Maryann or Ginger?

Today after church, I drove to the harbor at 31st Street.  I was totally blindsided by this new development, which I found just a few months ago.  When did they build this?  Sorry, that was a rhetorical question because it opened last year.  I know that only because I looked it up.  When...what...Chicago is constantly changing.  It's a beautiful city yet they always seem to figure out a way to make it more beautiful.  I had my camera with me today so after church I took a few shots.  The lot was full so the attendant let me stop in the drop-off lane for 10 minutes.  JUST 10, he said.  Whatever, Dude.

This picture, for some reason, made me think of the beginning of Gilligan's Island.  So of course, that sent me off on a Google search to see what had become of the cast.   The battle over who was the hottest, MaryAnn or Ginger, is apparently still raging.  People (mostly guys) have a very definite preference and it seems to be about half and half.  For those of you who have yet to make up your minds, or refuse to take sides, I offer you the chance to weigh in:

Or change your mind.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day today and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The fact that my mind went off in this weird direction did nothing to change that.  So let's vote--MaryAnn or Ginger?  Let me know and I'll post the results later this week!

So why don't grocery stores carry mulberries?  They're plentiful, grow anywhere, and taste surprisingly good.  I say surprisingly because since they seem to be growing wild all over my yard and everyone else's, I always assumed they weren't edible.  According to my sister, they ate them all the time, but when I was coming up, my grandfather grew pears, peaches, cherries and grapes,but I do not remember eating from any mulberry tree.  Or bush.  See, there's another weird thing about them.  What, do they just grow on anything?  I think they're a little shady.  But since they were falling all over my mother's driveway, I decided to pick a few: 

Yeah, they're pretty small.  It was hot.  I was still dressed for church.  I was sweating.  It would have taken way too long to fill this little bucket, so I settled for a decent representation.  Remember my aversion to getting dressed up, being compressed, and sweating.  I soon retreated to the air-conditioning.  I learned that they stain almost immediately:

Their tiny stems are tedious to remove so I washed them thoroughly and decided that a little green wouldn't hurt me:  

And I made a cherry-mulberry smoothie!  It was good, but I could have done without the two teaspoons of Splenda because they were plenty sweet!

I'm shooting the moon again tonight--literally.  I'm taking pictures of the supermoon again.  The super part eluded me last night.  I stayed up until two and still didn't see the superness.  The pictures on the news of this giant orange thing were what I was looking for.  All I saw was this tiny white (albeit bright) circle.  I was so disappointed that I deleted the pics.  I'm on my way out, so wish me luck.  Hopefully I'll have some nice shots for you tomorrow.  And by the way, thank you SO MUCH for reading my blog.  Comments, questions, suggestions...please!

http://www.chicagoharbors.info/harbors/31st-street-harbor/