Visual Bonsai

This kid is just fantastic. One of the amazing stories from a sad day.

Holy mackerel does time fly.

You can call us a lot of things, but predictable wouldn’t be one of them. The last couple months have been crazy!

We put our Chicago house on the market April 9th, and thanks to Tina Barr Chicago Realtor and some excellent ’staging’ by Dawn, we sold it in 27 days. Not bad in a market like this.

With the quick sale we had to hustle our buns to get everything packed up and ready. Since I couldn’t take much time away from work Dawn had to handle most of this, and she did, because she’s a champ.

Sadly, Oscar had to say goodbye to Anna, his nanny:

She taught him a lot of spanish and how to eat flan as part of every meal.

In the 3 weeks we had to get packed and move we also had to make time to see our friends and make our peace with the city we’ve called home for a long time. I didn’t have the opportunity to take in the sights one last time, so I went to the corner and took pictures…lol. This is a surefire way to keep from getting sentimental.

Corner of Wilson and Clark, Chicago IL

Looking south…

(currency exchanges are extremely rare in Chicago…)

The east, you see our drycleaner, good service, and they box hats (?)

Looking southeast, the liquor store. Family owned and about 5-7 ‘friends’ in the store at all times, making fun of eachother.

Looking north on Clark, nothing really here, except Carols in the distance, worlds best country bar.

Looking west, Walgreens (Dawn Hudson, Inc) and Staples (where I buy crappy HP computers)

Looking east again, I spot one of my friends from the Truc Lam Buddhist Temple, our neighbors.

Yes it’s quite an intersection, full of character(s), but you can see after a while you’d want a yard and maybe some fresh air.

So, after my little picture taking mission, it’s time to get packed up and prepare for the closing. 3 days to go and we’re on our way…wait, is something burning?

Yep, that would be the 6 flat next door…

This thing was HOT. I couldn’t even get 2 steps into the backyard. I tell you what, it’s amazing to me that the fire department got there in about 4 minutes, and ran straight upstairs into the burning unit. I’ve never been that close to a fire that big, and every human instinct tells you to turn around and go the other way. Firefighters are a different breed (in a good way, Kenny;)

Some more random pics:

Their garage started on fire too. Our chair on the deck had burn holes. Too close for comfort.

Fast service and Cub fans to boot. What more can you ask for?

Anyway, we got the hell out of town shortly thereafter. Drove the 26 footer through the streets of chicago and straight on up to rest stop number 1, Chippewa Falls. Great Grandpa Dundore was waiting…

The next day we closed and moved into our new digs. Immediately upon arrival we acquired new bikes (my number one priority), and Oscar got his first helmet, which he put on before we could take off the plastic visor…

I’ve probably watched that one a hundred times…

After getting the helmet off, Oscar got a hold of aunt Denise’s cell phone for some cool ringer sounds…

Oscar’s happy, and so are Mom and Dad.

We made a day trip to Taylors Falls, on the St. Croix river:

Then Grandpa and Grandma Taylor (no relation to Taylors Falls) took Oscar to our mini waterfall in the city, called Minnehaha Falls. Oscar thought it was too loud:

Then Grandma took him to the lake to chase ducks:

The next weekend we went to Chippewa on a scouting mission for the 4th of July. Oscar drove his first boat, and then proceeded to completely deprogram the fish finder.

So, we’ve got plenty to keep us occupied, and we’re looking forward to seeing some of you in Chippewa in a week or so.

To our Chicago friends, keep in touch! We’re not that far away if you want to get up north for a holiday!

To all the Moms!

Oscar, as you can see, is getting ready to roll on up to Minnesota.

We are very excited about our new digs and great neighborhood! Of course, we’re sad to leave Chicago after 10 years. We’ll try to get in as much catching up with friends as we can, but it’s all going so fast.

For those of you not familiar with Minneapolis, here’s a little background:

It has kind of a funny name…it’s a combination of the Dakota Souix word for water, “mni”, and the greek word for city, “polis”.

This is the neighborhood we’re moving to, it’s in an area known as “southwest” (yes, quite literal were the folks who first named it). The house is located at 50th and Russel. Technically, according to the City, the area is called “Fulton“, although I couldn’t tell you if people actually refer to it that way. The reason we like the location so much is that it’s in a little pocket between Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Creek.

Here’s some pics other people have of:

Lake Harriet

Lake Harriet is connected to Lake Calhoun…

Which is connected to Lake of the Isles…

Which is why, as you can start to see, that Minnesota is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In typical Minnesota fashion, they are understating the fact that there are actually over 12,000 lakes.

Some people will try to tell you it’s very cold up in Minnesota. Some of these people are from Chicago, in which I’ve lived enough winters to tell you that you’d be splitting hairs with that comparison. Anyway, in Minnesota we like to say there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.

What will we miss about Chicago? A lot! Besides our friends, we will miss:

The Confounding Conundrum of the Chicago Cubs (I will do my best to afflict Oscar with the lifelong lesson in patience supplied by this organization)

The Bulls

The Bears

Healthy Food

Trains

And the King of All Lakes

And in no particular order, some honorable mentions:

Lucille’s
Tuscany
Lange’s
Wrigley Dog
Weiner Circle
Boston Blackies
Redmonds
Twisted Spoke
The Burwood Tap
Northwoods Tap
Mayor Daley and Clout
The alley and all the people who shop in our garbage
Thai Oscar
The Cab Driver who Sings
The Cab Driver who hit us with a taser
The Cab Driver with Strawberry Shortcake stickers
Montrose Beach
The Air Show
Belmont Harbor

I could go on and on, we’ll have to add more to the list later on. For a lot of years, Chicago has been our kind of town.

Drop us a line when you’re up Nort’!