McHenry County Blog

Watching Nastia Liukin win the Olympic gymnastic floor exercise with my visiting Joplin little sister Ellen and her husband Denny Desmond must have triggered some subconscious thoughts while I was asleep.

I woke up thinking,


That's what my daughter Alexandra exclaimed in 1984 after watching older cousins Lissa and Heather play on the trapeze. She was so impressed when they hung upside down.

Funny how memories are triggered.

When I woke up, I remembered that Alexandra, who was not yet two at the time, was entranced by a jack-in-the-box which played, “This old man, he played one.”

She wanted me to turn the handle again and again and again and again.

I'm not sure, but I think that's what she said.

“Again.”

“Again.”

“Again.”

“Again.”

More times than that, as only any toddler can do.

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The photo is of Alexandra sitting in what her paternal grandparents Millicent and Herb Geist called the "keeping room." It looks as if she is conducting music. I know that when I gave her one of the first "singing" birthday cards in 1985 her mother Robin told me she took it to the grocery store, playing it again and again, while moving her arm as if she were a conductor. The Annie rag doll you Alexandra holding was one of three different sizes made by Robin. There was the original one, of which Robin made two so she could wash one without Alexandra's missing it, a bigger one, which I think this is, and a wild-haired small one that Robin called "Punk Rock Annie."

Labels: Alexandra Gabrielle, Alexandra Skinner, Lake Forest, Nastia Liukin, Olympics, Robin Geist

At last Tuesday’s McHenry Marlin’s swim party at Knox Pool, a swim mom brought this splendid 2008-themed Olympics’ cake and cookies.

It looked so professional. most thought she had bought it from a bakery.

But, no.

She made and decorated it herself.

Labels: Cake, Cookies, McHenry Marlins, Message of the Day, Olympics

McHenry County Blog doesn’t write about a lot of things in Lake County.

Because Carpentersville District 300 covers so much of southeaster McHenry County, sometimes we dip into Kane County, mainly the northern portion that I represented in the Illinois General Assembly during the 1970’s.

But, take a look at what is happening with the Lakewood Forest Preserve on on Route 176 a bit east of Wauconda.

I received the following email from Bob Friend that might be of interest to readers in Lake County. He points out that Forest Preserve District President Bonnie Thomson Carter (a county board member) is pushing to make the Lakewood Forest Preserve into the Equestrian Venue for the 2016 Olympics.

Really!

Here's the email:

Many area people are still unaware of what's happening re Lakewood Forest Preserve in neighboring Lake County, Illinois.

Bonnie Thomson Carter, president of the Lake Co. Forest Preserve District, has been leading the charge to ruin the largest preserve in the county in order to satisfy the build-anything-anywhere appetite of way too many local politicians. There are still far too many citizens who are clueless regarding these ill-conceived plans.

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VFP ???

Our organization is fighting to stop the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee and wealthy benefactors from building a 15,000-seat stadium -- AND MORE ! -- in the heart of Lakewood.

Please check out our website: www.VotersForPreservation.org.

We are all unpaid volunteers trying to juggle family, jobs and other activities against the well paid politicians who are pushing to build stuff the majority of people do not want. We continue to work to improve our website and other aspects of our organization.

We would greatly appreciate more people knowing about our situation. Preserving forests and open spaces should be at the forefront of everyone's mind nowadays -- but such is apparently not the case with our local county commissioners and others. Mayor Daley, for example, needs to realize that there is considerable opposition to locating a huge Olympic facility in Lakewood Forest Preserve.

Please consider passing along our website to friends of yours. This is not just a Lake County issue -- many people in neighboring counties visit these preserves. We want to protect open lands and protected forests for all generations that follow us.

THANKS !

Bob Friend
Secretary/Communications
VOTERS FOR PRESERVATION, Inc.
P.O. Box 102 _ Island Lake IL _ 60042

Labels: Bob Friend, Bonnie Thomson Carter, Equestrian Venue, Lake County Board, Lake County Forest Preserve District, Lakewood Forest Preserve, Olympics, Votlunteers for Preservation

So, the United States Olympic Committee picked Chicago to offer to the world stage that doesn’t think much of the United States’ assertion of power to stabilize Iraq.

Not a good chance of the Chicago making the next cut, but, just in case it does, don’t you think we in Crystal Lake should start thinking about

• whether we want to get rid of the Crystal Lake’s Main Beach House or
  
  
• whether condemnation should be sought to buy the homes on the West End of the lake so Crystal Lake could be made long enough to bid on the rowing regatta event?

That’s what would be necessary to make the course long enough.

Why can’t I get that really silly front page article in the Northwest Herald out of my mind?

Mayor Aaron Shepley was quoted at the time as saying,

If it even became remotely possible, I'd be tickled to tackle that one. That sounds like the closest thing to reality.

Rowing club president Walt Gary sagely observes, again, according to the Northwest Herald:

They'd need to extend the lake. That could be a knockout.

With Shepley having promised not to use condemnation powers in the Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district before and two months after the city voted to condemn three properties, I wouldn’t be as sure the Crystal Lake Rowing Club president is right as I was January 29, 2006, when I wrote the earlier article.

I’ll bet that huge new home where Bertha Bladon used to live would have a great view of the start of the events.

Or, as I suggested over a year ago, maybe the city council could just reconfigure the biggest Vulcan Lake to make a race course fit.

Then, it wouldn’t snare traffic in my immediate neighborhood.

That makes me one of those NIMBY guys, I guess.

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The top picture of the West End of Crystal Lake was taken on January 2, 2007. There's no ice for the big, new house to reflect upon, but the calm water works just as well.

The second photograph of the West End was taken this past February. Crystal Lake was frozen and covered with snow. You can see the big house even without enlarging the small photograph by clicking on it.

The satellite photo of Crystal Lake comes from Google.

The final picture is of the Main Beach House on a calm evening during last fall.

Labels: Crystal Lake, Main Beach, Olympics, Rowing Regatta