All posts by Jeff B.

Living in the City

Maggie Daley Rink Opens

Opening day for the Maggie Daley RinkIt took two years, but the Maggie Daley Ice Rink has opened.  I’ve never had this kind of experience and it was also the first time on skates for the season, all of which added up to a little uncertainty and some tentative start on ice.  The rink itself has two ups and two downs — not steep, but steep enough that if you stop skating you will  either speed up and go downhill or stop and slide backward.  Also the lane widens and narrows, and that adds up to congestion.  This rink is NOT for beginners.  Fall down or stop and you could be in big trouble.  Folks just aren’t used to skating in a variable width.  Also, like all venues, some people just want to go fast and that can lead to some pretty dicey situations, especially when it’s crowded.  The official Park District information sheet lists the capacity as 700 skaters.

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It takes the Zamboni about an hour to refinish the  surface, so when the gates open it is like the Oklahoma Land Rush.  I’m surprised that no one was injured.  After a while it thins out and the experience is much nicer.  Fortunately there are other things to do in the park while waiting for it to freeze over.

Bicycling

End of the 2014 Riding Season

End of Saeson
End of Season

You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em — not hard when you ride a Dahon Folding bicycle, but always a disappointment when the inevitable rolls around here in Chicago.  Yes, hardy cyclists ride year around but this 74-year old knows better and is also suffering from a respiratory infection that doesn’t seem to want to go away.  When it does it’s time to break out the ice skates and make winter something to look forward to for the next few months.  It helps to mix in a Caribbean cruise as well.

Here are some end of the season photos taken by my friend, Don, as we travel along the I&M Canal and Chicago River with a few of my cycling friends.  Autumn is a great time to ride, but unfortunately too short.

Don, Susan, and yours truly -- who took this?
Bundled up on a cloudy day
Jeff and Susan
Joan along the I&M north of Lemont
The group, sans Don who took the photo
Deb and Rob

[Show slideshow]

Bicycling

A Ride to Firkin’s

Day's Route

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Our route for the day consisting of two 11+ mile legs in a loop beginning and ending at Lake Forest.

The Firkin Ride Loop

Firkin’s in Libertyville is an outstanding gastro-pub with great food and a wide selection of brews to choose from.  Our group of senior cyclers took the METRA to Lake Forest and rode a few local streets (Everett Road is a white knuckle experience if traffic is heavy) but did the rest of the trip on the well marked Lake County Bicycle Trail system.  The map shows our route.

As an added benefit, my daughter and two grandchildren live nearby and were able to join us for lunch.

Ferguson Fund, Living in the City, Public Art

Ferguson Monument Fund

A few years back I enrolled in a course at Harold Washington College entitled “Public Art” and taught by Jeff Huebner.  I found it very captivating, somewhat surprisingly for an engineer like myself.  I carried around my camera and snapped pictures of just about everything.  I had no problem passing the course, which consisted of researching and writing a paper.  When I bicycle through the area with my cycling friends I act like a docent.  Even visiting tourists lend an ear.

One particular part of the course dealt with a fund started by Benjamin Franklin Ferguson, a wealthy lumber merchant who died in 1905 and left a bequest of $1,000,000 to be used for public art and administered by the Art Institute of Chicago.

This thread under the category “Ferguson Fund” will tell the story.