Fishnets for Vigoda!

Feel free to borrow this picture and post it on your own blogs, any of my many readers and fans! My pals G.W. and Wayne are trying to drum up lots of hits to provide Abe Vigoda with fishnets for life. Judging by the gams on that guy, he was MADE to wear the risque hosiery. Do your part!

And now, an update on the fluffy white divacat.

She's holding her own.

We went through a patch where she wouldn't allow us to give her the pill (a cat's tongue can be almost prehensile if said feline does not want you to cram something down her throat) and she wouldn't eat. Anything. And you know, she's a gal who always liked her food. We took her to the vet, expecting to hear the worst--she was fading pretty fast. But lo and behold, they did an x-ray and determined that her chest was clear of fluid. All her signs were good, except for she was down to nine pounds (this from a gal whose top weight was fifteen, and who weighed fourteen pounds at last year's visit). And the blood work they did indicated that her electrolytes were seriously out of balance due to the heavy duty diuretics she was no longer allowing us to give to her.

So the vet fed her, hydrated her with fluid infused with potassium, gave her her pill with this gadget that shoots the pill right back into the cat's throat... we bought one post-haste, and gave us an additional prescription for potassium to add to her daily capsule. She made a few return visits for feeding and such, and then she started eating on her own. Now she's scarfing the food down like there's no tomorrow (and who knows?), and she's back to her diva-ish, hissy self. Cooing to her sock toy, grooming, even letting me brush her as long as I don't get near the massive mats she has on her hindquarters from when she wouldn't let me brush her... So far, she's doing a lot better. Who knows how long she actually has, but hey--we'll take what we can get.

Here she is in all her infirm splendor, with her new Ugly Doll:

Lucky 13!

Thirteen years ago Jeff and I went down into Grand Caverns as single persons and emerged a married couple. I know, I know. It's so kitsch to get married in a cave. Except it was just perfect for us. Outside on that early August evening it was 95 degrees with probably 95% humidity. Inside the cave, a nice, cool 60 degrees or so. Maybe even fewer. The candlelit limestone ballroom deep beneath the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley was beautiful, and the music reverberated through the chamber as if it were written to be played there.

And here we are, thirteen years later, happy and healthy and hoping for many, many more years together.

A bit of trivia. Although it appears that the photographer captured a moment of starry-eyed, lovey-dovey eye-making in this snap, the reality is that Jeff has just told me that the air conditioning in our car made a squealing sound and died just as he drove off to the cave. My smile is in transition towards a very worried look indeed!

Here are a few more pictures of the festivities:

We danced...

we dined (although I don't have a picture of us scarfing down pizza, which was what we served (it's a long story...)

and we drank the evening away.

Then we headed off to ride go-karts and face the happily ever after.



Oh--and for the big finish? We went to dinner tonight at Prairie Moon up in Evanston (lovely spot--great wine, excellent food!), and as fate would have it, we headed home in the midst of a raging thunderstorm, complete with tornado warning! Yes! Warning. None of your wimpy watches for us. We actually found a parking spot on our block, and we sat for a moment or two waiting for the deluge to abate. Then, in the middle of a particularly flashy lightning display, we realized that the car we were sheltering in was parked right under a big tree. We hauled it (I mean, our own keisters, not the car) down the block and into the building, but not before we got DRENCHED. Ah well, at least the run helped us digest all that great food...

More Skeery Graveyard Stuff...

Well, it's not ALL skeery. But due to popular demand, here are some more pics from our cemetery stroll.


Judging from the previous post, you might think that all the monuments in Graceland are of the vintage variety, but they are still burying folks there to this day, as far as I know. Witness this relatively modern example, which graces the grave of an architect. Magpie that I am, I was attracted by the big hunk of aqua glass, glistening in the sun.


Here is the final resting place of another famous Chicago architect. Nice bas relief, Louie.


Speaking of bas reliefs, check out this portly fellow.


Not too far from Mr. Huck, just across the lane, is this monument to a fireman. I would say "fire fighter" to be politically correct, but I think the guy considered himself to be a fireman back in the day, and so I will honor his self-perception.


The stonework and detailing of some of these monuments is just stunning. Note the Celtic tracery on this cross...

and on the wall of this vault.


Speaking of vaults, check out this one with its subterranean entrance and its own ventilating system. I have to say, that creeped me out a bit...


This angel, rather the worse for erosion, resides near the Sullivan stone and the Celtic cross.


Although the cemetery is incredibly well-kept, vandals have managed to make some inroads. I'm not sure how long ago this damage was done, though. This place has been around a long, long time, and this looks like an old, old monument.


This is one of the newer monuments, but, since it features an angel (or specter) emerging right out of the granite, I think it's also darned sinister.


Finally, I think this sculpture most aptly portrays the atmosphere that pervades a cemetery. If only we could have one moment more...

A Trip to Graceland

No, not to the shrine of white trash decorating aesthetics, although somewhere I have some pictures from my visit there with Beth several *ahem* yes, several years ago, but to the vast cemetery on the north side of Chicago where so many of the city's greats are buried. Jeff and I went for a stroll through the necropolis several weeks ago, and I've been meaning to upload and post my pictures of the place for a while now... so turn on all the lights (or, depending on your mood, douse them) and enjoy.


This is the infamous Graves (yes! Graves!) Monument, which, before the days of digital photography, was reported to resist all attempts to photograph it clearly. As you can see, it photographs just fine. But it IS way creepy!



I found the door of this monument to be much more chilling than a huge honkin' statue of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The door, slightly ajar, chained and padlocked against... vandals who would break in? Or something that might break out? Hmmmm?



Well, I guess if you were born far too late and in far too distant a land to be interred with all the trappings of a pharaoh, if you have the do-re-mi you can do the next best thing--insist upon your own pyramid. All kidding aside, this tomb has lovely details.

The angel,

the steely eyed sphinx,

the stained-glass window, visible through the door to the mausoleum itself... Say, that dude has some keys--think that might be St. Peter?
And I'm sure it all had some deep, meaningful symbolism connected with it. Or else the guy (or his family) just thought it was cool.


Daniel Burnham, whose architectural vision shaped Chicago as it rose from the ashes of the great fire, is buried in Graceland, and you might think he would also command an imposing tomb such as our pyramid guy's. But you would be wrong. Here is Daniel's grave, set on a tiny, wooded island on Graceland's small lake--an island he shares with his wife, his children, and their spouses:



Among the other famous markers in Graceland, this purportedly haunted statue has a particularly remarkable history:
It is supposedly the final resting place of Inez Clarke, and the statue is alleged to move around in her little case and sometimes even disappear from it. Over the years, children visiting the cemetery are said to have encountered Inez playing near the monument. Odd that, because it turns out that Inez never existed in the first place! Check out the link for the whole story.

There's just no way to do justice to all the weird variety of monuments to life and death in this place. I have far more photos than I can share here, but rest in peaceful assurance that the place has stone trees
and real trees (skeery ones at that!), rows of tombs worthy of inclusion in a Hammer horror movie, and silent sentinels, keeping constant prayerful vigil and creeping out passersby for the foreseeable future and beyond.

But I think the most unnerving photo of the bunch was this one, which shows how wind, rain, and ice can all but obliterate images on stones that we know were meant to last, well, if not forever, for some approximation thereof:

I mean, what the heck WAS this supposed to picture?

Pleasant dreams!

Ukulele!!

This is my most excellent birthday present!! Isn't it cute? It's so tiny and tuneful!

Why a ukulele, you may ask? Well, I've been joking about getting a uke for ages now, but I was never serious. I mean, who plays a ukulele these days? Tiny Tim's been dead for years.

But then I ran across the Stringbusters, the alter-egos of Pete and Maura Kennedy (aka the Kennedys), who are among my favorite folk acts. Maura came out of the same Syracuse music scene that spawned the Poptarts, and she once played in a band with my little brother (although I don't think they got along well at all--heh!). Anyway, once while googling the Kennedys to see if they had a new CD coming out, I ran across the info on the Stringbusters. I was quick to buy their CD. And I was hooked. What I love is that it's fairly easy to play (although ukulele virtuosity, I think, is a bit harder to achieve), and it lends itself so well to the old tin pan alley standards I so love.

So now, after Jeff and I run through our nightly practice, I sit and do my own little uke practice--I'm getting pretty good at "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along"!

And super-extra wonderful?? Jeff bought a teensy AQUA case for the ukulele!! It was a happy birthday!

Tag! I'm It! (and some updates)

My cyberpal Anne-Marie has tagged me for the meme that follows, so here goes:

What was I doing 10 years ago?

On this day exactly? I don't recall. But I know it was at about this time ten years ago that Jeff and I seriously started considering buying a condo. The rent on our tiny apartment kept climbing, and I started doing mortgage calculations online and realized we could buy something twice the size for the same monthly payment. Given, of course, that we could pull a down payment together. That's when I really started freelancing in earnest to supplement our earnings.

5 Things on my to-do list:

1. Bills
2. Order Mom's birthday present
3. Send Mom's birthday card
4. Clear out guest room/office to make way for new bookshelves
5. Assemble new bookshelves and contact Erin to pick up old bookshelves (yeah, I know... I snuck in an extra thing).

Snacks I enjoy:

How long a list can this be? I absolutely LOVE dried cherries, but I can decimate an entire huge bag of them from Costco in one sitting, so I don't purchase them anymore... avoiding temptation! I also love to snack on pecans, but I tend to over-snack on them too. I like fresh fruit, in season. And my new discovery, snack-wise, are Weight Watcher's giant latte popsicles. They are only one point and huge and insanely yummy.

What would I do if I were a billionaire?

I would buy one of the lakefront homes I covet up in Evanston (Jeff and I would have to hash this out, because we have different favorites, and I don't think either one of us would want to compromise...). The house would have to be retrofitted with a huge, soundproofed music room with state of the art recording facilities, though. We would insist. I would hire someone to help my mom keep house, and I would have her entire house refurbished. I would buy a few vacation homes... in the Shenandoah Valley, in Wisconsin, in San Francisco, in London, in Paris... maybe in New Zealand, although I'd have to travel there first to see if it is really as amazing as it seems. I'd donate to a bunch of charities: Doctors without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, Macular Degeneration Research, etc. I'd also go back to college and get another degree... this time in geology.

Places I have lived:

Waynesboro, VA
Harrisonburg, VA
Syracuse, NY
Boston, MA
San Francisco, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL

Jobs I've Had:

Day camp counselor
Fast food handler (no kidding, that was the official Burger King job title)
Cashier
Inventory taker
Factory/testing area clerk
College instructor
New wave superstar (well, almost: rhythm guitar, backing vocalist, harmony arranger)
Music store clerk and sheet music buyer
Public relations assistant
Admin assistant in a brokerage firm
Temp, temp, temp, temp
Manuals editor
Surface designer (fabric, giftwrap)
Freelance writer and editor
Textbook editor and editorial manager

5 people I'm tagging:

Oh gosh... hmmm. I'm trying to think of five. Okay guys--do it or not, entirely up to you!
G.W. Ferguson
Erin
Jenn
Von
Gina

And now, for updates.

First, on the job front. Today was supposed to be my last day. I had been talking to the folks up in Reading, because they are really in a crunch and can use experienced folks, but the offer was slow in coming. I dragged myself into work this morning, fully expecting to drop off my pass, my corporate Amex card, and my laptop and all its accouterments to the powers that be at around noon. Then I was going to head out, licking my wounds and running some errands. At five minutes to noon, I got the call: an offer from Reading. It's as a supervisory editor rather than a manager, but the salary's the same... I took it. So for now, I still have my view. Actually I think it's going to be a good gig for now. We'll see what the future brings. But DAMN!! If HR had made the call ten minutes later!! Yikes!

Second, a Shelly health update. We've been able to cram the capsule down her gullet every morning. She hates it, and she fights it, but so far we have prevailed. Her breathing is much better. She's not eating very much, though, which worries me. And she seems very listless. It's really clear that she's fading. She still hops up in bed with us and snuggles and purrs, though. She doesn't seem to be in pain. So for now, we watch and wait. We're taking her in for some blood work in a couple of weeks (if she lasts) to see if the meds need adjusting. I just wish it would cool down a bit. I know she's not too comfy with that fluffy coat, although it's not nearly as fluffy as it used to be. Poor kitty!

Third... Next post (unless something momentous intervenes), I will introduce you to my excellent birthday present! So cute! So tuneful! And relatively easy peasy to play!! Stay tuned!

Part Two of the Street Fair Stuff

A week after Custer's Last Stand (scroll down a couple of posts if you need a refresher), Evanston holds its Fountain Square Art Festival. Fountain Square is right in the heart of downtown Evanston, and the art festival is one of the jewels in Evanston's street fair crown. I wrote up last year's festival--you can find it in the archives--and this year I headed there on the last Saturday in June to take it all in.

But first, just for my pal Barb...
Ah, the Funnel Cake. Staple of street fairs the nation over--maybe even the WORLD over. But I am proud to say that I withstood temptation and refused to partake of the sugar-dusted confection.

There were a variety of arts and crafts that spanned the spectrum from incredibly expensive original oil paintings to fun stuff to hang in a window on a patio. Here are some "tree earrings" I thought were sufficiently sparkly to whet my magpie's appetite.
I love the autumn hues.

My favorite stuff, though, was, as last year, the guy who made funky creatures and busts out of old found household objects. Here's the tent:

And here are a few closer glimpses of his handiwork:
Some masks,

some cool heads,

and these strange creatures. How I would love to purchase some of his work! Maybe one day. Maybe next year!

This year I picked up a card from his tent, so I can reveal that this funky finery is the brainchild of Steve Meadows of S. D. Meadows Folk Art Gallery in Palestine, Illinois.

I made one purchase at the festival, and that was this woodblock print from Marvin and Wendy Hill that I have coveted since last year:

A few years ago, I purchased a very cool piece from Marvin and Wendy at this self-same show. Since then, though, Marvin has passed away. His wife Wendy is keeping his art and his memory alive, though, by continuing to print, color, mat, and frame his woodblocks. I just love his stuff!

And look what else was at the art festival:
The soft-serve ice cream booth! Yay and yum!

Alas, just as with the fair at Main and Custer the previous week, the weather stepped in to wreak havoc. About a half hour after I returned home, there was a scary blast of wind followed by an intense thunderstorm. But the wind--I've never experienced anything like it. According to news reports, it was 65 miles an hour. And it wasn't just a quick, intense whoosh. It lasted for fifteen seconds or more and it sounded like freight train, with doppler effect and everything. It tore limbs off the trees all up and down our street (a major thoroughfare), and it apparently devastated a large part of the Fountain Square Art Festival. Here's a entry from an eyewitness's blog. I only hope that the artists who lost so much were adequately insured. Still, it's hard to lose work that represents so much imagination, effort, and time.

Next Evanston fair up is not really a street fair at all, but the Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival in Dawes Park. That's next week. I love this fair. I hope we can make it this year. If we do, and if the weather cooperates, I'll provide some pictures and commentary!