My Long Weekend

Long as in four days, as I took Monday and Tuesday off from work. Much of the time was spent vegging, reading, watching last season's Project Runway on video, and doing odds and ends around the house.

Saturday, though, I went to the Harold Washington Library Center (our main public library) for a tour of the Special Collections conservation lab. On the way out, I naturally stopped in at the Popular Library and checked out a few books (all light reading - Margaret Maron, Rita Mae Brown, Donna Leon).

Sunday was the Newberry Consort benefit, Playford's Delight Redux, at which we learned some English country dances to the music of the Consort, as well as having good food and drink. It was in the afternoon, so I got home at a reasonable hour and put my feet up.

I was meeting friends for dinner and the theatre on Monday, but I went downtown early to do a bit of Christmas shopping at the Christkindlmarket. I found some lovely bird ornaments that I'm going to give to the folks in my dinner group. The play we saw was Frank's Home, about Frank Lloyd Wright. It is set in California, at a low point in his career and his family relationships (something he wasn't very good at!), just as word of the Tokyo earthquake arrives along with the news (erroneous) that his Imperial Hotel was destroyed. It was an interesting play, and very well acted.

Yesterday, I went through closets and drawers and took a bunch of clothes and tchotchkes to the Brown Elephant for donation. When I spindled my receipt, I noticed that the last person to donate was my Italian instructor!! I must have just missed her. As usual, I could not simply leave my donation and go. Oh, no, one must always check the racks. Neither of the brown suede skirts I tried on fit (one too big, one too small!), but I found a great blazer in a brown tweed, and a gorgeous jacket, perfect for holiday parties. Red silky material with a black design embroidered in it, sort of a Chinese-style, long (over the hips), with sparkly beads on the black frog closures. $10. Yay, me!

I wore it to the Chicago Hand Bookbinders party last night. Eileen had found an excellent caterer; I especially liked these little sweet cheese tarts with shaved dark and white chocolate on top. Bill D. gave me the name and contact info for his friend in Venice who does paper marbling. Also the link to his website: AlbertoValese-Ebru. Is this not beautiful stuff?

That was the year that was

(a/k/a that meme that everyone's doing): Copy and paste the first two sentences of the first entry in each month from 2006. (No memes, quizzes, or dumb junk like that.)

January 1: There are actually 133 books, not 132. I seem to have two labeled "96".

February 3: Mary Zimmerman is a genius (officially, too - a few years ago she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly called a "genius grant"). Pericles is probably one of Shakespeare's most convoluted plays, with the action taking place in six different cities, the eponymous prince wooing two different princesses and caught in two separate storms at sea, a missing daughter, a dead (?) wife, assasinations and incest and bawdry.

March 1: It is so nice being back in the courtroom. I've been doing a jury trial (Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding, and Driving on a Revoked License) for the last two days and, even though we lost (and rightly so!), I was having a good time.

April 2: I seem to be watching a fair number of films lately. The Thief Lord: I loved the book, and liked the film.

May 4: I've pretty much been packed for New Orleans for the last couple of days. But I finally completed the hardest part -- choosing what books to take to read on the trip (and possibly release)!

June 2: So if the BC Convention is in Charleston on April 20 - 22, 2007, and if the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival begins the following weekend, does it make sense for me to go to Charleston, then rent a car and take a leisurely drive to New Orleans, seeing the sights as I go? Is that doable?

July 1: A while back, I decided to rearrange the work area where I do my bookbinding, so, having the time today, I have begun! It's a very small room, which I share with a built-in pantry and the cats' food/water bowls and litter boxes, and a radiator that is unnecessarily large for the space.

August 1: I am going to stop buying books (with the possible exception of the $5 box day at the Co-op book sale). I am going to stop taking Italian classes (at least for a while).

September 4: Yesterday, I went to a lovely wedding. All week, the bride (a colleague of mine) has been fretting, because the wedding was outdoors and the forecast had been for rain.

October 1: Yesterday was the opening day of Silk Road Chicago at the Art Institute. This is a collaboration between the Art Institute, the Chicago Symphony, and Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project.

November 1: Last week, I interviewed for the job I talked about here. I didn't get it.

December 1: It started at 5:30 this morning. I set the alarm for half an hour earlier than usual due to the weather warnings. It