The Week In Review

Insalata Caprese

Spaghetti Carbonara

This has been a busy, interesting, and as usual, wonderful week at Casa Jordan. Food wise our highlights were spaghetti carbonara early in the week shared with Lee who was being a bachelor. We also lamb chops and aubergine casserole on Tuesday and finished the week with another insalata caprese with tomatoes from our garden. Oh, I didn't mention boy's night at Lee's on Wednesday. A little Ouzo, some gyros and lots of conversation with friends. Lee always puts on a good boy's night.

I worried about China plans as I got everything in order so that I feel somewhat under control, Sharon's new camera arrived and I read the manual and took many photos to learn the camera. I've got cameras and memory cards, and batteries, and chargers all sorted and ready to go. I got and tested a travel WIFI router - plug it into wired Internet and out comes WIFI so our iPhones and iPad and Kindle Fire will be connected to the Internet at our hotels. Can't be without WIFI can we? I wonder how Internet access will work in China? Can we get to Picasa? Facebook? This blog? Our e-mail? We shall see. (Sunday July 22nd update - I signed us up with a VPN service for secure WIFI use in China. I might just continue with it when we get back.)

Sharon and I have planned our clothes and shoes for the trip - dressing very light for what will be quite warm weather. I am still anxious about the long flights to Beijing and back from Shanghai. Fourteen plus hours on a plane is an ordeal. I flew to Sidney from LA in 1991 but I don't really remember it except for my layover in LA and going through customs in Sidney. This time we will be in the lap of luxury since we are flying first class so I shouldn't be concerned. Plenty of food and drink and entertainment and lay flat seats for sleeping. From what I have read, we should plan on dinner on the plane one we are in the air and then nightie night for at least six or seven hours sleep. This would mean waking around 6:00 am Chicago time which I think is about noon Beijing time. Then we stay awake until our 11:30 pm Beijing arrival, get our bags, get through customs, ride to the hotel and check in, then sleep until our schedule starts the next morning. We have a full itinerary, but I don't know the specific times of our activities. The planner in me wants to know. NOW! On the other hand I really have no preconceptions of China. Yes, I have some pictures in my mind, but I really do not know what it will be like - except for a totally new experience. We will be seeing things we have never seen, eating things we have never eaten, hearing new sounds, meeting new people. All exciting!

Miata At The Arboretun

Arboretum

The weather moderated this week and it was pleasant to be out side. I spent several hours in the Morton Arboretum walking and photographing on Wednesday. It was warm in the sun especially in the prairie section, it was quite still in the woods, but all lovely. The pine trees on the West side of the Arboretum are not looking healthy. I wonder if our drought has something to do with this.

Colbyetta did housecleaning on Monday and Tuesday - the usual vacuuming and mopping and picking up. No dusting though. Shame on Colbyetta! Then there was the usual work on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I can't wait to get out of the humidor and back onto the sales floor.

Friday night I went to Bistro Monet and sat at the bar waiting for Sharon to come out of the kitchen. I was the only one in the bar until Steve and Marge came in for dessert, but they ate and ran. Sharon joined me and we had a bite and were gone. I had a wonderful salad of grilled tomatoes and spicy diced chicken and then mushroom caps and escargot in a rich garlic sauce. Two appetizers and I am done! Sharon had soup and frites. I brought over a bottle of Owen Roe Pinot Noir that was a Sam's closeout from almost three years ago, It was wonderful.

Tonight we had ensalata caprese and a whole snapper crusted with pesto. Mmmm. It was good, And then now I am blogging and relaxing. I hope to be able to do this daily while in China. We shall see. If I can't keep up or get the blog posted, I'll do it when I return. 

This week a crazy person with multiple guns killed and wounded many people in a theatre in Colorado. It is sickening and sad and will not change anything in this country where the NRA, likely backed by gun manufacturers and sellers convince the rest of this country that guns are good. They are not, and more guns do not make us safer. But, this will not change. The voices of reason have been silenced by the money of the NRA. Read Roger Ebert's thoughts on this. They echo mine. In this country we seem to be willing to live with gun violence. We should not, but we do.

Water Lilly In Our Pond

Shelby

 

Sharon Takes a Picture of Colby!

Shelby and L,C,

Mike

Lindsey

Jared At Binny's

Art from Madrid On Our Wall!

Sharon

Travel Photography - f8 and be there.

I often feel the need to find ways to improve my photography while knowing that the best thing I can do is just get out there and shoot. But just shooting is not enough for me. I want to read. I want to look at photographs. I want think about and ponder how I approach photography. I do enjoy looking at other's photography and reading other photographers. With that input I feel I can enhance my vision.

Photographing while traveling is difficult for me. I want to record what I am seeing, I want to record the people I am with, I want to record what we are doing. And, I feel I can do all that. The problem is that I want it to all look wonderful, with perfect composition, perfect lighting, perfect exposure, perfect point of view, and interesting shots. But somehow I feel I come up short. There is also the issue of being with people who are just looking and not photographing. Sharon is very good at dealing with me on this. She knows that sometimes I will just stop and look and then lift the camera to photograph something - and not just one shot from one view, but several from different points of view. Then after shooting during the day I pull the memory cards from the cameras and load the images onto the computer and critically look at what I have accomplished. There are times I am pleased. But, there are many more times when I wonder what was it I saw and what was I thinking? I find great joy in a image that is "right" and disappointment when I fail.

Today in my quest to practice, I shot a few things in downtown Glen Ellyn while waiting for a shop to open. I should be doing this every day, but I don't. You cannot get the shot if you don't have the camera. In the few shots of Glen Ellyn I had a few I liked and the rest were just O.K. "record" shots. I was feeling bad until I read this Suzanne Williams blog entry found on Steve's Digicams. It spoke to me and told me everything would be fine! Just relax and have fun with your photography.

If you know the basics of proper camera operation; how to hold the camera, how to focus, the basics of composition, the basics of lighting and exposure, you will be fine. Photograph what moves you and delights you.

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. - Ansel Adams

If you see something that moves you, and then snap it, you keep a moment. - Linda McCartney

First Tomatoes

Insalata Caprese

The first tomatoes from our garden this year made a wonderful insalata caprese. All of our plants were volunteers that grew from seeds left from last season's compost and all are wonderful. We shared our bounty with Linda and Marge and had a grand time.

Summer Fun

This week, Kendra sent an email with pictures of Avery and Anika. I had to share them in the blog because the are great photos of exceptionally beautiful and talented kids!

For those of you who may not know, Avery and Anika are my grand children. Avery is 11 and Anika is 8. They live in Redmond, Oregon which is in central Oregon a few miles north of Bend and within sight of the Cascade Mountains.

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Storm Wrap Up

Sunday I did the first house keeping since our days without electricity. Boy did we do a fine job messing the house. I couldn't believe how dirty the hardwood floors were - and the cats left me a fine mess of cat hair everywhere. The main rooms are presentable and now I can work on other things!

Yesterday, Monday, I tackled the yard and tried to make it look a little better. I think I'll be picking up twigs for months. Evey time I walk through the yard I pick up a handful of twigs that blew out of the maple trees and then a little later I find more and perhaps a branch in the bushes. I mowed, weeded, and watered also, the drought is not helping our shrubs and flowers. When even prairie plants that should do just fine with high heat and little water are looking bad you know you've got a bad drought going on.

The tree removal folks have not made an appearance - either from the village or the one we are using to take out the badly damaged maple. The limbs we have lining the parkway are slowly vanishing though. Folks have been scavenging firewood and have made quite a dent in our pile.

The insurance adjuster (or is that adjustor?) were here last Thursday but I have not seen anything from the insurance company yet.

We leave for China in two and a half weeks. July 27 to August 9. I am paying bills and looking at accounts to make sure we've got everything covered. Matt Olsen will be house sitting again. We've done the clothes shopping we need and have thought about what we are packing. I've got a pile of electronics and camera equipment collected on the dining room table. As usual we will have one roll-a-board each and one carry on. I suspect we will pack especially light for this trip because it will be so hot there. Light weight washable clothes, short sleeves and shorts. Plenty of shoes for me!

Glen Ellyn July 4th Parade

Hot down home fun for all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime Power Woes

This past Sunday at around noon a powerful thunderstorm came though the Chicago area. Our village, Glen Ellyn, was hit hard and our street took a lot of damage. We lost a large Bradford Pear tree in front of the house on the parkway. This one fell into the driveway and the street. Sue Reyes was visiting from San Diego and the tree missed her rental car by a few feet. The large maple between our house and the Metcalf's to the south of us was torn asunder, splitting in half. Luckily it fell directly east and right between the houses. Each house took a little gutter damage but nothing more. However, niece Kathy and grand niece Brady were visiting also. Kathy's car was right in the path of the tree, but miraculously, the big branches of the tree went on either side and above her car. We were able to cut her out with a hand saw and clippers. Her Prius had a few little dents and scratches on the hood. When I have access to my laptop to transfer some photos I will add them to the blog.

Lee came over with his chainsaw, and with the aid of neighbors we cleared the tree from our street and the driveway so that we can get in an out. During the storm as trees fell they took down power lines. One was in the street just two houses south of us. Today is Tuesday and we are still without electricity. Com Ed claims we will have power restored by 11:00 P.M. on Wednesday, July 4.

Being summer in Chicago it is warm - in the 90s all this week so it is a bit uncomfortable in our house. Sue had reservations at the Palmer House in Chicago as she was attending a conference. We sent Kathy and Brady with Sue for a night in the city. We stuck it out at the house Sunday night, and though uncomfortable for the first few hours, it did cool off and dropped into the 70s by morning.

On Monday I bought three bags of ice and pulled two coolers from the garage. I began the task of emptying and cleaning our refrigerator. It really needed cleaning! I see this as an opportunity. I tossed a lot of old stuff and pulled all the shelves and drawers out and washed everything. I found a bag of salad and an open Prosecco bottle, so took a break for lunch in the back yard under our almost intact maple. Later in the day I talked to Melissa Nachman who offered us their portable generator. Lee brought it over within an hour. It is running to keep our freezer in the basement going. I also used it to charge my phone and run a fan. The downside is that it is noisy and has to be refilled with gas every hour and a half.

Sharon and I attempted to stay at a local Comfort Suites last night. What should have been a ten minute drive to get there turned into an hour of driving for me. When I got there they had my reservation, but no wifi, no cable, no refrigerator, and a room next to the pool. I passed, called Sharon and told her to go home and not the hotel. We went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant and then home to our hot house. We both managed sleep, but uncomfortably and in different bedrooms.

I am now in place at the local Panera. An everything bagel, coffee, wifi, and life is good. Sharon is going to look into a hotel for tonight. Tomorrow we will go to the Glen Ellyn Independence Day parade. Kathryn Hudson has invited us to join her at her store on Main Street in Glen Ellyn. She is offering seating and bloody marys. Hard to beat an offer like this. Then tomorrow evening, we are having cocktails on the court. I'm going to smoke some ribs. Hmmm. I might need another cooler to keep them in tonight. Next stop Costco for ribs and cooler?

Heard while at Panera, "Do you actually have a plain bagel actually."

I went to Costco today to pick up some ribs for tomorrow. All the Walmart shoppers were there. I wanted to sing the Walmart song! I sat in the food court and watched people go by. I couldn't help but wonder if they thought I looked odd. After Walmart...uh Costo I bought a bag of ice and cold beer at Binny's. It was time to add some fresh ice to the coolers and fill the new cooler I got at Costco. It is a nice one, stainless steel and even has a bottle opener on it. Do you think the home owner's insurance will pay for it?

Kramer tree service came by and gave us an estimate on taking out the remains of the maple that went down between the houses. $2,194. I also talked to the insurance company who will be sending out an adjuster on Thursday. No update fro m Comed on power restoration but they are working in the neighborhood, slowly, but they are working. Power is back within a block of us, but not at our house.

I discovered water that I thought had been draining from the kitchen sink was actually draining into the dishwasher and then leaking out of the dishwasher onto the floor. I bailed the dishwasher and then mopped the floor. Then I took a wash tub we use for party beverages out into the yard with my iPhone and a beer, filled the tub with water and vegged in the back yard for a while. In the meantime I plugged the clothes washer into the generator and rewashed some things that had been sitting in the washer. Turns out the clothes washer does not like the generator power and I had to manually advance through the cycles until the things were done. Now I am cooling off and using power and wifi at the Glen Ellyn Library. I am ready for the Hyatt tonight and power back at the house tomorrow.

Final update. We had dinner with Lee and then went to the Hyatt. Nice room and cool! On Wednesday we went home, dropped off our things and started the generator. Then over to the Glen Oak for breakfast and cooling. We then walked a block down to main street to Knicker's where Kathryn Hudson had invited us to watch the parade. A great time. Then home, a side trip to Whole Foods for supplies. Sharon made sangria and we headed out to the court around 6:00 to eat snacks, drink sangria, chat with the neighbors, and wait for Com Ed. Com Ed fixed the power lines, replaced a transformer, and then we had power! There was much cheering from the court and we all went home to turn on our air conditioners. We are back in business. Three and a half days without power and 90+ degree days makes for stressful living. We are spoiled.

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