I used to be smarter, or felt like I was, because The New Yorker arrived in my mailbox every week, a gift from my generous mother-in-law. I read only a small percentage of the pages and scanned the trademark cartoons, but I never missed "The Sportin...

Symphony lovers can enjoy three outdoor concerts at Cantigny Park this summer, including a performance in celebration of the park's 60th anniversary Thursday, July 30. All concerts are performed "Ravinia-style" under the oaks outside the First Divis...

Cantigny Park's annual Art in Bloom fine art festival invites visitors to celebrate Father's Day weekend by taking in the works of more than 80 artists and to join in a community art project themselves. The festival takes place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat...

On a recent Saturday I awoke to find a text message waiting. It was a question, accompanied by a photo of feathers and bones on the ground. "What bird did this used to be?" the person asked. An interesting start to the day! Being known as a "bird gu...

Visitors to the Robert R. McCormick Museum at Cantigny Park can learn how the help lived during a new "Upstairs, Downstairs: The Servants Tour" that starts in May. The guided 45-minute tour aims to show a different side of daily life inside the form...

Fellow birders, we need to clean up our act. The trash talking must stop. As in most hobbies that people are passionate about, the birding culture is full of catchphrases and insider jargon. Most of it is harmless enough. We discuss lifers and megas...

I chased a gull and I liked it. But not just any gull. A history-making gull. The kind of bird most of us never see if we live to be 100, or even have the chance to see. It's only February and the Bird of the Year for Illinois is all but locked dow...

Chicago Harp Quartet, performing next month at Cantigny Park, will share traditional chamber music as well as new works. The quartet performs at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, at Cantigny's Robert R. McCormick Museum, 1S151 Winfield Road, Wheaton. Formed ...