Future of Skala’s Route 47 plans is unclear

About two years ago, Huntley businessman Mike Skala decided that he needed to expand his popular Goodfella’s Beef restaurant at 10980 S. Route 47. Then he also decided to stretch his horizons.

He decided to relocate his business a few blocks away and build a mixed residential-commercial development around it.

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Prairie Singers set to debut new tunes this season

Sun City’s Prairie Singers will present their 19th annual Christmas concert December 15 at Huntley High School’s performing arts center. The curtain rises at 2 p.m.

Healthy Dining-Out Choices

Dining out, especially for the winter holidays, has become a growing part of Western culture. From troublesome ingredients to portion size, downsides do exist in regularly dining at restaurants. Mayo Clinic’s October, 2018 Health Letter advises us that “Making a few sensible adjustments in how you eat out can help you maintain a healthy diet even outside of your home.”

The table with room for an endless number of chairs

“Buckle up for the toast of thankfulness,” I told my daughter Jenny as we started setting the table on Thanksgiving Day. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

She laughed, but she also gave a sad nod, because she remembered.

Spotlight on Senior Care Volunteer Network

Sun City resident Judy Deering wants her neighbors to know about the Senior Care Volunteer Network.

As a volunteer for the organization, she can attest to its importance in Sun City, for both volunteers and those receiving the help.

Right now, the answer is Jeanne Bruntyn, a resident of Neighborhood 33 in Sun City.

After a lifetime of baking for her friends, family, and just because she wanted to, Jeanne baked a Morello cherry pie and submitted it to the Huntley Farmers Market pie bake off earlier this fall. On her first try at pie-baking competition, Jeanne won first prize in the fruit pie category.

The (sort of) Great American Read

There’s a Thanksgiving tradition that my family has never practiced but I’ve always liked and that is the sitting around the Thanksgiving table, and each person takes a turn saying one thing they’re thankful for. I’m sure for the families out there who practice this tradition, you hear things like “I’m thankful for my parents or spouse or friends or children or health.” (Or, in the case of my son, he’d probably say he’s thankful for milk. He loves milk. He drinks a gallon every two days, which may account for why he, at only two, is countertop height.)

Coasties: The unsung service, part 2

America’s Coast Guard has been asked to do many things in its 228-year history, but there is one thing they probably do better than anyone else.

Search and rescue.

On February 18, 1952, a four-man “Coastie” lifeboat crew performed a rescue that enshrined their organization forever in a Rescue Hall of Fame, if there ever is one.

Thank you turtles, and beetles, and crows (oh my!)

Several weeks ago in this space, I suggested that we should all say “Thank you for your service” to teachers, just as we thank military men and women for their service. That column “ignited” a “flood” of reader emails as contradictory as the mixed fire/water metaphor earlier in this sentence.

Some agreed with me and dashed out to thank the nearest teacher they could find.

Some thought I hadn’t gone far enough, suggesting that we might also shower firefighters and police officers with thanks for their service.

And some thought I went too far, arguing that saying “Thank you for your service” to anybody but military personnel would diminish its impact.

Cycling down memory lane

Grant Jahr, President of Sun City CyclePaths Bike Club, takes his passion for bicycles with him everywhere.

“I am finishing up my second term as president and have been a member of the Bike Club for 11 years,” he said.

During a European river tour with his wife in August, Jahr found some biking opportunities.

Nothing scary about this good cause

It’s the Sunday before Halloween. Front porch lights throughout Sun City Huntley are turned on.

It’s the signal that your house is open for business. You’ll welcome trick-or-treating children from nearby schools and neighborhoods, as well as the grandkids of Sun City residents. Ring the bell! We have candy and snacks for you. Or, maybe, homemade cookies or bags of freshly popped popcorn for every super hero, princess or scary ghost that comes calling.

The Stanley Cup of cars

Bob Ruckoldt confirms that there are actual winners in those contests you see on Facebook.

His sister-in-law, Charmaine Ruckoldt, won the 2018 Chicago Blackhawks Custom Camaro Convertible with a 455 Hp V8 Engine. Charmaine tells the secret of success.

“My daughter enters and wins contests all the time and calls me to enter them also. That’s what happened on this one. It was on Facebook and I entered and won,” he said.

Flu season is upon us. Time to schedule your vaccination

With 2017-2018’s past flu season having been proclaimed “This Flu Season Is the Worst in Nearly a Decade” by the New York Times, many Americans have begun bunkering down to get their annual influenza shots early this 2018-2019 winter. Television’s Channel 41 issued a rather sobering statement about the past years’ dire flu statistics in America: “Every 12 minutes someone over 65 plus has the possibility of dying of complications of the flu.”

Ask an Angel: November 15, 2018

I care for my elderly parents and often neglect taking care of myself. While I prepare healthy meals for them, I don’t often take the same interest in my own diet because I am on the go so often. I’d appreciate any motivation you can give me to better my current habits.

PSA

Five new 30-second public service announcements aimed to help teenagers in crisis are airing periodically on Huntley Community Radio WHRU-LP 101.5 FM as a result of a project assigned to a group of English students from Marlowe Middle School by their teacher, Megan Brickey.

It’s not in Addison…

We decided to go all out for Jim’s “Last Supper” before he goes “under the knife” once again. He is turning into a living “Operation Game.” The doctor replaced his knee and the buzzer went off, WRONG!!! Now, the hip doctor is giving it a try with a back surgeon waiting in the wings. Jim is turning into the bionic food critic. He felt he needed a good steak before surgery, so we thought we’d give Addison’s Steakhouse in McHenry a try.

Ask the Woodchucks: Vacation checklist

As many Sun City residents pack for warmer climates, it is important to spend an hour or so to get your house ready for winter. When you are going to be away for a week or more, you should prepare your home so there will be no surprises on your return.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web — not up to expectations

Swedish author Stieg Larsson died in November 2004. It took several years for his phenomenally successful trilogy about an unusual young woman named Lisbeth Salander to be published. The books sold 60 million copies posthumously. Lisbeth became an icon to those of us who could not put those books down. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, were made into films and went on to gross over $700 million worldwide.

Hang Your Hat: November 15, 2018

Letters for the week of November 15.

Sun City resident scores Masters opportunity in raffle

Sun City’s own Relay for Life team secured two tickets to the National Golf Club Practice Rounds on April 9, 2019.

Bob Ibach, a member of the Relay team and a cancer survivor, got the tickets for the Cancer Relay for Life fundraiser.

Coasties: The unsung service, part 1

Quick now, Sun Citians, what is a “coastie?”

Chances are, you have to think awhile before you answer. Right now, there are nearly 50,000 men and women in the nation that have this title.

They are members of the United States Coast Guard, one of the active branches of the country’s armed forces. In this year 2018, Coasties, this story is published for you, as we approach Veterans Day on November 11.

Vote of confidence

Six text messages. Twenty emails from myriad companies. Notices from Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

These are just some of the many ways in which I’ve been inundated in the past month with the timeliest question: Have you registered to vote yet?

There once was a Luddite from Limerick…

Go ahead, call me a Luddite. It’s not true.

Or… well… it’s not completely true. Not anymore.

Proudly Serving the Community of Sun City in Huntley

Proudly Serving the Community of
Sun City in Huntley