This article is a pretty fantastic description of my neighborhood, Yankee Hill. I might have pointed out the Villa Filomena, a former mansion, that is now used for many private activities such as weddings and small musical performances.
Across the street from that beautiful piece of architecture is The Lakeside Apartments building. It's home to the writer, photographer, artist, and 2nd chair harmonica player with The Expansion Band, Poppa Jeff. 🙌
Speaking of Art:
My most recent effort. A blatant ripoff of a pastel by Carl Rohde Curly.
In Motion
Oil 9 x 12
Meanwhile, as the official Fall Season is falling on us, and I am referring to the daily temperatures, I attended a parking lot potluck for Common Ground.
We got a review of all of our projects that are being worked on. The latest and certainly one of the more non-controversial efforts we've taken is the volunteer tutoring of kids in first through third grades. The reading program pairs a child who needs help with an adult volunteer. We supplied over one hundred volunteers to this effort.
We found out the health insurance co-op we started covers over sixty thousand people.
Working with the new Mayor, Common Ground is lobbying major automobile insurance providers to fund universal driver training for young people as one prong in the fork to cut down reckless driving in the city and county.
And we celebrated the culmination of the effort to improve the athletic facilities at Washington High School in Sherman Park.
Even though my contribution is small, I'm so proud to say I am a supporter of Common Ground. If you'd be interested in helping or joining Common Ground, here's a starting point. (Click Here To Learn More)
You may, or may not, be happy you've read this far.
As a banker of renown, they set aside his name. He became the Loan Arranger. His efficient assistant produced the necessary volumes of documents so quickly, they called her Pronto.
The Loan Arranger took Pronto out to lunch to celebrate her birthday. He surprised her with a reservation on a river boat known for its cuisine. After their meal, he teased her into trying on one of the life jackets from the emergency bin. He also put one on. Then he picked her up, took her to the railing, and threw her overboard. He jumped in, swam to her, and they both went slowly bobbing down the river until a police boat rescued them.
When asked why he did it, he replied, "I didn't want to float alone."
Poppa Jeff drops the mic.
But don't go away. Here's a shaggy dog story from Bill Bryson.
A story told to him by a good friend he met in Australia
In the 1950s a friend of Catherine’s moved with her young family into a house next door to a vacant lot. One day a construction crew turned up to build a house on the lot.
Catherine’s friend had a four-year-old daughter who naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door. She hung around on the margins and eventually the construction workers adopted her as a kind of mascot.
They chatted to her and gave her little jobs to do and at the end of the week presented her with a little pay packet containing a shiny new half crown. She took this home to her mother, who made all the appropriate cooings of admiration and suggested that they take it to the bank the next morning to deposit it in her account.
When they went to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her own pay packet.
“I’ve been building a house this week,” she replied proudly.
“Goodness!” said the teller. “And will you be building a house next week, too?”
“I will if we ever get the fucking bricks,” answered the little girl.
Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country (pp. 115-116). Crown. Kindle Edition.
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