What about the hollyhock?
There is only one flower that represents the true history of Chicago. And it isn’t any flower mentioned in the Tribune Flower Contest [“Cast your vote now for a new (unofficial) Fleur de Chicago,” June 18]. Anyone who ever walked the alleys of Chicago and the Near West suburbs should know what that flower would be. And who could not call it the hollyhock?
Some might say hollyhocks are Working-Class Flowers. Others call them Garbage Can Flowers. But many of us know how those blooms have brightened the lives of alley walkers for generations.
When my maternal grandparents, the O’Rourkes from Roscommon County, Ireland, settled on the West Side of Chicago in the early 1900s, they delighted at the sight of those colorful pink, purple and white posies when they arrived home from a long day’s labor. “A sight for sore eyes,” my grandpa would say.
A generation later in the ’40s and ’50s, my brothers and I would walk home from Irving School in south Oak Park, cutting through our alley with the bright hollyhocks making it seem like a fine trip through a garden path.
Who knows how the hollyhocks burst into life through the cracked mud around the garbage cans? I can’t remember anyone ever planting a hollyhock seed. I think someone knew the alley walkers needed a little joy in their lives and hollyhocks filled the need. The petals nodded a sweet “howyadoin'” to all who came their way.
So when the contest writers talked about choosing a flower that means Chicago, what were they thinking? Hollyhocks were not even on their list of choices. Where have they been all these years? Certainly not in the alleys.
June Cullicott Wood, River Forest
(Editor’s note: You can still vote for an Official Unofficial Chicago Flower: Go to chicagotribune.com/flower. Election closes Monday.)
Miracles of nature
After reading Barbara Mahany’s beautiful essay [“A Mother’s Eye View of Springs Joys and Sorrows,” June 4], I felt that I had to write to you. We have been living in our home for six years and this is the first spring that so many robins have nested close enough for me to see them. One built one right outside my front door on a small tree that we had just planted last year. I could not believe how lucky I was to share in such a special birth. I felt this connection with the bird (wondering if she had four babies as I did.) Each time I checked on her I always told her what a great mama she was.
My first sighting of a nest so close by was about a month ago on our gutter. The mother was very nervous and kept flying away whenever someone passed by. Soon she had had enough and never came back. I anxiously waited for her to come back and, like a worried granny, I checked the nest a few times a day. I never saw any movement so I assumed that if she had laid eggs they never hatched. I did not have the guts to check because I felt sorry for the eggs (if there were any).
After reading your heartfelt story this evening, I am going to get on a ladder tomorrow and if there are eggs, I will bury them with the nest. All my neighbors (even my husband!) were making fun of me because I have been making such a big deal over seeing the new nest with the healthy chicks. I was beginning to feel silly myself until I read your story. Now I know that others do care as much as I and that any birth is a miracle and that we can look to nature to improve on ourselves and see that things happen, whether good or bad, for a reason.
— Ahuva Horowitz, Chicago
Another grout solution
You answered a question from Sharon Baynes of Chicago [Stump the Editor, June 4] with cleaning her grout. You mentioned that the baking soda worked the best. Second and third runner-up was a tie between commercial brands. You went on to say: “If none of the above gets the grout as gleaming as you want, consider replacing the grout.”
Instead of going through all the mess and/or expense of a possible professional doing the work. You should have told her that with the grout cleaned and mildew removed with the bleach solution, she had another option that would have only cost her $10.
All she would have had to do is go to her local major home-improvement store — Menards, Home Depot, Lowes — and buy grout paint sold in the tile isle. I personally have used this … and it works great. It comes in white, ivory or other colors. I used the light gray and covered over dirty beige kitchen floor grout without cleaning or scrubbing first. Because it was covering a darker color, it required two applications, but it dried quickly so it wasn’t time-consuming. After curing following the manufacturer’s recommendation, I sealed it with grout sealer and it has held up fantastic. One bottle, 8 ounces, and a sponge brush covered a 20-by-14-foot kitchen and foyer. With some left over.
— Pat Malcor, Schaumburg
