Just tired of winter in general. 

The weather people were quick to say that meteorological winter arrived at the end of February, all the while telling us there would be two more storms dumping snow on Chicagoland this week. As I type this, the 3 incher is outside, spitting white flakes in flurries and raging torrents. I was well enough yesterday to shovel the deck, out to the car and the front steps out to the mailbox. So much for that. 

There's nothing one can do besides yell outside when you've moved more snow, "Stop already" and know that Mother Nature is laughing. She seems more like a character from a Terry Pratchett Discworld novel this year than she ever has. I do wonder what we've done to honk her off so much that she insists winter be with us and her coat of snow covering the land for a long time. And when you're sick and the thought of moving yet another 3 inches from point A to point B makes you physically weak in the knees, you feel you will strangle another cheery weather person who says, "Well, we are in meteorological spring". Stick it where the sun don't shine. 

I spent Sunday and Monday either sleeping or in the recliner reading. The only good thing about being sick is that I'm pretty much immobile, excepting the times I need hot tea. That means my lap is not mobile. 

 That means, while I watch "Easter Parade" and then read, I have the benefit of both girls. Mija loves to flop onto my hand and gets her chin and head scratched.

Pilchard simply settles in, stretches out and goes to sleep. I haven't been coughing much with this cold so there isn't a wracking hack which would shake Pilchard and cause her to leave. Mija has always seemed scared of sneezes and coughs so she bolts when either of those occur. But, for about 2 hours, we are a happy trio.

It's rotten that there is more snow and no sign of spring. It's rotten that the current projections are that we will have a colder than normal spring because the lake is 90% frozen. It's rotten that a cold finally nailed me. Yet, when it's us, dozing in the recliner, watching the news or a lovely Fred Astair movie or just reading book number 2 for this year, we can, for a moment, set aside the next snow storm.

Beverage:  Earl Grey tea

Deb

Another reason I live here.

We've had a spate of days that make me love where I live. Fall is fast approaching and these kinds of days, where the highs are in the mid to upper 70's or low 80's and the nights are in the mid to upper 50's or low 60's, are glorious. I've been fortunate to have to be out and about.

My route on Thursday took me north and south on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.

The day was perfect with puffy clouds, a light breeze and warm temperatures. If I hadn't had so much to do, I might have considered playing hooky for an hour and just sitting by the lake.

In all the frenzy over how we came to be, how life originated, I think there is some credence to life beginning in the oceans and then coming onto land. Although there are a lot of cities and towns that spring up in an area which is a natural crossroads, I grew up near one such place, I think people gravitate to areas where there is water. It's not just that there is a convenient source of drinking water, but I think there is an affinity that's in our genes to be in the presence of water. I think we're attracted to it. We live next to water. We live on water. We play in it. We derive food from it.

I sometimes think about moving away, getting away from the hub-bub that is metropolitan life. I've remarked before about considering retiring next to the Mississippi River. There is an example of wanting to be near water. In spite of the potential for flooding, we park ourselves next to running water. It's soothing and, in the case of Lake Michigan, ever changing in view.

If I lived closer to the lake I probably would, like so many others, spend more time just being by it. I love to watch sunrises over the lake. Watching the lights of the city come on is just magical as you stand on the deck of one of the boats that offer cruises of the lake. I remember sunrises and sunsets along the Mississippi and the few times I've gone to the ocean, watching either the sunrise or the sunset over the ocean has been a highlight of the trip.

Yes, there is something about water that draws me in.

Beverage: Dr Pepper

Deb

It will make your hair messy.

It's gorgeous out, simply gorgeous. I put down the top yesterday afternoon in anticipation of today. I had to download the data from the University of Chicago project which meant a drive into the city.

Finally, a real chance to use the visor I got in Seattle at the Museum of Flight. The visor I had for the last 5 years finally creased in the middle to the point that it wasn't comfortable. I always keep the visor as you see, through winter, spring, summer and fall. That way, if the weather proves delicious, it's handy.

The sky was clear blue. No clouds. Lake Michigan was as calm as a broad expanse of water that deep can be. Sailboats were taking advantage of the day and were out on the water. The city was not obscured by haze. There was a light breeze from the south so sitting at a stop light was actually a pleasant experience.

I wore the visor into the city in the morning, but didn't need it coming out. I always think road construction is easier to take if the radio's tuned to jazz and the top is down. Yes, you can get some 'interesting' smells, but feeling the sunshine on your skin can't help but lift your mood.

I have air conditioning. Drive 65 with the windows off.

Beverage: China Black tea

Deb