Only Mountain

So last night, when Chicago got walloped by storms, (love this shot of the church up Broadway) I found myself dashing out to my car to save it from another flash flood. Our street was filling with water pretty good by the 3rd storm, so I put on my river shoes, waded up to mid-calf in the gutter, and moved my car further down the street. Most of our neighborhood was pretty much in the same shape (water filling the gutters and moving across the sidewalks) but one spot near Broadway was miraculously clear. So Hilary sat there all night, and is pretty happy this morning. The water was almost up to the runningboards last night when I moved her, so I'm glad I did. One more inch and I'd have some wetvac-ing to do today, for sure.

Here's some of the hail that fell on the porch though: pea-sized or so.

The weather station around the corner has marked about 1.6 inches of rain for our neighborhood.

The forecast for my area. And I thought it was October, not December:

.THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN
OR SNOW SHOWERS. COLDER. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 40S. WEST WINDS 10
TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 35 MPH.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF FLURRIES. LOWS IN
THE LOWER 30S.

Dan and I along with Shylo and Brian went to Starved Rock State Park on Sunday, and it was much more green than last year when we hiked (but that was in early November).

In Utica, IL just down the street they were having their annual Columbus Day weekend Burgoo Festival. Lots and lots of stuff goes into Burgoo, which is cooked for 2-3 days. This one was made with beef and vegetables, but the more traditional original burgoos were made with local game, namely squirrels. Ah, western Kentucky, your contributions to the American culinary palate are innumerable.

Anyway, this Burgoo was really good. Plus, the bar we went into for beer wasn't jacking up the price at all (at least, I don't think they were) and we drank Miller Lite at $2/pint. Awesome. Lots of crazy crap for sale, and really great pie baked by the ladies of the Utica Historical Society. I'll be back for more next year.

So until about 7:10 last night, I never thought I'd ever care about seeing the Rolling Stones, but with the weather in Chicago so shitty last night (freaking cold!) and it being a school night, people were having some serious second thoughts about going. We ended up standing on the rail on the side of the stage with Mick and Keith just about 10 feet away at times.

They do put on a great show, I have to say, and I really enjoyed their new stuff, as opposed to their top 40 singles which have just been played way too much. They ended the show on the only two top 40 songs I've ever really liked of theirs, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Satisfaction". High points, for sure. [Update! I like Dan's review of the show at Transmission.]

But my friend (and computer guru) Matt is instead. You can keep up with his Magical Mystery Sabbatical at his new blog -- that is, if he can find some cyber cafes on the Amalfi coast in which to blog.

Ok, a long week of concerts, most of which I saw for free or at a severely discounted rate. After the Rolling Stones on Wednesday there was Stanton Moore and his trio including Robert Walter at the Elbo Room. I'd never been to the Elbo Room for a show, but man, it can bring the dank. It's a tiny tiny crypt-like room underground where you hope to god the person next to you isn't going to freak out from the claustrophobia. Good sound though.

Then Friday was a great Ani Difranco show at the Chicago Theater (thanks to Dan's friend John) which is pretty much the opposite of the Elbo Room with its space and grandeur. Ani's getting to be very preggo, so I'm glad I got a chance to see her as she'll probably take a year off touring after this one. She was in good form, even with less backup band than I've seen her with, and the show was mellow and nice. I'd only seen her at the beginning of a tour before, so it was nice that her voice wasn't blown out and she was in good spirits and energy. We had great seats, in the owner's box in the Mezzanine which felt decadent and cool. Great sound, of course. Some of my booth-mate's friends left early and gave us their tickets in the 4th row, so we went down and sat really close for a few songs. Lots of superfans screeching along with the songs though, so I could only take that kind of distraction for so long.

I'm kind of tired of the cold, and my ears are actually stopped up for the last couple of days, either from all the rock or all the cold, or both. I'll be happy to have a mellow week this week and finally catch up on some podcasts and all of my new music in my iTunes at work.

Dan and I went up to the Chicago Botanic Garden for the first time to look around at the flowers and such on Saturday. It was a slightly cold and gray day which probably kept a lot of folks away, thank goodness. There was an apple enthusiasts show (or something like that) going on and we bought apples for baking, cider and some apple butter (all without a trip to the orchard) which was a nice bonus. Lots of photos up at flickr, but here's a taste: