Carp time

In news of the inevitable, Asian carp are now just a mile from the electric barrier in the Ship and Sanitary Canal and north of the barrier but within the parallel Des Plaines River (not in the Lake Michigan watershed). The Army Corps acknowledges that a good rain could send the river over its banks and into the canal, spilling a few carp along the way.

Bottle brush

Before 1994 or so, the only water bottles I owned were discount store-types. The kind that inserted into a bicycle holder or were given away as promotional items. Then I got to college and everyone was sipping from these hard plastic things called "Nalgenes."

I succumbed to the inevitable and got my first Nalgene soon thereafter, a cheapy one from the Campmor catalog. From there, I went on a Nalgene rampage. Soon enough we probably had a dozen of them, many brightly hued and in all shapes and sizes.

Then whispers about BPA kept floating around and somewhere about 2005 I got a metal Sigg bottle. Whew, what did we do before Nalgene and Sigg? Before the time when sipping a sports bottle at work just seemed weird.

So we accumulated a Sigg collection, too. A couple different shapes and sizes, smug in our progression from the Nalgene tyranny. Then this article came out.

Swimming lessons

I was discussing my favorite swimming holes with a group of people recently and many of them laughed, perhaps thinking I fancied myself a Slovenian Huck Finn. The top five swimming locations:

1. Krause Springs; Spicewood, Texas. An oasis in the Hill Country. A deep, spring-fed pool surrounded by bluffs and lush vegetation.
2. West Clear Creek; Camp Verde, Ariz. A 20-foot plunge into a relatively small pool.
3. Lake Michigan. My annual swim this year was nice and cold for mid-summer. I prefer Foster Beach or Osterman Beach.
4. Judge Lake (pictured); Noelville, Ont. There's an 8-foot leap off of granite that is ideal.
5. Ocean Hole; Eleuthera, Bahamas. Gigantic inland lake. Cousteau dove here.

Austin's powers

Central Texas is a land of rolling hills, karst topography and juniper forests. The Edwards Plateau west of Austin features endless tablelands interspersed with emerald-blue rivers and spring-fed swimming holes. The area includes a nice diversity of bird life, including Texas specialties like the black-crested titmouse.

This past weekend, we spent some time in Pedernales Falls State Park. We stumbled across a "bird blind," which lived up to its billing. There we saw a ladder-backed woodpecker (to add to the life list) and a Bewick's wren (also a new one for me). It was punishingly hot--upper 90s, but we made the short walk from the car to the falls overlook, mostly dry this time of year (above).

Nau again

Regular readers of this space may recall posts about the eco-friendly outdoor clothing retailer Nau (pronounced "now"), which had one of its four stores in Chicago. Last we checked, Nau had called it quits last May, the Halsted store long since shuttered. Nau's fashions were always a little funny, I compared them to Star Wars cantina gear here. The shorts I bought there were a hybrid of coach's shorts and culottes.

So much to my surprise, I received an e-mail from Nau on Wednesday. It starts:

It's been a while, so we thought we'd reach out. We're writing old friends to see what's new, fill you in on our latest, and welcome you back into the fold. So welcome back.

So in other words, we're back and selling $225 hoodies. Nau gear is stocked in existing outfitters, places like Uncle Dan's here in the Chicago area.

Ravine music

It's a cool, cool summer. It doesn't take a parody of a Bananarama lyric to remind us that it's been chilly in Chicago almost all summer. Two nights ago, we went to a show at Ravinia, and most people were dressed for a Bears game. If only the wine and cheese were replaced with Jim Beam and Johnsonvilles. It's sort of like camping, except without tents and with things like coffee tables (no joke).

Ravinia is named for the dozens of ravines that run perpendicular to Lake Michigan from Winnetka to North Chicago. Here, a moraine crosses the Lake Michigan shore and leaves a terrain of dramatic bluffs and watercourses lined with northern species like juniper and paper birch. Openlands is creating a preserve a little north of Ravinia that will be spectacular. Part of it opens in fall.

Dune acres

A pair of piping plovers nested this year along the Illinois shore of Lake Michigan. I had a chance to see a few shorebirds close to home this past weekend--sanderling, least sandpiper and semipalmated plover. More photos of a trip to the park here.