Look for flower shop in new location
It takes a little getting used to, but after a double-take, you realize Robbins Flowers has settled into its new location at 410 S. Third St. in St. Charles.
After 25 years of seeing the store in the heart of downtown, the makeshift Robbins Flowers sign in the window last week touted a new start for the business.
It was a sensible move for owner Don Robbins, whose staff has been at the new site for about three weeks.
It's a smaller building, but apparently big enough to accommodate his needs. With a coin laundry business next door, there is easy in-and-out parking.
Mostly, his downtown site of the past 25 years at 212 W. Main St. was sitting in what has slowly transformed into a restaurant/bar district. Word is the new owner of that storefront is going to create an upscale sports bar and restaurant.
So maybe flowers and nightlife don't mix in a retail world. Instead, Robbins will sell flowers in the relative serenity of an area that clearly has more of a residential feel to it.
Next stop, LaFox: The gift of gab is a wonderful talent, especially for retired men.
But it can create trouble if you are gabbing instead of paying attention to what's going on around you.
Byron Nelson of Batavia and Warren "Bud" Gilligan, Jim Moseley and Sam Hill, all of Geneva, employed their fondness for talking when they hopped the train earlier this month to head to the Hyatt Regency in Chicago for the annual Big Ten football luncheon.
It's an afternoon trek these gentlemen have made for the past five years, and, as usual, they had a great time listening and talking to the coaches and getting the early scoop on the upcoming season.
"But coming back we were just chattering so much on the train, and there was a freight train going past us at the time, we didn't realize we had to get off the train in Geneva," said Hill, who added that a quick dash got them off the train just in time.
Hill, a Geneva alderman who has taken the train to downtown Chicago numerous times, said there's a big difference now that Geneva's no loner the end of Metra's Union Pacific-West line.
"You have to pay attention to what you are doing on those trains now because Geneva is no longer the last stop," said Hill, who admitted he had become a creature of habit when Geneva was the last stop on the route for decades.
"If you live in Geneva and you're not careful now, you're going to end up going to LaFox or Elburn."
No view from aloft: With news that the second deck for Elfstrom Stadium is going to cost more than originally projected and forest preserve officials are seeking new bids, it's a good time to remind Cougars fans that they won't be sitting aloft in some new grandstands above the field.
This second deck is mostly to serve as a shelter or overhang above the field-level seats, while also adding some new skyboxes and offices.
So forget about those visions of a mini Wrigley Field or U.S. Cellular Field going up along Kirk Road.
dheun@sbcglobal.net