A Golden Lady

Many years ago, at the Printer's Row Book Fair, I stumbled upon this reproduction print.

The scan doesn't cover the sides completely but you see most of this. This print is of a photo of the Statue of the Republic and Peristyle which was in the Court of Honor at the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago beginning in May 1893, and running to October 1893. The fair was designed to honor Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas in 1492. Although the area where the fair was located was dedicated in 1892, due to construction and other issues, it wasn't opened until 1893.

The fair is known for things like the forerunner to the zipper closure, Juicy Fruit Gum, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and spray painting. Frederick Law Olmstead, America's premier landscape architect at the time, designed the 650 acres which encompassed the park. Over 700,000 people attended the fair and marveled at things like the fully electric kitchen and the world's first Ferris Wheel. That particular ride was moved north to Lincoln Park and then to the St. Louis World's Fair. After that fair, it was destroyed.

Chicago received benefits such as the land where the fair was becoming Jackson Park. The Museum of Science and Industry, one of the crown jewels of Chicago museums was, originally, The Palace of Fine Arts. The Museum gives guided tours of its building detailing its original role in the fair and the innovations which came from this event.

One of the most visible remnants of the fair can be found at Hayes Drive. I have long admired this statue.

If you notice, it bears a startling similarity to the statue at the exposition. It's supposed to. Daniel Chester French, an extremely prolific American sculptor, designed and built the original statue. The original statue at the exposition was 65 feet tall and was at the eastern edge of the fair, facing west. The current statue faces east. A pier, located behind the original, was a point of entry for many visitors. They "rode" to the fair entry, located under the arch in the top photo, on a moving sidewalk, the first of its kind. Most of the buildings at the fair were constructed with plywood and a building material called "staff", made of plaster of paris and hemp, insulated with straw. The walls were then whitewashed which gave the exposition the nickname "The White City". When the exposition was over, the buildings were torched. It was a great event in Chicago and people came from all over to watch the city within a city burn to the ground. The statue was dismantled.

The statue was supposed to represent the resilience and strength of a country that had come through a Civil War. Plus, immigrants from all over the world, were flocking to the open arms of the US. Six years previous to the fair, the Statue of Liberty had been dedicated in New York. You can see the influence of that statue in French's design.

In May of 1918, on the 40th anniversary of the fair and the 100th anniversary of Illinois becoming a state, this statue was unveiled. It's 24 feet high, of gilded bronze, and stands on a specially built pedestal. French assisted Henry Bacon in reproducing his original design. French and Bacon went on to design the Lincoln Memorial.

When I have to come to the south side of Chicago on business, I make sure my drive takes me by this statue. Chicago has a huge number of public statuary but this is my favorite. Even on overcast days, she gleams. I'm not sure what they do to keep her gilded but, whatever it is, it's a wonderful job. If you'd like to read more about this statue, go to this link. Another extremely good source of information about the exposition is Erik Larson's book, Devil in the White City. It's an extremely well-written and deeply researched story built around the fair.

Some day, I hope to redo the room where the litter boxes are and this is one of the pieces I want to frame and put on the wall. Some day.

Beverage:  Lady Gray tea

Deb

Day 21-A guilty pleasure book

This topic made me laugh. Define 'guilty pleasure'? An afternoon spent reading The Complete Calvin and Hobbes instead of doing dishes could be defined as a 'guilty pleasure', but is that what this means?

I read erotica. Some of it has been about as good as it gets. Most of it falls into the "huh", category. 'Guilty pleasure'? Not really. I haven't read anything in that genre in 15+ years.

I think my definition for the purposes of finding a book is the book is something people might snicker at if you read it in public, or something that is a bit off what people usually see you read. I couldn't find my copy of this book, but I think it fits both definitions nicely.

I love a good ghost story and the fact that these are set in the area I have adopted as my home makes them doubly good. The most recent poll I could find says that 20-25% of the population believes in ghosts. Some of the stories in this book, such as Resurrection Mary (the subject of the cover illustration), are well known but haven't happened in decades. Some, such as the spirit of Clarence Darrow appearing at the lagoon behind the Museum of Science and Industry, happen every year. You have to be in the right place at the right time.

Still, if you were reading this on the el, the famous elevated railway in Chicago, people would be bemused. You're probably reading it just out of curiosity or you're one of those punks who is going to show up at Graceland Cemetery and try to get in at night. (You can't, for the record. They have exceptional security.) It would not occur to people that you might be interested in the paranormal or that you're looking for a spine-tingling read.

This could be considered a 'pulp' book. It's just a collection of stories and the follow up book was even more so. There wasn't anything really spine-tingling. But this was a great read, nonetheless. Some night, on the night Dillinger was killed, I'd like to gather my nerves and stand by the Biograph just to see if anything happens. There's a great industry in Chicago Ghost Tours. Wanna go with me? I'm too chicken to go alone.

Beverage:  Pepsi

Deb

Summer Advertising

Two weeks ago, I was in Chicago at the University of Chicago, working. As the Bernard Mitchell Hospital is close to the university, it's not uncommon to hear their helicopter arriving or departing. During the late morning, there was a drone of an aircraft that wasn't a helicopter.

I have no idea what the banner is. East of the University is the 57th street/ Museum of Science and Industry beach along Lake Michigan. I'm sure that's where the airplane was destined. It circled the university 4 times before disappearing. Each time, it was headed from north to south and you couldn't read the banner.

We don't see these things in the suburbs. This seems to be strictly a Chicago and, more importantly, a beach thing in the summer. It's interesting to see what is deemed worthy to be hauled behind an airplane. Occasionally, you'd see sky-writing but that seems to have died out.

One thing we do see in the western suburbs are the blimps.

This is the MetLife blimp and it was out over the beaches near 47th street and Lake Shore Drive. Blimps are usually stored at the DuPage Airport which is straight west of me. I can remember seeing the Goodyear Blimp with its scrolling screen on the underside of the blimp, flying over the house at midnight. Blimps have a distinctive sound so, if you know what you're listening for, you know it's a blimp. They used to give rides when they were in town, too, but I don't know that they do anymore. I haven't heard a blimp fly over the house in a couple of years. Those are impressive since they don't fly all that high. My luck, they will fly over when I'm in the middle of a World of Warcraft raid.

Beverage: English Breakfast tea

Deb

Happy Mother's Day

A year ago, my Mother's Day present was a visit from my daughter and the man who would become her husband. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry and the Brookfield Zoo. They also cleared the front planting beds of a lot of overgrowth. It was a lovely time.

This year, well, I got home from work on Thursday and found a box on my front stoop. Now, I'm expecting a box of things but I don't think they will come in a Harry and David box. I brought it inside and, because it's a box, Mija had to check it out.

The card was in the paperwork removed from the left side. It was a gift from Carole and David. How thoughtful. It can't be their famous pears because it's not the right season for those. 

Opening it up, the first thing I found were these ice packs. Oooh. I take my lunch usually and I will, sometimes forget to put the ice pack back in the freezer for the next day. Having 3 packs will mean I can always keep my lunch chilled. The packs say "Reusable". Hey, I'm way ahead of you on that.

Next, I got to this silver bag. The card on top says, "A Cheesecake Gift For You". Cheesecake? A whole cheesecake? Well, the weight is certainly worthy of a cheesecake.

Opening that silver bag, I got to this box. It's a very nice sturdy box that may find reuse in a few weeks.

Opening that, I got to the goodies. That is a cheesecake, a full cheesecake, a full triple chocolate cheesecake. I unwrapped it and put it in the fridge to thaw. I don't know when FedEx delivered it but it was still frozen. I had to work late on Thursday, too, but it was still hard as a rock when I arrived home at 6 p.m.

Later that evening, I cut the first piece. It's kind of mangled but you can see a chocolate cookie crust, a white cheesecake layer, a milk chocolate layer and a hard ganache frosting.

Rich doesn't cover it. I, who can eat a whole bag of Oreos over a day, can only eat one piece of the size you see here. I took some over to Pam's yesterday to share with her and her husband. They agreed that this was one of the richest cheesecakes they had ever tasted. Today, I'm cutting it into pieces and wrapping each piece for lunches or dinner over this coming week. I'm hanging onto the silver bag. I'm not sure what I'll use it for but it just speaks to me that it's something I should save.

Thank you, Carole and David, for an amazing gift. I think about you with every bite.

Beverage:  Scottish Blend tea

Deb

It's a puzzle!

I have found a couple of game sites on the web I frequent where there's a lull at work. Tweeler and Big Fish Games have games in both PC and Mac format. Games have a free play mode as well as the ability to download a trial. Tweeler games free trial can be as long as 80 minutes, while Big Fish's trial is an hour. The graphics are excellent and, at $6.99 for 90% of their games, you can't really go wrong. The best part is that if you find a game you like, it sometimes is on sale at Big Fish for $2.99 as they have daily specials.

I'm partial to the time management games, where you have to accomplish so much in a given time, or the puzzle games where you move a certain number of pieces in a given time. I also like the find object games but can be frustrated when you are out of hints and can't find an object. This impedes your progress through the levels. I like the puzzle within a puzzle game where I can earn additional hints by doing other puzzles.

We were walking through the museum and reached the section about modern farming. One of the ways the museum heightens the experience is by making the floors, walls and ceilings part of the exhibit. Witness the carpet in the farm section.

Not only did I laugh at the 'holstein-ness' of the carpet but the pattern reminded me of a game where you have to align the squares to one another to create the ultimate picture.

So, if I rotate this square one turn to the right and this square one turn to the left, the one below this one has to go to the left while this square has to go to the right. No, that's not right. Let's turn this square 3 times left and this one twice right.

You folks just go on. I'll be here awhile.

Beverage: English Breakfast tea

Deb

This museum does spotlight technology.

I needed to use the little girls' room. In place of knobs and faucets, there was this. You stuck your hand under the right area and, viola, soap and warm water. No knobs. No blobs of soaps. No adjusting to get the right temperature. No trying to find the automatic on switch on one of those faucets that sits there, mocking you because the sensor is the size of a poppyseed. It's all stainless steel, so it's also easy to clean. It was one large trough.

To the right along this sink, just out of the photo was a small icon for the dryer. But someone walked in at that point and I thought they would find it odd I was taking photos of the bathroom.

After lunch and a full cup of tea, I used another restroom and saw this hand dryer.

It looks straight out of a bad sci-fi movie. In the movie, the evil scientist has taken over the museum and installed these innocent looking hand dryers. You stick your hands down into this and the two pieces clamp together. You're sucked into his laboratory where he turns you into mindless mutants following his every command.

No, it's not that cheesy. You stick your hands into the area highlighted in orange and a blast of hot air dries your hands in about 10 seconds. It doesn't sound possible, I know, because we've all been exposed to those hot air dryers that tell you to hit the button, stick your hands in the air flow, rub them around for 30 seconds until the air ends, then wipe them on your pants because they aren't dry. 10 seconds. I swear. The air wasn't uncomfortably hot. There was a lot of it and it was powerful. I think kids might have some difficulty keeping their hands in the flow as it was that strong.

In the movie, "Desperately Seeking Susan", Madonna's character uses the old style air blowers to dry herself off. You can't do that with this. The air is kept right inside the area where you stick your hands.

Yes, I'm impressed and you could jokingly say, "Doesn't take much to impress you, does it?" But what's also impressive is that these technologies make bathrooms cleaner, cutting down on paper towel waste, and reduce energy consumption. It probably costs a bundle to retrofit a public bathroom and, let's face it, if you are Macy's, Nordstrom's, Bloomingdale's and their ilk, this is not what you want your lavatories to look like, a wall of stainless steel. But in other locations where the masses go, this would be quite effective at doing what needs to be done.

In a museum spotlighting new technologies, you expect something bright and shiny everywhere.

Beverage: English Breakfast tea

Deb

Not your typical museum food.

I don't remember food at the museum being this good. I remember the museum had a Pizza Hut outlet when we were members. Finnigan's Ice Cream Parlor is still there. I remember long tables and a series of cases with packaged food. Nothing was fresh and the walls were lined with vending machines to supplement whatever you pulled from the case.

Not anymore. The vending machines have been scaled back and there was a bakery/cafe near the food court. We opted to go to the food court because there were a lot of choices.

To the left is Carole's lunch. She got mostaccioli with meat balls in marinara sauce, red devil's food cake and apple juice.

David got macaroni and cheese, rice, a chicken kebob with a dinner roll, German chocolate cake, an M&M cookie and apple juice.

Niles got a vegetarian salad which he said was pseudo-Korean, fries and a dirt cup.

If you have kids, you remember this. It's crushed Oreo cookies, chocolate pudding and gummi worms on the top.

There was so much to choose from; a deli, a grill, a pasta and pizza bar, a 'homestyle' grill as well as prepackaged food. I was torn between pasta and a deli sandwich until I saw the make your own salad. It's a selection of mixed greens, chicken, dried cranberries and crispy noodles with a Thai peanut dressing. For dessert, I had double chocolate cake, of course and hot tea.

Yeah, it's pricier than pulling something out of a freezer case, but everything was fresh and it didn't taste like it had been sitting around for 3 weeks.

The other nice thing about the food court is that school groups, and there were many today, were not eating in that space. You could take your time to browse and make a decision without worrying that some 3rd grader was going to bump your tray and send your meal flying. We had a great meal without feeling rushed. That makes all the walking worth it.

Beverage: English Breakfast Tea

Deb

5 1/2 hours on the feet, but so worth it.

I went to the Museum of Science and Industry today with my daughter, her boyfriend, David, and her friend from high school, Niles. I had not been in the museum since early in the morning in January 2009 when my company's structural engineers did a study in preparation for the redoing of the west exit. We were there before the museum opened and didn't really walk around.

This place was originally built for the World Columbian Exposition, one of the few permanent structures. Daniel Burnham had the ultimate design concept for the fair and is credited with taking the swampy south side of Chicago and creating the lagoons that are still south of the museum. There was a very small exhibit of artifacts in the museum but I remember, when we were members, on the 100th anniversary of the building and the fair, a grand exhibit of the building and how it fell into disuse until rehabilitated. It has seen a number of additions and expansions. We were able to see about half of it in the 5.5 hours we were there.

Carole and David took hundreds of photos. As I have only one memory card left, I am limited to 25. This is one of the side hallways. These planes, originals, hang above the model railroad.

One of the highlights of the museum has been the preservation of the captured U-Boat, the U505. Briefly, in the week before the D-Day invasion, Chicago native, Captain Daniel Gallery, chanced upon the U-boat near the Canary Islands. In the span of 6 minutes, Captain Gallery and the ships and airplanes under his command disabled the sub. Men boarded the vessel and prevented it from sinking. It was then towed to Bermuda where it was searched and anything that could be learned was. The capture was kept completely secret until after the war and the sub went on a tour of east coast cities. It was decommissioned after the war and Captain Gallery convinced the Navy to give it to his hometown. It was towed through the St. Lawrence Seaway and into Lake Michigan, arriving at the shore across Lake Shore Drive from the museum. In September of 1954, it was moved across Lake Shore Drive and positioned on the east side of the museum. In 1971, my family made a trip to Chicago and I remember taking a tour of the sub.

On the occasion of its 50th birthday, it was announced that the sub was in dire need of preservation. Chicago weather is not kind to outdoor artifacts. Without some sort of preservation effort, the sub would become unsafe for tours. The museum launched its biggest preservation effort ever, to move the sub into a climate controlled area. My company provided vibration monitoring for the building of the room to house the sub. I was not on this project personally other than a few things at the beginning as I had several large projects in downtown Chicago to oversee.

In April of 2004, the sub was moved from its east museum site to a north site where it was lowered into the ground. Luke, who had worked on the monitoring project, was invited to watch some of the moving of the sub so we drove down and watched the machinery creep along toward the room where the sub would rest. I had not been to the exhibit since it had opened. We did not have time to take the sub tour as we wanted to see the IMAX presentation on the Hubble Telescope.

The exhibit is incredible. There is a lot to read and take in about the sub, the technology of the day and the capture itself. We were going to go to the Art Institute today, but that was scuttled in favor of spending at least an hour just walking around this area. This is an outstanding example of preservation.

The one thing that struck me about the sub was how much the rear copies the outline of a whale. I know I have seen photos of whales with their flippers down as they glide through the water.

While it does cost a fair penny to get into the museum, it's well worth the trip and the time.

Beverage: English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Gray watch - month 2

A whole month has passed since I started blogging and a month has passed since the first "gray watch" photo was posted. Here's what my hair looks like about 30 minutes after a shower. When it dries, the gray is much less noticeable. I've also noticed that I'm thinning on top. That bothers me more than the gray as I used to have rather thick and slightly unruly hair. It's still unruly. I haven't been able to change my hairstyle in years because a change requires I spend time with it in the morning and I just don't want to do that. It's not fun for me. I can't make it look gorgeous like the stylist. I don't want to have an arsenal of equipment in the bathroom. There's not enough room as it is.

So, the guy from the dating service called me back. Somewhere in this mess to my right, is the slip of paper with his phone number on it. I need to find that and return his call. He was chuckling when he left his message. "I really like your answering machine message. Sorry I took so long to call you. I'll explain when we chat." Hokay. Optimism, Deb, optimism. Just think of this as someone with whom you can go see "Up" or take a "field trip" to that brewery in Munster, Indiana or get to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.

I cancelled my eHarmony membership. Bet you didn't know I'd even had an eHarmony membership. Yes, I know of success stories, only one actually, but that counts. I joined when they were having a "sale"; three months for $20 a month. Doesn't that seem wrong to you? A "sale" on relationships. Maybe "desperation" is my middle name.

Anyway, in the 3 months I was a member, I had almost 90 referrals. 83 of those are closed matches, meaning they were ended either by me or the guy. I have 7 open matches but I will be closing them on Tuesday. I got exactly ONE, count 'em, ONE return comment and that was from a guy who was dating and felt it polite to let me know why he wasn't interested. He did wish me luck. Yeah, whatever.

Guys my age aren't looking for women my age regardless of what they say. They want some late 20's or early 30's size 5 doe-eyed female who will worship the ground they walk on. I want a guy who will pick up after himself, knows how cook something other than a frozen pizza and reads. Is it wrong to expect he has interests I'm not presumed to share and can occupy himself without my needing to hover? Can he carry on a conversation without resorting to self-satisfied grunts, farts or intermittent scratching? I have always joked that my requirements for a guy were "walk upright and breathe". I'm less hopeful of finding a guy who does that.

To bring this back to the first topic, with gray hair on my head, I am more inclined to think that looks really do matter. It's always been said that gray hair on a man makes him look distinguished. On a woman, it makes her look old. As I embrace the gray that is me, I increasingly believe it's going to be with a cat on my lap and a cup of tea at my side and no one else in the house.

Beverage: water

Deb