July in Chicago

View from my third floor landing.  Owner has wonderful gardens despite the drought Garage is the building in rear and I have a space there for my car, Ruby.

Apartment building was built in 1914. This is the living room.

close up of original stained glass

The street where I live,

Penelope chilling out after her swim lessons.

As has been sung “it’s a hot time in the old town” but so far I am doing ok with my 2 window ac units and getting out in the morning for activities.  I am loving the tree lined streets in my temporary neighborhood with their wonderful shade lowering the temperature as I walk on errands or to public transportation.

Since I am in a third floor walkup, I also try to group my activities to minimize the climbs up and down.  I’ve taken a temporary membership in the Galt Life Center, a fantastic health club/rehab facility connected with Swedish American hospital.  It’s about 1 ½ miles but I usually opt for the bus.  The water exercise classes are frequent and varied and I’m enjoying the indoor pool much more than I thought I would.  It may be partly due to the design which allows me to look up through a window to see trees as well as people exercising on the indoor track.  The pool is primarily 4 feet in depth and classes are large with a mixture of ages, both men and women.  Water exercise was very important to me in Florida so I am happy to have found a good substitute.  Another Florida activity, Zumba Gold, is also offered at Galter and I am attending that once a week class, as well as Tai Chi Chuan.

The Old Town School of Folk Music is about a mile away and I do walk there for my Thursday night group lessons. The instructor gave me a couple of lessons last fall in her Warrenville Studio which helps but I still feel a bit at a disadvantage as the others have just finished another 8 week session with her and are more accustom to her strum techniques which are quite different than previous instructors and the way we played in my Florida Group.

I am enjoying my time with my granddaughters. Penelope 7 ½ months is rapidly developing with crawling and trying to pull herself into a standing position.  She’s in to everything she can get to and proving to be a challenge as her current home is preparing to be moved with boxes everywhere.  They will have a temporary move until their new home is available in August which is a repeat of my situation so I understand the difficulties of it magnified by jobs and baby.

Katherine, 4 ½, and I will venture forth to Madison Wi this weekend for nephew Meko’s fifth birthday.   The following weekend is a family gathering in Rock City (pop 300) for the Annual Rock City Days (see blog July 2009).  Not sure if we are in the parade this year.

Lots of events in the city and hope to add some of those to my life in the coming weeks.  I’m looking forward to playing tourist with bike friend Judy the first week of August.  So while I’m limiting my road time this summer, I am keeping on the go!