Jurgen's Family

June 26, 2014

Jurgen is 15 days old today and we finally got everyone's schedules synchronized in order to grab a group photo.

Jurgen, Jeanette, Henriët, Howard, Andrew, Carla

Jurgen, Henriët, Andrew

Jurgen, Henriët, Andrew

Carla and I have been married 38 years today; we can't think of a better way to spend our anniversary.

Road Trip 2014 - Walking around Riverside

June 22 & 26, 2014

Andrew and Henriët live in a beautiful area. Many of he houses are 60 or more years old and are nothing like the cookie cutter subdivisions we are used to in Portland. In between our times googling over Jurgen, Carla and I have gone out on some walks.

Mushrooms cropping up among the meticulously manicured lawns

Whimsical details in a lawn.

About 20 minutes away from Andrew and Henriët's house is a pedestrian suspension bridge; we walked across it to get into another cute little neighborhood. We saw a group of kids on bikes roll across the bridge and head down to the bank where they were building a fort and generally doing kid things.

Entrance to the suspension bridge

Shadows from the bridge.

The Des Plaines river is a quick moving, wide body of water; not as wide as the Williamette back home in Portland, but plenty wide.

On another walk we headed into Riverside which is a very well-to-section of town with plenty of parks and wild spaces along the river. Carla and Jeanette saw a beaver swimming by earlier in the week

Flower/weed near the Des Plaines river.

You can't see the depth of the lot here; there is statuary in the back. Carla and Jeanette saw 11 gardeners on the grounds the day before

Cottages are also in the mix.

I like the flat stone steps entrance to this house

We enjoyed some of the details of the houses.

Entrance to a Frank Lloyd Wright home

 Nancy and Tom Lea have some shallow planters full of succulents which we liked back in Boise. We saw some more on our walk in Riverside. I think this will be one of the first things Carla will do when we get home.

Planters frame an entrance.

It's beautiful here in the summer; and it hasn't been crazy hot every day. Today was in the mid 70s. But when it rains, it pours like I've never seen before. I imagine we'll be coming back this winter so we can get another view - though we may not be able to get outside much because of the crazy cold.

Road Trip 2014 - Jurgen's Room

Henriët's mother, Jeanette, is an artist; we have some of her work on our walls at home. She arrived in Chicago from Johannesburg a few weeks before Jurgen was due. Her first mission on arriving was to paint and decorate Jurgen's room to remind him of his heritage. Henriët and Andrew are also taking a bilingual approach with Jurgen. Henriët speaks to him in Afrikaans, while Andrew uses English.

At any rate, Jeanette did a fantastic job of painting the nursery. She did some special work on the ceiling and drew many South African animals on the walls.

Jurgen's room from the door.

Jurgen's crib. He's not sleeping here yet; he is in a basinet in his parents' room.

You can see the crocodile ("krokodil" in Afrikaans) above the crib; each wall has one or more animals sketched. My photography skills are not adequate to capture the beautiful work Jeannette did.

The ceiling is made up of various angles and planes. Jeanette did a great job of bringing it to life by painting a beautiful set of lines that makes it look like a colorful tent.

Looking up at the ceiling

Jurgen has a beautiful room that he will enjoy and that will remind him of his South African heritage.

Road Trip - Metra commuter trains in Riverside

The Oumas (o-mahs - Afrikaans for grandmas) went to the farmers market this morning for some tasty surprises. Andrew and Henriët were hanging with Jurgen so I took a 20 minutes walk into Riverside to go trackside. I caught a couple of Metra commuter trains; one traveling east from Chicago to Aurora; the second heading back to the big city.

Main Riverside Metra station

Aurora (outbound) train entering Riverside station

 This Metra line runs on BNSF tracks; I'm not sure but BNSF may even own the cars.

BNSF/Metra dual level commuter car.

The trains have a locomotive on one end and a control cab in the last car; they don't turn around at the end points; just head back the other way.

Control cab portion of an inbound train.

Inbound train leaving the station; the locomotive is pushing the train to Chicago;
the last (first?) car has a place for the engineer to sit

Road Trip 2014 - June 24-25 Jurgen, Henriët, and Andrew

Let's take a break for a moment from the sites on our road trip, and the trains I've seen to focus on why we headed to Chicago in the first place - our little grandson Jurgen - born to Henriët and Andrew. As most of you know, Henriët is from South Africa; she was very close to her grandfather Jurgen; she also has an uncle in Dubai and a cousin in Australia named Jurgen. His initials also provide us with four out of five generations of "JTs". My dad, his dad, my older son, and now Jurgen.

He's just turning two weeks old today (June 25) and it has been simply amazing to watch him grow so much in the last week. I've forgotten how intense those first few weeks are; it's been wonderful watching Henriët and Andrew stepping up to the challenge and figuring it all out on the fly - as we all do.

There are also so many more gadgets than 30+ years ago. Andrew and I, but mostly Andrew, worked through how to use the baby carrier. On Jurgen's day 13, Andrew strapped Jurgen in and off they went for a walk through the hood.

Jurgen checking out his dad, Andrew

Jurgen and Andrew pose.

Henriët, Jurgen, and Andrew; the family has grown by 50%!

If you are aware of the rule for clothing babies - "one more layer than the adults" -  you're probably thinking the rest of us are standing around naked. I assure you we are not. We are all at comfortable and appropriate levels of dress.

"Dag 14" is Afrikaans for  "Day 14". Jurgen's two week birthday celebration.

Road Trip 2014 - Grand Island, Nebraska to Iowa City

We slept in a bit in Grand Island, Nebraska - our fifth day away from home. Carla saw the Stuhr Living History Museum on the way into town from the freeway. Since they don't open until 9:00 AM and our day's journey would be relativiely short, we had the opportunity to get a bit of shut eye. The museum is a reproduction of a railroad town in the late 19th century; on our visit they were reenacting the year 1894.

After checking in at the main building we headed across the pond into town.

Entrance to the Stuhr LivingHistory Museum in Grand Island, NE

The buildings below look to be older than the late 19th century buildings in the main part of town. They weren't open on visit so we could only get an outside shot. I imagine the trees weren't around back when the buildings were originally built.

Old house and out building at the Stuhr Living History Museum in Grand Island, NE

Nebraska seemed different to me this trip compared to our 2010 trip. In 2010 we travelled the Lincoln Highway (US 30 more or less) which took us through small farm towns. I remember thinking how flat it was and we saw corn and soy bean fields interrupted every 20 or so miles by tiny towns with a grain silos. On this trip I noticed there was a definite difference as we descended from the Rockies in the west, through rolling hills in central Nebraska giving way to farms in the east. This trip we high-tailed it on I80, a few miles south of our last excursion. Nebraska didn't seem nearly as flat this trip; rolling hills and tree copses were the primary features, especially in the west and central parts of the state. The farther east we got, the flatter it got and the more farms appeared.

Around lunch time we crossed over the Missouri River into Iowa. Yelp had been a big help for us so I looked for a good barbecue joint for lunch. We found Boxer Barbecue. My expectations rose as we drove down an alley to get to the place. There was a classic beverage store next to Boxer

Brewski's Beverage in Council Bluffs, IA

Boxer Barbecue in Council Bluffs, IA

 Similar to ordering enchiladas, tamales, and refried beans at Mexican restaurants to gauge the grub quality, I like ordering brisket at BBQ joints. I mixed it up a bit and got a combo plate along with pork butt. The pork was nice and tender, falling into beautiful strands. The brisket was tender and smoky - excellent. The smoky, sweet, and hot sauces were all wonderful. To fill it out I had corn bread and potato salad. The iced tea was the best tea I've had away from home in years. Portlandians may know coffee, but not iced tea.

Brisket, pork combon plate with corn bread and potato salad at Boxer BBQ in Council Bluffs, IA

Back on the road we headed across Iowa to stay in Coralville, a stones throw from Iowa City. It was flatter here than Nebraska with many more farms and larger fields. I noticed that every field of corn or soy beans would have small patches, usually in low spots, that were planted with grasses - something other than the primary crop. These patches would be maye 50 feet long and maybe 20 feet wide. I don't know what to make of it; if you know, please leave a comment.

View from a highway rest stop along I80 in western Iowa

 Iowa was the most stressful driving of the trip to date. The freeway lanes seemed narrower and not as well maintained. And there was much more traffic. We travelled exactly 400 miles in just a hair over 7 hours.

If you are planning to drive across the mid West in the spring or summer I recommend carrying a couple of extra gallons of windshield washer. We hit it regularly on the drive, and I'd scrub the windshield to get off the dried bits. When we got to our hotel I checked the front of the car - we definitely hit a lot of bugs.

Bug city.

Road Trip 2014 - Trains in Berwyn, IL

After doing some grocery shopping with Carla in the morning I took the afternoon off to hunt trains. There are two sets of tracks not far from Andrew and Henriët's house. I headed northeast to the Berwyn Public Library where the parking lot is right next to the Canadian National tracks. I sat in the car listening to the radio for about an hour with an occasional peak up and down the line. The nice thing about flat Chicago is you can see a long way in all directions.

After an hour of no action, I decided to grab a bite to eat. Andrew and Henriët are vegetarians; Henriët's mom is vegan so we've been eating a lot of vegetables. So, I immediately set out in search of a hot dog stand to get a Chicago style dog with all the trimmings. I ended up at Polar Bear, a place like old school Dairy Queens. There were three young men working and they were a little over their heads; long waits. But the people waiting were cool and we all eventually got our orders.

As I headed toward home ready to chalk up a shut out I noticed lights on both ends of the tracks. I found a road paralleling the tracks and had time to put up my tripod and grab some shots of a CN heading east into town.

Here is the general location from where I took the shots above.

The train on the east end heading west turned off its lights and I saw a maintenance truck stopped near it. I found a parking spot near it and grabbed some photos. It took some turns and false starts to get near it. You can see the rear of the eastbound train I just captured on the right track.

Westbound CN idling. 

 It seems as though only the lead locomotive was idling; the other two may have been turned off.

Close up of CN 2709.

Here is the location where I caught the idling train

 It wasn't as busy as I had hoped but it was fun catching a railroad line that I don't normally see out in Oregon. A nice day of train watching.

Book Report - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first section of this book held me breathless; it is among the best writing I've encountered. The story is compelling and it is beautifully told. It is tough to write about without spoiler alerts.

Young Lilly Owens grew up in South Carolina in the 60's;her mother was killed when Lily was young and her father was an unloving, hard-hearted SOB. She was 14 in 1964 when Civil Rights legislation was finally passed; voter registration for Blacks is a catalyst for Lilly and her nanny, Rosaleen, to embark on a trip of liberation, love, self understanding, and forgiveness. She ends up working as a bee keeper in a house of black women.

This may be considered young adult literature because the subject is a young coming-of-age woman. But it speaks to all ages. If the whole book was as good as the opening section, it would have been a Pullitzer prize winner; though the rest of the story isn't told with the same power and immediacy, it is excellent - as indicated by the fact it spent over 100 weeks on the NY Times best sellers list.


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