The weekend so far . . .

A glorious production of Der Rosenkavalier last night at Lyric. I love this opera, I weep for the Marschallin every time. And the music is subline. Our Marschallin was Anne Schwanewilms in her Lyric debut. I hope we'll see her again; she was splendid, both in her acting and singing. Susan Graham was a completely believable Octavian, and Camilla Tilling was a fine Sophie.

This morning I had a free ticket to Steppenwolf for Young Adults' production of Lady Madeline, a "re-imagining" of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, told from the point of view of Madeline. It was appropriately weird, but with just enough humor occasionally to relieve the mounting tension. Some rather haunting original music accompanied the play.

Then I headed north to Margaret's for dinner. She made her usual wonderful ham, just falling apart. DeeJay made the most awesome succotash! She'd added white beans and sausage to the usual corn and lima beans, and had used heavy cream. It was sooooo good! Clare was wandering about in her mom's jacket, a leather parka with a fur-trimmed hood. Since Clare is only seven, it was quite large on her, and when she put the hood up, it covered most of her face. She's a cutie-pie. Peggy gave me a couple of cat toys, one for Lilith and one for Marissa. They have been batting them about the dining room and kitchen and generally having a high old time (literally "high" - the toys have catnip in them).

Tomorrow, I think I'll go to the Cultural Center. There's a free concert by the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and they're playing excerpts from several Mozart operas arranged for winds.

The weekend so far . . .

A glorious production of Der Rosenkavalier last night at Lyric. I love this opera, I weep for the Marschallin every time. And the music is subline. Our Marschallin was Anne Schwanewilms in her Lyric debut. I hope we'll see her again; she was splendid, both in her acting and singing. Susan Graham was a completely believable Octavian, and Camilla Tilling was a fine Sophie.

This morning I had a free ticket to Steppenwolf for Young Adults' production of Lady Madeline, a "re-imagining" of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, told from the point of view of Madeline. It was appropriately weird, but with just enough humor occasionally to relieve the mounting tension. Some rather haunting original music accompanied the play.

Then I headed north to Margaret's for dinner. She made her usual wonderful ham, just falling apart. DeeJay made the most awesome succotash! She'd added white beans and sausage to the usual corn and lima beans, and had used heavy cream. It was sooooo good! Clare was wandering about in her mom's jacket, a leather parka with a fur-trimmed hood. Since Clare is only seven, it was quite large on her, and when she put the hood up, it covered most of her face. She's a cutie-pie. Peggy gave me a couple of cat toys, one for Lilith and one for Marissa. They have been batting them about the dining room and kitchen and generally having a high old time (literally "high" - the toys have catnip in them).

Tomorrow, I think I'll go to the Cultural Center. There's a free concert by the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and they're playing excerpts from several Mozart operas arranged for winds.