Two Worlds: Green City Market & Blackstone Branch Library

Originally this post was going to be solely about the Green City Market. I started writing it Saturday morning, on the Clark 22 bus as I rode towards Lincoln Park. But then my phone rang. My friend Rebecca wanted to know if I was busy that afternoon because she and her husband and mother were going to be traveling to Hyde Park to see some recently restored murals in a library there. I thought it sounded interesting, so I said yes. And then I went back to writing.

Green City Market
This seemed like a good place to begin my forays into my new life here. I mean, a girl needs to eat and all.

The Green City Market is, as the website says, Chicago's only year-round farmers' market. It's held every Saturday (7am -1pm in summer, 8am-1pm in winter) in Lincoln Park. In the summertime, the market is outdoors near the South Pond between N. Clark & Stockton Drive. In the winter, it's held in the South Gallery of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

This market is one of the top ten farmers' markets in the country, so you can imagine how excited I was about going. I was expecting to be impressed. Turns out it's not that different from Moscow's farmers' market, which surprised me. There's certainly more food available than in Moscow, and you can get elk, lamb, beef and pork there, as well as milk. I had some wonderful apple cider donuts fresh out of the fryer, but other than that, the diversity of the clientele and the lack of social awareness booths, it was pretty much like Moscow's market, right down to the live music. Just bigger.

The bus trip took an hour, and I had to carry back anything I bought, so I was fairly circumspect with the purchasing. I got an eggplant, some green bell peppers, some garlic and some onions. The soup I made yesterday and the spaghetti sauce I made this evening both have the Green City Market to thank for their existence.

In fact, I would have to say that the bus trip was the best part of the entire morning. I opted to go by bus rather than by train because I wanted to see more of the city. I need know how Chicago is put together, and the bus gave me a really great sense of what goes where, simply by traveling down Clark St. from Rogers Park to Lincoln Park and back again.

I do plan to visit the Green City Market again this Saturday, and I'm going to be better prepared. There were lots of berries that I couldn't buy because I had no way to transport them safely, but thanks to a suggestion from my mom, I'll be stuffing my backpack with tupperware wannabees to haul all those berries home. There are crisps to be made and fruits to be frozen for winter smoothies.


The Blackstone Murals
Chicago's first branch library, the Blackstone Memorial Branch Library in Hyde Park, opened in 1904. Its fortunes have fluctuated over the century plus since then. When it was built, the marble foyer, mahogany furniture and the Oliver Dennett Grover murals all attested to its importance to the culture. The original cost of the building was $250,000. Renovations and updates within the last 10-15 years have cost around $800,000. But there are some things that require that kind of monetary care, and a library this beautiful is one of them.

Don't you think every library should be lit this way?

That's my friend Rebecca and her husband, by the way. I don't know who the guy in red is.

You can already tell from the exterior, I think, that this library is going to be something special. And you know that for sure when you walk into the entry dome and look up.

The murals were restored just recently. In fact, there was a presentation on the process last night at the library. If I hadn't had stupid technical issues getting these images off my phone, you would have had advance notice about it. Sorry. Next time I'm taking a real camera. Anyway, bear in mind that these are indeed phone pictures while looking at them. And consider heading to the library to look at the murals in person. They're well worth it.

Science

Literature

Labor

Art

Everyone we spoke with on staff was very helpful. The head librarian even let us look at a scrapbook of the library's history. It's a beautiful place, a once upon a time temple to the importance of reading. Thank goodness someone thought it was worth preserving. And judging from how busy it was while we were there, half an hour before closing on a Saturday, the neighborhood thinks it's worth using.

About the Sunday Posting Situation

When I decided to post here on Sundays, those were free days. The Sunday post presupposed I would have time on Sundays TO post. I just didn't have time today. I DO, however have lots of things to write about and hopefully some pretty pictures. The plan is to post tomorrow about the stuff I didn't get the time to write about today.

Eventually (when I'm completely unpacked), my Sundays will free up drastically. Next week should be a good bet.

I'm Hee-eere

We moved us and the cats in on Monday and the furniture arrived on Thursday. I've been unpacking ever since. And now I'm resting on the couch in my bower of a living room on the North Side.

Since I've been busy doing moving-related things, I haven't really had much time to do any exploring. I almost didn't post today. But then I thought, "You HAVE to post on your first Sunday in town. You HAVE to." So here I am.

Today is not a day for unpacking. Today is a day for getting out and tasting the delights of the city. First up, a matinee of Six Degrees of Separation at Eclipse (my friend Rebecca is in it, so I got comped in) followed by a beer with said Rebecca and then a trip over to Navy Pier to see the Water Fools show at Chicago Shakes with another friend, Chris. Quite a full program for someone who hasn't even been here a week.

And to make sure I can do all that I want to do, I did some poking around on-line and got myself a handy little seven-day CTA pass. Unlimited CTA usage for seven days. By which time, I'm hoping my CTA Chicago-Plus card will have arrived in the mail.

I'm so glad I discovered the 7-day pass. I was really hating having to look up $2.25 for each leg of a trip. This thing will easily pay for itself this week.

Traveling

Sorry. I should have posted this before last Sunday, but was too busy to get to it. I was in Denver last weekend for a wedding, and will be in Boise this weekend for a few days with my family. This will most likely be the last time I see most of them until after The Big Move.

Anyway, I probably won't have internet access, so I won't be posting on Sunday.

HOWEVER. Once I get back, it's hit the apartment hunt hard and then head to Chicago for five days of apartment hunting and community building. So I'll have lots to write about next weekend and the weekend after.

If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Art Institute

I'm winding down from the semester and cleaning and organizing and meeting some deadlines this week, so nothing new here. Unless you want to read my blatherings on my strange reluctance to buy a plane ticket.

Instead, I'd like to direct you to my friend Heather's blog, where she waxes rhapsodic about the newest changes at the Chicago Art Institute. Be sure to read her comment there as well. It's even more detailed than her post about why the Art Institute is such a fabulous place.

I got to trundle through it with Heather and Chris (a fellow alum) when I was in Chicago last July. It was lovely and they were very VERY patient with me and my slow pace and my tears (art makes me emotional) and my gawking. If you want my impressions from that morning's visit, you can click on the link in this paragraph.

I still can't believe I'll be in the same city soon.

Three and a Half Months

(This post was published last Tuesday on Sallyacious. It's also appropriate here, I think. Besides, I was busy this week with the show. And now I'm getting back to the rest of my life. A non-recycled post next Sunday, I promise.)

I spent a recent afternoon looking at apartments. CHICAGO apartments. Online. (Damn, the world has changed significantly since I first struck out on my own.) I justified it by telling myself that we needed to be sure that the amount we were calculating for housing would work. It's an amount we can afford even if I don't have an income right away*.

So far I have discovered an online apartment rating system and a really useful online rental site. And on that site I located 83 apartment buildings I would be willing to live in. The entire process was made much faster by two things:

1) Three cats, which narrows the field significantly right away, and

2) The discovery that even looking at a building that is more than four stories high as a possible living space makes me hyperventilate. Seriously. My blood pressure increase, my breathing speeds up, my heart starts pounding in my chest, I get all tense and start making little squeaky noises. Any ideas at how many neighborhoods that sort of thing cuts out? Lots.

I mentioned this to our ASM last night during rehearsal and she said, "Well, couldn't you live on the second or third floor of a tall building? And then she got to witness firsthand my reaction to the idea of living in a high rise. "No," she said. "Obviously not."

Dave thinks I'm being silly, but since I'm going to have to live there at least four months longer than he will (a December 2009 graduation date is now assured, by the way), I get to be as silly as I like over these things. My silly wins.

Anyway, I was getting all excited about the apartment hunt, as opposed to overwhelmed like I had been. At least now I won't be jumping into it cold. And then I thought, “You need to slow down, Sal. You've got quite a while to wait.” Which is when I decided to actually figure out how much time I have left in this horrible place.

Three and a half months.

That's it. My time in Moscow finally--finally--has an expiration date. And now I'm scared and excited and worried and jubilant and exhausted and overwhelmed and grinning like a fiend. Because I'm not going to spend the rest of my life here. I have a new place to be, and soon I'll have a home there.


* Please, please, Chicago Community College System, see me for the shining star I am and hire me. Though I suppose that means I need to apply, doesn't it. Lazy cow.

Adjustments

If you're a regular reader of Sallyacious you know that I'm now committed to staying in Moscow through the eighth of August. Which is fine, because I'm playing the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. But it means my move schedule is shifting a bit now.

So. Now it looks like I'll be in Chicago to hunt for a home sometime in the first two weeks of June. And moving for good sometime in the middle of August. Since I'd like Dave to make the trip with me if he can, probably over a weekend. Arriving on the 16 or 17, most likely.

And that's where we are. At least things are becoming more definite. Even if the busy is creeping back into my schedule again.