Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

On The Road Again

5/18/2015

2 Comments

 
    Bright and early last Thursday morning Tom and I grabbed our bags and walked up the block
Picture
to the COTA bus stop,
Picture
...from where we took the COTA bus to downtown Columbus
Picture
    ...to the Megabus stop,
Picture
...where, as luck would have it, Dwayne, our favorite Megabus driver, a really friendly and helpful guy, was driving the bus to Chicago,
Picture
    ...where we were headed to visit Claire,
Picture
    and Miguel,
Picture
...and their two kitties, Kubo and Sassy,











Picture
    ...whom we hadn't seen since Claire returned from Sierra Leone (see post from 1/14/2015).
    The most interesting episode of the trip actually occurred during the first leg while we were riding the COTA bus to downtown, when an outdoorsy-looking girl who appeared to be in her mid-20's stepped onto the bus balancing in her hands a large shallow rectangular box, like the lid of a banker's box.  She sat down across the aisle from me and when I leaned over a bit to take a peek at what was in the box I gasped and and jumped back involuntarily at what I saw.  The box was full of squirmy, squiggly,
    "Silkworms,"  the girl said with a smile in response to my reaction.
    She explained that she had just picked up the worms and was planning to raise them and then spin the silk that they produced.
    "Oh, wow, good luck,"  I said as she got up to exit the bus with her worms.
    "Oh, well," she giggled,  "if it doesn't work I'll just feed them to my praying mantis."
    To each their own, right?


    After our Megabus arrived in downtown Chicago we took the subway
Picture
to Bucktown, where Claire and Miguel live
Picture
in a cute, spacious apartment overlooking the city:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
...with a staircase that always reminds me of the  staircase to my grandmother's much tinier apartment (see posts from 3/21/2014 - 3/27/2014) that, when I was a child, looked high and steep as a mountain.
Picture
    By the time we  arrived at Claire and Miguel's place it was dinner time.  Miguel had to work late so Claire, Tom and I walked to Wicker Park, the next neighborhood  south of Bucktown,  to an Italian restaurant called
the Pasta Bowl,
Picture
    ...where the salads were to die for:
    Claire had the Caprese made with fresh mozzarella over basil leaves,
Picture
    Tom had the house salad with white beans, olives and tomatoes,
Picture
...while I had the spinach salad with bits of pancetta and the creamiest, most delicious goat cheese I've ever had.
Picture
    Next we each ordered a different pasta, none of which any of us thought was anything to blog home about.  In all fairness, though, I happen to be able to whip up several different really good pasta sauces myself as can Miguel, so it was just that none of us found the restaurant's pastas as good as what we could have gotten at home.  The salads were magnificent, though.
    After dinner, as we all were hankering some dessert, we strolled through the rain

 over to Stan's Donuts,
Picture
a popular Wicker Park donutery.
Picture
Picture
    Then  we headed back to Bucktown feeling stuffed as a Stan's donut.  Thank goodness for the 1/2-mile walk home.
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Patti Buser Gollr
5/18/2015 12:32:13 am

You make me smile. It makes me feel like I am right there with you. Much love.

Reply
Patti
5/18/2015 12:44:03 am

Thanks, Patti. Have you ever been to Chicago? It took a few visits for the place to grow on me, but now I do love it. All those neat little neighborhoods like Bucktown and Wicker Park, are so nice to just stroll around. Don't you have some neat little neighborhoods in Cincy, too?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact