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!

A quiet day yesterday, and then in the evening several of us from my local college alumnae group met at Lincoln Park Zoo to see the ZooLights:


Every year, the zoo does a fabulous display of lights, but this is the first year I've gone. It was insanely crowded, and most of the animals chose to sleep:

but that was okay. We wandered about, chatting and taking pictures, and then went to the cafeteria for hot cider or hot chocolate. I had a good time.

Today, I went out, ran a few errands, and got a bottle of champagne, which I will pop at midnight. There's a local store I like, called "What the Traveler Saw", that was having an "up to 50% off" sale, so I checked it out and did some damage. I found a long, unlined, drapey black coat perfect for travel, and as I was headed to the counter to pay for it, my eye was caught by a large ring with a faceted red stone. Now, I don't usually wear large rings, but I put this on and it was awesome - and half-price. So I succumbed, and then one of the other sales clerks said, "did you see the earrings?" Hoo, boy. Yeah, I did. (They're rubies, from Turkey. Not gem-quality, obviously, but it's the funky-ness of them that I like. Click through to Flickr and check out the band on the ring. Definitely not average.)
Then I stopped in at another local store, The Fair Trader, just to let them know that my sister loved the wood and horn salad servers I got her for Christmas.

The cat and I are hanging out together tonight. I will have champagne. She'll have whatever she wants!

The holiday season is now in full swing, with lots of shopping opportunities. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust has a shop in The Rookery, a Burnham and Root designed office building with later renovations by Wright. They had an event a few days ago with choir, champagne and sweets, and tours, so how could I pass that up? I used it more as a photo op than a shopping op, though:

(More pretty pics here.)

Yesterday, my friends Barb and Patrice, a bookbinder and potter respectively, had their annual open house cum sale. I enjoyed their gingerbread cake and hot cider, and bought a nice garden journal for my sister and a small, lidded casserole dish for me.

Saturday was the Hyde Park Art Center's auction, "Party with an Artist". It was fun, and my neighbor Marva, also a potter, had a piece up for auction. (I'll be going to her open house/sale next weekend!) There were several pieces that intrigued me, but starting bids on most were a bit rich for my blood. However, I did successfully bid on one, an abstract (not my usual!) piece called "Among the Rafters":


As I was leaving the house to go there, I saw three boxes of books sitting by the dumpster. My initial excitement faded, however, when I realized that they were almost all out-of-date economics textbooks. However, I did retrieve two Harvard Classics volumes: Charles Dana's Two Years Before the Mast, and Twenty-Four Years After, and a volume with bits of Plato, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.

One of the things that I decided to do once I retired was to join The Saints, an organization of volunteers for the arts, to do some ushering. I did my first event on Saturday, at a performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors by the Chicago Chamber Opera, at the main library. That opera is one of my earliest television memories, being the very first show I saw on the first television my family owned. It was stage-directed by Menotti's son, Francis, and choreographed by Dame Libby Komaiko. I sniffled, as always.

In other things operatic, we went to Ariadne auf Naxos at Lyric on Friday, and enjoyed it tremendously.

Today, I dug up my rosemary from the planter on the back porch, put it in a pretty pot, and brought it indoors to sit on my kitchen window sill:


Apropos of nothing, just because she's cute:

First opera of the season Friday night! The first trick was figuring out how to get to the garage where I normally park, as there is major construction on Lower Wacker Drive, and I can't get to it from my usual route. I called the building, and they were very helpful, even emailing me a map with all the various closures and alternate routes. But, in the end, I found a simpler way, though any route involves going north and east to then go west and south! We had decided to have dinner at the Corner Bakery at Michigan and Wacker, and then take the water taxi to Madison where the Opera House is. Since I parked near the Opera House, I took the taxi both ways. The Madison St. stop is by one of the major commuter train stations, so a lot of people use it for commuting, but it's also a great way to get a view of downtown that you wouldn't ordinarily see.

The opera was Verdi's Macbeth, and was directed by Barbara Gaines, who is the artistic director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It's her first opera production, and was quite successful. Of course, it didn't hurt that Lady Macbeth was sung by Nadja Michael, who is gorgeous, physically and vocally, and was, as one of my companions described her, "a force of nature". Thomas Hampson was Macbeth.

Today, I went to the Chicago Symphony. It was supposed to be Riccardo Muti conducting Cherubini's Requiem, but he has cancelled his fall appearances due to illness, so the concert had morphed into Pierre Boulez conducting Mahler's Symphony No. 7. Though Cherubini is definitely more my speed, I did love the Mahler! It's hard to believe that when it was first performed people found the music "incomprehensible", as to the modern ear it is quite melodic. One hundred years certainly changes things!

So I bought this sweater yesterday (ignore the price, I never pay retail!), in the gray/black. The picture doesn't do it justice. From even a short distance, the collar looks like crushed velvet, and it reminds me of architect Jeanne Gang's Aqua tower.

Okay, there's a kid somewhere in the 'hood learning to play the trumpet. I can hear him when I'm in my study. He's not very good. I sure hope he improves! ;-)

and ignored the weather report and the skies. I had thought about going downtown to the Turkish Festival today, but, when I finished my early morning farmers' market/yard sale/dry cleaning errands, it was gray and cloudy and sprinkly, and the forecast was for rain. So I didn't. Naturally, it didn't rain and the sun came out, but too late for me to change my mind. Ah, well. Instead, I planted some herbs that I bought at the local farmers' market this morning, and then sat outside and read. Always a pleasure! Did laundry, too.

I also hung up my latest present to myself:

I'm in the habit of browsing Kimono Flea Market Ichiroya, but never really thought about ordering anything from them, considering shipping costs and a bit of hesitation about ordering from abroad. Then I fell in love with this wedding kimono. I did a bit of sleuthing (mainly checking their feedback on eBay, but also found some other, favorable mentions), so decided to risk it. I ordered it Thursday of last week and it arrived on Tuesday! I now have a lovely garment hanging on the wall and the cats have a new box to sit in.

While I was at the farmers' market, I bought the first strawberries of the season, just picked this morning, and are they ever good! The guy threw in some asparagus as a "bonus", which I will have for dinner tonight. I also got a green tomato, for frying. (Speaking of fried green tomatoes, my favorite restaurant for them, Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop (also a fave of Barack Obama's) is closing their Hyde Park location, due to machinations of the University of Chicago. The owner has another restaurant in the area and will add some of the favorite dishes of Dixie Kitchen to that menu, but it won't be the same. She's looking for another space, but isn't having a lot of luck.)

There's a community garden near the farmers' market, and I had the urge to wander about and take a bunch of pictures. In the course of so doing, I discovered a new use for old books:

(This garden likely won't be here next year, also due to machinations of the U of C.)

It is yard sale season, and I went to a couple this morning. Got some books, and a spiffy knee-length sleeveless black linen dress with white stitching at the hem and waist and a black ribbon tie that had never been worn. The tags were still on it!

Despite the above grumpiness about the University, there is a free concert at Mandel Hall this evening, Behold, the Sea!. The University Chorus and Motet Choir, along with the University Symphony Orchestra, are doing Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 1, A Sea Symphony, and Benjamin Britten's Four Sea Interludes from his opera, Peter Grimes.

I can't believe it's nearly two weeks since I've posted here! So, what's been going on?

Years ago, when I lived up in the northern 'burbs, there was a place I bought clothes, really a sample shop. She'd call when stuff came in and then you'd go and she'd find stuff that looked great on you even if you didn't think it would. She's the woman who talked me into a yellow pantsuit! And everything was very well made. When I lost 20 pounds, it was worth it to me to have things altered. I still wear suits I bought from her a dozen years ago. I stopped going by when I moved to the city, but a couple of weeks ago, she called and I did go up on a Saturday, and I now have some excellent new clothes (not all in my closet yet - she won't let anything out the door unless it fits the client perfectly, so some are being altered).

In other fashion news, I stopped by Kate Spade for an appearance by Tim Gunn. He's as charming and elegant in person as he is on television:


I went to a seminar downtown a week ago yesterday. As always, I ran into people I hadn't seen in a while, so stopped afterward for a drink. Then it appeared that Border's was having a sale on CDs, so I bought a few, and then went over to the Cultural Center where there were some shows opening. Two were "meh", but there was one, Articles of Faith, photographs of African-American storefront churches in Chicago, that I really liked.

Last weekend was fairly quiet. I went up to my friend DeeJay's for our monthly dinner, and brought a pumpkin mousse. One of the easiest desserts ever. Buy a can of pumpkin filling (the kind that already has the spices in it). For every cup of filling, whip up 1/2 cup of whipping cream. Fold in. Freeze. An hour before serving, put it in the refrigerator to soften. Serve. Watch it disappear. Accept compliments.

The entire last week was pretty quiet. But the weather turned glorious, and put me in a spring frame of mind. So this morning I took the winter comforter off the bed and the winter kimono off the wall above it, and dressed the bed in spring green:


I have also: done two loads of laundry, swept floors, polished the dining room table and sideboard. Shortly, I will take the winter comforter and some other things to the dry cleaner and go exchange a theatre ticket.

It looks like it might rain. But who cares? It's warm!

I bought four suitcases today.


There's a home décor store across the street from me that is closing. The building was sold and is being completely rehabbed, and all the tenants are being kicked out. So she's having a big sale, and I wandered over today and bought a few small items. Then I asked the fatal question. "Are you selling those suitcases, too?" And she was and gave me a good price. They're wood, but are covered in some sort of leather-like fabric. The straps are leather and the trim is wood, with small metal studs. I'm rather fond of the latches, too:



I'll use them to store stuff, but the smallest could actually be used as a handbag (it's 13"x8"x5").

This evening I went to see Il Divo, an Italian movie about Giulio Andreotti. It's excellent, though a modicum of familiarity with Italian politics is helpful.

Wednesday night, my friends and I went to the Goodman to see a play called "Gas for Less" (yea, really, that's what it's called). It was about an independent gas station on the far north side of Chicago, and it's going under. The play is set on two dates in late 2005, and much of it revolves around the guys watching Bears football games. I'm convinced that the playwright meant much of the football stuff to be relevant, but it sailed right over my head, as I don't have the first clue about football generally or the Bears specifically. We had dinner first at Trattoria Ten, always good. When we were leaving, I noticed that Jim and Kevin were at the bar, so I stopped to chat. They were on their way to Chicago Opera Theatre's Orlando (see below).

Thursday I went to the CSO - Dvorák's Symphony No. 8 in G major, and Ives' A Symphony: New England Holidays, conducted by Michael Tilson-Thomas. I enjoyed it very much. However, I've decided I'm not going to re-subscribe next season, but will get individual tickets instead. Looking at the various series, I realized that there wasn't any one series where I wanted to hear every concert, and that I'd be better off getting single tickets for the things I really want to hear. It's been a bit logistically difficult, too, this year.

Saturday began with a few errands, and then a stop at a local consignment shop that was having a 50% off sale. I love consignment shops! I got a pair of shoes (black high heels), two dresses, two skirts and a belt all for around $30 (the shoes were the single most expensive item). Then I stopped at O'Gara's to pick up a book they were holding for me, The Smithsonian Book of Books.

The weather being absolutely gorgeous (I think summer may actually have arrived!), I spent a good part of the afternoon hanging out on the porch drinking iced tea, reading, and explaining to Lilith that, no, she could not go into the neighbor's apartment.

I had a ticket for Handel's Orlando that evening, at the Harris Theatre, and as the Gospel Fest was happening just behind the Harris at the Pritzker Pavilion, I decided to go down early and catch some music there. I don't usually get to go to Gospel Fest, as it is ordinarily the same weekend as the Printers Row Book Fair and the 57th Street Art Fair. But, for some reason, it's a week earlier this year (Blues Fest will be next weekend, along with the aforesaid book fair and art fair.)

I had figured on just grabbing a hot dog at one of the stands for dinner, but then I saw this sign:


So I headed left and had some short ribs with sauce. The most amazing thing happened! I was wearing a white linen dress and did not get one single, solitary drop of barbecue sauce on it. I think that's a first. I had my camera (I seem to carry it everywhere these days) and took lots of photos, primarily of intricately braided hairstyles.

The opera was excellent (I do love Handel! all those counter-tenors!). They'd moved the scene from the time of the Crusades to WWII, and while I don't think the updating added anything, it didn't detract, either. There was a pre-opera lecture by the conductor, Raymond Leppard, who made some snide remarks about "Eurotrash" productions, but he said he had no problems with this one. He also said that the opera was rather about "Make war, not love", and that it was probably Mr. Bush's favorite. Snickers all round from the audience. I ran into Eric and Ed in the lobby beforehand, and again at intermission, and Eric (who should know) was quite impressed with Tim Mead, who sang the title role.

Mira came over today to pick up the keys. I shall have to get her keys to the basement doors as well, as she has a bike and will need to stash it there. She'll be moving in probably June 22, for about four weeks.

More hanging about reading this afternoon, and then over to the University for Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, with the University Symphony Orchestra, University Chorus and Motet Choir. Back home for a ribeye steak and asparagus, and a tomato, scallion, radicchio and endive salad, with green tea ice cream for dessert.

I do have to go in for jury duty tomorrow, so I'm hunting up a big, thick book to take with me.

Back in January, I spoke at a Continuing Legal Education seminar. Today, the folks that put it on sent me a complimentary copy of the DVDs from the program, which is very cool because they normally would have charged $180! I watched myself, and was not appalled.

Now, a few minutes ago, I came to my friends page and found the feed from this blog entry from a favorite bookseller. Scroll down to the second and third photos. I saw those, grabbed the phone, and said, "Oh, please tell me you haven't sold the lunchbox yet!" And she said, "I was just about to put it in the window." To which I replied, "Please don't! I have to have that." So she put it aside for me.

I have bond court this weekend - we take it in turns, and generally have it every 3-4 months. We were done fairly quickly this morning. A woman came in on a warrant for parking tickets - fifty of them! It would have been a lot less expensive for her if she'd just bought the damn permit. Then there was the kid (18) who'd missed a court date because he had two on the same day. On being asked by the judge why he hadn't taken care of the warrant, he said, "My mom deals with my cases." Hmm, maybe that's why he has so many . . . Followed by the EMT you hope won't respond to your 911 call. Having been released from the next county over on a DUI, he picked up a reckless driving charge and a ticket for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

Later, I went downtown to do a couple of errands, and went over to the Cultural Center for a noontime concert, "Red, Hot and Cole",Bradford Newquist singing Cole Porter songs. This was one of a series of cabaret concerts they are doing in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Ice, which I'm going to check out in the near future.

After that, I stopped into T.J. Maxx and made a haul! I've been looking for a black suit, and found one I liked for a very reasonable price, though I'll have to get the skirt altered (shortened and taken in a bit). While there, I browsed their clearance racks - just can't resist that word. I found a couple of blouses at $10 each, and a short dusty blue suede Anne Klein jacket that will be great for wearing with jeans - $15. (Here is the same jacket on eBay.)

Most recent croc_sandwich posts are here and here.