When we bought a condo and then put our beloved home on the market, we had no idea what lay ahead. Perhaps we should have paid better attention to the pending signs that COVID-19 was coming to our neck of the woods. All we could think of was how sad we were to let go of our Evanston home that we had loved for 45 years, and how we were in our seventies and needed less space and no stairs. So, we took the plunge and the bottom fell out.

Many great meals prepared in this kitchen

After a week on the market, just as the pandemic became serious with school closings, social distancing, and people being told to #stayathome, we reluctantly went off the market. It made sense, especially after Governor Pritzker’s “shelter in place” order starting March 21 and ending (for now) April 7. Here we were, two people in the most vulnerable age group, wondering how we should proceed with selling a wonderful family home located near Evanston’s beautiful and historic lake front.

Great place to raise our family

We raised three kids in our home at 1010 Sheridan Road. Walking to Lee Street beach in the summer, jumping in piles of leaves in the fall, building snowmen in the winter, and planting flowers and vegetables in the spring – these are precious memories of bringing up our children here. They walked to nearby Lincoln School and later to Nichols Middle School. In the summer, we all hung out at Lee Street Beach, less than a block from our home. Taking the “L” or Metra into Chicago was simple. Just walk a few blocks to the station at Main and Chicago Avenue. My husband could also drive downtown to work via Lake Shore Drive in under half an hour.

Our location made it easy to bike to Northwestern on the path along the lake and enjoy the many restaurants and stores within walking distance from our home. Great neighbors. Block parties. A fun backyard. Lots of activities for the kids from camps to skating at Robert Crown Community Center to enjoying the many playgrounds and parks in the area. Our children and their friends have fond memories of our third floor, which was a gigantic playroom back in the day, where they created many home movies and Barbie dramas. Now it serves as a great guest room with a tandem bedroom and ensuite bathroom. This house on Sheridan Road in southeast Evanston was a great place to raise a family. We were living our dream of being in a college town and a somewhat urban suburb.

Third floor, now a guest suite

In a former life, it was Barbie central

1010 Sheridan Road has an interesting history. Built in 1911, it was described in beautiful script as a house with three water closets and two screened porches. There were two live-in maids who occupied the third floor of the house. Over 109 years, we are only the fifth owners and have lived here for the longest stretch of time. To give you a sense of how big the rooms are, the third owner, big band leader Griff Williams, had two grand pianos in the living room, one at each end.

Living room big enough to hold two grand pianos

We made a few changes over 45 years, each one with a story behind it. My husband is a therapist and his first home office on the third-floor forced patients to run the gauntlet of three young children who sometimes asked in too loud voices, “What’s his problem?” So, early on, we decided to convert the first-floor screened porch to a home office with a separate entrance for him, thus ensuring a modicum of privacy. Down the line, we added space pack air conditioning and removed the window units that kept breaking. In a huge and much costlier than we had imagined move, we modernized our hall bathroom, making it my favorite room in the house. And most recently, we opened the wall between the kitchen and dining room to create an open concept floor plan.

Love this bathroom!

Kitchen now open to dining room

These were cosmetic changes that made the house fit our personal needs. But what made the house our home was all of the events we were able to host in it over so many years. Birthday parties and huge family gatherings in which I could serve a sit-down meal for 40 people on Thanksgiving. A wedding for my husband’s sister. Special birthday celebrations for our parents. Graduation celebrations. Engagement parties for our kids. Open houses for several of our grandkids’ births. Holiday celebrations with grandchildren running all over the house, now once again cluttered with toys. There is still enough room to house our eleven grandkids and their parents when they visit, with everyone having a comfortable place to sleep.

So many celebrations over the years

More than anything, it was our inability to host all of these celebrations as we aged that made us think about leaving the big, old house at 1010 Sheridan Road. It had become too quiet. Our in-town grandkids were getting older. The others came infrequently, as their children’s lives became consumed with friends and activities. We rarely used the living and dining rooms, and bedrooms sat empty aside from occasional sleepovers or guests. We almost never ventured up to the third floor. The house was calling out for change. It needed new life to fill it once again with activity and celebration. It was time to move.

Family room – our favorite hang out these days

Hopefully, we will be able to put our home back on the market this spring. My dream is to have someone walk into this house that holds so many precious memories for us and love our home for what it is, a gracious place to live and create memories in a wonderful location.

A happy home for many years

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The fear that the coronavirus could be worse than the disease is finally breaking through.

Read this in the Wall Street Journal:

As Economic Toll Mounts, Nation Ponders Trade-Offs

Cost of confronting pandemic is millions of jobs, trillions in wealth lost to save potentially millions of lives

The nation’s costly fight against the coronavirus pandemic is stirring debate inside the Trump administration and beyond about how much economic loss the country can bear to save an unknowable number of lives infected by the disease.

Millions of jobs were lost within days and millions more are projected to vanish as whole industries grind to a halt, streets empty and people hunker down at home to limit the spread of disease. Trillions of dollars are projected to be lost in economic output; trillions have been wiped out in stock market value; and trillions in government debt will be accumulated in the months ahead to help support households and businesses struggling to pay bills.

In an earlier post, I examined reports that question whether cost of the coronavirus cure is worse than the the disease because the fatality rate is a complete unknown.

Here I present reports of the dollar and human costs of virtually shutting down the American economy. You’ll see that no estimate is cut in stone; they range a great deal, reflexing the unprecedented nature of the crisis.

• COVID-19 likely to cost economy $1 trillion during 2020, says United Nations trade agency “There’s a degree of anxiety now that’s well beyond the health scares which are very serious and concerning.”

• Coronavirus-Triggered Downturn Could Cost Five Million U.S. Jobs. “Economic output seen shrinking by as much as $1.5 trillion with recession all but certain.”

• Coronavirus cost to business and workers: “It has all gone to hell. Personal stories from the New York Times about how businesses and workers are being devastated by public policies.

• Coronavirus-Triggered Downturn Could Cost Five Million U.S. Jobs. Economic output seen shrinking by as much as $1.5 trillion with recession all but certain.

• Baron’s: The Middle Class Faces Its Greatest Threat Since the 1930s (Subscription required.)  “America is facing its next Great Depression…Not only is our health-care system ill-prepared for what is coming, but our debt is too high, our infrastructure crumbling, our safety net fragile, and our middle class poorly positioned to weather the storm.”

• Oxford Economics says virus already having ‘chilling effect’ as China factory closures spread. “Oxford Economics warned that the spread of the virus to regions outside Asia would knock 1.3% off global growth this year, the equivalent of $1.1 trillion in lost income.

• Stimulus Plans to Battle Coronavirus Could Cost the World $10 Trillion

• How much damage will coronavirus wreak on the global economy? “Economists have struggled to come up with estimates of the economic damage, but their projections, such as they are, are becoming grimmer.” Here’s one worst case projection: Gregory Daco, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, believes the US is already in recession and will experience a 12 per cent contraction in output in the second quarter before bouncing back to end the year flat. Such an outcome could lead to about one million job losses, he said.

• 37 million jobs could be lost in the coronavirus crisis and these workers will be the hardest hit, chart shows. “U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index estimates that some 37 million domestic jobs are vulnerable to layoffs.”

And more.

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www.dennisbyrne.net 

My historical novel: Madness: The War of 1812

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SELF-ISOLATION, DAY 7

So this is the seventh day. It is also Monday, so I did not plan this very well, but I actually did not plan this whole thing at all. It is not one of my made-up stories.

Today I have been kind of tired and groggy, but not like I am sick. I am always tired after working the weekend but, like many people who find themselves working past their expected retirement age, it is not easy. But we all have to work for a living; many people work at something which does not give them pleasure but is just a necessity. So, late in life I am learning new things about Life and being a human.

Today still, I have very mixed feelings about our situation. I DO believe the statistics I read in the media. Cases are spreading fast, including in this country, with a real decrease in China. But the statistics are to some extent misleading because comparatively few people in our country are being tested: not enough test kits and no uniform system to test people, so there are likely many more already infected but not tested. But you likely already know this from the media.

There are no frightening pictures of the sub-microscopic virus. When we only know that we might have a disaster in the making, it is hard to be concerned. No skyscrapers falling, no giant waves crashing on the beaches, torrential rains or earthquake scenes. And, as a coworker from Eastern Europe reminded me yesterday, America/USA, is such a large country so we can have a horrific disaster in one part, and sunshine and chirping birds elsewhere. Right now, outside my living room window the sun is in fact shining.

But… WE NEED TO LISTEN TO THE SCIENTISTS! The Surgeon General, Jerome Adams warns things could get worse and we really, really need to shelter in place as much as possible. Isolating ourselves is very important. I try to not make this political, although some of you know my leanings, but this should not be about politics but listening to our many educated healthcare specialists. If I were a healthcare worker in New York, I would likely be too tired to argue this point. There are so many who cannot avoid contact: bus drivers, taxies, police, fire dept, those who maintain the energy grid, maintain our heating and air-conditioning, groceries, and I already said healthcare workers.

Another group, I watched a short video from the Grayzone.com, about our huge prison system. I believe we have the largest in the world, and we take poor care of those in the system. Just because they are in prison does not mean we have a right to not care about them. Anyone here have strong religious beliefs about caring for the prisoners and the poor? No? Or maybe yes. Besides that many, many are people who are in some form of incarceration merely because they were arrested, could not afford bail, and may be innocent but they will sit there, in confinement with others, until they can have a trial. If you cannot pay traffic tickets or some other fine, you may end up in confinement. This only adds to their problems, and if there is a spread of the epidemic in the prison population, the workers there will contract it also and take the virus home with them.

As I said, I am conflicted. We should keep our morale up, keep our beliefs intact, care for each other and enjoy life. Teach our children.

I have finished my veggie smoothie and my potatoes are boiling. After that I will take the dog out again for some fresh air. Hang in there and be safe.

March 23, 2020

This week’s podcast was likely the last one we’ll be able to do in studio for a few weeks, but we won’t stop recording! So, if you are looking for a new podcast, we hope you’ll check out the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast.

We talked about the all-new 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid, which I was able to drive at one of the last press-previews before the Coronavirus put us all on lockdown. We also took a look at the virtually revealed 2021 Hyundai Elantra, and we came up with a cocktail that will make a lot more sense once you listen to the podcast.

Then we spent a lot of time talking about classic cars with Collectible Automobile magazine Editor-in-Chief John Biel. The new issue of CA is set to hit newsstands soon, and we give you a preview of what’s inside — including a profile of the pioneering female drag racer Shirley Shahan Bridges — the “Drag-On Lady.” 

Oh, and (spoiler alert) I didn’t even come close to winning this week’s quiz.

While I will continue to post the podcast to my blog each week, you can subscribe to the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast on any podcast subscription service or visit the Buzzsprout link. New episodes are usually posted on Friday, and then the show itself airs on WCPT 820 AM on Sundays from 1 to 2 p.m.

Be sure to let us know if you have questions or if there are any topics you’d like us to cover on future podcasts.

You can follow us on social at:

• Jill: @jillciminillo (instagram/twitter)
• Tom: @car_guy_tom (twitter)
• Damon: @DBell72333786 (twitter)
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