This is the ideal time of year. Today I:

• Got a hot maple sage latte from my favorite cafe (Coffee Lab in Lakeview, Chicago)
• Have put on Thelonious Monk and am working on a horror game jam. https://itch.io/jam/chicaghoul23
• Will break out my Monk Soup cookbook and make spinach soup tonight. (Realizing this is a monk-heavy day.) Oh to be surrounded by a bounty of vegetables making soup for the boys

Update: Big Ed is helping me with the game jam. Thank you Big Ed

I'm on vacation and trying to stay off social media but cohost is cool so I'll post photos every so often

Shots from the old quarter of the famed "blue city" of Morocco, known for buildings painted in blue and white.

Photos from the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, a palatial funerary complex in Meknes, one of the former capital cities of Morocco. It features intricate zellij (zellige) tilework and more of the country's famous doors

Photos from the Medina in Fes, Morocco.

(reuploading as I appended to the wrong post in the thread)

Photos from Ifrane, a popular cool-weather vacation town ("Morocco's Switzerland) and part of Morocco's Atlas Cedar Forest and Midelt, an apple-growing city often used as a base and stopover point for tourists looking to climb the middle and high Atlas ranges or head towards the desert.

Check alt text for image description/captions.

I'm dune it! I'm duneposting (literal)!

A real highlight of the trip so far has been a visit to Erg Chebbi, one of the large sand dune formations in southeastern Morocco, on the borders of the greater Sahara desert (opinions appear to be split on whether these and other dune seas in the region are genuinely part of the Sahara).

The dunes, also known as the Merzouga dunes, are ringed by small hotels and resorts catering to tourists visiting the dune seas. The hotels offer short camel rides into the Erg and for some, 4x4 rides on quad bikes and rally-style desert vehicles.

We opened the window this morning for some fresh air. She spent a good 3 hours fascinated by the rain and occasional birds.