Thanksgiving, etc.!
Thanksgiving Day was lovely, thanks to the lovely tzurriz, who, when she heard that my sib wasn't going to make it in, invited me to join her family, including her mother (the lovely dreamsweaver), who is an absolutely delightful hostess. Now, I'm going to make their ears burn and say that tzurriz' family is one of the warmest and most welcoming it has ever been my pleasure to meet. They've also got a few good cooks, too. So I stuffed myself on turkey and the usual accoutrements, enjoyed the conversation, and generally had a good time. And when I moaned about having to go shopping for weights the next day (for the exercise referred to in my previous post), dreamsweaver dug out a couple and saved me from the horrors that are stores on the day after Thanksgiving!
I did brave downtown Chicago the next day, but only to take some pictures of the wreathed lions at the Art Institute, and the protest demo at Macy's (f/k/a Marshall Field's), at which a number of ladies dressed in 1890's garb.
That evening, I went to Gounod's Romeo and Juliette at Lyric Opera. The Romeo was lush (Matthew Polenzani), with the equally good Dina Kunetsova as Juliette. I'm not sure why it was updated to the 1850's, but it didn't detract from anything (though I thought having the Mercutio/Tybalt/Romeo knife fight end in Romeo suddenly pulling out a gun and shooting Tybalt was a bit out of character).
Saturday was spent straightening up the house, doing some (grocery) shopping, and otherwise getting ready for my annual Sunday-after-Thanksgiving open house. Despite the lack of my usual chocolate-chip-cookie-baker (i.e. my sister), we did have the cookies, though I cheated and bought the refrigerated dough. Couldn't have been too bad, because there aren't any left! A couple of people who hadn't been able to make it the past few years did make it this year, my friend, Victor, was back in the country and came despite his jet lag, the lovely tzurriz and the lovely jfroebe trekked in from the south suburbs, and (I think) a good time was had by all. The cats were fairly well-behaved, though one of them (I'm betting it was Marissa, as she seems to think that paper exists for her to attack) destroyed the paper napkins I had put out. Late in the afternoon, when most of the food was picked over and the few remaining guests and I had adjourned to the living room, I heard my friend Cheryl and her daughter in peals of laughter. It seems that Lilith had ensconced herself on the dining room table, not going after the leftovers, but carefully draping herself around the serving platters! Cheryl's husband Leonard whipped out his camera and I have been promised a picture. And I would like to thank the makers of paper plates, napkins and cups for making clean-up a breeze. ;-))
Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends, too.
I did brave downtown Chicago the next day, but only to take some pictures of the wreathed lions at the Art Institute, and the protest demo at Macy's (f/k/a Marshall Field's), at which a number of ladies dressed in 1890's garb.
That evening, I went to Gounod's Romeo and Juliette at Lyric Opera. The Romeo was lush (Matthew Polenzani), with the equally good Dina Kunetsova as Juliette. I'm not sure why it was updated to the 1850's, but it didn't detract from anything (though I thought having the Mercutio/Tybalt/Romeo knife fight end in Romeo suddenly pulling out a gun and shooting Tybalt was a bit out of character).
Saturday was spent straightening up the house, doing some (grocery) shopping, and otherwise getting ready for my annual Sunday-after-Thanksgiving open house. Despite the lack of my usual chocolate-chip-cookie-baker (i.e. my sister), we did have the cookies, though I cheated and bought the refrigerated dough. Couldn't have been too bad, because there aren't any left! A couple of people who hadn't been able to make it the past few years did make it this year, my friend, Victor, was back in the country and came despite his jet lag, the lovely tzurriz and the lovely jfroebe trekked in from the south suburbs, and (I think) a good time was had by all. The cats were fairly well-behaved, though one of them (I'm betting it was Marissa, as she seems to think that paper exists for her to attack) destroyed the paper napkins I had put out. Late in the afternoon, when most of the food was picked over and the few remaining guests and I had adjourned to the living room, I heard my friend Cheryl and her daughter in peals of laughter. It seems that Lilith had ensconced herself on the dining room table, not going after the leftovers, but carefully draping herself around the serving platters! Cheryl's husband Leonard whipped out his camera and I have been promised a picture. And I would like to thank the makers of paper plates, napkins and cups for making clean-up a breeze. ;-))
Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends, too.