Fall Biking in Lakewood Forest Preserve

Biked 20 miles in Lakewood Forest Preserve today on the Millennium and Ft. Hill Trails, including the former Four Winds Golf Course property which is now part of Lakewood. Here are a few shots...

Today's ride puts me over 320 miles for October, a new personal record for October whose changeable weather often precludes high mileage riding.

I am also over 2400 miles for the fourth year in a row and only a couple dozen miles from passing 2500 miles for the second year -- and hopefully we still have a few more October days and a number of November days to bike before the weather shuts us down until Spring.

Birthday wish from Frank...

This was sent to me by my colleague from Fremd HS, Frank, from those geniuses at JibJab...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Mushrooms, anyone?

A bit chilly for biking today (45 degrees) so we hiked 6 miles in Lakewood FP and spotted these mushrooms.  This first one is like a Gemini and was growing off a tree trunk about 8 feet off the ground...

...and this one was huge (notice my shoe in the photo to give it perspective)...

The dirt over the 5 foot tall culvert has gradually been washing away for years, so now it's a balancing act to get across the two chasms on either side of the culvert -- just adds to the adventure of hiking...

Steve Green Concert

My church, the Village Church of Barrington, celebrated its 50th Anniversary this weekend, culminating with a concert by Christian artist Steve Green who has 27 years in his solo career.  Before that, he sang with the group Truth, sang backup for The Bill Gaither Trio, and then sang tenor in the newly formed Gaither Vocal Band. Steve's 33 recordings include 13 number one songs, seven Dove awards (the Gospel Music Association's highest award), and four Grammy nominations. 

Last night, the church was packed with over 400 spectators as seen below...

Steve's accompanist and music director, Dick Tunney, is also a Christian music star who has worked with the Imperials and Sandi Patti. He and his wife, Melanie, have written over 150 songs and received one Grammy and ten Dove awards.  Dick's first instrument (as a five year old) was accordion, and he left the grand piano last night to join Steve in this duet...

Several songs included slide shows in the background as seen here, and Steve's accappella rendition of "A Mighty Fortress" received a standing ovation. What a blessed evening it was with every song like a brief sermon extolling the love of Christ, and Steve's commentaries between selections enhanced the meaningful worship experience...

Steve's wife of 33 years, Marijean, a soloist in her own right, joined him onstage for a duet...

On a personal note, I've sung in church choirs continuously for 52 years, and participating in our church choir's "backup" role for eight of Steve's songs ranks as one of the greatest choral performances I've enjoyed over all those years -- truly a "mountain-top" experience that will not be forgotten.

Two days after this concert, Steve appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall with Larnelle Harris and Steve Amerson in a three Christian tenors performance.

Family Reunion

Uncle Otto came back to Chicago to visit this week, driven by his daughter and son-in-law, Cheryl and Dick.  It had been over 50 years since he had moved his family to Louisville and many decades since his last visit to his hometown.  I drove them, along with my mom, Edith (his sister) on a nostalgic tour of the old neighborhoods.  First came their home in the Wells Park/Lincoln Square area. Here are Otto and Cheryl in front of their old place, along with Edith and Dick (click to enlarge photos)...

Next came the Roscoe Village neighborhood where Otto and Edith had grown up as children.  Their father, my grandfather, had owned this tavern and they had grown up living above the business.

Then we went to our Paulina Street home in the Lakeview neighborhood where Linda and had I had grown up, and where Cheryl had lived her first few years before moving to the house shown earlier in this post (both buildings owned by our grandfather)...

A drive to the nearby Lincoln- Belmont shipping area brought back memories to all of us, though few of the businesses we had patronized back in the 1950s-1970s remained.  One notable exception was our favorite bakery, Dinkels, which is still going strong and still with the original sign out front...

Uncle Otto also wanted to drive by the Aragon Ballroom where he and his wife, Mary, had often spent evenings dancing the night away...

Next it was to Lake Shore Drive and a stop at Montrose Harbor with its majestic view of Chicago's skyline in the background...

...and finally to Linda's place for a family get-together and pizza supper.  Here are the reunited siblings, now 87 and 92 respectively...

...and some of the rest of the family enjoying the family reunion...

That New-Fangled Green Thing

Checking out at the grocery store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because "plastic bags weren't good for the environment."

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation didn't care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She says our generation didn't have "the green thing" in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day...so we didn't know what we were doing to the environment.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.....so we didn't know how much time we were wasting.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day...so there we were, saving a few dollars but wasting so much valuable time - again!

Back then, we had one TV or radio in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then...so guess what...

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then...so there went the environment.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please share this with another selfish older person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-mouth youngster.

In Memorium: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 when he dropped out of college and on April Fools Day began a the company in his parents' garage.  He worked on the design, development, and marketing of one of the pioneer personal computers, the Apple II series.  Then in 1984, realizing the potential of the graphical user interface (mouse and icon) invented by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, he led the creation of the Macintosh line of computers.

After a power struggle with his board of directors in 1985, he resigned and founded NeXT Computer, which in 1996 was bought out by Apple, bringing him back as CEO again and resurrecting what was a dying brand and building it into the world's second most valuable company.

Back in 1986, he acquired what he renamed Pixar Animation Studios and successfully ran it, selling it to Disney in 2006 and joining their board of directors.  He received a producer credit for their first film, "Toy Story."  In fact, five of the top grossing animated films are by Pixar.

His CEO salary at Apple was $1 a year, but his millions of shares in both Apple and Disney made him the 42nd wealthiest American on Forbes' 2010 list with an estimated 8.3 billion dollar fortune.

He was renowned for his privacy, but quietly amassed over 300 Apple patents as principal inventor or "one inventor among several" for a vast variety of ideas and products, including desktop computer housings, 85 iPod patents including the revolutionary click wheel, iPhone and iPad, multi-touch gestures, packaging, keyboards, mice, monitors, Apple TV, interface ideas for the Macintosh operating system, power adapters, power plugs, and even ornamental glass staircases for Apple stores.

After working a full day in August of this year, he submitted his resignation letter as CEO for health reasons, writing "I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it" even though he had been instrumental in so many of their innovations.

He is survived by his wife, four children, and his sister.

It was fitting that I learned of his death from a news flash on my iPad, technology he was instrumental in bringing to the market.

Here's an excerpt from his Stanford University Commencement Speech in 2005:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Sandhills on a mission...

Here are three of the flock of sandhill cranes that buzzed low over my back yard this morning, gossiping loudly in their raucous voices during their flyby...

...as I was taking pictures of this hot air balloon near our water tower...

Millennium Trail Extension

The Lake County Forest Preserve District has opened the newest addition to their Millennium Trail, a two mile segment in Round Lake from Litchfield Drive (Nature's Cove community) to Fairfield Park Disk Golf Course (Round Lake Area Park District.)

From Litchfield Drive, you pedal a 3/4 mile section running behind the Valley Lake community and along a garden nursery, including a boardwalk over a wetland and several lovely stretches through woods.

Then you reach a fence blocking the trail with a prominent sign indicating that the trail ends because the Village of Round Lake (847-546-5400) will not cooperate in granting a 640' long easement through the section shown below (as well as a 30' section at the start of the trail at Litchfield Drive)...

 The next segment follows the power tower corridor and crosses Nippersink Road...

After several uphills and downhills, the trail curves into the woods to avoid a wetland area, crosses under the power lines, crosses Squaw Creek on a bridge...

...and enters Fairfield Park (with signage warning you are entering a disk golf area with flying frisbees possible.)  There is a good size gravel lot at Fairfield Road for those who wish to drive to the trail access.

I've biked 149 trails across the country, including 33 in the five-county Chicago area, and the two signature trails of the LCFPD (the 32 mile Des Plaines River Trail and 20 mile Millennium Trail) are among the best I've biked -- both place high on my list of the top 10 trails I've been on.

I hope the FPD builds the "missing link" next year through Marl Flat Preserve to connect the existing section in Volo to this new Round Lake segment. Otherwise, you have to bike 2.5 miles on Fish Lake, Waite, Wilson, and Litchfield Roads to make the connection.  And I hope the Village of Round Lake develops a cooperative mind set towards this multi-community trail effort.

The plans for the Millennium Trail are to extend it to the north and east to complete the "U" shaped loop and return to the Des Plaines River Trail from whence it began in Libertyville. I anticipate the trail will continue under the power corridor until it meets the Round Lake Bike Path, then on through several more forest preserves -- namely Rollins Savanna, McDonald Woods, Fourth Lake, and eventually Wadsworth Savanna (the trail exists or is being built in several of these areas.)