I’ve had this site since 2004. quite a few years. mom used to read it, but then she didn’t open her computer so much, then she just stopped altogether. when she got a fancy new iphone she started playing some of the games that i played on my phone, and I now play on my lovely ipad.
this year we bought mom an ipad for xmas so that she’d have the fun of playing the games on a much bigger screen. i was excited about this, and hoped she’d maybe read stuff online on the ipad and maybe even check her e-mail. i also put a link to my site right there on her screen, thinking that maybe she might visit it. and then just today she said “i looked at your site and you didn’t have anything new,” kind of disappointed-sounding.
wow! you go, mom! so now she’s not only getting to play her games on a big screen, but she’s also reading this site right here! amazing.
a nice start to the new year. right now mom has a cold, which is odd for her because she never gets sick. kevin had a cold at least three if not four times already this winter, but mom is never sick. hopefully she’ll have a speedy recovery because she does not like sitting around at home.
so…more photos from 2018…my friend erica and i took a quick trip up to chicago the weekend after kevin and i got back from davenport. erica had told me about going to the christmas market before, and i said, let’s go! it was all a little last-minute, but i booked us train tickets and found a great price at the palmer house hotel.
i love the train. i love to sit and watch the world go by, i love sitting on the train.
and i love the palmer house…i stayed there once with mom and dad, maybe in 2003. they’ve done something like $270 million worth of renovation to the place and i think it’s probably been done since we were there. i remember it being pretty swanky back then, though.
we arrrived midday and headed to the christmas market which is in daley plaza. i’d pictured the xmas markets i’ve read about in the UK and around Europe, and they sounded lovely and fun and christmas-magical.
it wasn’t. do you know what’s better than going to the chicago xmas market? not going.
here’s what the crowd looked like when we got there.
it was so crammed with people that we quickly realized it’d be madness to try to squeeze into the place. and if we had gotten in we wouldn’t have been able to move. we were both repelled by the whole thing and decided to avoid it altogether.
i got across the street but erica didn’t make the light – you can just see her on the far left, in a blue coat and red hat and purse.
we decided we’d walk up michigan avenue, and headed in that direction. as we went by the chicago cultural center i remembered that somebody once told me it’s a beautiful place, so we went in.
wow, how have i never been there before? it was incredible. it’s all done by Tiffany.
it was so spectacular, and the few people in the place were mostly lying on the floor taking pictures. it was a nice contrast to be in this gorgeous serene environment after the crazy mob scene just a few blocks away. I took a few photos of the info about the place, in case you’re interested.
a close-up of the dome, with the signs of the zodiac in one of the circles. photos can’t do it justice.
there were a few different inscriptions on the walls, as well.
the building had many steps and i was determined to climb to the top floor, where i looked down at the view. there were big crowds in millenium park, and it reminded me of when kevin and i were right there at the beginning of our trip to wales in 2015. we’d taken the train from springfield and had an hours-long layover. it was really hot that day and all kinds of people were pouring towards the park, and we found out that some famous days-long concert was happening. Lollapalooza! it was crazy. and hot. but that was years ago…
erica and i walked up michigan avenue and it was fun to be in a big city and the weather wasn’t bitterly cold, but it was wall-to-wall people in a pre-xmas frenzy. we marched all the way up to water tower place, and i feel that i haven’t been there in about 20 years. that might not be right, but i remember it seeming very ritzy at the time, but now it just looked like another overly-crowded mall.
as we headed back down the avenue we stopped in front of this bank – erica thinks it’s funny that their automated information helper is called erica. i think it’d be funny if she started saying to people walking by, “hi, i’m actually erica! can i help?”
i have a few more photos of our quick trip, so more later.
ok then, happy new year,
mrs. g. hughes.