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cblj_backup) wrote2011-11-06 01:47 pm
cblj_backup) wrote2011-11-06 01:47 pm
(no subject)
Apparently nobody clued Mother Nature into the fact that "The Windy City" IS A METAPHOR. I almost blew over today.
But I got out and had an ADVENTUR nonetheless.
There's an area in Chicago's northwest side, known as River West, that appears to be mostly shoe and furniture stores and Chinese food restaurants, but the list of stuff to see there has been mounting, so I caught the bus to the Blue Line and braved the Blue Line Assholes (I swear nobody on that line knows how to ride a damn train) to go to the Chicago stop. At the Chicago Blue Line stop is the Windy City Cafe, which I was told serves a really good breakfast. It's decent, but not anything special; I had the maple-cinnamon waffle (slightly overdone) and some sausages (perfectly done) and it was certainly busy. A lot of folks were there to have breakfast before attending the eleven-thirty service at St. John Cantius, I think.
St. John Cantius, a Catholic church about a block away, supposedly has an amazing collection of religious art, but for a church-cum-museum it's pretty unwelcoming. The website has zero information about how to actually SEE the art, and when I went to look at the church to see if maybe there was some quiet side-entrance I could slip into, I found most of the doors locked and the big main entry doors shut (it's windy, I get it) and the people going into them looking quite askance at my jeans and leather jacket. I decided not to go in, a combination of shyness and "Well, okay, it IS Sunday, I don't want to disrupt worship".
Sidebar: I've never understood dressing up to go to church. If God won't talk to me unless I'm wearing a tie, we aren't going to get on at all.
Anyway, I wandered off from the church and stumbled over the Gonnella Baking Company, which makes really delicious baked goods, but they were closed. So I got back on the train and went north a stop to Division.
I was headed for The Boring Store, a branch of the 826 organisation, but I got totally sidetracked by this awesome thrift shop full of furniture because it had a display case of owls in the window. Owls are very in this year for decor (don't look at me, I just report the news) and I knew Mum would squeak if I sent her a photo, so I went in and had a look and ended up buying a set of three little brass owls to keep my soapstone owl Quiz company. I'm going to name them Saul, Orrie, and Fred, after the freelance ops in the Nero Wolfe books.
The Boring Store, when I finally got there, was MADE OF AWESOME. It's part of 826 Chicago, which is a not-for-profit afterschool creative writing program for kids. You may have seen the Time Travel Mart, which went viral a year or two ago -- same people. The Boring Store is a "spy store" that sells all kinds of fun stuff, including fake moustaches, books and postcards, tchochkes, and school supplies (ROBOT ERASERS). If you're in Chicago, I highly suggest it as a fun shopping experience that supports a good cause.
I went back down Milwaukee to Lovely Bakeshop, where I had a groupon for a dozen mini-cupcakes. They're very nice people; the cafe is hip in that "none of our furniture matches" kind of way. I don't think I'd go there specifically to go there, especially since I'm not that into coffee shops, but if I lived in the area it'd probably be somewhere I'd hang out a lot.
And now I am home, with three owls, a dozen mini-cupcakes, and windburn. Seriously, why so much wind?
But I got out and had an ADVENTUR nonetheless.
There's an area in Chicago's northwest side, known as River West, that appears to be mostly shoe and furniture stores and Chinese food restaurants, but the list of stuff to see there has been mounting, so I caught the bus to the Blue Line and braved the Blue Line Assholes (I swear nobody on that line knows how to ride a damn train) to go to the Chicago stop. At the Chicago Blue Line stop is the Windy City Cafe, which I was told serves a really good breakfast. It's decent, but not anything special; I had the maple-cinnamon waffle (slightly overdone) and some sausages (perfectly done) and it was certainly busy. A lot of folks were there to have breakfast before attending the eleven-thirty service at St. John Cantius, I think.
St. John Cantius, a Catholic church about a block away, supposedly has an amazing collection of religious art, but for a church-cum-museum it's pretty unwelcoming. The website has zero information about how to actually SEE the art, and when I went to look at the church to see if maybe there was some quiet side-entrance I could slip into, I found most of the doors locked and the big main entry doors shut (it's windy, I get it) and the people going into them looking quite askance at my jeans and leather jacket. I decided not to go in, a combination of shyness and "Well, okay, it IS Sunday, I don't want to disrupt worship".
Sidebar: I've never understood dressing up to go to church. If God won't talk to me unless I'm wearing a tie, we aren't going to get on at all.
Anyway, I wandered off from the church and stumbled over the Gonnella Baking Company, which makes really delicious baked goods, but they were closed. So I got back on the train and went north a stop to Division.
I was headed for The Boring Store, a branch of the 826 organisation, but I got totally sidetracked by this awesome thrift shop full of furniture because it had a display case of owls in the window. Owls are very in this year for decor (don't look at me, I just report the news) and I knew Mum would squeak if I sent her a photo, so I went in and had a look and ended up buying a set of three little brass owls to keep my soapstone owl Quiz company. I'm going to name them Saul, Orrie, and Fred, after the freelance ops in the Nero Wolfe books.
The Boring Store, when I finally got there, was MADE OF AWESOME. It's part of 826 Chicago, which is a not-for-profit afterschool creative writing program for kids. You may have seen the Time Travel Mart, which went viral a year or two ago -- same people. The Boring Store is a "spy store" that sells all kinds of fun stuff, including fake moustaches, books and postcards, tchochkes, and school supplies (ROBOT ERASERS). If you're in Chicago, I highly suggest it as a fun shopping experience that supports a good cause.
I went back down Milwaukee to Lovely Bakeshop, where I had a groupon for a dozen mini-cupcakes. They're very nice people; the cafe is hip in that "none of our furniture matches" kind of way. I don't think I'd go there specifically to go there, especially since I'm not that into coffee shops, but if I lived in the area it'd probably be somewhere I'd hang out a lot.
And now I am home, with three owls, a dozen mini-cupcakes, and windburn. Seriously, why so much wind?
no subject
The way I understand the dressing up thing, like many other peripheral religious rituals it's supposed to be more for you than for God – if God can see you struggle to eat tacos and fall down in the shower, merely dressing up for church isn't going to impress him much. It's about making church special in your mind, and putting you in a certain mindset; if it's something you 'have' to take care with, it gains more significance than, say, a trip to the grocery store or the gym. Of course human nature being what it is, that sort of thing really quickly turns into collective one-upmanship. I think there might be something in one of the Epistles warning against dolling oneself up for church, but St Paul is so fond of telling people what to do it all kind of turns into a blur and I might be wrong...
Anyway, that's just my understanding of it; I am by no means any sort of theological authority.
no subject
no subject
With you on the 'thing I like becoming trendy' ... I'd love for everything I like to be more trendy because then the world would be a better place (IMHO ;) but I'll take what I can get when I get it. I'm all over the new trend in understated turn-of-the-century inspired packaging these days and am stocking up on bottles and tins that I can reuse for the rest of my life. :)