In-the-Woods Reunion

Thatcher Woods, Cook County Forest Preserve, September 24, 2016. Mr. Irene headed back last weekend to the Chicago area for a high-school reunion. He stopped at Thatcher Woods to revisit some memories, and he was happy to find the place in great shape.

Graduation Dance

Oak Park, Illinois, June 1972. Most of the eighth-grade girls wore floor-length dresses.

Wright Walk, in Three Takes

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Oak Park, Illinois, May 2008. Mr. Irene and I return to home territory to tour Mr. Wright's works.

Friday Football

Oak Park, Illinois, Autumn 1965. It's halftime at the game.

Old Photos and a Scrapbook

Ernest Hemingway's mother collected memories about her son's Oak Park childhood.

A spat ...

... develops at Mr. Irene's high school: Illinois Governor "Pat Quinn lashed out Thursday night at his alma mater, Fenwick High School, for firing his brother as boys basketball coach after 28 years."

Players

Oak Park, Illinois, Autumn 1965. The Fenwick High School football team prepares for a game.

Maywood Architecture

My childhood home stood on a street that ran perpendicular to the banks of the Des Plaines River. Across the river, to the east of our home, began the tony suburb of River Forest, and beyond River Forest, was elegant Oak Park.

Both River Forest and Oak Park are home to architectural gems. I attended high school in River Forest, and Mr. Irene's high school was in Oak Park. We each often rode past famous homes, including the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. My Mom made a house call to the William Winslow House.

Fewer people know about the architectural history of Maywood, the suburb that began three blocks to the south of our home. Many unaltered, historical homes—both Victorian and Prairie-Style houses—stand in Maywood. Today a friend pointed me to a new video, The Historic Homes of Maywood. It's worth a look.

(Via Chicago Curbed.)

The Second One

By the time I finished knitting my first sweater, I was ready to tackle a more complicated project. My Mom bought a nice worsted-weight wool for me in a soft, pink color. I recall that we selected the yarn at Marshall Field's on Lake Street, in Oak Park. Back then, Field's featured a modest yarn department in an annex on the store's fourth floor. The yarn department at Field's stood near the Girl Scout section of the store. I so wanted to be a Girl Scout so that I could wear the spiffy uniforms on display at Field's. But I'll save that story for another post.

The pink color we selected for my second sweater was not an abrasive tone; it was a shade that I still would wear today. Color wasn't the difficult issue for me; selection of a pattern was the tough decision. I wanted to knit something more challenging, but Mom didn't want me to be discouraged by a pattern that was too advanced.

We narrowed down my choices by reviewing the pattern books Mom had accumulated. Mom subscribed to two knitting magazines: Stitchcraft, a British publication to which my friend Kris and I fondly referred as "Witchcraft," and Vogue Knitting. Mom and I found a "beginner Aran" in one of the Stitchcraft issues. I worked on the sweater for about six months.

After I completed it, I wore that pink Aran for many years.

Suburban Chicago, June 1969. The issue of Stitchcraft is on my lap as I work on the pink Aran.

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Suburban Chicago, December 1969. I model the Aran. Do you like my necklace? It's a peace sign.

The Week Before the Wedding

Mr. Irene and I were busy the week before we got married. A young couple had befriended me when I lived in Venice, and the two flew to Chicago for the wedding. The husband, an architect, had been to the United States earlier, but his wife had never traveled overseas. We therefore spent about five days sightseeing in Chicago.

We took our guests to the spots that were important to us. We toured the Evanston campus of Northwestern University, where Mr. Irene and I had done our undergraduate work. We stopped at Daley Plaza, and we rode up to the top of the John Hancock Building. We also spent at day at my beloved Brookfield Zoo.

The Venetian visitors were interested in American food, so we ate at places like Ed Debevic's and McDonald's. We ordered take-out ribs from Russell's Barbecue in Elmwood Park.

Our schedule was so packed that we barely had time to think about the wedding day. On the day of our rehearsal dinner, for example, we did a walking tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Oak Park, we visited the Robie House, and we wandered around the campus of the University of Chicago. We were running late as we returned to our respective homes. When I drove into the driveway, I saw that my Dad's twin sister, Jonė, and her husband, Kadis, already had arrived from Toronto for the wedding.

I quickly changed for the small gathering at a Polish restaurant. I was so late, that I painted my nails in the car on the way to dinner.

Chicago, Illinois, June 1, 1989. Mr. Irene and I pose for a photo at Daley Plaza as we hosted our Venetian wedding guests. My Mom knitted the white cotton, lace sweater that I wore.

It's a good day to shop.

Mom and I are going shopping today. I don't like to window shop any longer. I prefer to go to a store, find what I need, and leave. Window shopping, or "looking around," eats into my knitting time. When the clock is ticking, one must prioritize how one spends free time. Mom and I will go to a nearby mall here in town. It should be quiet. A football game will take place this afternoon. Since I don't have to coach the game—ha ha—our schedule is open.

I remember how much fun I had when my Mom took Little Me shopping. Her day off from work was Thursday, and sometimes she would pick me up from school. From there, we would head to the old Marshall Field's on Lake Street in Oak Park, Illinois. On our way out of Field's, we usually stopped at the store bakery, where we would purchases some Napoleons and Eclairs. The Field's clerk packed the pastries into a white, cardboard box, and she tied them with a gold string. Even today, I use the Field's Napoleon as the standard against which I measure all other Napoleons.

If Mom had more time, or if she felt like treating me to a special outing, then we would go to the Marshall Field's in the newly built Oakbrook Center. Oakbrook! It was a beautiful outdoor mall with elegant stores like Field's, I. Magnin, Bramson's, and Saks Fifth Avenue. We usually went to the "bargain level" at Field's. We often ate a hot dog at the Field's café before we headed home, down Roosevelt Road.

Oakbrook weaves through many memories for me, and I'll return to talking about it again.

Oakbrook had such special meaning to me that Mr. Irene and I headed there to take a nice, spring walk on the day after we got married. We shopped at Rizzoli, where I bought Allen Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind and Judith Balaban Quine's The Bridesmaids.

I enjoyed window shopping during early trips to the Oak Park and Oakbrook stores. With Field's gone, and no Oak Park or Oakbrook nearby, I'd rather pick up what's on my list and leave.

Suburban Chicago, December 1961. My Mom shows my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, her purchases after a shopping trip. The women stand at our kitchen table.