mojosmom

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.

I woke up to a very gray day, such that I would probably have stayed in bed if I hadn't had a conference call scheduled for 9:00. (This was just for a status on planning for a concert/gala for the early music group on whose board I sit.)

Now it's raining/sleeting/wintry mixing. I registered to go to a showing of one of the Commissario Montalbano films at the Italian Cultural Institute tonight, but I am really thinking of bagging it because of the weather. I may just stay home and watch Barack. (I did not even consider getting up in the wee hours of the morning to go stand in line in 4º weather to maybe get a ticket.)

In fact, this week and last have been fairly quiet for me, not much scheduled, and with some very cold weather last week not much incentive to change that. But I have done a couple of fun things. I went Sunday afternoon to hear Paul O'Dette and Ronn McFarlane play lute duets, Italian and English. Their encore was Dowland's "My Lord Chamberlain, his Galliard", which is written for two to play upon one lute. Rather fun!

I saw a production of "The Magic Flute" which, while the music (of course) is glorious and so were the voices, I didn't like. Why the director felt the need to stage it as though kids were putting on an opera in the backyard, I do not know. It lost all the magic, you never felt it was really happening.

The dishwasher has arrived, so I am slowly filling it with enough dishes to run it. Honestly, I'll probably not use it a whole lot, but it's nice to have.

When I imported my LJ entries, comments didn't come along. I did it again, and find I have a slew of duplicate entries. So I am gradually going back and deleting the duplicates, making sure to delete the ones that don't have comments. Only a minor annoyance, though, and worth it, because I like having everyone's comments! I'll shut down my LJ shortly.

I think winter might be really and truly over. (Having said that, it will probably snow.)

Yesterday, it was 60-ish. I went off to my AAUW meeting, a wine tasting, so what if it was only 11:00 in the morning? Well, maybe 11:30 by the time we started pouring the wine. Then I headed over to the Chicago History Museum, just a short bus ride away. See, my courtroom partner is a Civil War re-enactor, and he let slip that his troop was going to be participating in an event there. Naturally, I said I'd have to stop by with my camera, which got him all flustered and embarrassed. But when I got there and found him, he was quite the actor. He posed for me with a rather inauthentic empty plastic the vodka bottle, which was highly amusing, because he never drinks.

(My partner is the guy standing up.)

In the evening, I went to a lovely concert of 16th-century Italian vocal music, with three fantastic sopranos, a harpsichord, and a variety of violins and lutes.

Today, it was at least eighty, and sunny, and gorgeous. I was inspired to heights of cleaning, mostly because I want to get the place straightened up before I leave for Washington. This afternoon, I went to a rather curious opera, Death and the Powers, by Tod Machover, with a libretto by Robert Pinsky. It's got robots performing an opera within an opera, about a very wealthy guy who dies and goes into "The System", which he has invented to immortalize himself through technology. I kind of liked it, but I don't know. When an entire page of technology notes precedes the synopsis, I have to wonder about the priorities involved.

It was a short opera, just one, 90-minute, act, and because it was such a fabulous day, and the Park Grille's outside seating area was open, I treated myself to dinner there. Salmon tartare, risotto con pomodori secchi e salsiccia, and a sweet potato chiffon (like a mousse) for dessert.

I also managed to finish two books this weekend, Laurence Cossé's A Novel Bookstore, about a shop that sells only good novels, chosen by a secret committee, and James Cain's Mildred Pierce, which contains one of the best passages ever: "Are you insinuating that my daughter is a snake?" "No -- is a coloratura soprano, is much worse."

Now you must excuse me because it's time for the new Upstairs Downstairs!

Both my sisters are in town because this afternoon we are attending a 90th birthday party for an old family friend. Cathy arrived Thursday evening, so I picked her up at the airport on my way home from work. She had a gorgeous day to walk around the neighborhood on Friday (mid-60s!) and took full advantage of it. Among other things, she did some grocery shopping and cooked us an excellent dinner, after which we watched Julie and Julia. Cathy hadn't read Powell's book, but had read My Life in France, and her reaction to the "Julie" part of the film was the same as my reaction to the book: "When is she going to stop whining?" We agreed that it was half a good movie, and wished that it had been entirely about Julia.

Saturday, the first day of spring, it snowed. And was cold. And blustery. So we stayed inside and hung out with the cats. Stacey was driving in and hoped to get here before six o'clock. However, she got to Toledo and her transmission went out. She had to leave her car at a garage there to be fixed, and rented a car to drive the rest of the way. The only place she could rent a car was at the airport, so she had to get a cab out there, and they managed to send her a cab driver who didn't know how to get to the airport! I didn't know such people existed. I mean, that's a cabbie's bread-and-butter, right? As a result, she didn't get here until about 8:30.

Cathy and I had gone out to hear the Newberry Consort (17th-century violin music, with a harpsichord thrown in), but had left her some of the excellent pizza we had had for dinner (olive oil glaze, chèvre, caramelized onions, kalamata olives and roasted red peppers). I have really gotten into using HomeMade Pizza Company lately. I can run in on my way home from work, have them create something interesting, and throw it in the oven when I get home. As easy as a frozen pizza and it tastes way better. They also had a special ice cream, Chocolate Almond Bark, which I bought.

I continue to fight a cold. Last Sunday, I went up to my friend Fran's for dinner, came home early in the evening feeling fine, but later developed a nasty sore throat. The next day, I felt rather punk, and my voice was going. I went to work, but left early, I felt so bad, and took the next day off. Felt better on Wednesday, though if I hadn't had a phone conference that would have been a pain to re-schedule, I might have stayed in bed. I'm at the point where I feel fine, but sound pretty raspy, and am mildly congested.

I've been to a couple of plays lately, one excellent, one not. Court Theatre is doing The Illusion, by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner. (Story: "Legend has it that the Hartford production was more overtly haunted by Corneille. As Sylviane Gold describes in the New York Times, the production was beset by technical difficulties until Kushner and director Mark Lamos decided to reprint the program to say not “The Illusion by Tony Kushner, based on a play by Pierre Corneille” but “The Illusion by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner.” All the technical glitches stopped on cue, save for one: Kushner’s name was mysteriously wiped from the marquee on the night before the show opened. The play continues to be performed and published under this revised heading, lest the original author return to seek his due.") It's marvelous! Love the play, love the staging, love the acting.

Rebecca Gilman's A True History of the Johnstown Flood, not so much. I'm not a big fan of Gilman's, as I find her work to be rather heavy-handed and didactic. This play was no different. It was also rather predictable. The actors were good, and there was excellent staging, but that's not enough to save a bad script.

The four of us went to dinner beforehand at 312 Chicago, a place we like a lot. They are celebrating their 12th anniversary, and each night have twelve entrées and twelve bottles of wine available at $12 each. Which is quite a deal. Usually, the least expensive glass of wine is about $9, and I don't know where you can get such a good ribeye steak in downtown Chicago for $12 on a normal night!

Friday night at the opera, first. None of the various people I go with could make it. Jamie was teaching at a seminar in Springfield, and wouldn't get back in time. Beth & Duncan's son was in a soccer tournament. And Jim & Kevin were headed to Michigan on Saturday and so had to change their Newberry Consort tickets to Friday night. Lyric has just opened a restaurant and a bar with food on the premises, so I decided to try the restaurant. They do two seatings: one at 5:00 for those attending the pre-opera lecture and one at 6:00. It's a four-course prix fixe menu, and was very good.

So was the opera. In fact, it was astonishingly wonderful! It was Gounod's Faust, one of those operas I've seen quite a lot (and the same production, too). I can't quite put my finger on it, but it was a performance where everything, singers, orchestra, staging, etc. just clicked perfectly. The soprano, Ana Maria Martinez, has a rich voice and is a good actress, too. I was particularly impressed by her portrayal of Marguerite's insanity in the final act. There was a marvelous bit of stage business in Act 4; when the soldiers return, Valentin gives a folded flag to several war widows. One fainted, one was stoic, and one spit in his face. Excellent work by the chorus members! We had the second cast for the roles of Faust and Mephistopheles, but it turned out not to matter. Though I had been disappointed that I wasn't going to hear René Pape, Kyle Ketelsen did very well, indeed.

Last night, I drove very carefully through hordes of trick-or-treaters to Rockefeller Chapel, for the Newberry Consort's first concert of the season. In a departure from their usual early music fare, this was a program of American music from the mid-nineteenth century, called "Beautiful Dreamer: Music of Lincoln's America", designed to connect with the Newberry Library's current Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition. Still a historically-informed performance, with some period and period-style instruments. They did traditional music, along with Stephen Foster songs and Louis Moreua Gottschalk piano pieces, among other things. All was interspersed with contemporary readings by Canadian actor Paul Hecht. What a voice!

Today, I slept late, despite the time change. Then my morning got thrown off because my newspaper hadn't been delivered! This, however, turned out to be a good thing, because when it was re-delivered and the carrier rang the bell, we discovered that the door buzzer doesn't work. (That's not good, but knowing the problem exists is!) I had thought about going to a vintage clothing show over in the West Loop, but decided not to expose myself to temptation. So I bought groceries instead, and will shortly commence doing my homework for tomorrow's Italian class.

( The Cultural Stuff )

Non-cultural stuff:

Yesterday was beautiful, so I decided to walk to the dry cleaners. On the way, I noticed that signs had been posted for the annual yard sale that benefits the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer (which really should be the Avon Walk against Breast Cancer, no?). I got a couple of clothing items (belt and cotton blouse), two books¹ (Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell), and two rather unusual items:

Al Pha Bet, an educiting game:


and a sparkler wand:


I was moved to diligence today, perhaps in part because the lovely weather induced me to want mildly to spring clean. So I can now inform you that under those piles of papers there was an actual desk!


¹ See, the reason I run out of bookshelf space is not necessarily the number of books, but the size of the books. These were both hardbacks, and you know how thick Clarke's book is! They're probably 4-5" between them. Two books.

The Newberry Consort, with Piffaro, did a fabulous concert last night, called "What a Difference a Day Makes: Venetian Music for Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday". It was the first in what they hope will be annual concerts in memory of Howard Mayer Brown, the University of Chicago musicologist who is known as the godfather of the Chicago early music community, and who died of a heart attack in Venice, at carnival, just after buying his mask. The sacred music was especially good, because the concert was held at Rockefeller Chapel, which, naturally, has great acoustics for that sort of thing. The music for Fat Tuesday was, of course, written to be played outside, and they couldn't exactly do that last night, in the cold and snow!

After the concert, there was a reception for the musicians at Jim & Kevin's apartment (which happens to be the same one where Howard and his partner lived). I wore the mask I bought in Venice when I was there for Carnevale:

Tomorrow, I am going to the annual Christmas dinner with my XYZ group, so this morning I made the sweet potatoes that I am bringing (we'll reheat them at Julie's), and wrapped presents (with "help" from the cats). We didn't have our monthly meeting in November, so I'm bringing Peggy's birthday present as well. I've had it (well, them) sitting in a closet since late July! Books. Lovely small (in size and number) editions of plays by her distant relative, Kenneth Sawyer Goodman (after whom the Goodman Theatre is named), on gorgeous paper, a couple of them letterpress. Found at the Newberry Library book sale for a song!

I took Thursday and Friday off from work, and basically lazed around during the day. Thursday evening, I had a ticket for a concert at the Art Institute, the Newberry Consort playing a program called "All In a Garden Green: Renaissance English Music in the Lowlands". It was one of a series of events at the AIOC put on in conjunction with the exhibit, The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries. I haven't seen the exhibit yet, but definitely will do so before it closes. There was actually supposed to be a short tour through the show after the concert, but the concert ran a bit long, so there wasn't time.

I went downtown early, because I wanted to browse around the Christkindlmarket at the Daley Center, and check out the tree:
.

There was time at the Art Institute before the concert, so I checked out my favorite galleries, as well as the new Alsdorf Galleries of Indian, Southeast Asian, Himalayan, and Islamic Art. There was also a jewel of an exhibit in the Ryerson Library, Art Through the Pages: Library Collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, that included a couple of stunning Sangorski & Sutcliffe bindings, among other nice things. I bought the Museum Studies issue on the exhibit.

After the concert, I decided to take myself to dinner. As I often do, I went to the bar at the Rhapsody, which is in Symphony Center. It's not too noisy, despite being a bar, and the food is good, not too huge portions, and it's less expensive than the restaurant. A good spot for people-watching, too, and, in fact, I ran into an acquaintance.

The snow held off until late night/early morning, so Friday morning I had to dig my car out. My neighbor came home while I was doing so, and, after a bit of a struggle getting through the snow into his parking space, he muttered something about how he could have put in his resumé in San Francisco. I had to dig the car out because I a) had errands to run, and b) went to the opera last night and it was too cold and slushy to take the bus(es). Kevin treated us to dinner at The Tower Club, which is in the Civic Opera Building, so mere steps from the theatre, always nice on a nasty night. The opera was Lyric's first production of Porgy and Bess. I liked it, though some of the voices were not strong enough to stand up to the orchestra, and Bess really overacted in the first scene, though whether that was the choice of the soprano or the director, I can't say. The absolute best voices were Lester Lynch as Crown and Jermaine Smith as Sporting Life, as well as Eric Greene and Laquita Mitchell as Jake and Clara. The audience gave the show a standing ovation, which, enjoyable as it was, it really didn't merit.

And the latest at croc_sandwich

Cross-post from croc_sandwich
This was a tough one - not due to a dearth of material, but due to too much! I went out to take photos last weekend, and when I got home and started adding descriptions, I realized that just about every building I'd photographed was by Holabird & Roche. As a result, this was going to be a Holabird & Roche-fest, but there were a couple of others I couldn't resist posting, so it's not. But it is all Chicago!

( Holabird & Roche )

( Not Holabird & Roche )

Other things

Friday night, I went to Cineforum, Casa Italiana's movie night. They were showing De Sica's Umberto D, a 1952 neo-realist film, which I had never seen. It was very good, and generated much discussion afterwards. It's the story of a pensioner, who has no family or real friends, other than his dog, and his struggle to make ends meet in post-war Rome.

Yesterday, I was back at the Newberry Library for David Douglass' discussion of the Consort's last concert (which I mentioned in this post). There was much digression into music theory and notation, which, even for a non-musician such as myself, was really quite interesting. David dropped a bit of information about some of their plans for the next couple of seasons. Among other things, they are going to be dedicating concerts to the memory of musicologist Howard Mayer Brown, the first of which will be Venetian music from Carnevale and Ash Wednesday, as HMB died in Venice at Carnevale.

Last night, I went to the Goodman to see Horton Foote's Talking Pictures. What a marvelous play! Set in Texas in 1929, it deals with the changes wrought by technology and how people cope (or don't cope) with them. The main character, Myra, a divorcée, supports herself and her 14-year-old son by playing piano at the picture show. But with the advent of talkies, her job is threatened and she has to figure that out. The two teen-aged sisters of the family she boards with, Vesta and Katie Belle, are a study in contrasts. Vesta prefers the known, she's the sister you know will "tell" if the other does something outside the norm. Katie Belle, on the other hand, is the one who makes friends with the son of Mexican Baptist preacher (her family is Methodist, so whether it's the "Mexican" or the "Baptist" part that shocks Vesta most isn't certain), sneaks off to the picture show and wants a wider world. The acting was so great that, at the end, when Katie Belle says that she wants to go to Mexico someday, you feel certain that she will.

Goodman is doing a whole Horton Foote Festival, in fact. As part of one of the regular subscription series, they are also doing Trip to Bountiful. But off the series, they are doing an evening of two, one-act plays, and they've offered free tickets to subscribers, so I'm going to that, and also to some other "free to subscriber" events, such as "A Conversation with Horton Foote", with cake and champagne to celebrate his 92nd (!) birthday. But the one I am looking forward to most is a program called "Anatomy of a Trial: To Kill a Mockingbird, the Scottsboro Boys and the Jena 6". They haven't said who will be on the "distinguished panel of historians and social activists", but I'm hoping this will be as interesting a program as it ought to be!

Yesterday, I went to the Cultural Center again, this time for a concert by the Baroque Band, one of Chicago's newest early music ensembles. The music was Vivaldi, Purcell, Bach, Corelli, Telemann and Pachelbel (yes, that one, you'd think he never wrote anything else!). Before the concert, I went to Millennium Park to check out the Museum of Modern Ice. What can I say? I was underwhelmed. Although some of the pieces had interesting patterns in them, the whole was rather dull and uninspiring, and the colors were garish. You can see some of the artist's work here. Then I wandered over to the skating rink, where some people were having fun!


Tonight, I went to the Oriental Institute, where the Venere Lute Quartet and two members of the Newberry Consort were giving a concert of Renaissance music in the Khorsabad Court. Here's hoping the OI hosts more concerts there! It's a nice space, and if you get there early you can check out the mummies. ;-)) There was a wine-and-cheese reception afterwards, which I hadn't expected. I was talking to the director of the Consort (who is also a member of the Baroque Band), and he said that they are trying to a) find larger space, or b) give two concerts in Hyde Park. So that's very good to hear! He had to reschedule the seminar he gives the week before each concert because a recording in which he and his wife, soprano Ellen Hargis, participated has been nominated for a Grammy, and they are off to L.A.! So wish them luck.

It's been a very foggy day here. All flights were cancelled at Midway, and at O'Hare they were either cancelled or very late. The drive home tonight required care and attention! But the fog makes everything beautiful.

When I did get home, well, it was kitty heaven! And why? Because I got a parcel in the mail - a nice big box filled with packing peanuts and bubble wrap. Just perfect for cats! For me, an antique Japanese sewing box, which I plan to use for jewelry. I saw it on Chuu.com, one of my favorite, and most dangerous, websites, and it was quite reasonably priced, so I ordered it immediately!