On November 17 (not exactly sure about the date) about 3:30 p.m., Karen Neumann heard strange sounds coming from above. A little while later she saw a Sand Hill Crane in her front yard and tried to get a picture of it. Unfortunately the picture came out unclear and the bird was gone before she could call anyone to report it. We hope the bird got to Indiana safely. I, too, heard and saw those thousands of amazing birds flying off to the southeast. The sun was shining on their wings so they looked like silver. It was a wonderful, unforgettable sight and sound and later I heard on WBBM that there were upwards of 20,000 of them!
Karen Neumann is also happy to announce that her husband, Guenter Neumann, is recovering nicely from his recent setback.
High school senior music students: MacDowell Artists is again offering music scholarships to graduating seniors to advance their music studies after high school. See the head of the music department at your high school for applications. Auditions will be held February 5th at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Oak Park. Get your application today and good luck. Oh, and by the way, practice!
Scott McAdam is much more than an excellent landscape architect. He is actively involved in immigration legislation and has some astounding facts to tell. From what I understand, many of those local apple orchards, strawberry and blueberry patches where we used to go in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin to pick our own have closed down. In many cases a high percentage of the migrant workers, who were not too long ago considered legal, have been hustled off the premises and sent back to Mexico. This action left the orchard owners without anyone to harvest their fruit. Their only option was to get out of the business. So now instead of strawberries, etc. from Wisconsin or Indiana, they’re flown up from Peru or other places in Central or South America. Scott and his organization have a lot to teach us about the immigration problem.
Congratulations to new parents Kevin and Maureen Harnett and new big sister,Corina Harnett. The Harnetts welcomed Kevin Michael Harnett into the family on Monday, November 14. Proud grandparents of their new grandson are Timothy and Annie Harnett.
Welcome to St. Bernardine’s to Father John Rolek who comes to us through the generosity of the Archdiocese from Saint Leonard’s in Berwyn. I know the parishioners of Saint B’s will give Father Rolek a warm welcome.
Print and TV journalist Joan Biskupic can be seen and heard discussing her Biography of Sandra Day O’Connor at Centuries & Sleuths at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 9. Come see and hear this exceptionally bright, witty young woman. We are lucky to have her here in Forest Park.
Sorry we didn’t get a picture of the lovely cornucopias the ladies made at Quitsch Flowers last week. The floral arrangers were by Joanne Lieber, Marcie Wozniak her mother Pearl and sister Lydia and of course Katie Urban.
The Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest will perform on December 4th at 4 p.m. at First United Church of Christ, 848 Lake Street. Forest Park’s own Ho Chung Yeh will conduct Berlioz Harold in Italy with soloist Charles Pikler. Jay Friedman will conduct Mahler’s First Symphony. Great program. This year you can purchase 75th year memorial souvenirs before during and after the concert.
Special happy birthday wishes to Dixie Quitsch on December 1 and also to Reagan Hosty and Roland Maughm; on the 4th of December to Barbara Hosty; December 5 to Cheryl Kolnick and Dave Winter; on the 6th to Adele Sharkey and Carli Loyd.
Thanks for spending this time here. Chop a bun.
Correction for last week’s column: the Cimaglia wedding couple was incorrectly identified. The newlyweds are Patrick and Lana Cimaglia. Sorry about the error.
