A Mother and Daughters Weekend in Chicago

Apparently it was Daughter’s Day this week! When was that invented? I think every day was Julia’s day in our house when she was growing up…

Sorry Joanne 🙁

Now I count four daughters in my life…

We’d had it on the calendar for a long time and we actually did it. A girls weekend in Chicago.

Sarah drove from the far reaches of Wisconsin, picking up Joanne and Julia on her way to Naperville where I had my bags packed and ready by the door for the final leg. I took the wheel for the 30 miles or so in Friday not quite rush hour traffic… always an adventure!

Meanwhile Lauren flew up from Nashville and took the train into the city. That really is an adventure.

We started out in the roof top bar of our hotel for drinks and dinner.

Some of us stayed up later than others… I’m not going to divulge any details but everyone made it to our spa appointments on Saturday morning. It’s been a long time since I had a facial but my aesthetician Gregory managed to keep his thoughts to himself. I emerged all soft and polished after the Fountain of Youth package!!

Ready for a trip to the Art Institute. Steve and I have a membership plus package which allows three visitors but the kind people at the Membership Desk could see we really needed some culture. They gifted us an extra ticket for the afternoon.

We took in the Asian galleries and some paintings before we enjoyed for a cup of tea in the lounge. I wanted to go and take a look at the new exhibit in the Textiles gallery, Weaving Beyond the Bauhaus. I’m not sure everybody appreciated the pieces but Julia humored me by taking a good look.

I took some pictures to remind me what I saw. I liked this Landscape weaving by Lenore Tawney.

And a closeup…There were some huge pieces. This macrame piece, Private Affair 1 was made by Claire Zeisler.Here’s a closer look at all those knots.I missed the macrame revival of the 70s… did it happen in England?

Perhaps I could give it a go some time?

We popped upstairs to see the Blue Guitarist in the Modern Wing and I took a picture of the girls by the pumpkin in the courtyard.

Some seemed happier to pose than others? It was their idea!

Time to eat again. We had a reservation at Mercat a la Planxa, just a few blocks south of the museum.

Yum yum. The paella is supposed to serve two. There were five of us… I guess we had had quite a few tapas plates first!

We did manage to share a wonderful chocolate dessert. 🙂

Sunday was mostly about eating and a little shopping. We had thought we might go and see Downton Abbey but the only seats available were on the front row… Gap Kids called our name on the way past and everybody found things to take home. Sarah was very pleased to find matching Cubs caps for James and Christopher.

Lauren had done a great job of getting us organized with dinner reservations. If it was Sunday evening it must be Blue Door Kitchen!

We remembered to take pictures of our shared appetizers,

and the dessert!One slice of Hummingbird cake and five forks… Somehow we managed to forget to memorialize the main course ?

Good times.

Sarah had brought Scrabble and Apples to Apples (described as a “game of hilarious comparisons”) with her. I knitted while everyone else played in the evenings… They seemed to involve too much thinking for me. I was made to keep score during the Scrabble games so I had to follow along somewhat…

The last picture opportunity took place at our final breakfast on Monday morning.

An early celebration of Daughters’ Day if only I’d known?

All good things must come to an end. Sarah, Julia, Joanne and I checked out and retrieved Sarah’s car leaving Lauren to a few hours of peace before she needed to leave. We basically ignored the GPS to get on the highway home. The most exciting bit was waiting at a red light for a full motorcade to go past on Michigan Avenue… police cars, black SUVS, bus, vans… anybody know what was happening Monday morning in Chicago? Mr. Google let us down. We couldn’t find out who was behind the dark windows but it must have been someone…

I was home by 10.30. I was tired after all that fun. I had thought the young moms would want to sleep more but apparently that wasn’t the plan. They must have had a good time because we are talking about a repeat. How about 2021 in Minneapolis?

Back to work this week. Editing is done. My final parcel will be sent on Monday. My bags are almost packed for Salt Lake City and Atlanta. In between I have been making Dorset buttons for Market, lots of them…