Back in Chicago after 20+ years in Bay Area. Native Michigander; former München 🇩🇪 resident as student; former MSP resident. Eligible for Dutch/EU citizenship thanks to Oma 🇳🇱. Bikes, books, film, food, languages + travel. 🏳️🌈 Lighthouse photo: Point Reyes, CA
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For Amsterdam, some randoms: Holtkamp Patisserie - time capsule of commercial design and quality; my favorites are the Citroen Taartje and a boxed-up assortment of their cookies. www.patisserieholtkamp.nl/nl Albert Cuyp Market - biggest outdoor/street market of Europe; closed only on Sundays.
As we leave Rockwell “L” Station, the automated announcement on this CTA Brown Line train says: “Rockwell is next. Doors open on the left at Rockwell.” And a good Wednesday to all of you, too.
Introvert’s return-to-equilibrium ride tomorrow. Up at 4:30 am. Good night!
If you've gotten my book, and you like it, would you mind taking a moment to write a 5-star review? It might help others discover it! Please and thank you! amzn.to/4na39eC
One of my very best friends for 30+ years has an incredibly domineering mother, whose email to her daughter always makes my hair stand on end. Today’s is probably the most outrageous. Friends: no matter how challenging your relationships with family members, I know of one which will always be worse.
Good morning from Kinmo the cat.
Same. Have already been rehearsing the steps.
Those. Look. Amazing.
Friends and a cousin live there. Will report back tomorrow re Haarlem and Amsterdam restaurant recs (there are often free concerts on the amazing Müller organ at St. Bavo - “Grote Kerk” which Mozart himself played as a 10-year-old; can really be surreal AF). Haven‘t been back to NL since Oct 22.
Hahaha! 🤣
In any case: enjoy your time! Get out of Amsterdam to places like Haarlem, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft, Leeuwarden and Maastricht - my favorites, in no particular order. I guess I like Den Haag and Rotterdam, too.
Nee! Nur eine Käsesorte? In den Niederlanden? Stimmt gar nicht.
Ich weiß nicht. Keine Ahnung.
Ja, wo bist du denn endlich???
Well, if ordered & prepared w/o dairy, you’d be correct….
I think it might be your inadvertent inclusion of the letter “l” in the word “decaf” that’s earned you some pushback….damned auto-correct the likely culprit. 😉
Noooooo! My German happy place in the South Bay is closing. 😭😭😭 Bay Area beer hall from famed food writer closes after 7 years.
Something about this Walmart picture of Jesus seemed off to me. I couldn't quite place it until I zoomed in and realized Jesus has five fingers, none of which are a thumb.
There are similar, systemic staff issues: as I stepped out of a Brown Line train at Francisco, I told the conductor that someone had just lit up in the first car - his car - that I had just exited. His response: “there are only two more stops [until end station Kimball.]” 😑 Attitudes need adjusting.
That’s a big one. When I was active and inclusive on Facebook (ie, aunts, uncles and cousins were “friends”), I started customizing the audience for those kinds of posts. But inevitably, some indiscreet loudmouth would disturb the peace, blow my cover and I was once again persona non grata.
Maybe an error/omission this time, but an overall win because you (1) admitted it and (2) know for sure you’ll never forget again!
Thanks! I’ll be staying on N Farwell at E Kane Place w/great access to beach and bike trails. I may also take the Glacial Drumlin State Trail from Waukesha to (almost) Madison. Will depend on weather and my degree of ambition vs. laziness!
Have had recent close calls - two separate occasions - with buses at the CTA’s Dempster Street Yellow Line Station that were literally breathtaking when I considered how quickly it could have gone terribly wrong for me. Less than 2 feet by my estimation. Many of them seem actively hostile to bikes!
This may sound strange, but I have a handful of people in my life who mean so much to me that I give them a permanent “hard pass” on their mood swings, pissing me off, etc. These are just people I love so much and can’t imagine going forward without them. I guess that’s just called “forgiveness”?
I’ll be in Milwaukee from 9/12-18, hanging out and riding bikes. Let me know if you have any suggestions - I welcome all advice, but especially from Wisconsites with familiarity! It’s been a while (too long) since my last visit, so I’m really a blank slate.
I am confirmed to join a ride tomorrow AM from Lake Katherine (heading to Lemont/Lockport) and will have some time before that to check out this extension. Will send some photos when I do (will ride to the referenced 86th Ave & Moraine Dr access point after I arrive at PH Station via SWS).
This is great. And there’s even a nearby grocery store bearing your name (looks like 132nd & S Baltimore?). Ha!
Alan Kurdi wäre heute 13 Jahre alt.
Tuesday morning never looked so good. The houseguests have headed home, and I return to being an introvert.
Craigmount on Cleveden Road in the west of Glasgow. Constructed in the 1880s, it was designed by John Gordon in a Dutch Renaissance style. Cont./ #glasgow #architecture #glasgowbuildings #kelvindale #sunfoundry #buildingphotography #architecturephotography
I loved my years there, too
Last night, one of my visiting friends presented all of us with photos of ourselves from his archives. We then had to vote on which was the most embarrassing photo of each of us. This was mine which was selected - because of the clove cigarette I was smoking. There were others which were far worse!
Fact check: true. Also: the water temp is about 50-55 F, year-around.
Totally feels like Sunday today. I get it!
I think this is tomorrow, actually…I too have been scrambling my days and dates all day.
It is so undeniably good for one’s mental health. The only reason I didn’t ride yesterday, and won’t today, is because I have 6 people staying with me this weekend and that kind of engagement is just as good - if not better. But exhausting for an introvert, too, so that takes care of the physical.
I’d noticed that, too, but fear that it will now truly encompass all of October…😩
👇🏼
Somewhere in Indiana - I think along the Oak Savannah - a friend referred to the chain used to secure a park’s restroom door as a “bungee” and I *suppose* that’s right, and that chains can be a substitute for an elastic cord. But I shudder to think of having to transport that as an alternative!
I was embarrassed too often after forgetting a bungee several times on Metra rides, so I bought a supply which *should* last until sometime in the 22nd century, if I’m here for that.
A couple months ago, I bought bungee cords online for pickup at a North Side Ace Hardware. They were so excited to see me but hadn’t had an online order for so long that no one knew the process. It would have been much faster for me to just show up and ask them “which aisle for the bungee cords?” 🤷🏽♂️
The Bridge Walk! I’d forgotten about that. Was on the “must do” list of many Michigan families back in the 80s, as I remember. And we did!
Anyone else headed to Polonia Festival this afternoon? My guests are excited to be going and I’m hoping they won’t be let down. Two of them even have Polish citizenship…🇵🇱
Tradeoff: MISSING Open House Chicago this year. 😞 GAINING Kal-Haven ride with Michigan friends. 😁
Every Chicago uncle with impeccable taste takes their nieces/nephews to Del Sur for pastries. 😉 And sounds like that’s exactly where you were! 😎
Loud laughter is even better….😉
This is an actual thing; can confirm. “Goygonzola!” 🤣
TIRED: raisins in potato salad WIRED: candy corn in potato salad
I got mine from Harvestime Foods on Lawrence & Talman. (Always welcome to ask me questions by DM as three of you did.)
Mine charges me $35/hour and I am so glad she’s in my life!
LOL @MN State Fair PC: @mertzigzag.bsky.social
That’s it: time to get down there. I have a distant relative interred in Forest Home and I’ve been meaning to visit for years. Thanks for the further motivation.
TIME TO MAKE THE BREAKFAST! My breakfast sandwich rivals that of The Loaf Lounge - guaranteed. Stay at mi casa sometime and you’ll see/taste for yourself…
Haha!
A strange phenomenon here: people I genuinely like, and seem to like me, turn hostile rather quickly. So I now check in first thing in the AM but often am not motivated to return later in the day.
There is, sadly, almost a reflexive hostility on the part of some if your post doesn’t meet all of their conditions. I have started to delete posts which have been met with that kind of ridiculous pettiness. Never had to do that on original Twitter.
This is exactly right. And here, you’re expected to stay within very narrow lines when posting, ie, only a single idea or concept. Complex thought is discouraged. You get accused of writing a dissertation. The flip side is that I’m entertaining more IRL and meeting new people unintentionally.
Ugh. I generally find that when someone feels compelled to claim open-mindedness, the inverse is true.
Treat yourself to a house cleaner now and then; doesn’t even need to be monthly. Makes a huge difference for those of us with depressive tendencies.
Why does he have to live in Norway? Why? Why does my life always take the path of MOST resistance? Anyway, there are STILL no regrets. 😁
Apparently, using beef tallow for one appetizer on a Sunday night = you are now living in The House of Beef Tallow on Monday morning - and possibly longer…..🤨
Gegen den russländischen Imperialismus - gegen das russländische Mörderregime: Düsseldorf, 6. September 2025
East Berlin, Alexanderplatz, 11 September 1959. I post photographs taken on my many Berlin visits in the 1950s and 1960s. 180 unique historic street images of East and West Berlin are in my book "Berlin in the Cold War" (Amberley Publishing). #Berlin #DDR #GDR
Oh, I love this! I worked in the Wells Fargo Center (then Norwest) in the late 90s before moving to Chicago.
Back in the late 90s, I was with a small group of coworkers who convinced a bartender there to let us do karaoke (someone had brought everything we needed!). Likely the one and only time that has happened.
Huh. No problems at my house!
I was *really* nervous about a convo I’m starting with friends, the first of which was this weekend. You see, I don’t have a long life ahead of me, but I am not afraid. And not everyone is in the same place. But I am immensely relieved, and grateful. Be sure to tell “your people” you love them.
A quick reminder to stop making everything about race. Thanks.
Woke up from my nap and The Ronettes are playing out on the deck. Recorded, naturally.
I had an actual mini-emergency with my bike on a Friday afternoon earlier this month in Springfield, IL. Google Search directed me to 4 bike shops, of which 3 were no longer in business and the 4th had only limited hours….and had already closed for the day. 🫠
Guests who indulge you/me in an afternoon nap….are the kind of guests you want. NO BABYSITTING for me!
I’m not a natural baker (understatement), which is why Au Levain Bakery at 4301 Lincoln is so key to my hosting weekends. Pictured: the sweet treat for my guests throughout the afternoon - Nutella Babka! PC: Au Levain Bakery
Music selection for the afternoon on the deck has escalated….I hope the neighbors will soon forgive me. 🤦🏼♂️
In sad nearby-neighborhood news…😔
When the 10-year-old in the group requests the “Thelma & Louise” soundtrack be next up in the queue…. 😳🤩
Familiar voices and faces from Leiden (NL) in my favorite Minster this morning….but you can tell there’s a Dutch organist in the house as the clergy seem shell-shocked 😂
I had a township fire truck AND ambulance show up at our family home in West Michigan when I was a 20-something and stir-frying away in the kitchen. My dad was so pissed he wouldn’t speak to me for a week! 🤣
When you can get actual THAI BASIL and not *merely* “conventional” basil, it makes all the difference. This is a happy wokmeister today, because my kitchen smells like Chiang Mai 🇹🇭 or Luang Prabang 🇱🇦.
The drive having been biked, my guests are headed back home to me and I’m firing up my wok. Bottles of Hefeweizen from Kloster Andechs (where I knew the monks in the late 1990s) are on ice. Thoughts and prayers that smoke alarms remain deactivated. 🤞🏼
Join us for a rally and march starting at 11 a.m. on Monday (Labor Day) at Chicago's Haymarket Memorial to protest Trump's planned military occupation to crush our dissent and force our compliance with cruelty. We will resist.
Just finished the order….and my neighbors will soon be serenaded by ME from the deck. I was first chair tuba throughout high school, and I am now returning to my musical roots!
I was in DC on Wednesday and Thursday. To my eyes it looks like too many people have gotten used to the madness. 249 years was a good run but we might not be able to save the patient. Starting over from scratch is increasingly looking like a good idea at this point to me.
Counterpoint: yes it does, it explains everything, this is what fascist regimes do. This really could be a description of Nazi Germany, and if that is not widely understood—particularly by reporters!—that is a problem.
Protecting London 24/7. Wait till the end for a show of adoration for the bollards….💛💛💛 #WorldBollardAssociation 🫡
When I moved back to Chicago last year, first thing I did was get a lockbox for my keys so that friends and family can access and use the place. It’s the best when you come home to unexpected guests who are excited to see you! Welcoming a family from Berkeley while I’m off to Milwaukee next month.
Please, Aurelio’s: no more reminders of my pending “loyalty points.” It’s been a summer of caloric indulgence already, and I don’t have the (waist)bandwith at this time to redeem for a free pizza, not to mention YOU CLOSED YOUR CHICAGO LOCATION. Check back with me in November.
Confession: raised by Calvinists, I suffer from the belief that riding an e-bike is “cheating.” 😂 Maybe one day soon, enough therapy will cure me of “all that.” In the meantime, please accept my apologies for often Type A behavior which is undoubtedly annoying AF. Unlearning is not a linear process.
Just saw my friends off to Bike The Drive. As much as I love having them here, I gotta admit: a few hours of total peace and quiet is pretty nice about now…
Haha! Thanks for this. Realistically, it could have been anywhere, as any community is capable of “creating” that….
My guess: it’s somewhere in the South Bay?
Yup. I prefer taking the Rock to Oak Forest rather than the SWS to Palos on most days, and obvs on weekends it’s my only option when there is no SWS service. I start rides often w/friends near Lake Katherine, and we’ve been eating our way through fabulous Little Palestine in Bridgeview following.
I was raised in the CRC in Grand Rapids and am a Calvin alumnus.
Sorry, not sorry….but I love her voice and we’re cranking this now after just getting home.
Small young children tried several times to sell bouquets of flowers to us at our table on the sidewalk at The Publican a few weeks ago. It was honestly heartbreaking; total exploitation, and we felt helpless to do anything in the moment to ameliorate the situation.
I’d also include South Holland, as there are still some former Roselanders and Englewooders living there. Their number is dwindling, of course, but they’re there. Part of the larger Dutch Diaspora, as is my family. You may be interested in this book by Mark Mulder of Calvin University.
I can’t host everyone at once, but I *will* have a couple small “Oktoberfest” gatherings at my house in early September - before I go under the knife! - as I have done before. My lederhosen is already back from the cleaners!
I have always tried to live in a space where I could host friends and family. And I have to say: I love it now more than ever, as I have time to prepare meals here and not lead them all over to various restaurants, etc. I love to cook; it is therapeutic. I also love to pick out great beer and wine!
Sonoma Coast, 10 years ago this month. Sigh. I do miss it, especially at the weekend.
My visiting Canadian friends include a native Polish couple: the Potockis. Guess where we’ll be on Monday? 😋😁🇵🇱