February Stroll

Posted on February 7, 2022 by admin

Sunday afternoon temps were just a little below freezing, so the snow cover didn’t melt. There wasn’t much ice underfoot either. We went to the partly trod trail behind the Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center.

Dog included.

The path runs through an open field to a small patch of wooded land.

The path also meanders through the Chicago Athenaeum International Sculpture Park, which Google Maps simply calls The Sculpture Park.

The park’s most recent bit of work, Thiruvalluvar, has been adorned recently.

Not a bad day for a walk, but the conditions that made it so lasted only a few hours. The Romans had a right idea about February: make it the shortest month.

Modern Antiques

Posted on February 2, 2022 by admin

The other part of Ann’s birthday present from her parents consisted of purchases at an antique mall in Arlington Heights, Illinois, on Saturday afternoon. It had been a while since we’d been there — the last time might have been when I spotted Billy Beer for sale — but we figured she might find some beads or bead-adjacent materials there. She did.

“On the whole it’s a likable place stuffed to the gills with debris from across the decades. I like looking around, just to remind myself how much stuff there is in the manmade world,” I wrote five years ago. Still apt. I also mentioned that place used to discourage photography.

If that’s still the case, I didn’t see any signs to tell me so this time. Maybe the proprietors gave that rule up as hopeless, since every single person who wanders in will have a high-quality, very easy to use camera in pocket or purse. Besides, how is the place going to be on social media if it disallows pictures?

So I took a few pictures. Such as of the plentiful reading material, including good old Mad, font of juvenile wisdom as surely as Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang before it.

Other objects. Many other objects.

Husman’s of Cincinnati is no more — as of only last year.

I didn’t take any kind of rigorous inventory, naturally, but I can’t shake the feeling that the mall’s stock is on a bell curve in terms of item-age, with the bulge being from the 1950s through the 1970s, and tapering off at each end. That is to say, nostalgia for people just about my age.

With some older items in the mix, of course.

Along with objects that look fairly new.

The games entertained me most of all, without me having to play them.

Some standards: Operation, Scrabble, Twister, Yahtzee. Some tie-ins: Family Feud, Green Eggs and Ham, Cat in the Hat, Jeopardy. Others: Pass Out, Rummikub, Super Master Mind.

When I looked at that image today I also noticed the Talking, Feeling, And Doing Game, which I’d never heard of. “A psychotherapeutic game for children,” the box says. Copyright date 1973 by an outfit called Creative Therapeutics in New Jersey, and one groovy typeface for the name.

A relic of the much-maligned ’70s, I figured, a rep only slightly deserved, though that’s a discussion for another time. In any case, an echo of that half century ago, now forgotten, right?

Wrong, at least according to Amazon, which asserts that the game is “one of the most popular tools used in child psychotherapy.”

Turns out there’s an entire subspecies of board games that are used in child therapy, as I discovered looking at the Amazon page: Better Me, Emotional Roller Coaster, The Mindfulness Game and Together Point Family, to name just a few. I’m a little glad that I’d never heard of any of them before.

Of all the antique mall games, however, this one amused me most.

Could it be that the real prize among board game collectors, and there must be such, is finding a mint copy of the Fish board game, only a few hundred of which were ever sold?

Almost as good.

My family were clearly stick-in-the-muds when it came to tie-in board games. I don’t remember that we had a single one in our collection of a dozen or so games, and no one (including me) ever expressed any interest in them. I don’t even remember my friends having any. Did I miss out on a delightful childhood experience? Nah.

Bead World

Posted on January 31, 2022 by admin

I’m a little less ignorant these days about beads, but only a little. For instance, I found out over the weekend that you can buy such varieties as gemstone beads, Indonesian glass beads and trade beads.

That’s because we took Ann to Bead World in Palatine, Illinois, a suburban shop that has all manor of beads, with sidelines in piercings (there is a separate room for that) and watch repair.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said when we went in. Certainly quite a stock.

We bought her some beads and charms as part of her birthday present.

But no cowboy art, which was on display in the back.

I’d never connected Indonesia with beads. “Indonesia has a centuries long history of glass bead making,” the Bead World web site says. “We carry many contemporary designs of ‘manik‘ as well as many beads in the traditional colors and patterns of the Indo-Pacific Trade.”

Indeed, among Indonesian beads, you can get rondelle-shaped beads, flat ovals, square, cubes, “Java trade beads,” melon shaped, triangle shaped, tubes, barrels, recycled glass beads and more. Who knew?

I’m never going to take up beads as a hobby myself, and I’m certainly not going to open a bead store. But if I ever did, I’d call it the Venerable Bead. Wait, someone’s already done that.

Bare Tree

Posted on January 23, 2022 by admin

Sunny winter Sunday today, following snow last night, though only about two or three inches. Not enough to slow anything down. In the afternoon the back yard the sky looked about like this.

But I have to say that I took that picture four years ago in January. Pretty much all the Januaries here in metro Chicago have melded into a chilly gray blur. Still, the days are getting longer, which puts me in mind of days on the deck and distant roads.

Stillman Park

Posted on January 4, 2022 by admin

Stillman Park in South Barrington, Illinois, has a few features that sound like they were borrowed from Beatrix Potter: Rabbit Hill, Cattail Marsh, Owl Loop and Goldfinch Trail. It also has an unnamed parking lot, but at least it’s off Penny Road.

We arrived for a walk on Boxing Day afternoon — as far as we got from home over the holidays, which wasn’t far at all. Conditions were still dry and not that cold, which made for a good walk.

There were trails to follow.

Places to pass through (or by).

We toyed with the idea of further destinations this year, but cold rain and warm inertia persuaded us otherwise.

Sushi Night

Posted on December 9, 2021 by admin

Everyone’s in town. The evening we had sushi at a place we’ve been to before. The place makes especially good sushi, we all agree. My own favorite is their unagi (eel).

What’s sushi for if not to dig in? The piece in the chopsticks is in fact unagi.

On the way home, we drove to the lights that Elk Grove Village displays near some of its municipal buildings.

Mostly my camera isn’t much for taking night shots — or more probably, I don’t know how to set it — but I like that one.

Umbrella Tea House

Posted on November 23, 2021 by admin

I went out ’round midnight last night to put the car in the driveway. When I finished, I got out of the car and looked up, and there he was, bright as could be: Orion. Winter is here. Been cold much of this month anyway. Off in the distance, an owl woo-woo’d softly.

Back again on November 28. A good Thanksgiving to all, and don’t forget to be up at 4 a.m. on the day after for all those doorbuster sales. I plan to be asleep then, though I might be up to go to the bathroom.

The name of the place we visited recently, according to the sign over the door, is the Umbrella Tea House. That made me wonder: what was the place where Winston Smith hung out at the end of 1984, ahead of his eventual vaporization? The post-Ministry of Love Winston Smith, that is, who loved Big Brother.

That’s the kind of thing I might wonder. I didn’t even have to find my paper copy of the book to find out.

“The Chestnut Tree was almost empty. A ray of sunlight slanting through a window fell on dusty table-tops. It was the lonely hour of fifteen. A tinny music trickled from the telescreens. Winston sat in his usual corner, gazing into an empty glass.”

So I might call the Umbrella Tea House the Chestnut Tree, just for a bit of dark humor that no one would understand unless I explained it. Orwell might have gotten Big Brother and doublethink and maybe even memory hole into the common lexicon, but not the Chestnut Tree.

Umbrella Tea House, which is in a retail strip near the Schaumburg Township District Library, is anything but dark. It’s a bright place.

It has all sorts of interesting features, such as a tip pig, and — not sure how to characterize the second image.

Naturally, umbrellas figure in the décor. Up on the ceiling.

A pleasant place to occasionally drink fancy tea, which we did.

Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve

Posted on November 22, 2021 by admin

Been a distinctly winterish November this year, except that trees seem to have held their leaves a little longer than in recent years. But there have been a handful of warmish hours, such as on Saturday in the afternoon.

We made our way to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, south of where I used to live, but only by a few miles, and walked a while.

Nice description of the place on the Forest Preserve of DuPage County’s web site:
“The 2,503-acre Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in Darien is one of the most ecologically impressive parcels of open space in the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, if not northern Illinois. It is also one of the District’s most popular forest preserves, known for its Rocky Glen waterfall, Sawmill Creek bluff overlook, and extensive trails.

“Waterfall Glen offers gently rolling to hilly terrain with 11 miles of trails popular with hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders and cross-country skiers. It also offers fishing and an orienteering course, model airplane field and youth group campground.”

Had an autumnal moment or two along the trails.

Last year was a year of forest preserves. Didn’t keep up the pace this year. Rather, it turned out to be a year of vistas, for which I always try to be glad.

Miscellany Thursday

Posted on November 18, 2021 by admin

Been a cold November so far, especially late last week, except for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. So I took a walk at the Chicago Athenaeum International Sculpture Park that day. It’s pretty much the same as ever, though of course a sculpture was added in 2019.

There’s still a side path through the woods.

As well as along water destined for the Mississippi.

That same day, I went to the Sears at the Woodfield Mall. It was about to close for good; it did so a few days later. So my stroll was through mostly vacant retail space, the ghost of a once-vast enterprise.

But not quite empty.

It was the last Sears in Illinois, the state formerly home to the Sears Tower. A retailer ending with a whimper.

I didn’t buy a rug. I will say that my lawn mower before the current one, a Craftsman, was a Sears acquisition.

Even further back is the cast iron table on our deck, purchased ca. 2003 at a Sears. Looks as solid as the day we got it, so like my cast-iron frying pan — bought ca. 1983 at a Nashville grocery store, not a Sears purchase — the table will certainly outlast me.

I was glad to see that Barbara’s Bookstore, a metro Chicago chain, has opened in the mall. I don’t go to the mall a lot, so I’m not sure when. The Barbara’s branch I remember best was the store in the lower level of the Sears Tower, which I visited sometimes ca. 2000-05 (gone now).

Up with the times, Barbara is, with a twist on the old retail warning.

Most everyone in the mall was masked. Otherwise, everything was about the same as any recent year. The crowds were thick, and I’m sure they’ll get thicker still as the days progress toward Christmas.

I interviewed a British retail expert not long ago, and she happened to mention the prospects of Black Friday retail sales this year in the UK. I’d heard before that is now part of British retailing, and I told her I thought that was funny.

“What’s the special occasion?” I said. “The fourth Friday in November?”

She chuckled. Like Japanese merchants importing Valentine’s Day, their British counterparts have imported Black Friday — and come to think of it, American merchants are doing their best to expand Día de Muertos in the United States. About a month ago, I saw a Día de Muertos-themed box of Pop-Tarts in a mainstream grocery store.

We also discussed American Halloween, which she said the British have taken to as well. I hope not to the detriment of Guy Fawkes Day, I said. Some customs have faded, she answered, such as a penny for the guy, but there are still bonfires.

Good. We see no reason/ why gunpowder treason/ should ever be forgot….

Open House: Synagogues

Posted on October 20, 2021 by admin

One synagogue open for Open House Chicago last weekend was KAM Isaiah Israel in Hyde Park. It’s across the street from the Obama residence, in fact, though I’m certain that’s a coincidence, and besides, the synagogue’s been there a lot longer.

“KAM Isaiah Israel is the oldest Jewish congregation in the Midwest and its leaders, members and buildings have played an important role in Jewish history, American social justice movements, and architectural history,” Open House says. (KAM = Kehilath Anshe Maarav = “Congregation of the Men of the West.”)

“KAM was founded in 1847 and had several locations in Chicago before settling in Hyde Park… The synagogue’s architecture [Alfred S. Alschuler] was inspired by Byzantine structures and an ancient synagogue in Tiberias, Israel.”

There’s an impressive dome, but I didn’t capture it.

The entrance, also impressive.

“Although KAM began as an Orthodox congregation, our members began to reform their practice almost from the beginning,” the synagogue web site says. “In 1852, conflict over issues of Reform and traditional observances led to the creation of a new congregation, B’nai Sholom. In 1874, KAM became a founding member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now known as the Union for Reform Judaism.”

The ceiling.

Stained glass.

The other synagogue we visited was out in the near western suburb of River Forest: Temple Har Zion. It’s a modernist work of Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett, completed in 1953.

The building is divided into two large parts. The sanctuary.

On the other side of the wall is Gottlieb Hall, just as large, but without any seats. Its main feature are five stained glass windows designed by William Gropper in 1967, which my pictures do no justice to. Gropper’s best known as a cartoonist.

“Instead of traditional stained glass techniques, Gropper used one inch thick chunks of brilliantly colored glass which were cut to shape and chipped or faceted on the surface,” Temple Har Zion says. “Each window is two stories high and contain 11 panels of this chiseled glass set in a matrix… these vibrant windows which represent some of the most familiar stories of Genesis.”

One of the fascinations of the windows is working from top to bottom — and right to left — to pick out the stories of Genesis chronologically. This is the far right window, starting with Creation toward the top and working down to the creatures of the land and sea toward the bottom.

A detail of the next window: the Flood.

The end of the Flood.

Anyone who insists that the 1960s was a poor period for design isn’t looking hard enough.

Been There, Seen That

By Dees Stribling

Category Archives: Suburban Chicago