mojosmom | Entries tagged with birthday

Birthday first (today):

I slept late! Of course, it helps that it was a Sunday, and I didn't sleep too late - the cats insisted on being fed. So I fed them and then myself. I'd bought some lovely fresh organic eggs at the farmers' market yesterday, and fried up a couple of them, over easy, had that and some raspberries - also from the farmers' market.

Read the Sunday paper in a leisurely fashion, talked to my sisters, both of whom called to wish me "Happy Birthday!", and then went over to the Smart Museum for a jazz concert. It was supposed to be held in their sculpture garden, but neither the audience nor performers would have been happy with two hours in 90º+ heat, so they moved it inside.

I stopped by Borders afterward and bought a pop-up book I'd had my eye on, and then came home and fixed a birthday dinner: boneless lamb steak, salad and sweet corn (again from the farmers' market). I have some green tea ice cream that I'm going to have later.

I have also been absolutely swilling iced tea all weekend. Best thing for the heat.

Yesterday, I went to the farmers' market (obviously!), but didn't stay long as I was meeting friends for lunch. We had tickets to a staged reading of Tanya Saracho's play-in-progress, El Nogalar, part of the Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival. It's based on Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, but is set in current day Mexico, and is excellent! It's going to have a full production as part of Goodman's next season, a co-production with Teatro Vista. TV had a cocktail party after the play for donors, potential donors, etc. in the Goodman's VIP lounge, which was nicely attended.

My summer housemate has returned to the bosom of her family in Brooklyn, at least until she returns to the University in September. I let her leave her bike in a storage area of our basement. Mira was actually quite a good housemate: quiet, clean, friendly but not intrusive, smart, and, according to Lilith, gives good tummy rubs.

I took Friday, my birthday, off work. I did some boring errands, like getting a oil change and taking Lilith for her annual check-up. But I also went to the Smart Museum of Art for the exhibit Seeing the City: Sloan's New York, etchings and paintings by John Sloan, along with some photos and letters. I had read Van Wyck Brooks' biography of Sloan several weeks ago in anticipation of the exhibit, and while it certainly wasn't necessary for an appreciation of the show, I was glad that I had done so. It gave an added depth of understanding. I must say that I prefer the etchings, and the night paintings, to the figural representations. The Museum had also set up an interactive computer program, which allowed one to locate on a map, or on a timeline, the various etchings and paintings. It also contained photographs and film of some of the locations that Sloan drew (some of the film was quite early - turn of the 20th-century). I have another book, John Sloan's New York Scene, a collection of excerpts from his letters, diaries, etc., that I think I will read before the exhibit closes in September, and then make another visit.

I had an appointment with my hairdresser in the late afternoon, but she was running very late, so I switched it over to the evening. That allowed me to take myself to dinner at a local Italian restaurant before the appointment. She gave me a cut much like Meryl Streep's in The Devil Wore Prada, but my bangs are shorter. (I do peer over my glasses like that, though, particularly during cross-examinations.)

Saturday I had planned to go to the local farmers' market, but it was raining so I didn't. But I did go to a neighborhood spa place, Japanese Spa Zen, where I treated myself to a Japanese herbal bath and an hour-long massage, another birthday gift to myself. What a pleasure! I will definitely go again, though it's a bit too expensive to do frequently. But a half-hour massage occasionally won't break the bank.

Today I went up north for dinner with friends and general hanging out. Fran's daughter had dropped by with her latest creation, Fran's sixth grandchild (2 1/2 months), so we all cooed and admired.

Came home to find a package from Hové Parfumeur, a completely marvelous shop on Royal Street. My older sister had ordered some bath & body oils for me, in magnolia and honeysuckle scents. Oh, yum.

I don't think I mentioned the wonderful book my other sister sent me. It's a book about surimono, a genre of Japanese print whose circulation was confined to poetry clubs.

They both know me really well (as they ought!).

Speaking of age, today I had to fill out a registration form for a seminar. For some reason, they wanted to know how long I'd been practicing law. So I wrote it down and gave the form to our office manager. She looked at it and said, "[X] years!!!" and then realized what she'd said and got totally embarrassed. I must admit to having been a bit shocked myself when I wrote down the number.

Yesterday, I made a couple of sauces to have on hand for summer meals, pesto and tzatziki (yogurt-cucumber). Had some of the pesto on ricotta-stuffed gnocchi for dinner last night. Not much beats fresh pesto sauce! But it had me thinking, is there a word for creating cold dishes? "Cooking" doesn't work, it implies heat. And when you make a cold soup or sauce, it's more than just putting stuff out on a plate.

While my car was having its oil changed, I went to the Green City Market. I hadn't been there since last summer, and they have grown! I got golden beets, tomatoes, raspberries, tiny fingerling potatoes, green beans and flowers (ranunculus). After dropping the car back home, I went downtown for Brian Asawa's recital, which was excellent! He did Dowland, Handel, Vivaldi, Schubert, Fauré, Villa-Lobos and a piece from Jake Heggie's song cycle, Encountertenor, which was written for Asawa.
( The trouble with trebles introusers )

Went home and relaxed a bit, and debated whether or not to go to the Grant Park concert. Just as I was starting to leave, it began to rain, then it stopped, so I dithered. Finally I decided to go, but threw my umbrella in my bag, "just in case". I ate at the outdoor café in Millennium Park, and then to the concert, which was Carl Vine's Percussion Symphony and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (with soloists Harolyn Blackwell, Kelsey Quinn and Thomas Dymit). It did sprinkle a few times, but never for long or very much.

It was over at 8:00, but I've only just gotten home (it's about 11:00) because, unbeknownst to me, the concert I went to hear was followed by a choral program for Gay Games VII. (Which explains why there were a couple of annoying "ex-gays" carrying rude signs near the park - they were soundly ignored.) They had choral groups from a variety of places (includig the Combined Gay and Lesbian Chorus of Australia and New Zealand) and styles (the Gospel Chorus from NYC was most rousing, and, as they were introduced, the Navy Pier fireworks went off, which was appropriate as the group's name is IllumiNation!). A good time was had by all.

Current Mood: relaxed

A package arrived from Stacy today, a belated birthday present, containing two books. One is Bad Press: the Worst Critical Reviews Ever!, edited by Laura Ward. Here are a few samples. "The last part of it is the dirtiest, most indecent, most obscene thing ever written. Yes it is, Frieda . . . it is filthy. (D.H. Lawrence on James Joyce's Ulysses) "The kind of opera that starts at six o'clock and after it has been going three hours you look at your watch and it says 6:20." (David Randolph on Wagner's Parsifal) "When you've seen all of Ionesco's plays, I felt at the end, you've seen one of them." (Kenneth Tynan on Ionesco's Victims of Duty)

The other is the absolutely stunning Portrait: The Photographs of George Platt Lynes, 1927 - 1955, gorgeous black-and-white photographs of people such as Lotte Lenya, every inch the jolie laide, Christopher Isherwood as Herr Issyvoo, Colette, Aaron Copland, and a variety of much less well-known lovely young men looking soulful. Yummy.

Accompanying the books was a card, on the front of which was a photograph of Dubya and the phrase "Happy Birthday from the Most Powerful Man in the Free World!" Inside, it said, "If this doesn't scare you, another birthday shouldn't bother you at all!" Signed by Stacy with the words "Impeach! Impeach!" and some other rude remarks about the present occupant of the WH.

We finally got rain today. Ricky, Tom and I went to lunch and just as we were leaving the restaurant, the skies darkened, the heavens opened, and it poured! It lightened up a bit just as we got back to the office, but it rained a bit more on my drive home, and came down fairly heavily an hour or so again. I do hope some of it was able to sink into the ground. We certainly needed it.