Saturday (September 12th) was our last day in Chicago for the Wedding Weekend. James came over to the apartment, and we all headed to Jury’s restaurant. According to Shannon and Jo, Jury’s is well known for their burgers, and Shannon likes it because they are a rare place that sells hard cider (which he likes). It was a very pretty day, so we sat out on the deck in the back of the restaurant. Fair Irish Maine boys sat in the shade and were thus comfortable – most of the deck was shaded, happily. The burgers were quite good, and it was a very pleasant lunch.

Shannon and Jo decided that we had to try a nearby ice cream place for dessert, so we wandered over to Drew’s. Drew’s makes all-natural ice cream. I got a brownie with ice cream on it, and it was quite good, but if I go back, I’m going to get what Shannon got – an ice cream cookie sandwich. His looked really good.

By this point it was early afternoon, so Mer and I decided we should go. I wanted to stop by Mom and Marc’s place in Michigan for a few hours, and then try to make it to eastern Michigan to see our good friend Ellen. Staying with Ellen would make the Sunday drive home much shorter, and we would probably even get to go to church with her. I had hoped we would be on the road at 1:00, but it was a little after 2:00 when we left. We gave James a lift since we were going right by the University of Chicago area.

We got to Mom and Marc’s place about 5:30 (because of the time difference), and Mom and Marc and Kelly and Paul were just getting ready to sit down to a dinner of ribs and corn and other good stuff. Mom and Marc insisted they had enough and so asked us to eat with them, which we were quite happy to do. We ate too much, and got to chat for about an hour and a half, at which point I felt we needed to leave to have any chance of catching Ellen awake. We went out to the car and started to pull out when a flock of turkeys came wandering out. I had never seen wild turkeys before, plus they were wandering right in the road, so we stopped the car and got out and watched. They were funny little birds. They also delayed us another 25 minutes or so, so it was about 8:00 when we left Mom’s. It had been my original plan to be at Ellen’s at 8:00, but we were delayed in Chicago and I had spaced on the hour time difference. Ooops. And no, I had never told Ellen we were coming – I love surprising people. It does carry some risks though.

Ever the optimist, I was determined to drive to Ellen’s in the hope that we would get there about 9:30 and she would still be up. We made decent time, but it was almost 10:00 when we pulled into her driveway, and her entire downstairs was dark. However, there was an upstairs light on, so I tried knocking and ringing the doorbell. Mer felt as if we were probably going to wake her, and wanted to leave, but I at least tried calling information for Ellen’s number. Sadly, her number is not listed, at least not in Michigan. So, feeling a bit foolish about my bad planning, Mer and I wrote Ellen a note and stuck it on her car under the windshield wiper. We then proceeded to drive the rest of the way home, and got home about 1:00 or so. We later found out that Ellen had been awake watching a movie, and thought she may have heard a doorbell, but figured if it was a friend she would get a cell phone call. She clearly mistakes me for someone with the brains to have my iPod with me for all of my numbers.

We would have loved to stay with Mom and company or to see Ellen, but getting home late Saturday/early Sunday did allow us to sleep in and have a very mellow day instead of spending a good chunk of it on the road. Next time though, I won’t be such a turkey – I’ll bring my phone numbers along.

Friday of the wedding weekend (September 11th) was an all-tourist kind of day. Jolene had to work (sad), so that left me and Mer to be touristy, with Shannon leading the way. To get the day started off right, Shannon and I ran up to the Skokie Sculpture Park and park and back, a run of about 6 miles or so. It was fairly gratifying that I was clearly in better shape than Shannon, which is often not the case. Shannon is an avid biker, but had not gotten to ride much over the summer, and I was two weeks away from a marathon, so I was in pretty good shape.

After we showered and got ready, we headed over to Ann Sather’s Restaurant for breakfast. Mer and I love this restaurant for breakfast – they have huge and very good cinnamon rolls that we quite enjoy. We always walk to the restaurant from Shannon’s place, a walk of about 2-3 miles. It is fun to see the city neighborhoods, and we always go along back streets to get to see houses and buildings. We do this even when we visit Chicago in the winter. It whets the appetite.

After we got done with breakfast, we decided it would be fun to go downtown and see a few sights, especially the sights that had changed in the 8+ years since we’ve lived in Chicago. Shannon works for the Art Institute, so that seemed a great place to start. Shannon was able to get us into the staff area of the building to meet a couple of curators of whom Shannon is very fond. They were very nice and funny women, and specialized in ancient art. On the recommendation of the curators, we then went to see an ancient falcon sculpture that looks as if it could have been right out of the Art Deco period. We also wandered through some of the 16th and 17th century rooms of paintings to see a few paintings that are very famous and/or that Shannon and Jo like.

The main attraction Shannon wanted us to see in our limited time at the Art Institute was the new modern wing. It is beautiful. I think Shannon said it was $300 million, and it looks like it. It has wooden floors, large ceilings, huge windows that look over the city, and the art is laid out in a logical (and not crowded) manner. Much of the art we blew by, but Shannon did want us to see some of the views of the city which happen to be near art that does not pass the Matt Test (the “could I have made it?” test), and thus the art made me angry. Still, much of the modern art was at least okay, and the views of the city are fantastic.

The new wing has a new restaurant and patio that looks over the park and the city, and also has a pedestrian bridge into Millennium Park. This is a great space. While we were looking at the city and having our picture taken, a woman was being filmed next to us for some kind of Chicago-based TV show. We then wandered down the bridge (which also has wonderful views of the city) into Millennium Park.

Millennium Park is a wonderful addition to the city. It has a lot of space, and the outdoor auditorium is really cool. They have planted walking gardens and new hedges that will take 20 years to grow to maturity. There is a cool winding bridge that connects the park to the shoreline. There is a small artificial stream that runs through part of the park, and several business people were eating lunch beside it or dangling their feet in it. Mer and I dangled our feet in the stream, and it was really cold! Shannon talked to a local guide who said the stream mirrors the original Lake Michigan shoreline, which is neat (the current shoreline is probably 3/4 of a mile away from the park). We wandered over by the sculpture called “The Bean,” which has become a Chicago icon and is strangely fascinating. The park’s fountain/square was working, to the delight of many children, but the large signs on either side that usually show faces that spit water at the kids were turned off. There was also a small display of Chinese sculpture near the fountain, including a metal dinosaur.

We were hot, so we stopped by a smoothie bar. Mer got water, but I was happy to get a strawberry concoction. We then jumped on the El to go back to the apartment, but got off a stop or two early to get ice cream at a place Shannon recommended. It was quite good. We then walked to the apartment, where Jo met up with us. It was a good afternoon, and the evening was still ahead.

We all piled in Jo’s car to head out to dinner and a show. We ate near the theater we were going to, at a local Italian chain called Leona’s. Mer and I are very fond of Leona’s as well, having eaten there quite a bit when we lived in Chicago. Sadly, this night, the food was slow in coming, and Mer’s food came out last and late, so she did not have much time to eat it. We did make it to the nearby theater in time, but it was not the leisurely sort of meal we like to have.

Shannon and Jo treated us to a play called The Night Season, which is a play about an Irish family. It was about a father (often drunk), his three daughters, an elderly (and slightly crazy) grandmother, an American actor who stays with the family, and one of the daughter’s former boyfriends. The theater was very intimate, with the stage only about 10 feet away. The audience was fairly small (about 25 people). The actors did a fine job in acting their roles. I enjoyed the play, and found it compelling, but it mostly just told a story. There is certainly nothing wrong with telling a good story, but the play did not leave me thinking too deeply about it when I left. Still, I do enjoy theater and it was excellent storytelling, so I had a very good time.

Not a bad little day in Chicago.

Sorry for the lag in blogging once again – I was sick for about 18 days, and then out of town for 4 days, so much of October’s planned blogging got put on the back burner. I certainly needed to mention this entry, though – it was 18 years in the making.

Back in early August, I got an e-mail from Mom that had a subject of “Wedding.” I figured a cousin or someone was getting married and Mom wanted me to know. I was rather happily surprised when I opened the e-mail and found out that Mom and her long-time (and long-suffering) other half, Marc, were getting married on September 10th. She said she would understand if I could not be there with the start of school and all, but that was just silly. I would not have missed this wedding for the world. I love weddings, and I like Marc very much, and it’s my Mom – c’mon!

Meredith and I got permission to miss school both Thursday and Friday of that week in September, and we made our way out to Chicago after school on Wednesday the 9th. It was uneventful, with the highlight being the traditional stop at Dairy Queen near South Bend. We got to Shannon and Jo’s place late, but stayed up to see Shannon’s excellent DVD slide show of the pictures of their summer trip to Maine. The pictures were quite fantastic, and Shannon chose some fun music to go along with the pictures.

Thursday came about and we spent much of the morning puttering. Shannon made brunch (French toast) while Jo ran errands. We all took our turns in the sole bathroom in the apartment, and got spiffed up and headed down to the University of Chicago with Jo driving. We got there in plenty of time, and only a few people were there yet.

The small chapel that Mom and Mar chose was beautiful. It could only hold about 50-60 people, but the seats were carved wood, the stone was classic gray, and the altar was backed by a giant stained glass window. It was a great venue. The place started filling up, and finally we got word that Mom and Marc had arrived. We went outside to say hey, and escorted them in a side door so Marc could go to the front of the chapel and Mom could go to the foyer.

Mom went to great lengths to make sure her children were involved in her wedding. Shannon and I got to walk Mom in (a task I apparently sucked at – Shannon and I went at different speeds with me going faster, so Mom got kind of cockeyed). Kelly got to be the Matron of Honor (I’m sure she’ll be happy with her being called “Matron”). Jolene and Meredith got to read poems; Jolene read a poem by Maya Angelou that Mom had requested. Meredith read three sonnets (Shakespeare, Barrett Browning, and ee cummings) and (at my suggestion) a poem about husbands by Ogden Nash (he he!). The officiating bishop did a great job of officiating a dignified service, while still having a few moments of levity that showed how well he knew Mom and Marc. I was very pleased at the liturgy of the service – I’m not sure what one it was, but it was very sound from a Christian perspective.

Marc seemed nervous – that made me smile. Marc is usually very much in control and usually very quick to help with the levity of a gathering. His being nervous was wonderfully honest, and it was a nice testament to his feelings. Mom looked very elegant in a simple blue dress, and the space was small enough that the service was easy to hear.

The service lasted about 30 minutes, and then we all went outside to chat. The World’s Cutest Niece was quite happy to be playing with a balloon of a butterfly, and the Wold’s Cutest Nephew was very well behaved in his car/travel seat. It was good to see Kelly and Paul and the family – we do not get to see them so much as we get to see Shannon and Jo and Mom and Marc.

  After some pictures were taken (I actually did not take any during the ceremony since I was in it), we dispersed to go to a nearby Mediterranean restaurant that Mom and Marc had reserved. As an aside, when I got out of the car in my suit and fedora, a man outside the restaurant told me I looked as if I was a magazine cover. That made me very pleased. Not surprisingly, the restaurant’s food was ample and excellent, and was served up in four courses. Mom and Marc do know food, and I was happy to share in their good taste.

  After an excellent meal and some visiting with people, we headed out to the car to head northward. We were going back to Shannon and Jo’s. Mom and Marc and Kelly and Paul and family, as well as a few others, were headed to Mom and Marc’s apartment nearby. Mom and company were planning on heading to the Michigan home the next day, but we decided that we get to Chicago so rarely that we would stay in the city for a couple of days to see a few sights.

It was very much a lovely wedding, worth waiting 18 years for.

Thursday, Aug. 6th, was our last day in Amish Country, at least this time around. We slept in and packed everything up and made sure the cabin was in decent shape. Once everything was okay, we headed over to the town of Berlin, where we headed over to The Farmstead for brunch. We again avoided the buffet that every restaurant seemed to try to throw at us, and ordered single meals. It was a good restaurant, and I hope to get it on the Amish Country rotation.

After brunch, we drove over to a local furniture store. The two men in the store, who appeared to be in their 30s, were speaking Pennsylvania Dutch when we came in, and they continued to switch effortlessly between Pennsylvania Dutch and English while where we there, depending on who they were speaking to. Both men were very friendly, and we spent quite awhile lusting after beautiful wood furniture that was very reasonably priced. The owners also told us that we needed to head out to a local farm (near Miller’s Bakery) and get a “fry pie.” It turns out that a fry pie is the perfect way to get your fruit. The Amish take a fruit spread, like strawberry, wrap it in a pie crust, deep fry it, and coat it in a glaze. Wow, were they good.

We took the men up on their recommendation and went out to the farm. The fry pies were as good as advertised, and there were lots of other wonderful baked goods available as well (of course). We wandered around the yard a bit after we had our food, and we looked at the various animals.

We then pointed the car homeward, although I wanted to make one more stop. There is a store near Berlin that is advertised as a forge and iron works. It turns out the actual forge is in Pennsylvania, and this is a retail outlet, but it was still fun to look at the various metal pieces. While Mer was in the bathroom, I bought her a pair of earrings (with cats on them). And because this was Amish country, the earrings got me a coupon for a free piece of pie at an Amish bakery on the way home. We decided that Amish country was now aggressively flinging food at us wherever we went, and so we saved the coupon for another day.

Keep in mind that we were in Amish country for only ten possible meals, and we skipped three of them. In a little over 50 hours in food central, we both managed to pack on 10 pounds each (which we have since both managed to take off). On our 11th anniversary, there was just more of us to love!