The Sea and I
June 25, 2008
Tomorrow I’m going on a summer holiday. Every now and then I reach a point where my longing for the sea is unbearable, so it will be good to reconnect with the Atlantic ocean. Growing up in Ireland we always lived fairly close to the sea and almost every summer our family would go away to the West or Southwest coast. The first thing I notice when I go back is the strong sharp scent of salt infusing the neighborhood where my mother still lives. Even though Chicago has a coast, of a sort, with the lake a vast expanse* I’m looking forward to getting out of this intense urban environment for a few days.
Tomorrow the coast I see will be on the other side of the Atlantic from Ireland, below the Chesapeake Bay.
*The distance from Chicago to Michigan across the lake, approx 75 miles, is greater than the distance from Ireland to Wales across the Irish sea, approx 60 miles!
Keys in the Neighborhood
June 25, 2008
Today I needed to get an extra set of keys cut, so I went to the closest hardware store: Alvarez on 18th St. Read the rest of this entry »
