My Quirky Summer Bucket List

Summertime, ah Summertime!

It's my favorite season, but it is too brief for my tastes. With deliberation I try to make the most of the fleeting days and evenings. Each summer has its "must do's" as far as a Bucket List: concerts in the park, ice cream outings, trips to the lake, eating al fresco, neighborhood walks, joining the Summer Reading Club at the library, celebrating five family birthdays, and so on.

 

But, this year I am pumping up the list with quirkiness and a bit of the unusual.

 

Like loading up the car with three adults and three kids and going to IKEA.

That's really on the side of what-are-they-thinking? That means three car seats with an adult in the middle of the back seat on patrol. Me.

Walking to the destination.

 

Getting TO the destination was the fun part.  To my right (in the car) sits the little guy who is obsessed with the word "hat" and likes things placed on his head accordingly.  He also consumed a whole lot of Cheerios.

 

To my left : the Little Miss who didn't want to share her books,

obsessed over crayons, markers and coloring in general.

 

Did you notice neither were smiling?  

 

In back of me, the oldest of the pack.

Chattable should have been her middle name!

 

And finally we were inside.  The beauty of IKEA for Miss E?

She's finally old enough to go to the play area by herself while the rest of us shopped.

 

The kid's play area is a big hit for all three Munchkins.

Then it was time for lunch. Junior John (Kaden) was all about wearing his food on his face and in his hair.

There was a lot of action at our table!  And two pretty terrific Moms who know how to handle it.

 

Our outing only lasted under two hours, but it was well worth all the fun.

As for me, being with the kids and their energy was the best excuse for not ending up with much in my shopping cart. The trip home was much quieter, too.

 

As the summer progresses, I will be sharing some more of my quirky Bucket List adventures.

Like how we put on a variety show at the City Nest that included hula dancing and the room curtain falling down and someone getting bopped in the head by it!  What a wild life I'm leading as a retiree!

Aloha! Mahalo!

Though it has been two weeks since I returned from my trip to Hawaii, I am so trying to keep the memories close and fresh.  Many have wondered what I was doing there and where was Wes?  Trip purpose:  to see my longtime dear friend, Carol, as she and her husband are six month temporary residents on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Wes stayed behind, nose-to-the-grindstone, to hold up the home front lifestyle in snowy, cold Chicago.  

Carol was the perfect host, tour guide, adventurer and goodwill ambassador.  I saw more places than many island residents and visitors have ever experienced!  We made it around the circumference of the island with its many diverse landscapes: craggy beaches, sandy beaches (with even a nude beach---and no we didn't), through rain forests, deserts (and desserts-yum!), through historic landmarks and Volcanoes National Park, through farmers markets and art galleries, through resorts and the opposite of resorts....it was simply fantastic what we saw and did!  Now this is my favorite of all the islands!

Carol even managed to be my rescuer as I was stuck in the strong currents while snorkeling.

The beauty on this island is something to behold. After a winter of gray and white, the colors of the flowers especially popped. Never before have pinks seemed so perky, reds more brilliant, yellows more sunny and so on.

With two active volcanoes on the island there's a lot of lava - and black sand evidences of it on some of the beaches.

But what really did me in was seeing homes being built upon the endless (previous) lava flows- too black, hot and desolate for my tastes....the blue sky really helps, though.

Let's get back to the black sand on the beach!!

Carol is the one with the tanned tootsies.

Our time just sped by and it was one of my favorite vacations ever. Pictures and words could keep flowing for a long, long time on this blog.  Unfortunately I am having current difficulties with my old computer limping along as I embark.  (Perhaps a renewal vacation in Hawaii could do "her" a bit of good, too!) So I will  close with a favorite memory picture and the Hawaiian word for Thank You going out to Carol and Mark in Hawaii presently:

M A H A L O !

Mrs. Brown and Istanbul

Three art class friends: Dave "Les" Johnson, me, Don "TB" Johnson circa 1975. Note the book to the right of Don!

There's a college teacher from my past that I wish I could go back to thank for her wonderful intro to Constantinople /Istanbul.  Mrs. Brown was an adjunct in the Art Department at North Park College who taught Art History;  world traveller extraordinaire. She changed the way I thought about history by way of passion for the art that was created during the making of history.

This was our textbook.
Never before did I actually wear out a textbook!

Imagine my delight in seeing some of the places I had studied in this textbook while on our recent trip to Istanbul:

Like Haghia Sophia (Ayasofya) "The Church of Holy Wisdom"
It is more than 1,400 years old with a long history including a devastating fire, earthquakes and a tenure as a mosque.

 
The interior Of Haghia Sophia is breath-taking.

A

Again I will refer to my textbook for another look at the treasures inside:

The mosaics.
Many were uncovered only in recent years.

Mrs. Brown also taught us about the Basilica Cistern nearby dating from the reign of Justinian 1 in the 6th century.

A marble Medusa head is one of two column bases in the cistern.  She's upside down...how did that happen?

Finally, I take you to to the Hippodrome. Here in the heart of the Byzantine city of Constantinople a gigantic stadium was laid out by Emperor Septimus Severus during the rebuilding of the city in 3rd century BC. It is thought that the stadium held up to 100,000 people; the road running around the square seems to follow a track made for chariot racing. Now little remains of the Hippodrome glory and splendor (and horror) except for the Egyptian Obelisk, the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus and base of the Serpentine Column.

Here Leonardo stands at the base of the Hippodrome. It is believed that this carved monument

 

is only 1/3 of its original height.

Forever I will be grateful to Mrs. Brown for introducing me to the history of art.
If you know anything about her - including her first name- please let me know.
She is not to be found in any of my yearbooks.  Or in a Google search.

Here seems to be the only place to give a huge THANK YOU for the
difference she made in my life! 

Make Room for a Sister Birthday Celebration!

 My Sis is a year older (and wiser, no doubt) and we have celebrated another themed event!

This year she had to try to put the pieces together as to what that theme would be by these two clues:

#1

The (Walker Brothers) Original Pancake House in Wilmette

 We went there for breakfast on Friday morning.  She had never been there before and really seemed

to enjoy the ambiance and cuisine.  From the outside this restaurant doesn't look like anything

special, but inside it has wonderful stained glass (vintage) windows and lighting fixtures.

 Here she is taking a picture of her Dutch Baby...yum!

Being sisters, we both ordered the same thing.

Served with fresh lemon wedges and powdered sugar = perfection.

The next stop in the birthday quest is going to the theater to see this

 quirky movie:

#2

I think she was getting concerned with the theme by this point...but I assured her that concerns about it being about a walker were unfounded.  That wouldn't have been very nice, would it?

We enjoyed the movie and headed home with her gifts in the trunk.  She was starting to put two and two together that the theme had something to do with houses/places to live.

The inspiration for this theme was actually found in the December 2013

Reader's Digest Magazine in an article titled,

"10 Rooms You Should Have in Your House of Life"

(Thanks, Marti for your big part in finding and finessing this into reality!!)

For a link to the article click here:

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/10-rooms-that-should-be-in-the-house-of-life

This article really gets at the heart with "rooms" of art, letters, music, religion, sentiment,

sports, food, children, work and outdoors. 

10 rooms meant 10 stitching projects!  These are actually little 4 inch pockets to

tuck clues of the gift to come on top of the packages.

Some of the gifts are serious and others are just downright goofy like the bug-zapper racket (outdoors "room") or the vintage poodle-to-crochet-and-slip-over-a-pop-bottle kit ("work" room).

The greenish hat towards the top is for the "sentimental" room and is made from 

one of Mom's sweaters.

That poodle sure looks like a lot of work, Sis!  

Luckily, you made one before so it should come right back to you...even if it was

 maybe some 50+ years ago???And I'm sorry I mauled it while you were in school...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Sweet, Sweet Instanbul

Yes, this is the menu and it consists of ONLY sweets!

When you want to go out for a sweet treat at any time of the day and you find an entire book menu filled with tempting treats, you must be in Istanbul! 

Just for fun, I took pictures of some of the choices one has to make: be prepared to have eyes bugging and mouth watering!

 

Baklava (with all sorts of variations, even chocolate)!

Flan!

Cakes!

Puddings!

Ice cream!

 Profiteroles!

Pastries! 

Fruit tarts!

Cheesecakes!

The hardest part is choosing only one and which one.

The easiest part is being with friends who like to eat sweets as much as you do.

 

L to R:  Brenda, Chris, Rhiannon, Wes, Leonardo

 

Wes and I also managed to find time to go for Turkish "Fika" a time or two on our own.

At this place we shared the best dessert EVER...a profiterole (puff pastry with cream inside)

submerged in a bowl of chocolate pudding with chocolate morsels suspended in the chocolate mix.

With shaved chocolate curls on the top.  Chopped pistaschios, too.

Heaven!

In the background you see Turkish tea to be enjoyed with the treat.  We brought back a set of these

glasses and base plates as a way to remember our time in Istanbul.

And, I have to figure out a way to replicate this pudding treat!!!!