Entries for April 18 - 1911 and 2011 (Lincoln Park Conservatory)

Rita's Entry: Tuesday, April 18, 1911
Home all day.  Practiced hard all morning.  Wrote letters.  Fran came home and we went walking.  Walked clear down to Lincoln Park.  Took in conservatory and zoo.  Came home on car.  More practice.  Read in evening.

IN RITA'S DAY:  Lincoln Park Conservatory (above) was built between 1890 and 1895.  It was famous for its fern room (below) and the water lilies it grew in heated ponds.  They were so spectacular that Egypt requested seeds in 1897.  The conservatory is located north of the Lincoln Park zoo.  In 1925 the gabled roof over the entrance was replaced with the current bell-shaped roof.

TODAY: The last few days have been filled with the strongest storms... a reported 240 tornados and 66 people died.  This must be a record.  Today is also the one year anniversary of the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Man-made and natural disasters seem to be unusual; however, I guess the kind of man-made disasters has just changed.  In Rita's day, it was fire.  As we know, a large part of Chicago was destroyed in 1871.

Judy's Entry: Monday, April 18, 2011
Went out early to get some necessary groceries because I wanted to get an early start on painting.  Spent hours on the walls of the deck and still didn't finish.  Later went to Cold Stone Creamery to order an ice cream pie for Cathy's b'day.  We are getting her a cook book - 200 recipes under 200 calories - and then this ice cream monster.  What's wrong with this picture???