Today is the first time we actually traveled to Chicago proper. It was the tourist thing. I haven’t seen big old buildings in quite a while, certainly not in San Jose. I enjoyed seeing gargoyles again, and bricks that weren’t a quarter-inch thick and made of vinyl.

The portrait

I forgot my regular camera, so the portrait below was taken with my_phone. It would actually have been very difficult to do with a conventional camera. This huge mirrored sculpture known as ‘The Bean’ was really interesting. I took my self portrait inside, looking up.

Tourists

We visited the Millennium Park, the Buckingham Fountain, which wasn’t fountaining, and the Navy Pier, where there wasn’t much at which to peer. The barkers performed their version of “Hurry, hurry, hurry…. see the Siamese Twins, one speaks English and the other French,” enticing the passers by to take a boat ride around Lake Michigan.

Coincidentally, one of the songs that seems to calm my grandson, William is ‘Up She Rises’ – if that really is the name of this shanty. You might recognize it. The first line is sung three times: “What do you do with a drunken sailor?”  I think William likes the line “Shave his belly with a rusty razor.” I know it’s my favorite.

Another group

While we were walking on the pier, I saw another group. The were special needs people probably on an outing. I only saw them for a moment, as they were walking past the barkers. I cringed for a moment, knowing that barkers like to engage those walking by. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of anything notable happening. Even though it is many years beyond the time I was directly affected by perceived or actual stares, in the company of my older autistic brother, my radar is still activated. The barkers carried on as usual, without mention of the group. Whew!

Halloween

As usual, I am writing this the night before I post, but there is a pre-Halloween incident I would like to share. William was really engaged with me, looking directly in my eyes; I pretended to sneeze, saying, “Ah…. Ah…. Ah… ” and said the “Choo” part loudly, squinching up my face at the same time. Even though I scared him into the hiccups, he thought my joke was hilarious! Every time I did it, he would laugh and laugh. I was quite tickled, myself, since it was the first time I got him to laugh. He eventually stopped hiccuping.