The ginkgos are starting to turn as bright as the sun, maples promise a spectacularly vibrant array of multitones, and sumacs’ colorful clusters stand out in glorious shades of bright red and purple

Come October in Chicago the trees reach their peak fall colors creating a rich tapestry from Mother Nature’s color palette. 

The Show Must Go On

Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

The golden bronze of the Hickories, the brilliant scarlet of the Red Maple, the oranges of the Sugar Maples and the russet reds of the Oaks that follow–often continuing into November and early December–create a spectacular show that even a pandemic can’t shutdown.

Best Places to view color

The Esplanade. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Although you can find colorful trees on a city street or even just outside your window, one of the best places to see it all is at the Chicago Botanic Garden that showcases a plant collection of more than  2.6 million plants on over 285 acres. 

Plant Finder

Get planting ideas for your fall garden.Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Before you begin your journey through the garden, you may want to make a plan. Even if you don’t know a gingo from an oak tree, the Garden’s plant finder will help you to identify trees and plants and to see what’s in bloom. Click here.

Garden Highlights

The English Walled Garden. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

There is so much to see at the Garden that you could easily spend a day.  You can explore the grounds via foot or tram.

Highlights of the garden for fall include:

English Walled Garden (pictured above)
Circle Garden

View from the Circle Garden. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

• Enabling Garden
• Fruit & Vegetable Garden

The Regenstein Fruit and Vegetable garden.Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

• Esplanade
• Evening Island
• Japanese Garden
• McDonald Woods
• Plant Evaluation Garden
• Plant Science Center
• Prairie
• Rose Garden

For a complete list of Gardens click here.

For a suggested Color Tree Walk, click here.

Beyond the trees

Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

The trees are not the only part of nature that changes in fall. Cruise through the Bonsai Collection, the Aquatic Garden, Evening Island and more.

A wall of mums inside the English Walled Garden. Photo” Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Don’t miss the brilliant  color of the prairie grasses or the many varieties of mums and other fall flowers.

Hungry?

Dining on the terrace. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

You can dine on the Terrace overlooking the water or under the trees at the Esplanade Cafe (open 11am to 2pm, Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday).

The Espanade Cafe. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Reservations required

Entry path from parking lot 2. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

All Guests must register here.

Upcoming events

Fall Bulb Festival – Saturday, October 10 through Sunday, October 11 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.); Members-only bulb shopping, Friday, October 9 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Visit chicagobotanic.org/bulb for more information. 

Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns – Wednesday, October 14, through Sunday, October 18 (6:30 to 10:30 p.m.), and Wednesday, October 21, through Sunday, October 25 (6:30 to 10:30 p.m.)
More than 1,000 hand-carved, real pumpkins—some as large as 150 pounds—will light up the night. Visit chicagobotanic.org/halloween for tickets and information.

Lightscape – Friday, November 13, to Sunday, January 3, 2021; Select Nights (4:30 to 10 p.m.) The holiday event that sold out in its debut is back. Along a mile-long path, the night will come alive with color, imagination and sound, from a playful choir of singing trees to a spectacular Cathedral of Light. Visit chicagobotanic.org/lightscape for tickets and information.

Information:

Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Address: 1000 Lake-Cook Rd Glencoe
Metra: Union Pacific N to Braeside. Then bike, bus, walk or Uber less than a mile to Garden.
Free admission: parking per car $25, $30 weekends; seniors (Cook County residents) on Tuesdays $10.

The time is speedily flying by.

Election day is drawing nigh.

But theTrump Era lingers

So let’s take out our swingers

And make sure we snuff it like killing a fly.

“Écrasez l’infâme.”     Voltaire

It became clear at the debate between Biden and Trump. There was one moment that shook me to my core. Joe Biden used the word “smart” in a sentence. Trump seized on him in a foreboding, dark growl; similar to the tone he used in 2016 when he called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman”. Trump said, “Don’t ever use the word “smart” with me.”

Suddenly, I felt the violence of countless other men who abuse their children, wives, partners and loved ones. I wasn’t in the grip of a narcissist. I was in the grip of an emotional abuser; a man who uses his narcissism and sociopathy to get under people’s skin and embed himself in their consciousness. He has been doing it to Americans who love him and Americans who hate him since day one.

We are victim to the abusive tactics he employs: belittling, dismissal, gaslighting, shaming, disrespect, minimization, flipping and dumping, goading then blaming, denial, trivializing, threats, control. As we proceed it behooves us to recognize that we are in relationship with an emotional abuser. The results are depression, anxiety, guilt, detachment, fear, confusion, shame, hopelessness, insomnia, chronic pain, difficulty concentrating. Yes we’re in a pandemic. It’s not the only reason we’re feeling this way.

Now we can look at how he employs abusive tactics to steal our narrative. We must reclaim it. By doing that, we can disrupt the hold he has on our collective spirit and health. We can change this horror story.

One way I’ve taken back control is to detach from the news about him. I ended the doom scrolling and refreshing my browser because my spirit was breaking. Still, it was hard to avoid the images of  him striding across the lawn removing his mask then standing on a balcony for a photo opportunity. I know he told the American people that Covid is not so bad and it shouldn’t dominate our lives.

To hear him dismiss this virus and have no humility at the degree in which his circumstances have expedited his supposed recovery is unbearable. Knowing he is getting the best treatments; the treatment that has been elusive to so many has triggered a sense of detachment and numbness that swings to sudden rage. It’s been a dark night of my soul having to face the limits of my empathy and humanity.

It is my deepest wish that we only have three more weeks until we can exercise this man out of our collective spirit. And while we’ll  have to endure him refusing to leave and wreaking havoc I have to believe that we will ultimately end his story.

He cannot win. The country is at stake. Our spirits are at stake. Please vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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This week in our Release Radar we get more Smashing Pumpkins and more Elton John and both are sounding good. I think Elton John’s Jewel Box is going to be worth the investment. At eight CD’s, it’s for the hardcore collector, or maybe the person who needs to catch up on missed years of Elton’s career. Here it is, all in one neat jewel box.

The Charlatans release an EP of Some Friendly Demos, while their lead singer Tim Burgess releases a new single, Yours. To Be.

“When my white shirt lets me down/Like one we race against the wind
You said that I’ve seen better days/I wash her silver hair away.”

I love that Tim continues to create with a new band while still working with the old one. It’s hard to believe The Charlatans’ Some Friendly is 30 years old. This means, in turn, that I’m old.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise returns with “Our Song,” and it’s two minutes of bliss. With stops and starts, it’s full of feet-tapping rhythms that end too soon. I patiently await more great rock from these incredible artists.

Another release that I’m really excited about is Django Django. They do some pretty progressive stuff, crossing into Stone Roses territory at times. This time on “Spirals” they sound more like Tame Impala, and 70’s psychedelia.

The Dinner Party: Dessert album is on my #RADAR this week, including artists Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, and Kamasi Washington, with vocal curation by none other than Snoop Double. On “Freeze Tag,” these all-stars shine together at the intersection of jazz and hip hop. This is one you want to listen to all the way through.

Another funky entrance from Anderson.Pak. What a creator, “Jewelz” is playlist worthy.

Your jazz cut of the week comes from Matt Ulery and his incredible band of musicians. Check out this lovely cut called “Jelly.”

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Below is a press release from The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

MILWAUKEE – Today, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a Mike Pence Fly bobblehead. The bobblehead commemorates the viral moment from the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. The fly spent a little over two minutes on Vice President Pence’s hair during the debate setting the internet abuzz and even inspiring a special fly swatter that was available from the rival Biden/Harris campaign.

The bobbleheads are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store. They are $25 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order and are expected to ship in January. On a base bearing his name, the bobblehead features Pence in his debate-night suit, wearing a white shirt and red tie, with a fly on his head. The bobblehead also incorporates a plexiglass-like barrier and includes a removable mini fly swatter.

Political bobbleheads were some of the earliest bobbleheads available for purchase starting in 1960. John F. Kennedy was the first politician captured in bobblehead form and bobbleheads of presidents, candidates, and other political figures have remained bobblehead ever since. Bobbleheads of all 45 United States Presidents have now been produced with the “Neglected Presidents” Series filling in the missing president bobbleheads.

“Social media has been abuzz with talk of the fly at last night’s debate, and when we received several requests for a bobblehead with Pence and the fly, we knew we had to get to work,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “We think this will be another fun bobblehead to put a smile on people’s faces as they look back at 2020.”

This is the second bobblehead featuring Vice President Mike Pence that the Hall of Fame and Museum has released. Bobbleheads featuring Pence and Harris were recently added to the 2020 Presidential Candidate Bobblehead series and are expected to ship in November. Bobbleheads featuring President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are also available in both the traditional series for $20.20 each as well as a special caricature series. The caricature bobbleheads are available for $25 each or $45 for the interlocking set.

You know you are old when you start out a post with the words…

“Let me tell you about the olden days”

and in this case, it is about the first cell phones that were so big that you needed a backpack to schlep them around. My first cell phone provider was US Cellular. I was a loyal customer until it was bought out by Sprint in 2012. I looked around at other companies and decided that Sprint had the best rates, so I stayed with them.

My husband, Martin, and I purchased our first smart phones in 2012; Samsung 3s. We decided to give our then 12 year old son his first phone, a flip phone which only received incoming calls. Not long afterwards, we got him a Samsung 3, as well.

Neither Martin nor I have any brand loyalty nor are we interested in having the latest cellphones. In fact, until the pandemic kept us inside so much, Martin really never used his phone very much other than using his email account for his voiceover business and for making calls to me and our son.

Once live football was cancelled….and when I say football, I am actually referring to the sport which involves a ball and feet, known to Americans as soccer, Martin figured out how to watch old games on YouTube. He REALLY needed his “football fix” to get him through the pandemic. He was absolutely elated when European football leagues figured out how to keep their players free from the virus and games resumed. BTW, not one player has tested positive because they aren’t selfish idiots who kept breaking quarantine. It took American sports teams many more months to figure it out, because Americans ARE selfish idiots who kept breaking quarantine. But I digress….

Fast forward to July 31, 2020. I receive an email from T-Mobile, formerly known as Sprint, telling me that I will have to upgrade two of my phones by August 31, 2020. Because of their age, T-Mobile’s network’s MAY NO LONGER BE ABLE TO SUPPORT THEM after that date.

They had no problem doing this DURING A PANDEMIC AND THE BIGGEST ECONOMICAL DOWNTURN SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION…

Granted that Martin REALLY needed a new phone since he still had a Samsung 5 which came out in 2014. The screen has lots of small cracks but it is still serviceable. Our son had a Samsung 8 which came out in 2017, which didn’t strike me as terribly old. Last March, I had to upgrade from a Samsung 6, which I had managed to damage to the point that I could no longer charge it, to the LG Tribute Royal, which absolutely sucks, BTW. Don’t get one. Half the time I can’t make phone calls when I am outside, either because the connection breaks up or the person on the other end can’t hear me while I can hear them.

Anywho, I decide to bite the bullet and I spent several hours on the phone with T-Mobile, purchasing new phones that I really cannot afford. I am none too happy about the situation and I definitely let the poor sod who happened to answer my call know that I was not a happy camper. At one point, I thought he was going to hang up on me but I apologized because what was I supposed to do? You can’t not have a phone these days.

The new phones came. August 31st came and went. And guess what? The phones that weren’t supposed to work are still working. It’s a miracle, Jesus!

Then, I received a second email on September 30 that truly sent me over the top….

Hello,

Sprint and T-Mobile came together earlier this year….blahdy-blahdy-blah blah

We recently discovered we sent you the following message in error. It does not apply to your account. We apologize for any confusion the message may have caused.

Are you fucking kidding me? We are sorry for any confusion? That’s it…after you lied to me and forced me to buy phones I didn’t need. A “we apologize email.” To describe me as enraged, infuriated, livid, pissed off and thoroughly outraged would be an understatement. I attempted to communicate with some sort of supervisor to voice my displeasure. I tried an online chat and after 2 hours of being dicked around, I gave up. I told them I expected them to contact me. They probably got a good laugh out of that one. Never happened. A couple of days ago, I risked my health and went to my local T-Mobile office. The supervisor told me, through the poor schmuck who was stuck trying to calm me down, that there was nothing he could do. Seriously? Of course, there is something you could do. Give me some money off my monthly bill for all the time and money I wasted. He said that I could send the old phones back and get a credit on my account. Said supervisor refused to even talk to me. Nice. Great customer service. Apparently, as is the story of my life, nobody else on the planet received such an email. Just me. 7 billion people on earth and it is always me. Yup.

I have a message for the new CEO of T-Mobile, Mike Sievert….

Dear Mike,
You and your company suck. I will tell everyone I know not to use your company. You lied to me, forced me into buying 2 new phones that I didn’t need and then told me it was a mistake and you are sorry???? And now I am beholden to your horrible company for another 2 years. Not to mention the fact that the list price for my son’s phone is $650???? Really? It probably actually costs $1.47. You most likely will not see this post but perhaps others will who might think twice about using your company.

Signed,
A very disgruntled Sprint customer

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We are still being urged to maintain healthy habits and respect social distancing wherever possible to avoid the spread of COVID-19. The CDC also continues to recommend wearing face coverings in public settings, especially where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. Face masks are unlikely to go away for some time. Luckily, no matter what your style or interests, you have options.

There’s no better way to stay safe and rep your city than sporting a mask with the Chicago flag.

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Each year the Chief Investment Office of UBS analyzes the housing markets in the top global cities to determine their degree of over or under valuation in order to identify real estate markets at the highest risk of being in a bubble. Chicago has consistently ranked at the bottom of the list – i.e. it has the most undervalued housing market in the world. The 2020 UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index report was no exception.

The report states that “the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index traces the fundamental valuation of housing markets, the valuation of cities in relation to their country and economic distortions (lending and building booms)….[It’s] a weighted average of five standardized city sub-indices”:

• Price-to-income
• Price-to-rent
• Change in mortgage-to-GDP ratio
• Change in construction-to-GDP ratio
• Relative price-city-to-country indicator

They are looking for “patterns of property market excesses” which would manifest as “a decoupling of prices from local incomes and rents, and imbalances in the real economy, such as excessive lending and construction activity.”

They ranked 25 global housing markets and categorized them into 5 different buckets depending on their index/ bubble risk levels as shown below. Notice that Chicago is actually the only city in the undervalued bucket.

Chicago remains the most undervalued housing market among 25 major global cities

The report notes that the majority of the high bubble risk cities are in Europe and they attribute that to the fact that Europe has exceptionally low interest rates. The report also notes that population shifts out of urban centers could spell trouble for some of the global cities.

The graph below shows how the 5 US cities have trended over time. None of them are currently categorized as bubble risks, though 3 are overvalued and Boston is almost overvalued. Although all 5 cities tended to trend together over much of this time frame Chicago definitely went on its own undervalued path after the housing bubble burst.

Starting around 2009 Chicago home prices started to fall behind other major US cities and became undervalued

The UBS report is not that optimistic about future price appreciation in Chicago but they do highlight just how affordable the city is:

With the city highly indebted, employment growth depressed, and the population declining, a turnaround is unlikely in the near future. However, affordability remains intact, as incomes are keeping pace with the slow price increases. A skilled worker needs only three years of income to be able to afford a 60 square meter (650 square foot) flat near the city center – the lowest figure among all cities included in the study.

Chicago’s low price to income ratio, along with the low price to rent ratio, are two factors that play a big role in Chicago standing out as affordable and with a low risk of being in a real estate bubble.

#ChicagoHomePrices #HousingBubble #BubbleIndex #ChicagoRealEstate

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.