Down Memory Lane

I have always...at least as long as I can remember...loved trains. So a trip to Chicago to visit my Aunt Cora AND to catch a visit with my son, Joe, needed to start with a train ride.

After an early start, I rested quite a while, but woke as we were passing fabulous recycling facilities. There were car bodies stacked 5 high on pallets, engines, wheels. There were piles of crushed concrete, chopped up rubber, glass, sewer piles, and lampposts. I saw mobile home frames and camper shells, cardboard and plastic smashed into giant cubes cubes and stacked in rows. I LOVE recycling!!!

Later, a gray view of Lake Michigan while I read a novel. Yes, me, reading a novel!
I LOVE NOT DRIVING to Chicago!

I spent the day with my Aunt, and after some goodbyes the next morning, I headed into the city via the commuter train line to visit my son and his friends that he was visiting. Joe and I took a little trip to the neighborhood where my grandparents lived. In my previous post, there is a picture of my family standing in front of my Grandma and Grandpa's home in 1956. Here it is about 57 years later. It felt so familiar!

My Grandpa Jim had had it built to his specifications in 1940. The stone around the front door, the bay window, the decorative set of the bricks along the corners, and the glass block windows. I am honored to be the keeper of the original blueprints and purchase records. I spent a lot of time in that house and yard as a child. It was a real treat to go back and see it again and to see how well it has been kept.

The next day, Joe and I went into the Loop via the "L" and the subway. This is something I used to do often with my grandparents when I was young.

I would stand in the very front of the first car and look out the window. And since the sound was deafening when the train was moving, I would sing at the top of my lungs with no concerns of being scolded for being too loud!

I'm so grateful to have had the time and help from others to be able to get in some family visits and a trip down Memory Lane just before Thanksgiving time. Thank you, everyone!