Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Chicagoing
Uncle Carl, Aunt Kathy and their/our friend Don came to visit last weekend. I love being the tour guide and it means a lot to me when family and friends come visit. So, I was really looking forward to the adventure. On an index card I had written down everything I wanted to show them about Chicago. Here's a recap:

FRIDAY
I met Carl, Kathy and Don at the Palmer House Hilton downtown. Beautiful lobby. Worth wandering around in. I presented them with white envelopes with yellow keys drawn - Your Key to the City! - on them containing a ticket for the boat tour and a 3 day CTA pass.

The Berghoff - comfort food in a great cozy wood-clad restaurant. And I got my favorite, the creamed spinach.

Chicago Cultural Center - This is a must on my list. I adore the CCC a gorgeous, free, public building filled with art. I only wish I had seen Preston Bradley Hall as it was as a library.

Millennium Park - Hot, hot, humid, humid night walking the park. I pointed at things and talked about them. Visited the Bean:


Buckingham Fountain - it's a grand old fountain. Love those seahorses, heavy on horse.

Back to Palmer House and I say g'night.

SATURDAY
Field Museum - Free pass from the library! Hooray! Looked at beautiful objects from China's Forbidden City. Too many people. Looked at loads and loads of dead animals/skeletons in glass cases. Very entertained by them. At one point I thought, "Shit. There's a lot of animals in the world."
Here's one of the elephants in the lobby:


Hey Sushi - Remarkably, Kathy asked if we could get sushi for lunch, since they hadn't had it before. Sure. I was their sushi sherpa. Nothing too crazy, the strangest to their Minnesota palate was Tobiko (orange fish roe, the tiny kind). Turns out Uncle Carl loves kimchee. Who knew?! He gets it down the street at the Korean grocery. How long has Fridley held such wonders?

Carl, Kathy and Don all looked pained, but they said they liked it and thanked me for the new experience.

Lincoln Park Conservatory - Mmmm... smell the green!





Made you look.

Lincoln Park Zoo - As the antidote for the AM, we saw live animals in the PM. Gray, drizzly day, so only us diehards and those with ponchos were in attendance.

And the polar bears.

This polar bear is available in a free desktop image over here.


I got half a dozen stellar giraffe pics that day. Here's just one.


Penguin heaven.


Crackmunky, nod to Andrew. I saw this guy and I just cracked up. Then I apologized to it for laughing.

The new Ape House is darn nice.

We were all damp and tuckered out, so I escorted Carl, Kathy and Don back to the Palmer, with a CTA map marked with a dinner place suggestion. I had two parties to attend.

At Anne's 30th birthday party I had several super conversations. At one point Anne came up to me and said, "Brandy. I don't want to interrupt your conversation but John/Jon and Elizabeth are in the kitchen. Their son is thinking of going to Grinnell. Could you talk to them?"

Sure.

Had a fabulous time talking to Elizabeth and John/Jon. I think I was still in tour guide mode, talking a mile a minute. First about Grinnell, then about graphic facilitation, because they asked "So, what do you do for a living?"

Sadly, I never made it to Jodi and Josh's going away party. I send them best wishes on their move to Louisville.

Leaving Anne's party, she said the nicest darn thing. She said my knack for carrying on a conversation with anyone on nearly any topic reminded her of a Sidney Smith quote:

"Ah, you flavor everything; you are the vanilla of society."

Awwww. *blush* She was quick to add not vanilla in the boring sense!


SUNDAY


***We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you the following incident:***

Train Perv
I've lived in Chicago 8 years. I ride the train all the darn time. Sunday morning, I left the house in pink linen pants, a black shirt and big, pink daisy ponytail holders in my black hair.

In my periphery, I saw a thin, cagey black man that wouldn't sit still. I ignored him. I stood up and leaned against the dividers by the door, approaching my stop, Monroe. I glanced towards the cagey, squirrely guy, seeing that his penis was hanging out of his unzipped pants.

I've got a great poker face, so no change in my expression. Then I thought I've got three options:
A) Raise holy hell and scream at the guy "PUT YOUR DICK BACK IN YOUR PANTS, YOU A-HOLE."
B) Calmly walk over and pour the remainder of the Diet Coke I was drinking out into his lap. Exit the train.
C) Not complete the transaction. He continued to shuffle and squirm, still trying to catch my eye. He wants me to see. I have seen, but I didn't react. He continues to squirm.

I chose C. I continue to look out the window, stonefaced. I exit. I debated for less than a minute of standing there, and the best option was to not give this guy any power.

Walking towards the escalator, I just shook my head and took the pink daisies out of my hair thinking, "This is not a pink daisy kind of day."

I was deflowered.

***We now return to our regularly scheduled. We don't apologize for the inconvenience. That's life.***



SUNDAY
Ada's - Breakfast at Ada's Famous Deli. Always good. Salty waitress. I had a hankering for a matzoh ball. I got one with a plate of corned beef hash. I was not complaining.

Architecture Foundation Boat Tour - Super tour, as always. This was my third tour, first in fall of 1994, second in late summer of 1999? All were winners! Well worth the $25 ticket.


Here's the Sears Tower, glistening in the sun. It could be built so tall because it's nice different building bundled together making it stronger.


The monolithic IBM building after the sun broke through.


Here's a handsome dragon on the bridge house at Michigan and Wacker, southeast corner.

Chicago Tribune Building - A easy an absolute must on any tour is looking at the pieces of worldwide, famous buildings stuck in the first floor of the Chicago Tribune Building. Super. And I love that the Tribune was the answer to the missive "to create the most beautiful office building in the world." It is good to think big.

El Train/Subway - Wow, my family was really jonsing to ride the buses and trains! Friday was CTA-less, Saturday took us on the 22 and 151 buses, Sunday was train day. Post boat tour, I took Carl, Kathy and Don on the elevated Brown Line around half of the Loop. We got off to get Garrett's popcorn. We got on the Red Line subway to go from Jackson to Chicago. They were totally comfy on the trains and buses, once we got past our first turnstile.

Pizzeria Uno - As the reciprocal of Saturday's sushi lunch, we opted for the safety of pizza. Off to Pizzeria Uno the Home of Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. My first time there, and I loved that it was full of toppings, but not a big block of cheese, my problem with deep dish. Carl enjoyed it and Don deemed it the Best Pizza He Ever Had.

Not bad.

Full of pizza, we rolled back onto the Red Line to head north to my 'hood.

Kathy and Carl on a sunny Red Line.

My Apartment - Yes, a required stop on my tour. It was darn, darn lovely to have Carl, Kathy and Don see my apartment. I feel like someone doesn't really know me until they've spent some time in my apartment, and invitations are offered that often.

So we chilled out for awhile visiting and I played a moderate amount of Show and Tell. Turns out Uncle Carl collects dice too!

Ethiopian Diamond - For a concluding dinner, we met at my favorite Ethiopian Restaurant with Jim, Pat, Pat's mom Sandy and Pat's family friend Caroline. Fun, fun conversation and good, good food. Another new cuisine for Carl, Kathy and Don.

Trying to beat the city traffic in the morning, they left southbound on the Red Line to bed early and were on the road at 5 am. It hurts my nightowl brain thinking of it.

Walking home I felt so quiet and lonely, but super happy to have shared the time with them.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Saturday, August 28, 2004

THE SKY WAS FREAKING OUT.
I was woken up by a thunderstorm. Unbelievable storm. Nonstop lightning. I was having a stressful dream, no doubt induced by the storm. I wake up very disoriented. I realized how severe and spectacular the storm was.

I got up, wrapped myself in my supercomfy chenille blanket and laid on my window seat. And watched. Unbelievable. The most lighening I have ever seen. Remarkable. It was beautiful and even though I was completely exhausted, but I was compelled to watch.

Frightening. So much lightning that I imagine it was what bombing looks like. Clouds bright white in a most violent way.

Incredible.
posted on 8/28/2004 08:32:52 AM

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Monday, August 16, 2004

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Sunday the 1st
To Minnesota with Billy and Andrew. Tomah, Wisconsin, great old postcards of deer. Stopped at Perkins there.

A Pale Tomato. Andrew seemed so flummoxed by the menu (looking for vegetarian options, but seemed more baffled than that), that I started cracking up. Somehow my laughter made the sweet, young Perkins waitress ask if Andrew's British accent was fake. That flummoxed him further.

Splat down on my mom's guest bed at 2:30 am.

Monday the 2nd
Errands with Mom and Grandma. I'm wearing a black t-shirt, black linen pants and black Birkenstocks. Now that I have black hair too, people stare at me. Especially Minnesotans.

BBQ at Uncle Carl's and Aunt Aunt Kathy's.

Kathy cooks such healthy, good food that I wished some of those good cooking and eating habits rubbed off on me. If I lived by them, I'd mysteriously drop in around dinner time too often.

Tuesday the 3rd
Today is the day of laziness at my sis's.

Before my bro-in-law Mike leaves for his second shift job, he asks if I need any help foraging for food in their kitchen, grocery-less after a trip. Later he says, "You've got 15 minutes left for me to help you get food." I decline his offer. After he leaves, he calls my sis, Burgundy, and instructs, "Feed your sister." Meanwhile, I eat Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles and a pot pie. I drink a Cherry Coke and watch cable. Heaven.

That evening, bargains at Target, shopping with Burgundy. Home in time to watch Big Brother 5 and Amazing Race. Mike gets home early and is quite tolerant of our reality teevee fix.

Wednesday the 4th
I spend some time in bed reading The Time Travelers Wife. My friend Audrey wrote it. [Note: We're working together to build a site that archives much of Audrey's fantastic visual work.] I was finally reading the hardcover copy I asked her to sign for my mom. I easily slip into the world of Henry and Clare.

Off to Ikea that night. Sis's first trip there. I am a veteran, Burgundy's sherpa through the store. I buy <$5 worth of cards and twine.

Thursday the 5th
More time travelling vicariously. Go to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I look at plastics, and see my favorites. Lillian Colton's crop art is impressive. I like that Willie Nelson hangs to the right of Jesus Christ.

Drop in on Scott McCloud's MCAD class. I took it two years ago, and this year convinced three friends to sign up. I walk in 15 minutes short of the class, and I'm sure the other classmates want to know why this interloper is hugging their classmates and the teacher.

At 5pm we leave for dinner to return for McCloud's talk at 7pm. Fearing that the auditorium may be filled, I think about taping seats off to reserved them. Scott says, "why not?" and Andrew has tape. I do it. Because Minnesota is the Land of Terminally Polite, my tape stays in tact. We arrive right at 7 pm and Scott says, "I can't believe you actually taped the seats." The talk is good, Scott is always smart, organized and entertaining.

Friday the 6th
Another good chunk of The Time Travelers Wife read.

Aunt Nancy, Uncle Mike, Grandma Shirley and I hit the road for the cabin! Near Walker, Minnesota. We eat all-you-can-eat fried Walleye for dinner. Heaven. Nancy and Mike get rum and cokes and aunt, uncle and grandma pull pull tabs.

Saturday the 7th
Easy going at the cabin. Get to see Grandpa Jim, who's needed a hair cut - his ring of gray hair was a half inch long, making him look like an owl.

Nearby casino for a Virgin Mary at the bar with my aunt and her coworker Becky. Fun conversation. Free popcorn, free soda. I lose $5 on a nickel slot machine quickly. That's the extent of my gambling. Grandma wins.

That night we play the offical Holman family board game, Rail Barons. I am a hair away from winning - my stepdad Garry is one turn ahead of me winning!

I stay up late to finish The Time Traveler's Wife. Sat on the couch alone under a lamp. At a tense part near the end (the cage), the light bulb burns out, leaving me in the pitch black in the Northwoods where there is no light pollution.

Woah.

I relocate and finish reading. I don't profess to read much fiction to compare this to, but I enjoyed the book thoroughly. But then again, I know Audrey, her work, and the city of Chicago - all making it a great blend of familiarity and science fiction.

Sunday the 8th
Sunday morning, upstairs stinks from the smokers, so I retreat downstairs to read The Sex Issue of Print Magazine. Hubba hubba. We pack up and are back on the road.

Gorgeous clouds. Tasty beef jerky from a gas station.

Near home, we hear tornado sirens. Huh? It's cloudy, but nowhere near the omnious pink and green skies signalling tornadoes.

Nancy, Mike and I head to Tastee's pizza for more rum and cokes and pull tabs. Great to visit with them.

I stay up to an ungodly hour watching Junk Yard Wars: The Great Race and BBC America. If I were British, I'd be the reciprocal, unambitious version of myself, watching BBC 24/7. Fascinated with Without Predjudice.

Monday the 9th
To the airport. Groggy. I sleep through the flight. Get home. So happy to be home alone. Great visit, but my introverted self needed time to be alone and recharge. Loads of interesting email, voicemail and mail mail to catch up with. No crisises.

I make a pair of pants. The weather is strangely humid but cool. Sewing and quilting is not a summer sport, so I take advantage of the tepid temps to finish a quilt, a flannel top I finished in May 2003.

Tuesday the 10th
Hooray for this planned day of grace before I am required to be back to work. Delight.

Slowly, I'll slip back into Chicago mode.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Sunday, August 01, 2004

I'll being sketching, resting and reading in Minnesota with family until August 10th. Might blog, might not.

Category VI - The Strange
Attractor

Though you're not quite sure why, people are drawn
to you like moths to a flame. You really
are too cool for words.


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posted on 8/1/2004 11:53:25 AM