Artist Lorenzo Ross, Psychic Janet Wright, Their Pet Cats, Dogs and Friends.
Author: Janet Wright
Janet Wright is a personal growth psychic reader, assisting clients by advance appointment in-person or by phone in their wellness, personal growth and self-development. For more info on Janet's readings go to www.JanetWrightReadings.com
Lorenzo Ross is an artist, creating webcomics, graphic novels, ACEO art, paintings and prints. Vivid and affordable prints of his original paintings, drawings, and webcomics are for sale at their etsy shop PsychicUnicorns. www.etsy.com/shop/psychicunicorns
To read his webcomics go to www.AlternativeCityComics.com
Lorenzo Ross and Janet Wright are married and live together with their 4 fabulous rescue cats and three rescue dogs. They live in Chicago's beautiful and diverse Albany Park neighborhood.
To further fill their lives with animals, Lorenzo and Janet have a home dog boarding business as well www.BarneysHomeDogBoarding.com.
PLEASE COMMENT on these blog posts if you like the post, or want to support this blog. Even brief comments from real readers really help the google rankings, helping others to find out about Janet's readings, Lorenzo's art, their home dog boarding, etc.
Today as I was driving home, through the alley to my garage, it occurred to me that there was backtop patch in the alley! It had been fixed! I actually yelled, laughed, and hollered all at once. 🙂 (See the blog post above this one for more on the crater that was eating the alley).
Note the ditch w/puddle in the center of the photo
I went back to examine and take photos, and I saw that there was still a muddy ditch next to their patch. Why didn’t they finish? Also that big piece of metal that sticks out menacing my tires is still there too. I took a good photo of it in the post above this one. Hmmmm. So, it’s a victory for civic involvement, for calling in issues to 311 and organizing neighbors and getting them to call. But is it a total victory? What do you think? I will say it is easier to navigate than before, and a ditch with a metal tooth is better than a growing crater with a metal tooth. Thanks for calling 311, and for “liking” my facebook post. Yay for Chicagoans who take action!
No longer a pothole, this is a crater eating the alley
Here is a crater eating the alley near our home in Albany Park, Chicago. I had assumed this was a case of Chicago city incompetence, but when I was out photographing it for this blog, I interviewed a few residents and they all said they had never called the city about it. Two were private home owners whose homes and garages are just feet north of this crater. One said “We don’t hang out there, so we didn’t call.” The other said “I don’t drive that direction” in the alley, so she didn’t call either. Another resident with his garage further up the alley also said he had never called. He agreed that it was a big issue, and that the crater had been there for “at least two or three years” and that it had been getting “bigger and deeper.”
another view of the same crater, alley east of 4415 N Drake Ave
Here’s another view of the same crater, this time facing south in the alley. This view shows buildings that are right on the north side of Montrose Ave, which include a City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation building. I learned at my recent Town Hall meeting that Streets & San does not handle pot holes, but maybe they handle craters?
It takes a village to fix a crater. Help me to get this fixed. I have called 311 to report this on 3/23 and again 4/1. Please call 311 to report it too. Here’s what you will need to know for the call: It’s in the alley just east of 4415 N Drake Ave, between Drake Ave and St. Louis Ave, and the majority of the alley is regular road pavement except for the big, growing crater.
Watch your tires! the metal piece sticking up out of the edge of the crater
Here’s an additional special feature of the crater. It has a big piece of metal sticking up out of it. It’s shown in this photo, just above my women’s size 10 sneaker which I included for perspective. I’d love to know why the heck it’s there, but more than that I’d love it gone so I don’t have to worry about hitting it and risking my tires.
So show me that some Chicagoans care. Show me you can call 311 and ad your voice, comment on the blog or “like” or share this on facebook. I will be sending this blog post to my alderman, and to a Channel 2 facebook account. I will be doing updates on this, and hopefully one day the crater will be gone. Help me vanquish the crater!
I took a walk around my Albany Park Chicago neighborhood around 7pm tonight. It was dark, but the night sky still had a hint of lighting, a deep cobalt blue. For me the exterior lighting of a house or building welcomes people and can set a wonderful, cheerful tone. Though I was suprised by many darkened exteriors, I did find enough cheerful evening exceptions that made my walk even more fun. Here are the highlights. The first photo shows a walkway with cute little lights and and the 4446 street address in an illuminated signpost. How cute is that!
Every day can be a holiday
Next is a house that has what many would call Christmas lights still on its front bushes in March. It makes me smile. I bet if they have little kids they love it.
If these lights are still up this summer I may have to feature them again. 🙂
Here at lower left we have a bright house announcing itself among tons of other dark houses. Even if someone doesn’t care about cheerfulness, this lighting has to make it safer than the shadowy neighboring houses. Finally at the end of my evening walk, I come to our porch and see the door wreath I made, with daffodils for spring. Some may say it’s tacky but to me it’s cheerful and welcomes positivity into the house. I heard that in Russia smiling often is considered crazy. If that’s crazy then I don’t want to be sane! Here’s hoping your pathway is always well lit and your home always safe and welcoming.
The safest porch on the blockOur welcome home door wreath for spring
Today’s blog post is dedicated to our love of falafel, and hummus, in particular from Salam Restuarant near our Albany Park Chicago home. Here are 145 yelp reviewers giving stellar reviews on Salam’s yelp page.
So why is falafel bright green on the inside? It’s because of all the parsley that it is green. The batter is made up of parsley, chick pea, green onion, and secret spices. 🙂 Here we see them using what looks like a small ice cream scoop to create a formed scoop of the batter before it is dropped into a deep fryer basket and fried in vegetable oil.
Falafel, hummus, & pita, from Salam Restaurant
I chose a small order of hummus with pita to go with our falafel. Boy was it amazing. According to their yelp page, WGN proclaimed Salam to have the best hummus in Chicago, last October 2010. Lorenzo couldn’t agree more. He says it’s the best f*#@^ing hummus he’s ever had. Can I write ‘fucking’ in my own blog? Anyway, if you have never eaten this food you need to. Really. 🙂
There are three main reasons why we love yelp.com. By we, I mean 80% me Janet and 20% Lorenzo. I am a huge yelp fan. The first reason is that my psychic reading & healing practice is listed as a business in yelp.com under Chicago. Here’s the page for my readings on yelp. The client reviews on that page help many people to learn about my readings! Also here’s the yelp page for our dog boarding business Barneys Home Dog Boarding. At the moment, nobody loves us yet on yelp for that. Someday!
What businesses have you learned about on yelp?
The second reason “we” love yelp.com is that it’s a fantastic resource as a consumer. We have found restaurants, used tire places, cupcake bakeries, a salt cave spa place, a pet supplies place, etc. I almost always check out yelp when looking for something. Not only has yelp helped me to find the best businesses, it has encouraged me to get out there and be more experiential and try new things. Over the last few years I have written over 120 reviews on yelp. Here’s a link to my own personal yelp user (consumer) account.
The third reason “we” love yelp.com is the bookmark feature within yelp. If you create your own free yelp account, you can create unlimited bookmarks for yourself with notes to yourself about whatever you are bookmarking. For example, you could bookmark “Nazareth Sweets” in yelp, and remind yourself to go here because it’s baklava heaven and that they will give you samples if you ask. You can make your bookmarks private or public. I have a very poor memory and my inspiration sometimes comes and goes, so this helps me to remind myself about places I want to go and why.
Tonight I went to a Town Hall Meeting for the 17th Police District of Chicago, where we live. I confess I figured I would be bored to tears, but fortunately I was wrong! We heard about crime statistics, saw PowerPoint slides with writing way too small, and heard from the new Police Commander who seemed capable. The CAPS guy definitely made an effort at humor, and everything moved along pretty well.
Free steering wheel anti-theft device, plus free candy
So we were offered free anti-theft devices for our car steering wheels which I thought was neat. Who knew you would get a free gift at the meeting? Mine is in this photo, along with some peppermint candies that were in a Streets & Sanitation handout about rat control. No really! 😉
I think my one take-away was that car theft is up 40% nationwide and locally. I didn’t realize that. Also to my surprise, they said the Honda Civic and Accord are the number one stolen cars, years 1994-1998, both nationwide, in Chicago, and in our 17th district. These cars are stolen for the parts. They were discussing how people can break into your garage doors too. Delightful. I am entertaining the idea that ignorance is not actually bliss. I will go to some CAPS meetings now, to see what else I learn. Hopefully I will meet some nice neighbors too.
Spring crocus flowers show inspiration can come from tiny things too.
So now that it’s spring, how do you feel? Do you feel inspired to make changes in your life? Do you feel tired and ready for a nap? However you feel, it’s OK.
I think if you try to acknowledge how you feel, and nurture yourself, it can only help.
Often spring is a time of change. Winter is finally over. It’s nice to feel a more obvious vitality from the earth.
What do you need now that it’s spring? More inspiration, relaxation, less worry, more creative opportunities, a few naps? Sometimes people don’t make personal goals for themselves because they pick huge impossible ones then don’t achieve them. Why not take a deep breath and make a simple, tiny, approachable goal or two for yourself this season?
Well we have two bits of happy dog-related news. One is that Mitzi/Sandy, the beagle we were comp-boarding that was featured in two blog entries found her own forever home and was adopted this past Wednesday! She now has a beagle sister and her human family includes two of the most considerate girls and a mom and dad. Yay for Mitzi/Sandy!
Leah relaxing in our home while her mommy travels
Now meet Leah! Leah is a wonderful senior dog we are boarding for her mom while she is out of town. Leah is 10 years young and today is our first full day boarding her in our home. Boy was I surprised this morning when I let her set the pace of our walk and it was a real power walk! Here she is snoozing and watching me as I get ready to do a phone reading. We are still watching her with our cats, but so far so good. 🙂 For more info on our in-home dog boarding check out www.BarneysHomeDogBoarding.com
Well our foster beagle’s fame is growing and now she is up on petfinder.com, THE location to find an adoptable rescue pet.
Sandy (Mitzi) is a peaceful beagle who needs her forever home
Here she is in her photo shoot with professional pet photographer Sheri Berliner. Please help us spread the word about this mellow dog. She could fit right into a multiple dog household, as she is submissive and likes other dogs, cats, adults, strangers, children, and babies.
She deserves a stable, forever home. We are comp-boarding/fostering her for Sheri’s rescue Petraits Pet Photography, so we know first hand how soft those cute ears are. Go check out her petfinder listing here. Please forward it to the animal lovers you know.
