Sunday, September 21,
Northbrook, Illinois
Staying Local in Northbrook, Illinois.
Today was all about recovering my breath after 10 hectic days in London. I am now safely ensconced at the Northbrook home of my college classmaate, Marilou. This is a suburb of Chicago and it has all the small-town feeling of a typical American hamlet: there is a small railroad station, a library, a village green, a post office, as well as all the community centers you could desire.
Mass at the Church of St. Norbert and Our Lady of the Brook:
I did not sleep too badly, all things considered. Yes, there is a wee bit of jetlag but we have only five and a half hours of time difference between London and Chicago. Benign blue skies smiled upon me when I awoke at 6.30 am to find ML in the garden with her dogs enjoying her first cup of coffee. As it was Sunday, we discussed going to Church and opted for the 9.30 am Mass—and so there I was sipping my own decaff coffee too, then dressing and driving off for Mass.
The Church was like any one of the churches we see in Canada—modern, 1970s-built, a large space that begins with a spacious vestibule. It is always great to return to the West for the simple reason that the sermons sound sane again. I have often said that one of the few things I miss while living in Bombay is the superb sermons that the Jesuit theologians would preach at my church in Fairfield, Connecticut. Ditto with the Anglican churches in the UK which are actually my favorite churches in the world—you can be assured that you will get a heart-warming, stirring sermon with a lesson that shall live with you for the rest of the week. And that was pretty much the case here too in this Chicago suburb. The priest spoke for about 10 minutes but it was a pleasure to listen to him.
Brekkie at Home:
done, we drove home and were ready for brekkie: it was overnight oats made by ML from her Noom Cookbook (they were delicious) and she gave me a taste of her own homemade granola (using Alton Brown’s recipe). All the while we chatted and she told me where things were kept—so that I can help myself to anything, should I feel the need. Breakfast done, we were ready for the next item on our agenda: a visit to her local school yard for the annual Vintage Car Rally—a small community event that attracts a number of car-lovers from near and far even as it brings owners of vintage cars to the venue from all over the States to exhibit their treasures.
The Vintage Car Rally in Northbrook:
In the end, we were really glad we went to the Vintage Car Rally as I really did not know what to expect. Many years ago, I had been to a similar one in Hyde Park in London, when I had been invited there by English friends whose American friend was exhibiting his Aston Martin car that he had transported from the USA to London for the rally.
This one was less upscale, but there certainly was a vintage Rolls Royce in the mix that garnered a great deal of attaention. Of course, everyone stopped to take pictures of it, but there were a load of other spiffy cars that were also grabbing deep attention. Among them, we were really lucky to come upon a Ford Model T from 1916 that had begun the process of assembly line manufacture that then became the blueprint for the production of every car in the USA. There were a few things I learned at the rally: for example, Henry Ford was forced to cave in and create cars in varied colors when his competitors (Chevrolet, Buick, etc.) began to produce cars in a range of shades. We felt very blessed when the owners of the Model T invited us to get into the car and take a picture. ML sat behind the wheel, I was in the passenger seat (of the two-seater) and he took our picture in it. Really, the history of cars is quite fascinating and motor buffs were having a field day (no pun intended) at the venue
We also saw a variety of T-Birds (as Chevrolet Thunderbirds were known) that brought to mind The Beach Boys song: And we’ll have fun, fun fun, fun, fun, Till your Daddy takes the T-Bird away”. Yes, we did pose by a number of cars.Of special interest was a ‘Transporter’ vehicle from 1975 that was the start of the RVs that we now find becoming more and more sophisticated with every passing year. ML actually remembered going to school in a similar vehicle. What struck me was the bright colors of these vehicles: fire red, lipstick red, scarlet, indeed every shade of red. Plus royal blue, army green, mustards, oranges, etc. you name it. Certainly cars were produced in far brighter colors in a bygone era than today.
Oh and we did see a few cars that appeared to belong to the age of Downton Abbey, complete with seat at the back for the equivalent of a carriage footman—a servant, basically, who would jump up and down to open the door for you or hold out an umbrella above your head in the rain.was also very interesting was that all of the cars had their hoods up so that motor lovers could closely inspect their engines. And boy, what engines they were! Gleaming for all they were worth, it is so clear that their owners lavish much time, attention, care and expense on them to keep them looking as good as new even though many of them are more than a century old. Talking to some of the owners, we discovered that they are still completely road-worthy and that their owners enjoy taking them for an occasional spin around town when passing strangers wave to them as if they are best friends. However, they are unable to wave back as these are all manually-operated vehicles and they cannot take their hands or feet away from the pedals of the steering wheel. In fact, the pedals control the brake, clutch and the reverse mechanism—so one has to really focus when driving these cars.
The weather was gorgeous and the car-lovers were lucky that they had the perfect day for such an event. We did not stay too long, although we saw all sorts of vehicles including pick-up trucks from a bygone era, before we decided to move on
Getting Back Home for Lunch:
Our day moved on rapidly as we reached home to rustle up a makeshift lunch. I helped mash up and season an avocado as ML prepared toast and fried eggs for us. Our lunch consisted of Avocado on Toast with sliced tomatoes and a fried egg washed down with herbal tea. It was a good, substantial lunch and with it filling our tummies, we were ready for the next item on our agenda: A drive one hour away to a place called Chicago Ridge for Dog Agility Training.
Off to Dog Agility Training:
So, Dog Agility Training is a whole new concept to me and one I have only just become aware of through ML. She has two dogs—Pixel (a little chihuahua mix) and Wiggles (a terrier mix). Over the last few years, she has been visiting this venue to formally train them in agility. This involves introducing the dog gradually to making low jumps, high jumps, walking across a low or high ramp, going through a tunnel, passing through a maze of poles, etc. Once the dog understands the concept of the route or the movement, he has to develop speed in going through all the stages (or obstacles) in his way. ML’s dogs have been doing this for the past few years and are proud winners of rosettes, ribbons and other such prizes. Now they are into Scent Training—the various elements of this training are numerous and, depending on one’s interest or dedication, one can decide how many of these training program one would like to put one’s dog through. ML is indeed deeply involved in this. She finds it relaxing, therapeutic, a great way to get away from the routine of her daily life, to introduce her dogs to various skills and to keep herself actively engaged herself (as the owner has to walk or run alongside the dog as he performs). ML’s sister Sharon also brought her dog Waffles along—a real gentle giant—he is a Bernaise Mountain and Poodle mix—and with three dogs and three ladies in the car going back and forth together, we made a strange lot.
For me, this was a very good introduction to the things dog-lovers do. I met a couple of the trainers, many beautiful prize-winning dogs and the general place where the training is held—a vast basement with all the equipment needed to train as well as large crates in which the dogs are penned until it is their turn to be trained.
When the training was done, all of us (humans and pooches) piled back into the car and we were homeward bound. It is lovely to be back on the American highways again and to see the many changes that are being wrought by changes in population demographics.
Off for Dinner to a Friend’s:
We had dinner plans at ML’s sister, Claudette’s home, which is not far away in Northbrook. Back home, we showered and dressed and got ready for our dinner. It is always a pleasure to see Claudette and her husband, Phillip, both lovely people. In addition to ML and Sharon and myself, they had two other people present, Aurelia and Wilbert—originally from Bombay, who now happen to live in the USA.
We nibbled on cheese and crackers and wonderful samosas (bought from an Indian store) and after chatting about current affairs, we adjourned to the dining room, where we sat down to eat appams with chicken curry, lentil salad, South Indian-style green beans and brinjal pickle. There was also biryani but I did not taste it at all as I focused on the appams that I love. For dessert, there were grilled peaches flavored with cinnamon and some Tinnamook Ice-cream with Dark Cherries in them that were really delicious.
By the time 10.00 pm came around, however, my eyes were glazing over as I was clearly jetlagged—it would be about 4.30 am in London and it was taking my body time to adjust to the new time zone. Not too long after, everyone said their goodbyes and we left to get back home to ML’s where, because I have a very early wake-up call (I will be teaching my classes from here online), I needed to get quickly into bed.
It had been the perfect day—not too much exertion gave my feet time to rest completely and get ready for a bout of heavy sight-seeing tomorrow.
Until tomorrow, see ya’...
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