Nothing but blue skies heading home from my afternoon “hooky” bike ride along the Lake! Always fun to see the City from the “other” side!

A quick ride down to the South Shore Cultural Center this afternoon… for a quick turnaround to head back home. No time to linger as I had to get back to teach my pottery class tonight!!!

It started out as a cold & clear morning sky… with some low-flying clouds to delay the sunrise! But then by the time I got down to the City, a large mass of clouds blew in from the west. Sure, the chilly breeze was coming in that way too… but it sure made for an interesting & colorful sky show over the City!

Finally a dry morning. Sure, it might have been a bit chilly in the thirties… but I was just happy that the streets & bike trail were dry. So I put on the layers and headed out for a cloudy bike ride. It looked like we were going to be clouded-out of a sunrise… but then, out of nowhere… we got an amazing little sky show under the cloud mass. Wonderful colors as the sun lit-up some of the smaller clouds as they blew by!

Cloudy & cool… but not cold… and luckily the gusty winds have subsided. We never got an actual sunrise this morning, but it was good to see that some of the colored leaves are still on the trees after all the wind yesterday!

So I was just driving home late tonight north along Lake Shore Drive… and I was concerned when I got downtown and traffic stopped to a halt with far too many blue light police cars, firetrucks & ambulances all in one intersection by the Yacht Club. Traffic STOPPED!!! We sat there… and then big plumes of smoke came up!!! Concern increased… something big & tragic must be going on ahead. Several of us carefully turned around and detoured through the City to get back on Lake Shore Drive further north of that intersection.

As I was driving north on Michigan Avenue, I was struck by even MORE blue lights & police cars on every block. I assumed it might be the “new normal” after all the the rioting we’ve had. Sad that THAT is the thought, right?!

But when I got home…
I found out that it was all for a MUCH cooler reason!!!
Kinda exciting… I feel much better now.

Click here to see what was going on downtown tonight!

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!!!