Za Za's Trattoria St. Charles, IL with Zena and Bruce

Enjoyed a wonderful day with paddler Bruce and his artist wife Zena in Geneva and St. Charles. They brought us a super artistic glass "wind, earth, water" Kanji glass plate, now prominently displayed on our mantle. Zena is a budding Chihuly in glasswork. While Zena and Cathy munched Graham's and Col. Fabyan's Popcorn on Third Street, Bruce helped me test paddle a sweet sectional at Ryan's Geneva Kayak. After the Nordkapp found its way into my conversion van, we tracked down the ladies at the condo, and boogied to Fine Line Art studio off Crane Road in St. Charles to watch live Raku artists at work. We then, famished, hit Za Za's Trattoria (St. Charles) for a sumptious meal: crabcakes, heaping hot pasta, scallops, shrimp, whitefish, sausage, halibut--between our four starving patrons, I think we had a little of everything on the menu. Small and understated outside, but table linens and first class service inside. We had a window seat, no less! Downed the cocktails and beer, and then home to crash out. Thanks a million for spending a long and lovely springtime day with us, Bruce and Zena. Your driving down means much to us. Our friends. Forever.

Second time at Za Za's today, it's still a great place!

http://coolkayaker1.blogspot.com/2009/03/za-zas-trattoria-st-charles.html

Fox River north of St. Charles May 2009

Okay, fooled you. I am sitting here, getting nothing done at the library, jonesing for a paddle like this one from two weeks ago with my pal Bruce on the Fox. You can see a smidgeon of his orange Valley sea kayak at lower right. Here we are headed upstream with some fetching St. Charles homes in the background. I am in my blue over white 3-piece Argonaut, and we are still feeling groovy. The total paddle was only 11 mles that day, but it felt like more, being the first real trip of the season, and of course, fighting the heavy flow from Elgin for the first half of the trip. Reflections on a nice day, much like today. Oh hell. I'm outta here!

The Cottage Stamper

Yesterday, my wife took a two hour course at The Cottage Stamper on Third Street in St Charles. She simply loves this store. Heaven for a scrapbooker and card maker, and particularly at this time of the year there is much to learn about making those holiday cards. I'll admit, there is much, much more to the craft of cardmaking than meets the eye. My wife and her friends exchange cards and learn new techniques all the time. We have a whole room dedicated to just scrapbooking! But, who am I to speak...we have a whole garage dedicated to kayaking. While she was meeting new friends at The Cottage Stamper, I slinked on over to Green Mill Cyclery on Bennett Street in Geneva to buy a couple of simple 3-speed steeds for Christmas presents for she and I. Living in Kane County and not having bikes is like living at the North Pole and not having an igloo. That analogy hits a tad too close to home, as today was the first appreciable snowfall of this winter season.