Hello blog!

The week has zoomed by in a blur of sunshine, ice-cream and telephone calls.  The working week began with tying up lose ends from the Highland Games before moving on to the ‘Homecoming Scottish American Leadership Conference’ being held in Scotland on the 27th of July as part of Homecoming with a theme of “Scotland and her Diaspora – Partners for the Future”. The conference will be a really good networking opportunity for those on both sides of the pond to exchange experiences, ideas and best practices with one another.

My job was to call around and invite Scottish-American organisations to the event and I quickly found that a Scottish accent coupled with a friendly bunch of people can lead to a whole lot of chatter.  The task was more enjoyable and longer than expected and as a bonus I learnt about clans, the American climate, airfares and the logistics of tossing a caber. After a conference call for the Kilted Classic Golf Tournament on Friday I’ve got an exciting to do list to get on to this week. 

The sun is out in Chicago and it is very hot so my free time has been spent perusing some of Chicago's excellent (and air conditioned) museums, shops and restaurants.  The impressionist gallery at the art institute is mind blowing (the biggest collection outside Paris) and this week I ventured into the modern wing which is also amazing.  The cultural museum was also really fascinating (and free on Mondays) and I learnt (but maybe didn't retain) a whole lot about Chicago. 

My other major Chicago learning experience this week was attending a Cubs vs. Soxs baseball game.  The Cubs and the Soxs are Chicago’s two big baseball teams and they are known as fairly intense rivals.  I went with a Sox fan and ended up cheering them on so it was a hit when one pretzel, two hot dogs, 13 home runs and three (surprisingly fast) hours later the Sox won.  The green and yellow nessie looking mascot in a baseball kit that ran around between innings was brilliant and the game was easier to follow and more relaxed (the man next to us fell asleep) than I was expecting.  As my sporting loyalties normally lie with Queens Park FC it was really fun being able to watch whilst also enjoying the sunshine.

One of my favourite thing to do, especially in the evenings when it's cooler is sitting outside the planetarium with some friends or a good book watching the sun set over the city.  On Wednesday and Saturday the city puts on an awesome fire works display off Navy Pier.  Amazingly, things situated on the pier include: a ferris wheel, two museums, an imax cinema screen, two theatres, a handful of restaurants and bars, live music and lots of people.  It’s a far cry from Ardrossan Harbour. 

Continuing with the summer festivals, this week it’s The Taste of Chicago where over 70 of the city’s biggest food vendors have stalls.  Each sells four meal sized things along with two taster size portions of everything from hush puppies (fried pieces of dough) to pizza to frozen popcorn.  All fat free and very healthy.  So far I’ve sampled a wide selection of fare with the biggest hit being some yummy cheesecake.   Speaking of which, off to find some ice cream and the last wee bit of sunshine!!