a visit

Our cousin Michele came for a visit over Memorial Day weekend - she came from Seattle where the weekend was sunny and warm, 80* or so... to spend time with us in 55-65 and rain... seriously bad weather is what we have had all May and it continues- although we had sun this morning by 1:30 it was pouring rain - bucket style rain...

So she went off to explore the Art Institute and then another day Navy Pier... she has been here numerous times and entertains herself - we meet up for meals and evenings... On Friday we had lunch at Falstrom's and then dragged her to the wine shop next door to buy some samples to try for potential purchases....

Then in the evening we went to Osteria Langhe and had 2 bottles of the 1999 St Innocent Wines - the Shea Vineyard and the Seven Springs Vineyard - side by side tasting - Shea won out of the gate but the Seven Springs got better and better- never quite overtaking the Shea but in the end made it a closer contest than it seemed upon opening...

The next day we grabbed a quick bite at Burrito House LOL- our favorite dive-y place down the street for tacos...and then headed to Andersonville for an exhibit of things made in Chicago from 1900-1970 - some fun stuff in the tiny museum at Ashland and Balmoral... a lot of the items in the museum are related to the Edgewater Beach Hotel and the Edgewater neighborhood...

 

here's a funny one- our friend Barb used to work in this postcard factory when she was in High School LOL- it is really close to us on Irving Park at Ravenswood...

Then after trying several of the wines we bought from Howard's the day before, we were on to Ruyi for sushi later in the evening where we had some old faves (stuffed avocados) and some new things (sashimi and a new kind of roll)

Michele and I got a few brief periods to spend on the deck - which I had rushed to get planted BEFORE she arrived on Thursday evening... I had been to Gethsemane (our local garden store) twice last week in an attempt to get settled in for the summer season... and things did look pretty good but the weather didn't support any extended outside time- sadly...

so tomorrow, a friend is coming over for dinner and then we will be truly in the calendar of summer (post Memorial Day to labor Day weekend) let's hope sometime soon that it warms to summer temperatures as well.... Can't wait to get some really beautiful outdoor time with classic sun and warm days and nights - #canyouhearme? Weather Gods!