Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Last night we went to bed at 10pm, I got up once at 5am, finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

I received an email from the Illinois Tollway reminding me I have to register a credit card to pay my tolls. I think I added my USAA credit card successfully and paid my $10.50 in Illinois tolls.

We left the apt at 8am and drove to First Watch on Mannheim Rd. We each had a single pancake: banana, blueberry, granola crunch for Teresa and carrot cake with pecans for me and we each had coffee. The check came to $26.60 and I tipped $4.31 for a total of $30.91.

I received an email confirmation of my tollway payment.

I uninstalled some of my apps from my old cellphone that Teresa won’t need.

Teresa is enamored with the Maytag washer and dryer. The washer because it senses how much water to fill and the dryer because everything comes out not wrinkled, soft and smelling so good (with the bounce sheets).

I finished solving Monday’s Chicago Sun-Times crossword puzzle.

We left the apt at 12:30 and met Jack & Arlene at Howard Street Inn at 1pm. It’s a nice sports bar where Teresa had their chicken pot pie and I a BLT and we each had Cokes. Arlene had turkey meatloaf and Jack also had a BLT. I told Jack about ChatGPT and he asked an obscure Cleveland Browns question and was surprised when AI got it right. We enjoyed rehashing old times. I gifted them a bag of coffee and they gave me a couple wrapped presents. Arlene also gifted us some homemade pizza she stored in a Styrofoam container with ice blocks on both sides. They picked up the check and we might meet again next September if/when I return.

We returned to the apt and Teresa heated a slice of pizza right away. She said it was delicious and I told her to be careful as we’ll be eating something later.

I want to go to Ravinia tonight but Teresa says she’s too tired. About 4:15 she went into the bedroom for a nap.

I deleted all the emails I could find in gmail but it still says I’m using 61% of 15GB. I queried ChatGPT for some advice. Gmail seemed to hang up while emptying 2,064 emails in trash.

Just before 6pm Teresa got up and asked about going to the park. We grabbed our things and drove the 40 minutes or so to Ravinia. I paid $10 for parking (I remember paying $20 before, possibly for more popular entertainment) and was happy the parking lot wasn’t anywhere near full.

We carried the portable table and chairs to the ticket counter and I paid $68 for lawn passes for the two of us.

Inside, Teresa chose the spot under a birch tree where I used to sit.

After a trip to the restroom, I showed her the Botero statue that he gifted to Ravinia.

We walked around the grounds but part of it was closed off.

I put the table and chairs together then we went outside the café where we bought 2 Chicago style hotdogs.

We took our seats, ate our hotdogs and just before 7:30 Brass from the Past started playing. They were loud and I was glad we were sitting (relatively) far away.

Just after 9pm, before it got too dark, with Teresa’s help I packed up the table and chairs.

As I turned onto Wolf Rd off Central Rd I was thinking of where to have breakfast tomorrow when I saw Katie’s Kitchen on the corner. So we have a new place to try tomorrow.

We were about ½ mile from the apt when we encountered cars stopped at train tracks and a freight train stopped there. Luckily, I was in the left lane and quickly did a U-turn and went back to the traffic circle and down Northwest Highway to downtown Des Plaines and easily returned to our apt.

I put out our garbage for pickup tomorrow.

 

FUNNY