How two parks enhance a Geneva neighborhood

Many subdivisions in the Tri-Cities can lay claim to interesting parks for families and individuals to enjoy.

But few can boast of any better than what the Ridgewood subdivision on the east side of Geneva has in two of the more interesting park settings in the area with Stanley Esping Park and Sandholm Woods Park.

We stopped there to see if anything had changed since our last visit many years ago, and were impressed with the work that the Geneva Park District has done with the federal and state EPA and Fox River environmentalists along White's Creek, which surrounds Esping Park.

White's Creek was your basic small water flow with tall grasses and fast erosion about a decade ago, but it is now a beautiful setting with all sorts of plantings and native grasses that reduce pollutants.

The creek curves around the park, making for a perfect perimeter to add to the trees and bushes that already serve that area as a decent buffer against the nearby industrial buildings and the Union Pacific West railroad tracks only a couple hundred yards away.

It is not surprising that new townhouses have been going up along Sandholm Street, tucked just to the south of Esping Park.

It's an area that has enjoyed significant improvements - including an impressive treehouse themed playground for kids - to better serve the subdivision residents and visitors.

If you are looking to take your dog to a different setting for a walk, Esping is a nice choice, whereas Sandholm Woods, also a gorgeous setting, is more of a quiet area for reading or resting.

Sandholm Woods has been in place about eight years now, coming about through a project fueled with money set aside by a previous open-space referendum.

It's a bank, condos:

Unless you drive through downtown St. Charles every day, attend city council meetings or feverishly monitor local and social media, it's likely you'd have a hard time keeping track of what is going on with the city's First Street project.

Just a reminder as to what that five-story construction shell is on the east side of the street, set behind the current retail and extra parking garage: Sterling Bank is going to operate out of the first level and offices and high-end condominiums will make up the rest of the structure.

Nothing is under construction yet on the north side of the parcel, across from ZaZa's Trattoria.

It seems that talk about a hotel along that property, which had Hotel Baker managers rolling their eyes, has cooled off.

Went for fish:

For the past few years, I have wanted to take the Claddagh Irish Pub in the Geneva Commons up on its weekly Monday offer of two for the price of one on its fish and chips.

Because my Monday schedule never allows me to break away for lunch or dinner, the curiosity finally got to me - so I ordered the dish on a recent Saturday night.

It was worth the wait. This is as good as an order of fish and chips gets in these parts. Those who frequent Claddagh already know what an interesting place this is from a design and atmosphere standpoint, and they likely also know about this excellent fish entree.

I would also mention the Wild Raspberry Margarita was a nice choice as a summer drink.

The Cowsills?:

Really?

It seems fairly common that a song can get stuck inside of one's head and stay there for some time. But it would also seem that such a song would be stuck in the head of a person who originally liked that song, its singer or band.

So it was somewhat mysterious that I found my brain bamboozled with "Rain, the Park and Other Things" by The Cowsills.

This is a band I never gave much thought to during its heydays, but some friends saw The Cowsills in concert a few years ago at both the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. They came back raving about how great they still sounded.

So, even though I leaned toward The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and that sort of ilk in the late 1960s, I certainly realize that The Cowsills, some of whom sadly have gone on to meet their maker, were fine singers. I would not hesitate to seem them in a concert.

The song popped up while listening to my Cryan' Shames station on Pandora, and my first impression was that this is a catchy tune - one that I somewhat recall.

But it stayed in my head. And it stayed and stayed.

Think I'm crazy? Hop on YouTube and watch the young Cowsills belt out this tune - and see what happens.

dheun@sbcglobal.net