mojosmom

A Chicago cab driver declined a tip. Truly. As I was getting tip money from my purse, he said, "Forget about it." Weird. This was my second interesting cabbie of the day. Earlier, I'd managed to snag a cab as he was depositing an earlier fare. Turns out it was his first day on the job, so we were giving him tips on the best way to get places. Like most Chicago cabbies, he was an immigrant, but I've never had an Uzbekistani cabbie before!

I went to see Luis Alfaro's Oedipus El Rey at Victory Gardens Theatre last Friday, because I know some of the cast members. It got rave reviews, though some friends thought it mediocre. I fall somewhere in between on the play itself (an updating of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, set in South Central L.A.), but my friends absolutely deserved the accolades they got.

I was planning on going to the DuSable Museum's Art Fair on Saturday, but just as I was getting ready to get in the car and go, the heavens opened and it poured. Not enough to vitiate the drought, but enough to stop me. I went the next day instead. The event always falls on or just before my birthday, so if I see something I really want , I can use the "It's my birthday present to myself" excuse. It's usually jewelry, but this year it was a coat:


Before going there, I'd been to the home of a friend whose garden is always part of a neighborhood garden walk. On that weekend, she invites people over for cookies and cold drinks, and it's always nice to see her. She'd recently been on an opera tour of Italy, and so I admired her photos and was jealous (she had tried to get me to go with her, but the timing was bad).

It's ridiculously hot today (100º again), and our forthcoming "relief" will be either mid- to upper 80s or mid-to upper 90s, depending on which forecast you believe. Either is too hot to get my walks in, and I'm getting to the point where I think I'll take the bus to Block 37 or Water Tower Place (vertical shopping malls) and walk there. I miss my exercise. Now there's something I never thought I'd be saying!

"Big Spirits", by Thomas Schütte. This is at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago:


"No Parking"
Parking will be seriously restricted in a wide area around Grant Park and downtown on election night.

It was nearly 9 o'clock when I woke up this morning. And dark(ish). It was also pouring rain. I resisted the temptation to turn over and go back to sleep, but I did cancel plans to go to the farmers' market! The rain seems to have stopped, at least for the moment, but it's still very wet. So not much outdoor activity today, unless it clears up. But it's not supposed to. Heavy rain is also forecast for tomorrow. There's a half marathon going through Jackson Park tomorrow morning, and I had been thinking about going over and taking some photographs. The race is going to be run "rain or shine"; however, the site also says that "[r]ace officials may cancel, delay or change the race to a non-scored event in case of extreme weather . . ." We'll see. I will say that I am not going to go out in the pouring rain to take photos, and I doubt that many will be "[e]njoy[ing] the wonderful outdoors and music & entertainment as you wait for your family and friends to cross the finish line."

Last night was very arty. I went to the Center for Book & Paper Arts for the closing reception of the 5th International Book & Paper Arts Triennial, which had scads of great work. I then went over to the Fine Arts Building for their Second Friday, a monthly event in which many of the artists who have studios there hold open houses. Pianoforte Chicago has ticketed jazz concerts on these nights. It's well worth going just to see the building, which has been a haven for artists since the late 19th-century. It has fantastic murals, and check out this doorway:


There's also an excellent used bookstore, with a bookstore cat:


In the "it's a small world" category, I was at one studio and noticed a guy who looked vaguely familiar. He came over and said, "Do you live in Hyde Park?". We discovered that not only do we live a couple of blocks apart, he works in the supermarket where I shop. Didn't recognize him when he wasn't putting out the fresh produce!

At the suggestion of a lot of folks, I downloaded Firefox. I'm not seeing much difference from Safari, but one thing is driving me nuts. The cursor is not the usual vertical line, but is a vertical line with a teeny-tiny horizontal line near the top. I am constantly thinking that it's a speck of dirt on my monitor. Very annoying.

I was going to get up and have another cup of tea, but there's a cat on my lap.

Sometimes it's good you don't know about something. If I'd known about this, I'd probably have gone to NYC this week to relive my misspent youth, and missed futurecatnz's visit!

We had a wonderful time! I picked FutureCat up at O'Hare Wednesday evening. As usual, I got there well ahead of schedule, so I had a drink at the bar and then hung out in the arrivals area people watching. Of course, I recognized her immediately, if only because no one else was wearing a BookCrossing t-shirt! We headed home, with a brief stop at the produce market, and I introduced her to my cats. Lilith, as usual, was happy to have another cat person in the house to admire her. Marissa, also as usual, performed a disappearing act. I passed on to FC the books texaswren had sent on, and also this book, which was on hand at the Evanston Meet-Up earlier in the week, and which I immediately knew I had to grab for her. We sampled some Spanish pastries, she had brought me, and then it was (relatively) early to bed because FC was pretty tired after her long flight.

After breakfast the next day, we went out and our first mission was to purchase a prepaid phone, as the one FC bought in Singapore did not work here, contrary to what she had been told. I blushed for my fellow Americans as the sales woman at Radio Shack said, as she was registering the phone, "Where did you say you were from? New England?" Their computer system was completely unable to deal with non-U.S. postal codes or telephone country codes, so we ended up giving her my address instead. After settling that, I showed FutureCat the University of Chicago campus, including a brief visit to the Oriental Institute, an exterior tour of Robie House (docented by me), and a few other notable spots, the Seminary Co-op Bookstore among them. Sadly, when we went into Rockefeller Chapel, we found that the glorious rose window was hiding behind construction barriers. (This will be a theme.)

After a brief rest back at my place, we gathered books and selves together. Before heading downtown, we went to the Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop for lunch, and I think Cajun cooking has another fan from the Antipodes (Skyring is another after his visit last year!). Our first stop was the Cultural Center, as I think it is one of the most beautiful buildings we have here, particularly Preston Bradley Hall's stunning stained glass dome - which was in restauro and therefore not visible! Next stop, Macy's on State Street. Yes, mojosmom went into Macy's, but only because FC had a Levenger's gift card burning a hole in her pocket, and I know better than to stand between a book lover and Levenger's! We then headed to Millennium Park, and FC released a couple of books on the way (not in Millennium Park - security doesn't like that!):


After seeing the Gehry and the Bean and the Lurie Gardens and and and, we went to the Art Institute (which is right across the street). We visited the French Impressionists

and a number of other galleries, and after a bit our feet were a tired, so we had a respite and a cup of tea in the Member's Lounge. (This is another excellent reason for Chicagoans to become members of the AIOC!) FutureCat wondered if there was any Native American art at the AIOC, so we checked the floor plan, found that we needed to go to Gallery 50, and headed that way, only to discover that it was "closed for reinstallation"! (I told you this would be a theme!)

It was, in any case, about time to head to Cosí's, where we hoped to meet up with some other Chicago Bookcrossers. They also have free WiFi, but, for some reason, FutureCat's laptop didn't cooperate. In the event, only one other person came, Koolmotor, but we had a good deal of fun nonetheless.

We traded off a bunch of books (surprise!) and FutureCat showed us New Zealand's Convention presentation. I really, really want to go, and I'm hoping (without too much optimism) that the dollar will be stronger this time next year, and that I can manage sufficient time off to make it worth the (very long) trip.

This morning, we got up very early, as FutureCat had a 9:00 flight to Ottawa and, as that's an international flight, had to be at O'Hare two hours ahead of time (probably not really necessary, but better to be early at the airport than to be worrying about missing the plane). I left a bit of extra time as there is a variety of road construction going on, but traffic wasn't too bad at all. I was sorry that FutureCat's visit wasn't longer, it was such fun having her and learning much I didn't know about her country. I advise everyone that if the opportunity arises to host a fellow BookCrosser, do it!

I was waiting for a bus up on North Michigan Avenue tonight.

The Tribune Tower
The Wrigley Building
The Chicago River at Michigan Avenue

And "oy!" rightly describes any normal person's reaction to the number of books I brought home from the Newberry Library Book Fair. Thirty-six, plus two duplicates (one of which I've already found a home for) and one book for one of my sisters. Most were a buck or two, though there were a couple that set me back $5-6, and one actually hit double digits. I could barely get the haul back to my car (most of them were hardcovers!). But I did, and got them home and all are now catalogued over at LibraryThing.

On the way to the sale, I passed the old Lyric Opera warehouse, which is being converted to loft condominiums. Now, I take this same route to work everyday, and it's always looked pretty normal. But today, out on one of the balconies being put in, I saw this:



When I went back to take the picture, there was a guy working security who approached me and asked if he could help me. We got talking, and he told me the horse & rider were left over after everything had been moved from the warehouse. The developers cleaned it up and put it out on the balcony to create interest. They certainly aroused my interest, though, as I told the guy when he suggested I go to the open house, I'm not in the market for a loft. And I'm sure these will not be cheap.

Leonard Bernstein was a complete and utter genius! My god, talk about your American composers, has there been anyone before or since who could do/has done what he did? I love Copland, Corigliano and a host of others, but just in scope and variety Bernstein has them all beat to hell.

There was the most marvelous concert of his work for Broadway at the Pritzker Pavilion tonight (or should I say, "Tonight, tonight . . ."?). Some of my favorites from Candide and On the Town, stuff from Wonderful Town and West Side Story, little known work from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Peter Pan. It ended with two of my favorite ensemble pieces: "Some Other Time", from On the Town, and "Make Our Garden Grow", from Candide. Beautiful voices, beautiful symphony orchestra, and a beautiful summer night. It was a short concert, only 90 minutes without intermission. I ran into a friend afterwards and we agreed that they could have played all night (oh, wait, that's Lerner and Loewe, isn't it?), and we'd have stayed and listened.

I went to the Garfield Park Conservatory this morning, to see the Niki in the Garden exhibit of monstrous huge sculptures by Niki De St. Phalle. They are amazing! You start out just seeing a big, whimsical-looking person or animal,
and then you look closer and see incredible details, like this: .

I went a bit crazy taking photographs, not just the sculptures, but flowers and foliage. You can see them all here if you like.

I also found a birthday present for my sister, a cuff bracelet made from vegetable parchment fused to copper, in lovely gold/orange/copper colors.

Then I came home and accomplished much. Cleaned floors, paid bills, did my Italian homework, and had a very nice dinner.

The Calatrava for Chicago: