Okay, I get it. Summer’s over! You don’t have to beat me over the head with it. But starting out this morning with temps in the upper 30’s seemed to seal the deal! Layers. Layers. Layers. Too soon for my liking & biking!

So the City of Chicago just announced their pandemic guidelines for Halloween Trick-or-Treating led by a costumed Mayor Lightfoot… and Dr. Allison Arwady who I’m sure enjoyed this brief moment of levity… as she’s been so busy with citywide Covid stuff, that she hasn’t been able to come back to be part of my pottery classes yet!

It’s always weird to see one of my past pottery classes showing up on EVERY press conference with the Mayor discussing the mandemic for the past few months… especially when she pops up on my TV as I’m working in my studio!

Finally, after several days of hazy cloud-free morning skies… we were finally treated with some beautiful clouds this morning. Giving the sun something to play with… creating a splash of colors, and then playing hide & seek. A beautiful start to a beautiful Saturday morning.

Huge thanks to Russ and the Service Team at Village Cycle Center for squeezing me in! After missing my standard spring tune-up due to the pandemic shutting everything down, my trusted steed was getting a little less trusted day by day. A little wobble. A little clanking. A lot of annoyance.

But now we’re back!!! Ready to hit road again tomorrow morning!!!
Thanks Team!!!

Another beautiful day in Chicago. Still a little on the cool side, but perfect for an afternoon jog along the lake… less sweaty when it’s a bit cooler! Beautiful sights along the way… but now that I’m home, I’ve got to focus… and get into the studio tonight!!! Gotta get some work done… as I’ve been playing hooky a bit too much lately!!!

Starting with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan from Loyola University…

And the church at Loyola University…

Some beautiful late summer flowers…

And some crazy seed pods on some kind of a bush. Anyone have any clue as to what kind of plant this is?! It looks a little too much like a Coronavirus molecule for my liking. Just sayin’…

And this is apparently what things have come to… when parents need to figure out new ways to take on the role of teaching their kids!

Some wonderfully whimsical “embellishments” along a cement wall at Tobey Prinz Beach. A little tough to see… but wonderful for those with a keen eye!

The cooler weather today also makes it wonderful at the beach…
I practically had the whole beach to myself. Easy to enjoy the natural setting and stay safe & socially-distant at the same time… when there’s no one there to be socially-distant from!!!

And SO EXCITING!!!
I found my very first beach glass MARBLE today!!!

Plus I spotted a little “gallery” of painted beach rocks. It will be interesting to see how this grows over the next few weeks. And I feel as though I might just need to add one of my own in the next couple weeks!!!

So here’s the additions to my new “quarantine collection” of beach glass. I started finding it when I had to mix-up my morning bike ride up towards the beaches of Evanston & beyond. And by now I have quite the collection started!!!

Another morning with that hazy-smoky “filter” across the sky. It’s kinda weird to see the sun rising without a single cloud in the sky… and yet still somehow oddly “clouded” and NOT bright & shiny like one would expect it to be.

And if we’re having this kind of effects from the California wildfires here in Chicago… I can only imagine how much worse it gets as you get closer to the actual fires. Just one more thing making 2020 so “special” for everyone!!!

Another foggy-hazy morning along the lakefront… except we found out yesterday it is neither fog nor haze!!! Apparently the crazy “sky filter” is actually smoke & ash that has made it up into our higher atmosphere all the way over from the California wildfires!!!! Who knew?!

Something new… just to make 2020 even more “special”!!!

Well, it’s been so gray & rainy for the past three days. So when it was gray & NOT rainy this morning I had to hop on the bike and give it a go! Sure, it was dark, gloomy & WINDY with waves crashing all around… I just kept thinking how much cooler they would have looked with a nice sunrise illuminating them from behind. Well, not today. But it still felt amazing to be back on my bike this morning… even with the strong headwinds!!!

Like we even need to say this???…

And now back home, waiting for the rain to begin again for the day…

Dark & moody at the start.
Beautiful sunrise just like art.
Another wonderful day riding my bike.
Just like every other morning I like.

Cute, huh?
Okay… so I never claimed to be a poet.

Two more pictures from this morning… when the colors were sweeping across the horizon. One before, and one after the sun made its grand appearance!