As the title implies, August has rocked! I think my opinion and experiences of and at work will forever wax and wane with the seasons but my personal time away from work continuously surpasses any of the preceeding moments since graduation. I am slowly growing into the comfortable soles of life in Chicago and becoming increasingly more excited to be rooted in the Midwest.
Uncle Gee came to visit me at the end of July/early August and we had a blast together. It was wonderful to enjoy a few days with a familiar face from home! The weekend was jampacked with classic Chicago highlights from the Brookfield Zoo to a White Sox game to savoring all of the Chicago-must-eats, not to mention all of the catching up we did. Yes, lots of catching up! I was even impressed as to how quickly my cat took to him, as historically she is very timid of strangers. I cannot wait for round two next year with Uncle Gee!
Next came the rockin' 4 day weekend out of left field. It was not intentionally planned for all of the events to fall on the four consecutive days as they had but it was certainly a great time! This rockin' weekend started with an awesome picnic dinner at a park called Ravinia, just north of Chicago proper. It is a concert park open (I believe) only during the summer months where you can buy concert seats or for a few bucks steak out a plot of land with blankets and chairs for a picnic dinner and a show fit for a refreshing summer evening. We watched Lord Of The Rings on jumbo screens as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played the soundtrack live. We brought a picnic feast fit for many and met up with good friends. It was reminiscent of Thompson Park on the 4th of July, except Tolkein-ism replaced patriotism. FUN!!
The following day we, P & I, woke up early to drive to a place located in southwest Wisconsin to honey harvest on a bee farm!!! SOOO COOL!! It is located at P´s coworker´s house. J, the coworker/bee farmer, took all of us (the coworkers and their families) out to the stacks of bee hives where some of us dressed up in tyvek suits and pulled out the racks of bees working on their honeycomb. They just kept working as we moved them around. It was really awesome to watch! When the honey was dried out enough, the bees capped it off (sealed it) with wax to store for winter. We took the racks inside, cut off the wax layer with a heated knife and placed them in a giant centrifuge. All of the little kids quickly volunteered to spin the giant handle, sending the bucket into a forever spin to draw out the honey from the honeycomb. We then opened the spout at the bottom of the centrifuge to pour out the honey in 5gallon buckets and bottle it into smaller honey jars from there. We also made homemade icecream and shared a potluck feast, including a freshly prepared chicken from the farm. It was a great day!
Sunday, P, the priest from church, a bunch of friends and I went out to brunch. It was nice to catch up with so many people since I normally go to early mass and rush out afterwards to get to work on time. We went to a cajun small town dive which, of course, was killer. My stomach was not in tip top shape that day so I did not order adventurously but rest assured that the next time we go, I will live up to my true adventurous standards. P and Father then came over to my apartment so that Father could bless it. We spent the rest of the afteroon/evening catching up and relaxing more at my place.
I topped off Monday with plenty of sleep and a delicious dinner with P before I prepared for work the next day.
This weekend was exactly what I needed to finish out a strong summer at work! It was great to recharge my batteries and spend time with wonderful people.
