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Tag Archives: Chicago

Art Miller, Florist (signs of the times)

I have passed by and seen but not seen this sign thousands of times from the bus. Finally I noticed the exchange telephone number: FA4-4200.

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All this time I never noticed the florist is gone, which is obvious. They moved in 2001.

Florist shop replanted

Art Miller’s Florist Shop, 1551 E. Hyde Park Blvd., a 50-year-plus tradition in Hyde Park, is budding all over with both new owners and a new location.

Don Eskra and Linda Wiening, who bought Miller’s last year, have swapped the shop’s beleagured location beneath the overpass on Hyde Park Boulevard for 1521 East 55th Street, a move that was not without its trials.

“Our phones were all messed up for about a week, and people thought that Art Miller’s had gone out of business,” Wiening said.

Eskra had previouslv owned a group of flower shops in Bridgeport that he sold for Art Miller’s.

Hyde Park Herald, June 13, 2001

7/20/2023 update: Someone in the Hyde Park group posted “Chicago Telephone Exchange Names.” FA was Fairfax.

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Drought, downpours, tornadoes, and rainbows

After months of abnormally dry to severe drought conditions, Chicago had a near record “rainfall event” the weekend of July 1–2, especially on Sunday.

To me, it seemed like a normal rain, but I don’t have a personal basement to worry about. I gave up any thought of outdoor activities and stuck to reading, TV, etc. I figured I’d be grateful if this rain, plus a few others that preceded it, would put a dent in the severe drought conditions.

As of July 11, Chicago was still abnormally dry, but look at the difference.

June 10, 2023:

Yellowing dry grass on Chicago Lakefront Trail
Chicago Lakefront Trail at 57th Street

Same area, July 9, 2023, a little less than a month later:

Green grass instead of dry yellow grass in the same area
Same area

When I noticed the orange light on my weather radio flashing the evening of July 12, I was hoping for beach hazards or at worst a flash flood watch, but, no, it was a tornado watch. As the sky got darker, it flipped to the red light — tornado warning. Not long after that, the sirens started — an eerie sound in the eerie premature twilight.

Over the next hour or so I saw several reports of tornadoes, starting with Summit in the southwest suburbs. Then it seemed like they were everywhere — southwest, west, north.

The sky brightened for a moment, then darkened, then brightened again just as another brief deluge descended. I looked — yes, there was a rainbow (and a very faint second mirror image rainbow). It faded, then reappeared, or maybe it was a second one in a similar spot. The second, with a faint mirror image like the first, was the full arch, which I couldn’t capture from my window.

It faded as blue sky appeared to the east, then pink from the setting sun tinged the clouds that had piled up.

The storms had passed.

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Time: 19:45
Rainbow at Promontory Point
Second rainbow at Promontory Point
Time: 19:51
Second rainbow at Promontory Point
Clouds over Lake Michigan to the east after the storms
Time: 20:05
Clouds over Lake Michigan to the east after the storms
Pink-tinged clouds to the east over Lake Michigan reflecting sunset
Time: 20:22
Pink-tinged clouds to the east over Lake Michigan reflecting sunset

Dan Ryan Woods aqueducts, this time with water

May 8, 2022

When I first visited the Dan Ryan Woods aqueducts in autumn, they were dry, so I wanted to go back in spring when there was more likely to be water. According to the Forest Preserves of Cook County, “The limestone aqueducts at Dan Ryan Woods were constructed by the CCC to prevent water from washing away soil on the steep ridges. Visitors can still walk alongside the aqueducts as they wind their way through the woods south of 87th St.” The aqueducts are one of my favorite things in Chicago.

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Lessons and Carols, 2022

This is the first time since 2019 that Lessons and Carols, a Christmas Eve tradition at Rockefeller Chapel, has been held in person. I remember in 2020 and 2021, it was streamed. This year it was both in person and streamed. I attended, but within a few days had developed my first bout with COVID-19. I held out almost three years.

Rockefeller is always an experience. The snow was a great touch.

I love that the children don’t have to make or buy costumes to be farmyard animals. These days they can wear pajamas. My favorite was the Holstein cow (possibly an anachronism).

Lessons and Carols, 2022
Lessons and Carols, 2022
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December sea smoke on Lake Michigan at -8°F

I’m not sure whether I’ve seen sea smoke in December before, but it is close to January. With bonus of Jack Frost on the window.

Accuweather

Sea smoke is essentially just fog above water, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel. The occurrence of sea smoke is similar to the steam that appears over a boiling pot of water or a hot bath.

“It happens when the air mass is so cold it makes the water steam like a pot on a stove would,” Samuhel said. Sea smoke is also sometimes referred to as arctic sea smoke, frost smoke, steam fog or sea fog.

In order for sea smoke to occur, the air has to be very cold and the water has to be comparatively warm. As a light wind of cold air sweeps in, it cools the warm air immediately above the water, which makes the air dip below the dew point. The air is only able to hold so much moisture before it condenses into fog, or sea smoke.

Sea smoke on Lake Michigan at -8ºF
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