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!

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!