Quiet. Warm. Steamy. Sweaty. It was a quiet sunrise ride with very few people out this morning. Not much of a sunrise to begin the day… with a little “redemption” at the very end!!!

Usually my mornings are very solitary along the lakefront… forever socially-distant. But today I had a little friend stop by to say hello… and he really quacked me up!!!

There were also a lot of helicopters flying around the City breaking the serenity. So I knew something was up?! Apparently there was another night of crazy looting & robberies all over the City?! Obviously organized attacks on businesses all over the City… organized robberies, smashed windows, stolen cash registers, merchandise stolen and so much more! WHY?!!! And we now deal with the crazy aftermath here in Chicago!

As though a global pandemic weren’t enough to deal with already?!

Okay so this morning was pretty clear & cloud-free…
but YESTERDAY…

Yesterday we had some great drama in the skies. Lots of clouds & LOTS of wind! The ride south to the City was amazing… but then the whole ride back home was into a very strong headwind! So strong that the red beach warning flags were waving strong… and a little bit upwards???

And some crazy places where the lake is so “overflowing” that the lakefront path is flooded… with WHITECAPS!!!

We all knew that the incredible run of sunrises had to come to an end at some point… and well, today was apparently that day! Clouds, clouds, clouds! Waves, waves, waves!!! Beautiful in its own right… except when you see how much the waves were overflowing onto the bike trail. Not too safe… but very cool. And a little smidge of sunrise beauty towards the end as we got a shimmer of brightness streaming through the clouds!

Big sky. Big clouds. Big color… and therefore, a BIG PHOTO!

Hard to believe it’s already the last day of July?!
Where did May, June & July go?… oh yeah… that.

Luckily, we have Nature’s beauty going on all around us to remind us that “everything” is not ugly pandemic!!! Appreciate the beauty when you find it.

Meanwhile… THIS was going on behind me to the west…

The forecast was rain overnight followed by clouds all day. Forever optimistic… I got up early and decided to go for my morning bike ride even though it was VERY dark & cloudy still. So glad I did… as we had a few moments of STUNNING!!! Incredible colors sweeping across the sky before the sun went behind the clouds for the day!

Looks like I might need to pedal a little faster?… dark clouds moving in!

So the overnight forecast was rain all night into the morning hours… but as the eternal optimist, I decided to set my alarm just in case the rain passed through earlier. And it did!!! The roads were dry so I threw on my bike gear & headed out… still LOTS of clouds! But no rain as predicted.. and sadly NO SUNRISE!!!

On my way home, I also saw this guy cooling off at Jackson Harbor. Always fun to see a Great Blue Heron hanging out in the water fishing. Keenly watching the water waiting for breakfast! I’m always amazed at how large they are, kinda prehistoric… and that we have them in the City?!

Luckily, when I made it down to the South Shore Cultural Center, there was a bit of welcoming shade amongst their colonnade. And then the grounds keepers just happened to turn on the sprinklers for the golf course as I was hanging out there… and the answer is YES!!!

When in Rome, right?!!!

I mean, I was already wet!