Memorial Day Weekend
We are in the midst of Memorial Day weekend, the kick-off of the unofficial start of summer. It is also important to recognize our brave military men and women who serve and have served our country. In my eyes, the weather is absolutely perfect today! I am admiring the view from my office window since I have so much paperwork to do. I am working on the week when we had six sales, one of which was the huge Johnsburg sale which spanned three weeks. It usually works out this way, holidays and paperwork go hand in hand in my world. But I will be taking a bit of a break with a small group of family and friends this evening, Mother is having an impromptu pizza party with all the goodies from Lou Malnati's.
Even though Rachel spent an extended time here after Mother's stroke, she and John are back for the weekend because they already had this Memorial Day weekend trip planned. We picked them up at the airport early Friday afternoon. Major O'Hare Airport tip - always have the folks you pick up go up to Departures! It is always way less crowded and you can pick them up right at the curb. At Arrivals, they have to walk to the medians. Dad picked up on this when the airport was first built and we have followed this sound advice ever since. I had never seen Arrivals more backed up than on Friday, the backup had to be a mile long.
We drove straight to downtown Arlington Heights for lunch and I chose the place, Scratchboard Kitchen. They have taken over the former Passero space which was vacated when Passero moved to the former California Pizza Kitchen space. I am so glad we tried it! It is just the kind of restaurant I love - simple food done well. They are open for breakfast and lunch and as the name alludes to, everything is fresh (locally sourced from 30 area farms) and made from scratch. I had a breakfast biscuit sandwich with egg, bacon and cheese and crispy potatoes on the side. Rachel and John had the fried chicken sandwich and beautiful-looking iced coffee drinks. I made a suggestion for Mother because the menu was online and hard to read but it was shot down by the peanut gallery. She ended up with eggs, bacon and potatoes. Unfortunately the eggs were too wet for her taste and she gave the bacon to John because she is supposed to watch her salt intake. The rest of us all loved what we ordered. The server actually said that Mother should come back and try my suggestion next time. The space is modern but lovely, very up to date. The prices were reasonable too. I would highly recommend this place! Here is a photo of the fried chicken sandwich.
Even though Rachel spent an extended time here after Mother's stroke, she and John are back for the weekend because they already had this Memorial Day weekend trip planned. We picked them up at the airport early Friday afternoon. Major O'Hare Airport tip - always have the folks you pick up go up to Departures! It is always way less crowded and you can pick them up right at the curb. At Arrivals, they have to walk to the medians. Dad picked up on this when the airport was first built and we have followed this sound advice ever since. I had never seen Arrivals more backed up than on Friday, the backup had to be a mile long.
We drove straight to downtown Arlington Heights for lunch and I chose the place, Scratchboard Kitchen. They have taken over the former Passero space which was vacated when Passero moved to the former California Pizza Kitchen space. I am so glad we tried it! It is just the kind of restaurant I love - simple food done well. They are open for breakfast and lunch and as the name alludes to, everything is fresh (locally sourced from 30 area farms) and made from scratch. I had a breakfast biscuit sandwich with egg, bacon and cheese and crispy potatoes on the side. Rachel and John had the fried chicken sandwich and beautiful-looking iced coffee drinks. I made a suggestion for Mother because the menu was online and hard to read but it was shot down by the peanut gallery. She ended up with eggs, bacon and potatoes. Unfortunately the eggs were too wet for her taste and she gave the bacon to John because she is supposed to watch her salt intake. The rest of us all loved what we ordered. The server actually said that Mother should come back and try my suggestion next time. The space is modern but lovely, very up to date. The prices were reasonable too. I would highly recommend this place! Here is a photo of the fried chicken sandwich.
Now to back up a little - Monday I headed over to Lutheran General Hospital for a mammogram. It had been about a year and a half because of the pandemic and being in Arizona. I felt it was important to go as soon as possible because last time a spot was noticed and I had to have an ultrasound and a biopsy. Luckily it turned out to be benign. I received the results promptly on Tuesday and thankfully all was normal. Next step is to make an appointment with my primary doctor for a physical - I remember 2021 is the year I am due for a colonoscopy.
Mother received the results of wearing a heart monitor for 30 days and it was found that she has AFib or an irregular heartbeat. The longest episode during the 30 days was six hours. Mother's neurologist got her an appointment at the AFib clinic and the nurse and physician's assistant were wonderful. They were the first medical professionals so far to spend time with us, explaining everything in detail and answering any questions we had. We were there for an hour and a half and Mother actually thought the PA was the doctor! We both really appreciated the experience as they seemed to really know their stuff. However we did leave the appointment with some confusion. Mother has been told all along that she had a stroke, but the part of the brain it hit is the least damaging. These folks told us she did not have a stroke but a TIA or transient ischemic attack. In a nutshell they said it passed through but did not do any damage. Two more medications have been added to Mother's arsenal which she will now have to take for life. But the hope is the medication will put things under control and with weight loss a few of the other medications could be dropped, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The next step will be to see the cardiologist in 30 days.
Last Sunday evening I did take some time to post a lot of gorgeous Native American pieces online but unfortunately could not find any takers. These pieces are all artist signed and made by some of the finest Navajo silversmiths in New Mexico, so they are pricier than the vintage pieces. I had never seen Native American Christmas jewelry before and just had to get the trees. They are both pins and the larger tree is also a pendant. Herbert Ration is famous for his bug pins and these are wonderful examples. The Cadman family are fabulous silversmiths and the piece in the center by Donovan Cadman with the orange spiny oyster shell and Kingman turquoise is outstanding. They will all individually make their way to the online store soon!
Starting next week I am going to start to talk about our Tucson trip and the wonderful finds. The plan is to start with the Tibetan jewelry, there are lots of exciting new designs this time. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend!