Our beach visit on Friday was to the main unit of Illinois Beach State Park. That's one building in three photos -- the long-abandoned bathhouse. This story tells about the innovative architecture.
And this story tells about the erosion along our part of the lakeshore. I learned that the phenomenon you can see in the lower left photo is called "overwash." Severe storms are more prevalent. With no barrier dunes the high waves wash sand and gravel over walkways. When the water recedes the foundation washes away so the pavement collapses.
Today's walk at the north end of the state park: marsh marigolds, a fleshy-leafed plant whose name I don't know, and green-topped fungus (about 1/2" each).
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Most years I have a half-dozen community events that welcome a quilt to raffle, auction, or sell. Those opportunities haven't yet picked up and I have accumulated a big stack of finished quilts.
I've known that Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion welcomes quilts for their patients. I overcame inertia and delivered eight quilts this week. It was nice to see Cheryl (also a quiltmaker) and Tim at the concierge desk.
Cheryl said to include a tag with my address because the patients often send personal thank you notes. Here's the tag I created [mailing address cropped out]. (The quilts are also labeled.)

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Beloved Beasts, Michelle Nijhuis's history of the conservation movement, is spritely and informative. From Aesop and Linnaeus she takes readers to the modern roots of conservation: Early proponents were sportsmen (=white, well-to-do) who wanted to preserve animals so they'd still be able to hunt them. Others were protesting the feather trade -- women's hats featured not only plumes but entire stuffed birds. Nijhuis profiles William Hornaday, who shot some of the last bison in order to preserve (taxidermy) for the National Museum of Natural History. Earl In the 1920's Rosalie Edge took on the Audubon Society and established the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in eastern Pennsylvania. [You can read this chapter in Smithsonian Magazine.]