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Llywindatravels 2019

~ Around the world with Two Suitcases

Llywindatravels 2019

Category Archives: Illinois

It’s August. Why are we in the Midwest?

01 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Summer, Weaather

I always tell people that Chicago is a great place to visit spring and fall, but is to be avoided in the summer, when it’s too hot and humid, and in the winter, when it’s way too cold. Why am I not following my own advice?

We spent the year until now visiting Australia–it was wonderful.

In past years, we traveled to Europe during the summer, stopped in the US in the fall to visit doctors and family, then went on to Peru for the winter. This year the schedule was upended by our time in Australia during their summer, putting us back in the US when winter hit the Southern Hemisphere, July and August here. We need to catch up with annual exams, eye doctors, and visits to family. Our doctors are all located in the Chicago area, too. Voila! We are in the midwest when it is hottest, right now, July/August.

Days have been sunny and warm, in the 80s (since the Heat Dome subsided). The sky may be completely blue, or covered with clouds. I discovered it’s difficult to photograph the sky in the suburbs–there are a lot of wires, towers, and light poles.

There are good reasons for us to be here, beyond the need for doctor visits, and despite the weather’s cooperation or lack of it. We have friends here, and are delighted to reconnect with them.

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Under the “Heat Dome”

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois

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Weather

Meteorologists must spend all their down time inventing terms for the next big climate moment. “Polar Vortex”, “Snowmageddon”, “El Diablo”, and now “Heat Dome”, are some of the more recent ones. I say this in admiration, as we all feel better when the weather changes and we know we’ve survived whatever-it-was.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/how-a-heat-dome-happens-1.5216908

Such a long walk to the car….

In the Midwest, and much of the country (I believe), it was heat combined with high humidity that made Thursday through Saturday of the past week unbearable. Whether you got up at 6 am, or stayed up until 11 pm, it always felt hot. The humidity made the atmosphere feel like a steam room, or breathing through a hot face cloth. There was no reason to go outdoors at all, unless it was to hurry to an air-conditioned car for a drive to a swimming pool or an air-conditioned building. Those days felt exceedingly loooonnnnnngggg, because there wasn’t a reason to do anything or go anywhere.

Rain poured down in heavy showers across our area late in the day on Saturday, and the heat began to abate. By Sunday morning, it was just another glorious day of summer, with the Heat Dome safely in the past. I wonder what they’ll call the next heat wave? It’s not even August yet.

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Farewell to Illinois and Hello, Summer!

21 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois, Peggy

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Our extended stay in Illinois wasn’t all we might have hoped for, after all, it included a hospital stay for Jonathan (only overnight). After all the waiting for tests, the surgery itself went smoothly and he was home and sore the next day. Now, a week later, he is largely back to normal.

 

We were able to take advantage of the last week of our stay to see the Illuminations at Morton Arboretum, an event where sections of trees at the arboretum are lit with lights that change color, move, even flash to the beat of music.

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Some of the intense colors were beautiful, and my favorite area was where selections from The Nutcracker Suite played while lights flashed in time to the music across the trees. The night was cold but not frigid and though many people said it would be prettier with snow, I was happy without it.

This was our last winter event. We took off early Monday morning for Lima and arrived ahead of schedule (!), at 9:25 pm. We stayed overnight at the Hotel Senorial, where we’ve been staying on our trips to Lima for the past 20 years. After some shopping and the annual handicrafts fair, Ruraq Maki, at the National Museum, we headed for Barranca. We watched the sunset on the longest night of the year. It wasn’t much of a sunset, but the furthest south that the sun will set for us.


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Thanksgiving in the Heartland

01 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois, Lyra, Peggy

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Midwest, Thanksgiving

The weather moderated for Thanksgiving. It was mild and pleasant, and we shared our feast with our friend Peggy and with Lyra, visiting from New York. You won’t see Lyra in any of the photos because she was sick on Thanksgiving Day, and we let her sit out the pictures.

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I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends.

For recipes, see:http://llywindarecipes.wordpress.com

 

 

 

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Inadvertent Visitors

26 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois, Peggy

≈ 3 Comments

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Gardens

We are held captive by the winds of fate, and have settled for the month of November in Wheaton, IL, our former home. When we arrived here (11/3 and 11/8 respectively), we planned to stay for a week, visit doctors, stock up on odds and ends not readily available in Peru and leave for points south. We began our stay at the home of our friend Peggy. She has the best yard anywhere.

Even in November when her army of tiny Japanese maples have lost their brilliant red leaves, there is lots to see. A few brussels sprouts and some hardy kale hang on despite the bouts of cold weather that have already passed. Arches and walkways lead to hidden nooks. The sun lights the plants and makes the leaves translucent. It is a pleasure to visit and walk through. Somehow I relax just being there.

Peggy’s garden gives me a respite from worrying about test results, delayed flights, travel insurance, waivers of change fees, plans already made that have to be changed. There’s also our lack of winter clothing beyond coats. My fingers are crossed that it doesn’t snow too soon. I remember the year we remodeled our kitchen, tearing everything out the day after Thanksgiving and piling all the debris at the side of the driveway in anticipation of the arrival of a dumpster. Two feet of snow fell the next day and it took us until February to get it cleaned up. This year the days after Thanksgiving are mild and sunny, but I know it will change soon enough.

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After ten days with Peggy we rented an apartment for the rest of the month, and another for the first two weeks of December. Are we moving back to the US? That’s not our plan, but we are waiting to get Jonathan a clear bill of health. Here’s our latest home base:

We are on the second floor, right side. The photo on the right is the view from our front door. I’ll add a few pictures of the interior the next time it is presentable.

The days are growing shorter and shorter just when we hoped to be switching hemispheres where the days are growing longer. The last time I noticed how low the sun was on the horizon, it was in Norway above the Arctic Circle in June 2016, and the sun dipped low over the horizon but never set. This is the opposite. The sun is low over the horizon until 11 and after 2pm. We have been traveling for three years and I seem to have forgotten about the short days of late fall. By 3:30 pm the afternoon is on its way out, and the sun has set by 4:30. Still, we’ve had a couple of lovely sunsets on these late afternoons.

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Here we are, making the best of a new place. There are lots of places to take a walk. The neighborhood streets yield surprises. There is a path that connects two neighborhoods where the road does not. In a corner of the cul-de-sac on one side, beside the walking path to the next street, someone has decorated their back yard with chandeliers. The glass drops are tiny wind chimes when the wind blows, prisms sparkling when the sun is out, quirky and charming.At first glance, you may not notice the decorations in the trees. Perhaps the sound makes you look again and you see all the chandeliers.

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It’s another place that can cheer you up just by being there. Who knows what else we may find as we continue to explore.

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The Invisible Week

20 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois, Lillian

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Family

I completely fell down on my obligation to the blog world during our week in Wheaton. I have almost no photos despite a very full schedule of events.

We arrived from NYC on Wednesday night, collapsing onto the soft bed provided by our good friend Peggy. Thursday, Peggy hosted a Caribbean dinner as part of our local AAUW’s Spice Routes interest group. There was a groaning board of dishes from all over the Caribbean and more than 20 participants. The program is kept to a brief period in the kitchen when each person explained the dish they brought. The rest is experimentation with knife and fork. I loved catching up with friends. (Did not take one photo.)

Our oldest daughter Amanda arrived from LA later in the evening, and the following day we went out to Dekalb to meet up with our colleagues at the NIU Anthropology Department and the Pick Museum of Anthropology at NIU. Another large group sat around O’Leary’s in Dekalb chatting about work and family. Emily and Tim brought their new baby Clara–an absolutely darling baby. (Again, not one photo.)

Bright and early on Saturday we left for Champaign to see our youngest, Lillian, and her boyfriend Neil. We shopped, took a walk, talked a lot, admired the pets (rabbit Gizmo and parakeet Green) and played Trivial Pursuit (I won!). Jonathan grilled steak and veggies and then drove back to Wheaton. We managed one picture. Hooray!

11.14.15 family champaign

 

Amanda, Lillian, Neil, & me

 

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First stop in this round of travels-LaGrange, IL

09 Saturday May 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois

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During the month of May 2015, from the day before the closing on the sale of our house until the week after Memorial Day, we are renting an apartment in a (very nice) two flat in LaGrange. We found it on Airbnb, the owners live upstairs and so far it is both comfortable and convenient.

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We have managed to put our own stamp on the extremely clean and orderly surroundings.

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All the cardboard boxes are ours. The desk has a wireless printer–a very handy amenity. There’s also a nicely equipped kitchen.

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Ghost of times past

09 Saturday May 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois

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We are out and the house is officially sold. Here are some of the photos I took before we got in the car to go to our rental house.

The kitchen without the butcher block island.

The kitchen without the butcher block island.

The study stripped of desks, book cases, chairs, pictures and a lot of miscellany.

The study stripped of desks, book cases, chairs, pictures and a lot of miscellany.

Upstairs bedroom overlooking the street where the girls used to sit on the roof.

Upstairs bedroom overlooking the street where the girls used to sit on the roof.

Small bedroom.

Small bedroom.

 

Upstairs bathroom that we completely remodeled.

Upstairs bathroom that we completely remodeled.

Upstairs hall looking east to the street.

Upstairs hall looking east to the street.

Linen closet upstairs.

Linen closet upstairs.

Master bath that we added when we moved in.

Master bath that we added when we moved in.

18th century tiles I bought in Delft the year we moved in to the house. I love the differences you can see even though they were both made from the same design template.

18th century tiles I bought in Delft the year we moved in to the house. I love the differences you can see even though they were both made from the same design template.

Back stairs leading up.

Back stairs leading up.

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Packing Up

09 Saturday May 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois

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After a year of downsizing, estate sale, and many carloads of donations, we still seem to have had every closet in the house full of miscellaneous things. To get these into our storage unit we started over, renting a slightly larger unit (10 x 15 ft) and purchasing steel shelving units, six in all. The shelves, from Home Depot, proved very easy to assemble and it took only two visits to get them up and move the contents of the smaller unit moved. From there we began adding boxes from the house.

Our pencil post bed, one of the few pieces of furniture we're putting in storage, ready to go.

Our pencil post bed, one of the few pieces of furniture we’re putting in storage, ready to go.

Last days in the kitchen.

Last days in the kitchen.

The kitchen is almost empty.

The kitchen is almost empty.

Jonathan packed the dining room and kitchen.

Jonathan packed the dining room and kitchen.

After the last furniture was donated, this is what was left.

After the last furniture was donated, this is what was left.

Annie and the movers at the bitter end, with light fading and storage unit stuffed full.

Annie and the movers at the bitter end, with light fading and storage unit stuffed full.

 

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Arriving and leaving

09 Saturday May 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Illinois

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We arrived in Wheaton on April 15, just as spring was emerging. It’s the most beautiful time of year at our house, when the flowering trees, forsythia and tulips are in bloom. How lucky we are to be here for two weeks, packing up the house in anticipation of closing on the sale May 1.

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