Calendar: June 2009

The view from Glenview

Christmas Lights: Excessive Done Right

Now THIS is Christmas overkill!

I love this house. The attention to detail and the complete sets of everything is just astonishing. These are all old plastic figures, the kind they don't even make any more. These people have all of them.

Like the trains above. And a choir. (Did you know there were two fat sopranos? I didn't.)



The whole Disney ensemble.



The manger, complete with heralding angels. (Also note the chapel, nun and abbot on the far right. So cute!)



And lots of toy soldiers.



Oh, yeah, and Santa on the roof!



Altogether, it's pretty overwhelming.



But I still love it.





P.S. If the photos are cropped on the sides, click on them to see in full size.

Christmas Lights: Excessive Edition

This is one of the most overly-decorated houses I've seen. There are lights, giant blow-up creatures, Santas galore, but worst of all, there is just no theme. Unless the theme is "Too Much of Everything".



Um. Is that Pooh and Eeyore behind the tree on the right?



Oh God, it is.



The lighted-wire reindeer seem overwhelmed and frightened.



A polar bear, Snoopy and a seal walk into an igloo...

Tomorrow will be excessive done right. Come back then!

Flood September 2008

We've had some serious rainfall this weekend, with flooding in all kinds of unexpected places. We personally got very lucky; even our window well that always floods stayed bone dry this time. But lots of roads, rivers and retention ponds weren't as lucky -- or were many of my friends. Good luck cleaning up, everyone!

That said, some people don't have the sense to heed warning signs.





There was a lot more of Lake Glenview than usual!



Couldn't even get to the bridge.


That gurgling triangle of white in the middle? Is a fountain. It is surrounded by benches, usually.


The waters came down on Sunday around the lake at least.






Techny Basin was filling up all day on Saturday.


Notice the trees weren't flooded yet, and the water was actually going down to a second level in the bowl. By Sunday, it was full.


This may not seem like much...but this is what Techny Basin looks the other 360+ days of the year.


The whole set is found at Flickr.

Glenview Fourth of July Parade

All taken this morning at the annual Glenview 4th of July parade. There are more in this set, but these are my favorites:

Red Flags


Minutemen


Drill Team in flight


If he didn't have a kilt on, I would have thought he snuck in.


Stilts Woman


Best Friend Girl Scouts


Bolivian Dancer


The End!



Fireworks tonight! They'll be posted tomorrow.

Happy Independence Day!

Have a great July 4th, everyone!

February 6th storm

My dad said he wanted to see how bad it was out here, so here you go! I didn't venture out past my street because it was getting dark and I didn't want to get the camera wet. But it's enough for now.


This is my street. Can you see the street part? Me either.


Pull up a chair and enjoy the sleet!


Already building up on the shovel again!

Reindog 23: The edible Reindog at Fredhots

Today's dog is a little different, but if you know me, you know I had to include it. (Also, we went here for lunch immediately after the Reindog Parade. We had to!) This is the very tasty reindeer hotdog served up at Fredhots and Fries in Glenview. I especially love the cherry tomato nose!



Fredhots is a great, GREAT hotdog stand. The food is delicious, and they have a wonderful sense of creativity and enthusiasm. Sure, you can get a traditional Chicago style hotdog, or an excellent Italian beef sandwich, but the thing I go back for are the specialty sausages. The reindeer one is his most famous, but throughout the year he may also have alligator, elk, duck, buffalo, you name it! My favorite is the Reuben dog. Served with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a fabulous spicy Thousand Island, the meat remarkably has the flavor and mouth-feel of corned beef.

And let's not forget the amazing frites and aiolis! Mmmmm. I never thought mayonnaise on French Fries could be so good. But it is!



Plus, look at these guys. How can you not want to buy a hotdog from them? I ask you.



The man himself, Fred. Don't you recognize him from the logo? :)


Fredhots is located on 1707 Chestnut Avenue in Glenview, just off Waukegan Road. They're open 7 days a week (Sunday is just 12-3 so you can get your fix before the Bears games). Tell them Kristen said hello!

Too soon!

This guy has had his lights up since NOVEMBER 1st! The day after Halloween! And even though it's the day after Thanksgiving now, I still think it's too soon. Crazy!

Severe Weather 2007

We were hit with "severe weather" this Thursday, with 80-mile-an-hour winds and torrential rains. The northern suburbs where I live took some of the hardest hits, so much so that two days later many blocks are still without power and most of the trees haven't even been cleaned up yet. To my New England eyes, it looks like the aftermath of a hurricane, although that's not what they're calling it. Whatever it was, it was a doozy. Lots of pictures follow!

Look at the size of this tree that was brought down by the wind. We think it was because the ground was so saturated with water, the roots had nothing to hold onto and it couldn't hang on. It took huge chunks of grass with it!



Luckily, there was little residual damage; the tree only fell on a large shrub wall and onto an empty street on the other side.



This is fairly typical on the sides of streets right now.



Look closely at this next one: the roots are actually intertwined with cement blocks! Didn't help it withstand the wind, though.



This time, the tree did damage.



A LOT of damage.



If you had your car at this body shop, you are likely a very unhappy customer. Now it's in worse shape than when you brought it in!



This one broke my heart. I love old cars!



Two days later, this is a typical side street.



But help is on the way!



I heard today that they are bringing in electric company workers from out-of-state to help. Good thing, we need it! According to the latest Village report, 6800 residents in Glenview still don't have power. (We're fine -- we even got our cable back up this afternoon. Whew, we missed the internet more than we thought we would!)

Although we are not near a river, we do have water issues. Techny Basin, a conservation area, handles the overflow of water during bad storms. This is what it looked like this morning.



Luckily, I was also there last summer so you can see how it normally looks at this time of year.



Yeah, let's look at that again.

Now, after the "severe weather":



Before, on a normal summer day:



!!!!!!!!!

We're as floored as you. I'm not sure if the depth comes across in the photo, but the bottom of the basin is probably twenty-five to thirty feet down -- and the bike path that travels around the edges of it is exactly one mile. That is a whole lotta water, people! (More on Techny Basin and the rain overflow here.)

But all is not doom and gloom. Our most favorite hotdog stand, fRedhots & Fries, is one of the many businesses in town without power. But that doesn't keep an ingenius man like Fred down -- he had an impromptu outdoor cookout today!



People loved the idea, and quickly lined up. Including my husband and me. :)



The guys were working hard.



People started coming from all over the place. Just in the short time we were there, they ran out of Polish! Hahaha.



Leave it to good old fRedhots to make the day brighter.





So that's how my town looks now.