Wednesday, January 15, 2017

We have been
on the road. This past weekend we were in Oak park, Illinois for the Chicago area
Masters Water Polo Tournament. In addition to a tournament it was a referee
training session. So every referee had an understudy. Whites and whistles in
stereo.

Just try to get away with something.

Molly with the ball. As she says, water polo is not a flattering sport.

Molly, under pressure but she gets it off.

The
tournament was held at Fenwick High School, home to perennial Illinois swimming
and water polo championship teams. They are a Catholic private school that can actively
recruit athletes. Their mascot is the Friar which I’m having some difficulty
seeing as a rallying cry. Let’s go Fighting Friars, hit ‘em hard. Molly’s senior
year Okemos beat Fenwick in a tournament, the only loss Fenwick had that year.
Next tournament Fenwick was gunning for us and Okemos suffered their only loss for
the year.

Oak Park is
a pretty interesting place. At one time, Oak Park was a community surrounded by
farms but it has been pretty much swallowed up by the Chicago metropolitan area.
It has some interesting buildings and architecture from the turn of the last
century. Hemmingway was born in Oak Park and Frank Lloyd Wright had his studio
there. In 1905 the Oak Park Unitarian Church burned down and Frank, a congregation
member, designed the new one. At the time, Unity Temple was pretty hot stuff,
but I think it has kind of a forbidding appearance. Something like a Mason
Temple or a prison. The inside, however, is supposed to be impressive. Drainage
was never one of Frank’s strong points and he really seemed to like flat roofs.
Like a number of his structures, this one seems to need a good bit of maintenance
and upkeep. We couldn’t go inside because it was closed for rehabbing.

Unity Temple.

After the
tournament, we headed to the Great White North. We’ve been thinking about
Marquette as a retirement home and wanted to spend some winter time here. So we
have been checking out neighborhoods, birding, hanging out with our friend
Joanna, and just enjoying the outdoors. While wearing a lot of heavy clothes. You
can tell you’re in the UP when you have to use snow shoes to get to the
outhouse.

That is the outhouse in the background. The path was trampled by snowshoes, not dug out. (Joanna Mitchell photo)

Birding in the McCormick Wilderness. The gray beard hides the frost encasing it.

Joanna, modelling appropriate winter attire.  

Tree full of evening
grosbeaks.

No lifeguard
on duty, but there were some guys fishing from kayaks off the beach. 

Lake Superior ice shelf at Presque Isle Park.