Daisies in the garden at Cantigny

Cantigny, pronounced kan-tee-nee, is the home of Col. Robert McCormick. Col. McCormick was the owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and he also founded the law firm that eventually became Kirkland and Ellis. Prior to becoming publisher of the Tribune, McCormick served as alderman of the 25th Ward in Chicago. McCormick was also the grand-nephew of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the cotton gin.

McCormick was a member of the Illinois National Guard prior to World War I, and rose to the rank of Colonel in the artillery during the war. He continued to serve in the guard for ten years after the war war, and was referred to as “Colonel” for the rest of his life.

Red Flowers in the garden at Cantigny

Colonel McCormick had no children. When he died in 1955, he left his fortune to establish the McCormick Charitable Trust (now the McCormick Foundation). He also directed that Cantigny should be transformed into a park for the use of the general public. Since then, the McCormick Foundation has used the endowment funds bequeathed by Colonel McCormick to operate Cantigny as a public facility.

More flowers from Cantigny garden

The Cantigny campus includes the McCormick museum, which is the former home of McCormick, a 27 hole golf course, a botanic garden, and the 1st Army Division museum. Plus there are several restaurants.

It’s a great place to take the kids, I take mine there several times a year. In the army museum area, there are tanks they can climb on. When you go through the museum, each room is devoted to a different place where the division served, and the rooms actually look like those places. In other words, the WWI room looks like trenches. When you walk through the WWII area, you actually walk along Normandy Beach the day after D-Day.

Painting of Col. McCormick

The food in the restaurants is top notch. in the Museum/garden area they have Bertie’s coffee shop, which serves coffee and sandwiches. It’s a good place to take kids because the prices aren’t too high. You can get a cup of coffee, while the kids have a sandwich or some ice cream. It’s informal and laid back.

The Red Oak Room serves breakfast on Sundays. The cost last year was $13.95 a person. The food was basic breakfast fare. They have several special brunches throughout the year.

There are also several areas which have playgrounds and places to bar-b-que.

I watched the show “Hairy Bikers” on the History Channel today, and I was struck by a couple of things. First; how can this be a show and Chris and I cannot get a show of our own. Second; it was a pretty good show. These guys ride around the country checking out different foods. [...]

A 6 year old boy was shot a couple of days ago on the south side of Chicago. There is an investigation into whether it was accidental or not. Although why a 14 year old would be “playing” with a real gun and a little kid is one of the first questions I have. This [...]

Jon Yates’ “What’s Your Problem?” column on Monday details Supt. Garry McCarthy’ intention to Fire 4 police officers for writing bogus tickets. Officers Steven Sabatino, Horst Hegewald and Paul Roque have been suspended without pay pending a hearing before the Police Board, which will determine if they should be terminated. P.O. William Whelehan has also [...]

MSNBC reports that Oscar the dachshund has died after tripping on acid and running out into the street when he heard “the Wall” being played on a car stereo. …officers were called to a home on Pinehurst Road on Sunday night after reports of a man and a woman running nude on a street. When [...]

Naked People+LSD+Gummy Bears+Dog=An Easily Seen Tragedy. http://t.co/KDYD6SXB

Being in rehab provides time to think of all the things I miss, like Jimmy’s Hot Dogs

Cleveland, where all great discoveries come from. Fox 8 in Cleveland ran this story about ghosts having sex. Below is a picture of the fornication in progress. Personally I don’t see it. This, to me, looks more like when Chris and I are smoking cigars and we blow smoke at each other. But when the [...]

There have been several reports of fake police officers gaining access to houses on the northwest side. The unknown number of men have shown up at least three times since Saturday, approaching homeowners, identifying themselves as cops while flashing gold badges and wearing police-style radios, according to a community alert issued by Grand Central Area [...]

The old ladies here at the rehab place found out I’m a cop. I’m now fielding tips on an ongoing crime spree.