As mentioned in My time as a theater correspondent, I wrote several articles for the Stagebill Chicago Theater Guide in the late 1990s and one of these focused on outdoor theater. In my research I learned about landscape architect Jens Jensen who designed outdoor theater spaces within Chicago parks in the 1910s. I included a […]
Here are a couple of items I’ve been enjoying this week… The first is an embroidered vintage postcard I bought at the annual Garage Galleries art fair in Forest Park. I was shopping for gifts and found a few but knew I wanted this piece for myself. It is mounted on a wood frame with […]
This is a repost of a 10-day series I did on Facebook in 2020. I think it goes well with my recent music videos post. Each post said: “I was nominated to choose ten albums that greatly influenced my taste in music. One album per day, for ten consecutive days. No explanations, no reviews, just […]
Jim and I recently saw The Human League, Soft Cell and Alison Moyet at the Chicago Theatre. What an amazing show! I’m so happy we decided to go together. Alison Moyet has a fantastic voice and was so energetic. I could have skipped Soft Cell altogether. And then Human League were back to phenomenal with […]
Lily comes out of retirement to run one last op while on the run from her former employers in U.S. intelligence, and to reexamine her legacy as a field agent and as an American in foreign lands. Throughout her career she was known as frequently impulsive and even insubordinate, but also an effective and loyal […]
I’ve become a little obsessed with logging my activities. My FitBit is already logging my sleep, heart rate, and steps I have taken, and I add in my walks, PT and free weights workouts, weight and blood pressure over time. I’ve already blogged about my Goodreads account, where I sometimes add ratings and reviews but […]
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
I started reading Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski series because my mom was a fan. I particularly remember when she read Tunnel Vision (1994) and was fascinated with the lower bowels of Chicago, a network of utility and freight tunnels beneath the Loop. I have her copy of the short story collection Windy City Blues (1995), […]
Aunt Pam recently sent me two packets of letters, postcards, drawings and photos that I had sent her over the last 40 years. I’m happy to say I was delighted by my youthful musings more often than I was embarrassed. The letters cover my childhood in Donovan, my time at IMSA and Connecticut College, and […]
I just returned from Vancouver, British Columbia! What an amazing trip. A few months ago I was feeling nervous about international solo travel and the Global Scrum Gathering conference, wondering if I would be too shy to meet people or my knee too stiff to do all the adventuring I wanted. But I overcame both […]