Category Archives: Gracie the Cat

The Lake Shore View: Here Comes The Sun(set) Again

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A roundup of random thoughts…

Random thought #1: Part of the human condition is that we work so hard to amuse ourselves. Cats are smarter. Any box will do. It doesn’t even matter if it doesn’t really support your weight.

Random thought #2: We had another gorgeous sunset last evening. I know this might be getting a little redundant. But if I ever tell you that I’ve gotten jaded over this, just put me out of my misery.

For the record, here’s how the Lake Shore View looks on this sunny day:

Random thought #3: Last night, after our SpartyBall planning meeting at the Mad River Grille broke up, I stepped outside, and for the first time since we moved was really, really cold. Or perhaps the better way to put it is that it is pretty easy to under-dress for the occasion in Chicago this time of year.

Why do I bring this up? As a lame excuse to lure you into reading a blatant plug for SpartyBall, the biggest annual fundraising event staged by the Michigan State University Alumni Club of Metro Chicago (better known as Chicago Spartans).

SpartyBall is a black-tie-optional dinner-dance, which raises money for a scholarship endowment to send a Chicago student to Michigan State. It will be held Saturday, February 25 at River East Arts Center in downtown Chicago, right near Navy Pier.

And wouldn’t you know it — tickets are already on sale and can be purchased by clicking here. They make great Christmas gifts!

So please sign up, whether your favorite colors already are Spartan green and white or you just want to break the winter doldrums with a fun night on the town with some of the smartest, coolest and most attractive people in Chicago. Oh, and I’ll be there, too.

So how cold was it last night? According to Weather Underground, Chicago O’Hare on Wednesday had a high of 46 and a low of 31 with no rain (the temperature bottomed out at 27 overnight). Washington Reagan National was warmer, with a high of 59 and a low of 54, but had a hefty .54 of an inch of rain. I’ll take cold and dry over cool and wet any day, so that point goes to Chicago in the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown, bringing its overall lead to 62-43.

 

The Lake Shore View: Capturing The Sweep Of Things On Camera

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Since I had my camera’s instruction manual out to ensure that switching lenses is as easy as it looks (it is), I finally got around to learning about one of the instrument’s cooler features. This camera has a panorama feature. All you have to do is toggle to the correct setting, hold down the shutter button and, with a steady hand, sweep the horizon. The camera fires constantly for about 15 to 20 seconds, and you have a panoramic view.

For now, you’ll have to trust me on how awesome this is. So far, I have only figured out how to play these pictures on the software that Sony provided with the NEX-3 camera, but I will see if there is any way to create public access. If you have any ideas, let me know.

In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for these conventional photos of a beautiful fall day in Chicago…

… and of a very spoiled cat who just wants to soak up the sun (and tell everyone to lighten up).

We’re having another almost balmy day (for Chicago in November), with a mid-afternoon temperature of 63. That won’t last… the forecast says the temps will plunge to a high of 43 tomorrow and 40 on Thursday before rebounding a bit this weekend. But at least it sounds like we (and Gracie) will still have some sunbeams to bask in.

As for the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown, according to Weather Underground, Chicago O’Hare yesterday recorded a high of 53, a low of 36 and .01 of an inch of rain. Washington Reagan National had an Indian summer-ish high of 73 (just four degrees short of the record set in 1985) with a low of 54 and no rain. A pretty clear win for D.C., cutting Chicago’s overall lead to 60-43.

The Lake Shore View: The “S” Word Hits The Forecast… But Gracie Loses No Sleep

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I’ve spent a bit of time the past couple of days sharing my angst over the ugly scandal surrounding the Penn State football program and its coach, Joe Paterno, so let’s lighten things up a bit.

Today was one of those days that make changeability the trademark feature of Chicago weather. The temperature topped out at 60 degrees this morning amid steady rain, fog and howling winds…

Then the skies rapidly cleared, with the clouds racing across the sky from south to north…

But by afternoon, the clouds returned, as the upper-level circulation brought in a blast of the coldest air we’ve seen this autumn, with temperatures plunging 20 degrees into the upper 30s. The weather forecasters said we might even see a passing snow flurry, which never materialized but nonetheless placed the ominous “s” word into the conversation for the first time since we moved here.

Yet, as the photos below show, Gracie the Cat was officially unfazed but the racket going outside the windows.

There’s a lot to be said for being an indoor cat. In fact, I’m becoming a bit of an indoor cat myself. Picking up freelance assignments here and there has me thinking that there might just be something to this whole independent contractor thing, especially when I get to do my writing at a desk looking at over this incredible view. And it’s quite possible that my conviction that freelancing rocks could rise as Chicago’s temperatures fall. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I mentioned a few weeks back that I’m taking guitar lessons, and I’ve started to feel like I’m kind of getting it just within the past couple of weeks. Gracie seems pretty inspired by my musical pursuits, too.

It’s a good time to catch up on the past couple of days in the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown.

According to Weather Underground, Chicago O’Hare on Monday had a high of 55, a low of 51 and .21 of an inch of rain. Washington Reagan National reported in with a high of 67, a low of 40 and no rain. Point D.C.

On Tuesday, O’Hare had a high of 55, a low of 48 and 1.17 inches of rain. Washington National had a high of 68, a low of 41 and no rain. A doubleheader sweep for D.C., cutting Chicago’s overall lead to 58-39.

So have we reached the point at which the tide turns and enables Washington to make up the ground it lost to Chicago this summer? Could be. Stay tuned.

Gracie Asks, Can I Haz Road Trip?

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There may be some cats that live up to the feline reputation for aloofness and not giving a whit what’s up with the two-legged creatures who share their space. Gracie the Cat is not one of them.

Barb this morning left an empty bag next to the suitcase she is taking to East Lansing for our Homecoming weekend at Michigan State University. That was all the invitation Gracie needed for the best “take me with you” photo op ever.

We’ve got a beautiful day for the four-hour drive…

Nice weather forecast for the East Lansing weekend is holding up well. For the record in the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown… according to Weather Underground, Chicago O’Hare had a high Thursday of 47, a low of 43 and .08 of an inch. Washington Reagan National had a high of 68, a low of 52 and a trace of rain. Easy point for D.C., bringing the overall total to Chicago 50, Washington 29.

Go Green!

The Lake Shore View: Thank A Teacher

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As proof that you’re never too old to do something completely new, I spent most of today talking about writing, and my experiences as a professional writer, to members of the junior class at a charter high school in Chicago. Not one class, but all six writing classes that were on today’s schedule.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, in which I took part at the request of Monica Olivett, a fellow Michigan State University graduate who I met at a Spartan alumni event shortly after Barb and I moved to Chicago, and who took me up on my offer made at that time to come in and talk to her classes.

The students at UNO Garcia High School — who are almost all Hispanic, as is most of the population in its southwest side neighborhood — were almost all attentive. That was hardly a given when the guest speaker is some middle-aged guy they never heard of who just popped into Chicago a couple of months ago after 30 years living in Washington, D.C., and who spent most of his adult life writing for a very esoteric political journalism company that I’d venture most grown-ups in this country have never heard of.

I avoided the boring technical aspects of writing, tried to give some encouragement to the handful of kids who volunteered an interest in writing as a profession, and emphasized to the rest of the classes how important writing will be to them when they are doing college application essays, cover letters, resumes, work reports, business plans, and marketing materials if their dream is to own their own business. I also touted writing as a means of self-expression and connection with other people, using this blog as an exhibit.

I think I kept them moderately amused with stories about yesterday being the 31st anniversary of the day I met my wife (the students in each class gave a round of applause, which I dedicated to Barb for having put up with me for that long), my lifelong love of sports and how I went to Michigan State to try to become a sportscaster and somehow ended up in Washington covering elections, and how Gracie the Cat is one of my favorite blogging topics. (There are bonus photos of Gracie below.)

Several students in each class asked questions, for the most part about how I decided I liked to write, how I became a professional writer, and what the best and worst parts of being a writer are. A couple of questions were about whether you get paid a lot of money to be a writer; I told them it’s possible, but that it’s not really the most sure-fire reason to pursue a career in this field.

I don’t flatter myself anywhere near enough to think that I inspired a few dozen high school students to suddenly start thinking about writing careers, but I hope at least some of them took something of value away.

As for me, the thing that I learned is that teaching — even with six classes of well-behaved, school-uniformed students — is exhausting. After being on my feet for most of the time between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., covering essentially the same ground six different times, I got in my car for the 15-mile ride home and started almost immediately to fade. After a stop at Trader Joe’s to pick up some groceries, I got home and…crashed. Laid out on the couch and made a failed attempt to watch a couple of DVR’d installments of Jeopardy without falling asleep.

So while I am going to continue my efforts to keep this blog completely apolitical, I will make this suggestion to those who really think that teachers in our society are somehow overpaid and underworked: Try it sometime.

The students who seemed to get the biggest kick out of my Gracie stories will be happy to know that she never fails to amuse. This evening, we left a reusable grocery bag where Gracie could get at it, and we all know that a cat can’t resist checking out anything it can fit into. I guess you could call this photo series “Who Let The Cat Into The Bag?”

Still pretty beat, so I’m going to watch the Tigers (Gracie’s favorite team) and catch you up on the Weather Smackdown tomorrow.

 

The Lake Shore View: In Service To Gracie

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I expected a lot of different weather issues when we moved to Chicago, but “too hot in October” wasn’t one of them. But here we are.

It’s not exactly a heat wave, with temps hovering around 80. Actually pretty beautiful weather outside.

But our apartment, which is 300 feet closer to the sun than the folks walking along the lakeshore, also has a very sunny exposure. And…. the worst part… because it was unseasonably cool a couple of weeks ago, the building management shut down the air conditioning for the year. So we’re running fans all over the place and rooting for a prompt return of that Canadian air.

I’ll have to be pretty brief because we’re awaiting a noon visit from the folks we’re likely to hire to look after Gracie when we’re away. Yes, we’re the kind of crazy people who hire professionals to look after our cat. Don’t judge us.

The past couple of days have actually been all about Gracie. She had her first Chicago vet visit — a well-pet checkup, thank goodness — yesterday, at City Cat Doctor downtown. Now I’ve mentioned before how crazy small my world can be, but this is kind of a corker. Our vet is the same one we used for a while at the DuPont Veterinary Clinic in D.C. She met a Chicago boy, got engaged, moved out here a few months before we did — and lives just about four blocks up Lake Shore Drive. Go figure!

Gracie is never fond of interruptions to her daily routine, which is made up mainly of hollering for food, eating, and lounging around looking beautiful after she has eaten. She might have been a little more cranky than usual yesterday, because the last time she got put in the carrier in late June, she was hauled 700 miles cross-country to her new home.

Not that the experience was that big a deal, as she spent the entire 14 hours in the rented minivan curled up in Barb’s lap. But when you’re as well-taken-care-of (read: spoiled) as Gracie, this amounted to traumatic stress that required hiding in the bedroom closet for two or three days, until she came out, investigated, and decided that she was going to run this place, too.

Because everyone loves a Gracie photo, here she is in her Go Tigers! pose…

On a different tangent, I skipped the Cooler on the Lake Shore Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown yesterday, so here’s the catch-up.

According to Weather Underground, Chicago O’ Hare on Wednesday reported a high of 80 (13 degrees above normal for the date) and a low of 49 with no rain. Washington Reagan National had a high of 74, a low of 53 and no rain.

On Tuesday, the numbers at O’Hare were a high of 73, a low of 48 and no rain. D.C. National had a high of 70, a low of 59 and a trace of precipitation.

I’m going to call that a split, since the weather outside here on Tuesday was gorgeous but was a tad too warm on Wednesday, that brings the overall score to 44-20 Chicago.

Today’s forecast from Weather.com…

Chicago: Plentiful sunshine. High 79. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph… Tonight…Clear to partly cloudy. Low 57. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph… Thursday… Partly cloudy. Warm. High 81. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.

Washington: Sunny. High 69. Winds light and variable… Tonight… Mainly clear. Low 52. Winds light and variable. Thursday… Sunny skies. High 72. Winds light and variable.

 

 

It Is Well Known Throughout The Midwest That My Cat Is A Turkey Junkie

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There is a line in the final segment of the movie A Christmas Story in which the narrator, voicing the thoughts of child protagonist Ralphie, declares, “It is well known throughout the Midwest that the old man is a turkey junkie.” This leads into the scene in which the family’s roasted Christmas turkey ends up decimated by the neighbor’s marauding hound dogs.

Well, Barb and I learned long ago that our cat Gracie is one of the world’s most fervent  turk-aholics, on four or two legs. This is a cat that generally likes to eat, but she goes totally nuts, demanding tribute in the former of scraps, whenever she is downwind from the scent of turkey.

This was brought home by the following surveillance photos taken by Barb the other day, when I made a turkey breast for the week’s meals before leaving for an evening event. The back story is that we’ve kept the kitchen doors closed (and occasionally barricaded with a chair) whenever food is cooling on the stovetop, the result of a recent incident in which Gracie staged a raid on a pan of chicken wings and nearly made off with one.

Don’t worry, though, no cat endured undue mental stress in the creation of this photo essay… and it has a happy ending.

 

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam

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One of the things I’ve learned quickly since starting the Cooler on the Lake Shore blog is that it doesn’t take long for the spam artists out there to find you.

Most seem to be fairly innocuous attempts to get you to post a comment that also contains a link to something the commenter is promoting or selling. And at least they tend to use flattery, rather than calling you an idiot and saying your site sucks and daring you to post the comment. (I got enough of that from people who disagreed with our election predictions when I edited the CQPolitics.com site.)

Take the one I received this morning. “I’m impressed, I need to say,” the comment started. “Actually not often do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Your concept is excellent.”

Well, I’m as ego-equipped as any writer, so this comment (almost certainly computer-generated) might have had me at “I’m impressed.” But then came the laying-it-on-too-thick part. “The issue is one thing that not enough individuals are talking intelligently about. I’m very glad that I stumbled throughout this in my search for one thing regarding this,” the comment concluded.

The problem is that this comment was submitted to a blog post, dated August 4 and titled “Random Photo of Gracie, Our Adorable Cat.” While I would be honored to know that this is an issue that not enough individuals are talking intelligently about, I kind of doubt it.

Then again, if this character really has been searching the Web for the one site providing intelligent discussion of Gracie the Cat, he certainly has come to the right place.

Gracie the Cat Chronicles: That Good Old Cat Was Drinking Whiskey and Rye?

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Honestly, no cats were harmed or given rye whiskey to drink in the production of this photograph:

For those of you who do enjoy whiskey, the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye, 13 years old, is my single favorite quaff. Hard as heck to find, so if you do, grab a bottle. Then invite me over to help you sample and explain why I think it is so good.

(Or invite yourself over here and sample the one bottle I found in 2010, which is ready to be opened now that we’ve finally polished off the 2009 bottle. As you can tell, I treat this stuff like liquid gold and drink it a few sips at a time.)

Here is the same bottle in the more appropriate hands of our dear D.C. friend Frank Hodal, the man who introduced me to Chicago Whiskey Fest, who graced us with a visit during a business trip to his old hometown.

Cheers!

The Lake Shore View, Tuesday, August 16, 2011

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As we all mourn the 34th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley — at least that’s what the TV news shows say we’re doing today — I am grateful that we are experiencing another beautiful summer day here in Chicago.

Sorry, I know that’s a random photo of Gracie the Cat, a cheap attempt to boost traffic to my blog. But you’ve got to give the people what they want.

Now here’s what it looks like out the window today:

Last evening was just about perfect: mid 70s, a little lake breeze, cloudless sky. So I took a walk down the lakeshore a bit more than a mile, to Fullerton Beach and back. I know that I have the zeal of a convert, but a lot of new neighbors feel the same way. The paths were jammed with joggers, bike riders, skaters and stodgy old walkers like myself, milking every minute outdoors they can before the onset of the long, cruel winter everyone keeps warning me about.

The marina you see on the left side in these daily photos is Belmont Harbor, which is at the crux of an interesting coincidence. I met Barb out east shortly after she moved from Illinois, and had never before been to Chicago when I joined her on a family trip a year later (which was 30 years ago). Barb wanted to show off Chicago’s best side, so we took a ride up Lake Shore Drive and pulled off at what appeared a convenient place to walk by the lake — which turned out to be Belmont Harbor. I found several pictures we took that day while packing to move.

Karma? Nah, probably not. We had other reasons to become familiar with the Lake View East neighborhood over the years. We hunted for parking spaces on streets such as Cornelia and Roscoe when we drove to Cubs games at Wrigley Field, and in recent years, we stayed at the very pleasant Majestic Hotel on Brompton, just off Lake Shore Drive and now three blocks from where we live, whenever we came to visit Barb’s sister.

So when people ask if it has been a difficult transition from D.C., I have to say no. It was just like coming home.

As for the weather, yesterday sounds like it was a not-bad day in Washington, but Chicago was better still, running its record in the Cooler on the Lake Shore weather smackdown to 12-1. Chicago O’Hare had a high of 82 and a low of 54 (!) with no rain, while Washington Reagan National had a high of 86, a low of 68 and a trace of rain.

And today’s forecasts (from Weather Underground):

Chicago: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 80s…except near 80 along the lake. Light and variable winds in the morning becoming southeast around 10 mph in the afternoon… Tonight… Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 60s…except around 70 downtown. South winds 10 to 15 mph.

Washington: Partly sunny. A slight chance of showers this afternoon. Highs in the mid 80s. North winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent…. Tonight… Partly cloudy in the evening…then becoming mostly clear. Lows in the upper 60s. North winds 5 to 10 mph…becoming west after midnight.