Summer in the City

Mismo and Sailor Sue made it to Chicago safe and sound last Friday. Well.....safe anyway. The stay-over in San Juan at the Sheraton was quite nice. As Sue ran out to find a litter pan and kitty litter after Mismo has crossed her legs for 6 hours, room service delivered a lovely 'kitty bed' and food dishes. Mismo was the queen for a day. Getting shoved back into her carry-on cage and traveling another 6 hours to get to Chicago wasn't her idea of a good time and the next day Mismo spent several of the 6 hours trying to chew her way out of the soft cage while sitting on my lap.

Photo of Mismo on her throne. The little blue bag is for dog owners. It contains plastic gloves and blue plastic pooper scooper bag. Nice!

But how exciting to be picked up by Scott and Leah at the airport and head straight to our lake front apartment where kitty litter and pan and food were waiting - for Mismo. What a fun summer this will be - and is already! We're playing tennis on the courts right across the street. Having friends and family over for cookouts and Cub games.

Yesterday Leah and I went to the game. What fun! We didn't have tickets of course as we walked the few blocks to the ball park. But we had a plan. Go to the Day of Game Tickets window and look for Mike. He was there but standing room only and no sign of any good tickets becoming available at game time. A sold out crowd again on a Thursday afternoon. That's the good and bad news about the Cubs being so good. Tickets aren't available or affordable.

So we walked over to Bernie's to see if our friend Will the bartender and Bernie's icon has tickets. He did not but did have cold beers so we stayed and had lunch before heading out to scour out some tickets. The Day of Game ticket widows were all closed - not surprising - and so we started to make our way around the park looking for any sign of someone selling tickets. Mostly people were seeking tickets. The few tickets being 'vended' were by ticket brokers on the street selling bleacher seats for $150 and box seats for over $200. No thanks ....we'll keep looking. But it was getting very close to game time and we were about to give up and go back to Bernie's to watch the game when we heard someone say...he has 2 to sell. We quickly said - we need 2! Five minutes later we're sitting in the upper deck 9 rows back from home plate writing down the line-up. Wow, that was lucky. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. And we paid only $25 over the regular price.

Leah and I kept score for the whole game until it went into the 11th inning when we ran out of scorecard space. And what an ending! Edmonds (the former dreaded Cardinal) hit a home run to tie the score in the 9th. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th Reed Johnson pinch hitting for Edmonds' gets hit by the pitch walking in the winning run. How crazy is that!

So Cubs win and sweep the home stand. They've won 11 in a row at home. So get in line for those playoff tickets now. We're on a roll.

This weekend should be lots of fun too. Movies, dinners, art festivals and more are planned. Scott is visiting his dad in Tampa over the Father's Day weekend and will return Monday when more adventures in finding Cub tickets will happen - I'm guessing.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL DADS and GO CUBS!

Chicago Bound

Yes...we will be spending the summer in Chicago! Is it a coincidence that we're Wrigley Field...I mean Chicago bound now that the Cubs look very serious after 100 years and that we'll be in Chicago for the summer? Maybe-

Scott left for Chi-town a couple weeks ago and was able to support Leah during her final deadlines for her Phd analysis. Last summer Jason was on the hot seat. This summer it's Leah's turn.

So for the past 10 days or so I've been making my way to a boatyard in Marin, Martinique with the help of several terrific people.


First of all Debbie and Larry (s/v Debonaire) helped me sail Enee from Fort de France to Marin. It was just about a 20 mile sail and not counting the 2 squalls (one at the beginning of the trip and one at the end) it was a fun sail. Well, actually it was a motor/main sail into the wind. But we're used to that now. Thanks guys. And the slip knot on the anchor chain held for 3 days.





Next I asked a nearby couple on s/v Leona to help me take down the sails. I saw them earlier in the afternoon come to the rescue of a cruiser who was diving on his boat to clean his prop. Apparently he suddendly couldn't breathe and Tom and Dominique literally saved his life. Well they saved mine too as far as getting these sails down. What a team they are. I hardly did anything. They also charter with their boat and I know it would be a great time sailing the Caribbean with them.



Finally the friendly people at the Carenantilles boatyard are terrific. Gerard hauled the anchor (remember no working windlass) and helped drive Enee into the haul out slip as well as made sure I had everything I needed for Enee to be secure on the hard. Jocelyne in the office was there from beginning to end including my anxious moments when I couldn't get any phones to work so she let me use the office cell phone and land line. Every time I walked into the office she said, 'bon jour Susan, how can I help you.' It was great.



Of course there is always the Welty & Rieger team back in sweet home Chicago who were always there for me via email/chat/skype. I really could not have gotten Enee ready for storage and myself with a ticket home without them.

So thank you all and can't wait to be back in town. I'm thinking future updates will have a lot to do with the Cubs.

And yes it is a new month and Happy Birthday to the June birthday boys: Eric and Evin. Maybe I can wish you both happy birthday in person. Oh wait - Eric is in Oregon and Evin is in the Dominican Republic. Well, you guys will just have to read this blog.


Okay - here's Mismo. She is very confused because all of her play places are gone including the rolled up fron sail that she likes to run and climb a 1/3 way up then slowly back down. She is not pleased. Just wait 'til she flies on the airplane tomorrow!