sad news in the neighborhood

I heard a bit of sad news today. Ellie's Cafe on 107th St. will be closing for good. We will lose their delicious food and charming ambiance after Monday.

Being hit by several periods of street construction/closures (mostly water/sewer), which put a real dent in their income over many months during the last few years. Burglaries didn't help either. Those are just the factors I know about. I suspect that there may be more.

We've enjoyed many delicious meals and pleasant conversations there. We will miss Ellie's.

the Water Dept. Grinches who stole Christmas

A few days ago, I discovered this scene - not fun in any season, but especially crappy just before Christmas with daytime "no parking" signs marked "12/17/19 to completion" - whenever that is.

I posted this photo on Twitter with this caption: "Not a happy sight in #Beverly. What a Grinchy thing to start a major ⁦@ChicagoWater⁩ project 1 week before Christmas. Why couldn’t this wait until the week after?"

Here's the response I got: "Nobody is ever happy to see that their street is going to be torn up or out of commission, it is an unfortunate necessity in order for us to make needed infrastructure improvements to our water and sewer systems. Call us for more info on this project 312-744-4420."

If you are affected by this project and want to give them an earful, feel free.

miracles can happen

I reported previously about the lack of bike racks at the newish Whole Foods store at Evergreen Plaza. I hadn't been there in a while, because walking there is so miserable and driving isn't any better.

Of course, it would be better without merchandise partially
blocking the rack. I'm just glad to see the rack.

It was a nice treat finding this rack after requesting one for months.  If you want to ride there, safest bike access is from 99th St. via Campbell, Maplewood or Artesian to 98th, then across the parking lot.

non sequitur Friday

non sequitur Friday

Variations on a theme, starting with the original.