Category Archives: Uncategorized

A friend of mine, Jill O’Mahony Stewart, posted this to her Facebook page this week and I just couldn’t resist sharing. It’s from a house down her street in Oak Park. And from what I understand, the vicious hen’s name is Edna. We see so many of these signs warning visitors about dogs, you know,Continue reading “Beware, Chickens”

A few weeks ago, during Earth Week, my kids and all of their classmates sent a message to the world: They’re serious. They’re tired of the 60-year-old blacktop that blankets nearly 90% of their play area. They want a ball field or two, shrubs and just about anything that grows from Mother Earth. So doContinue reading “Biggest Yard Sale Ever – Coming to Irving This Saturday”

I posted over the weekend about TulipMania coming in a couple weeks to the Garfield Park Conservatory. But there’s another event at the century-old conservatory this week that’s a must attend for beer lovers, especially hopheads, who have a special appreciation for local brews and foods. On May 13 – this Thursday – seven breweriesContinue reading “Garfield Park Conservatory is Hop-ing This Week”

I’m a huge fan of supporting local farmers. So community supported agriculture, where families like mine get to buy a share of the harvest each season is a great fit. But my experience last year with a half share from Kings Hill Farm often left my kitchen overwhelmed. Veggies unfamiliar to us and the quantitiesContinue reading “CSAing This Year? Join a Support Group”

I’d always wondered what happens to the thousands of tulips Chicago plants around the city to give us all a much needed burst of color after enduring a long winter. Turns out that the city gives them away. Or at least they give away quite a lot of them at the Garfield Park Conservatory. ThisContinue reading “TulipMania Coming May 22 to the Garfield Park Conservatory”

Winning isn’t everything. But it sure feels good, at least once in a while. After several weeks of straight losses, albeit with improvement each week, my son’s t-ball team finally got a mark in the win column. They came closer than they’d ever been on Tuesday night. But today, they played some really good defenseContinue reading “Finally. A Win”

At 10 a.m. Central Time, sharp…or pretty close to sharp anyway…we headed to the garage where our guinea pig Fluffy has taken up what we hope is temporary residence, per orders of the iFarmer’s allergist. It was time for a visit, but we also wanted to capture the moment on camera as part of theContinue reading “Banished: Our NY Times 'A Moment in Time' Submission”

The Morton Arboretum opened its doors to members tonight for its annual Arbor Day plant sale. But tomorrow and Sunday, everyone’s welcome. At Morton, shoppers can “Choose from more than 400 varieties of trees, shrubs, grasses, vines, and perennials. All plants are Midwestern hardy, easy to grow, and are resistant to problems commonly experienced inContinue reading “Looking for Seedlings? Look No Further Than Your Local Greenhouse”

It’s looking like we’ll need to find temporary and possibly permanent homes for our guinea pig Fluffy and gecko Leopardy. For the last few weeks, my husband has been having allergic reactions that are triggering his asthma. We initially thought it was over-exposure to cats. That’s what usually causes these episodes. Cats are drawn toContinue reading “Our Pets Are Being Banished, Doctor's Orders”

Today was just a so so day, kind of a grim, dreary and cold Monday. But my mood changed for the better after I learned on Twitter that today is, of all things, National Garlic Day. I immediately started to dream up ways to celebrate the pungent, multi-use herb. My husband already had supper underContinue reading “It's National Garlic Day. How Did You Celebrate?”