Plus ça Change, Plus c'est la même Chose

Today I popped on to write a post and found the following message:

You are receiving this information because your blog uses the FollowByEmail widget (Feedburner).  Recently, the Feedburner team released a system update announcement , that the email subscription service will be discontinued in July 2021.  

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I'm like REALLY???  First they change up the way we can add photos to a post and now it's a pain in the ass - and now people won't get emailed any longer when I post.   You guys, I don't have the wherewithal to email everyone every time I post here.  Maybe there will be another way for people to subscribe (probably not), but at the moment I have no clue.  

So - I hope you'll bookmark my blog so you can visit it regularly and catch up with me.  

Life goes on here - interior construction on the studio at J's has still not started so he is still not here, but hopefully will be in May.  I have been keeping busy with this latest Gold Box puzzle.  It's not a Victory brand, and it's been quite difficult, but I got a pretty good price on it on eBay so I went for it.  

It's called "Still Life - Roses."  So I figured it was going to be roses.  However, the roses didn't even put in an appearance until yesterday!  I started this one tall-ways because I thought it would only be roses - you know - in a tall vase.  But no  :-D  I made substantial progress in the past couple of days, but I've been working on this one for close to a month.  It's large - 1,000 pieces - and it's 28 x 22, I think.  Too big for the little table in the sunroom, so this is happening on the kitchen table.  No artist is listed.  That lone  piece on the right?  I don't believe it's from this puzzle.  There was a note inside the box that said "complete," but we shall see.  I will be very irritated if this is missing a piece.

Remember the robin's nest that blew away?  I have good news!

They're back!!  And seriously, I really need to clean that coach light this summer!

At the end of March I had to go into the city.  The first day I drove, but the expressway was a nightmare with people speeding and weaving in and out of traffic and cutting people off with nary a state trooper in sight . . .   Since I'm now fully vaccinated, I decided I would be safer the next day to go downtown on the train.  So I took the train in for the first time since March 12, 2020.  You cannot get on the train without a mask and it must be worn at all times.  Plus, they have flipped the seat backs so that social distancing is enforced with one one person allowed in each 4-seat grouping.  Not the most flattering photo of me, but you can see that there weren't many people on the train and you can sort of get an idea of how they have arranged the seating to enforce social distancing. 

It was interesting to see again the view I saw every day for 16 years.  Many things were the same - but there were a number of burned out buildings and it seemed like more tumbledown buildings than I recall.  I looked for the swans on the Little Calumet.  No luck.  I was reminded how much I enjoy taking the train rather than driving.  There aren't as many trains running now because of the pandemic and the zoned trains that used to run at rush hour no longer run.  Most people are still working from home.  Once I got downtown I got out of the station quickly and then headed north up Michigan Avenue to my appointment. 

I went downtown again (also on the train) about a week or so later for a dentist appointment.  It rained that day.  And really, there's nothing quite like Chicago in the rain.  Especially when the city is empty like it is now.  

 

 

The parks are closed for the most part, but I could get relatively close to The Bean even though it is fenced in for safety.  I think these are some of my favorite photographs I've ever taken of the city in the rain.

 

I have been able to do a couple of fun things since I'm fully vaccinated now.  I've gone back to the health club (here's hoping it helps with the pandemic weight I added . . . ).  Everyone is required to wear masks at all times and in all locations - even when working out - so that feels pretty safe to me.  The only place you don't have to wear a mask is in the pool, but I haven't been brave enough to do that.  Then, yesterday I got to visit with one of my oldest friends.  We've known each other since high school.  Instead of going to our favorite steakhouse, we got take-out from there (they don't have any outdoor seating) and had a fabulous afternoon at her house.  We are both fully vaccinated so it was like a normal lunch with a friend!  Wow!

I just read an article about Milli Vanilli.  It's been more than 30 years now that their scandal was revealed.  I loved this song back then, though - no one knew it wasn't them at that time.  They weren't the only group trying to pull a fast one back in the day, however.  Both Black Box and C+C Factory did something similar (but reversed) by using the amazing Martha Wash's voice but not crediting her in their biggest dance hits (Strike it Up, and Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)).