Mostly this is my public journal-what I’m thinking, feeling, doing.
Kon Mari employs the phrase “Does it spark joy?”
Sparking joy is the tipping point when one cannot decide if something should be kept. if the answer is no, than out it goes. That’s the short side of it at least.
Sparking joy can mean many, many things. Continue reading “Sparking Joy”
So FB is going to give me a $5-a bill with Mr. Lincoln’s face on it-to feature an ad with Mr. Lincoln’s umm junk?
I started this back in April. The course of research is often a serious rabbit hole. It’s worse when working without a deadline for you have the leisure to make strands into ropes. Today, though I found the knot at the end of it. Or so I thought…
A few months ago, I pulled out a small Hollinger box of vintage paper I’d been saving. I hoped each would find a home on Ebay or Etsy. I listed some. They went nowhere. The slick, grey box looks chic and minimalist. It lives under my coffee table.
Today I took another look….
I went to Calvary Cemetery today. It sits on the Evanston/Chicago border; it is officially in Evanston. It’s a little slice of nature in the city, I often see deer and have twice been “escorted” by a coyote. Take a look at my favorite photos.
I’ve never had to break up with a friend. Usually things just fade, one or both are perpetually “busy.” Part of the pact that is “Midwest nice” is that people get the message and it’s finished.
But I finally did have to break up with a long-time friend. Many things had been simmered for many months. I no longer found our friendship rewarding and felt annoyed after meeting with him. It finally blew up mid-December. I told him “let’s talk after the holidays.”
I often get offered a seat on the CTA. I usually take it.
Today, though I said “No Thank You.” I’ve been standing more lately; it really is a perfect opportunity to exercise my balance skills. I’m not good at standing and “phoning” either, so it maximizes my time off social media, too. Continue reading “The Joys of Standing on the CTA”
Throughout my adult life, I’ve been fascinated with the Persephone myth. There are so many interpretations and translations, it is impossible to tell what truly happened. Then, I don my 20th-and 21st-century glasses and the picture gets even more murky. Mythology is like that. Continue reading “Half My Time….”
UPDATE: Scroll all the way down down to see the latest!
I sort of regularly grab a cocktail at a little place called Gino’s North. It’s in Edgewater, a few doors east of the Granville L stop.
Back in the early ’40’s founder and and restaurateur Frank Meltiades dreamed of having a swanky cocktail lounge. When the space became available, he opened the Snow Drop Lounge. The lounge was named after the Per Hasselberg statue, Snöcklackan. Frank picked out this reproduction to grace the bar and she’s lived here since.
Some More Presidents Get Treated Like Han Solo….
We might be on hiatus from broadcasting at work, but we are hard at work improving things!
We have new microphones! It’s really important to check out your new toys while they are under warranty and returnable. It’s the responsible thing to do. Plus it’s really fun!
Watch Bjorn and I talk about a book and a related artifact we discovered in the shop!
I came home from snowy egrets, to snow on my roof!
For me, one of the saddest things about losing Clair when we did is that she and I had reached a point in our mother daughter relationship that felt “normal.”
Most of her life, I struggled to help her have a taste of normal in almost every aspect of her life. I wanted her to have the blessings of the regular.
You might have read my french press rant a few weeks ago.
I’ve been limping along, trying to find the right coffee maker online. Shopping was a bust. BBB was especially bad. They have little in stock. The store serves mostly as a showcase for the more expensive merchandise!
I got up from my seat on the train and headed toward the door. A woman tapped me on the back, handed me a lovely pink box, adorned with a tiny pink rose bow and ribbon. “You left this on the seat.” In my commuter daze, I took it and murmured “thank you.”
Here’s a photo of my daughter, Clair, on my very first Mother’s Day. Her little dress has “Happy Mother’s Day” embroidered across the apron.
It had been the most harrowing five months on my life. That day, her dad went to work, I took Clair to the zoo.
26 years later I am sitting here. She is a ball of energy exploring somewhere. She finally broke free of the battered and inadequate shell she was granted for her time here.
