A bakery in my neighborhood is moving to a spot just a half block from me. Yum! Cinnamon buns with fig jam! Strawberry-rosemary scones! But really bad spelling. They're doing the build-out of the new place, and I noticed the other day that the window lettering said "ALWAYS FRSH". I figured the sign painter had screwed up. But then I saw that another window had a sign with the same "ALWAYS FRSH" on it. This is a university community. People pay attention to this sort of thing. I wonder how many people will say, "Hey! Your sign is misspelled!"

Yet another reason to avoid Amazon. I came home the other day to find that their delivery people had left a package in the foyer of our building that was meant for someone elsewhere in the neighborhood. After a bit of a search, I found a way to contact them to tell them of the mistake so they could pick up the package and deliver it to the correct address. They wouldn't do it! The customer "service" rep told me to keep the package and (presumably when the intended recipient complained) they would resend it or give the person a refund. Basically, they told me to steal the package. That's a crime. Idiots. So I'll take the package to the other building myself. I think I should send them a bill.

One of the non-profits for which I volunteer had an event for major donors at a high-end designer fashion boutique. Students in the fashion design program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago had created designs based on the Robie House. All the designs were displayed and the two top winners had had the garments created (they were fab!). The Development Director invited me because, he said, I am always "well-attired"! I went, but did not buy anything because I will not spend $1200+ on a dress even if it is gorgeous and absolutely "me". I did, however, drink their wine and chat with the Fashion Resource Center director, whom I know. It was fun.

Yesterday was quite busy. I had my Italian literature group, then a board meeting at my club. In the afternoon I gave a tour at the Rookery for a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Rather than a sign language interpreter, we had a court reporter who typed what I was saying, and the text was transmitted via WiFi to the group, all of whom had tablets or smartphones on which to read it. This was the first time we'd done this, so it was a bit of an experiment, and, for the most part, worked pretty well.

In the evening, I went to a great concert, by the early music group, Sequentia. It was in the same neighborhood as Robie House, so at the invitation of the woman who organizes it, I stopped in there beforehand for their After Hours event (drinks, noshes, and a jazz musician or two). That's always fun; I often volunteer for it. The concert was delightful, and there was a bit of rueful laughter from the audience when they did a piece about "fortuna", the wheel of fortune, one lyric of which was about "the loudmouth becomes a statesman". Ha.

I ran into a friend at the concert, and ran into her again today, along with other people we know, at a symposium on "Sites and Soundscapes in Renaissance Italy". A really interesting discussion of sound, architecture, and public and private spaces in Florence and Venice during the Renaissance in the morning, and in the afternoon a performance by the Newberry Consort, on whose board I sit. It was a good day for being inside, because it was rainy and windy and chilly, definitely not what "almost May" should be!

Since I was at the symposium all day, I missed our local Friends of the Library book sale, which was probably a good thing. I also did not stop into the book shop at the venue of the symposium, though I was mightily tempted.

Is everyone ready for the holidays?

I had pretty much all my shopping done, other than random, impulsive stocking-stuffer type purchases, or at least I thought I had! I have friends with whom I exchange gifts, and waaaaaay back in November I was at World Market and saw some nice mugs with initials. I decided to buy these but a couple of the initials I needed were on a high shelf, so one of the sales people got them down for me. "Give me two Ds and a C", I said. And I put them in the cart, paid for my purchases, which were nicely wrapped in tissue paper, went home, and shoved the bag in a closet. Fast forward to Thursday, when I decided to wrap presents. And discovered that I had two Cs and a D. I went back to World Market, and, of course, they no longer had anymore Ds. However, they say they'll get more in and will call me, and one of the people who has that initial won't be with us the day we do the exchange, so I have time. But I do wish I'd checked sooner!

Both my sisters arrive tonight, and we are making plans. We'll go to friends on Tuesday for the traditional gourmet mac-and-cheese, vespers at First Unitarian on Christmas Eve followed by our traditional latke dinner, and dinner with other friends on the 26th.

There have been a slew of parties this year - last Saturday I had two in one day, an afternoon open house and an evening dinner.

I've been to a couple of really good music performances lately. I mentioned in my last that I was going to hear Judas Maccabeus, and it was a rousing good performance! I've also been to Bel Canto, the opera commissioned by Lyric Opera based on Ann Patchett's novel. Really excellent, particularly when you consider that neither the composer, Jimmy Lopez, nor the librettist, Pulitzer Prize playwright Nilo Cruz, had ever written an opera before! Thankfully, they eliminated Patchett's ridiculous epilogue, which was a real clunker. The singers were splendid, particularly countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo as César and mezzo J'nai Bridges as Carmen. Loved the set and lighting as well.

Then I went to a recital with Patricia Barber and Renée Fleming, Fleming singing mostly Barber's music, arranged as art songs, with sometimes Barber and sometimes Craig Terry and sometimes both accompanying on the piano. Barber's quartet also played, and we did get to hear her sing, though not enough for my taste! They sang together as well, notably a bunch of Christmas songs. The only real failure was Fleming's singing of You Gotta Go Home. But it was a grand and successful experiment in joining jazz music and classical singing.

As part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the S.C. Johnson Company sponsored trips up to Racine for tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Administration Building and the Research Tower (recently opened for tours). They provided buses from the Chicago Cultural Center up to Racine and back. On most weekends, you also get to see Wingspread, designed by Wright for Hibbert Johnson and his family, and now a conference center. It's all free! So I did that last weekend, and it was a great treat. Kudos to the Johnsons for hiring Wright in the first place, and for appreciating what they have and sharing it.