Just as I was thinking about getting out of bed on Saturday, my phone rang. It was one of our next-door neighbors telling me that as she was walking her dog, she noticed water gushing out of the sidewalk in front of our building. I dressed quickly, and went out to check, and, boy, it sure was! I called the Water Department, though it turns out ( Read more... )

Really. It's not just that it's in the 90s. It's humid and stuffy to boot. I dashed to the library earlier today to return a book and renew my card, and, after realizing how bad it really was outside, I nixed my plans to go to an outdoor concert tonight. I'd have been sitting out with no shade, no breeze, and I know I couldn't have tolerated it for ( Read more... )

Well, it's actually eased up a bit now, so I was able to head to the library, where I am typing this.  It was coming down in sheets this morning, and the Robie House manager called to say they were cancelling all tours.  So I did laundry instead, and watched a bunch of episodes of "The Hour".  I don't get BBC America in my cable package, but it is ( Read more... )

Our "mild" winter has disappeared with a vengeance, now that spring is just a few weeks away. We got about 10" of snow yesterday (yes, New Englanders, I know that's nothing compared to what you've been dealing with!). It started in the early morning and just kept snowing into the night. Both things I had planned for yesterday were cancelled by ( Read more... )

Everyone was there! Hecht, of course, and Margaret Anderson of The Little Review, Eunice Tietjens, Sherwood Anderson, Max Bodenheim, Vachel Lindsay. Okay, so it was actors playing the parts. But still, it was the house where Ben Hecht lived for a while (it was a rooming house):


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I'd be enjoying the 50º weather. However, this being the last day of May, I ran around this morning closing all the windows, and will probably hunker down with a pot of tea and my current read (Derby Day, by D.J. Taylor). I do have to go out later to replenish supplies and I will be annoyed that I have to wear a coat. It's also supposed to rain.

It's practically summer here! Seriously, we're expecting a high in the 80s today. I can live with that. I have thrown open all the windows and am letting the breezes blow and the sun shine in. I might even make some iced tea ( Read more... )

We're supposed to get around 8", which is nowhere near as bad as last February! I had a meeting downtown after my Italian lit class, and so ended up driving home in the mess. But my drive was on a main road, so it could have been worse. On the bright side, I parked downtown in a lot where I had a discount ticket ($12 as opposed to $33), crossed ( Read more... )

I have just come in from clearing a few inches of snow off the car. It's supposed to snow all night, and since I have a class in the morning, I wanted to get a head start. A friend of mine is supposed to be flying in from New York tonight to see her mom and her two kids (I say "kids", but they are college grads); I hope she makes it ( Read more... )

Wow, I just realized that I haven't posted anything substantive since I talked about my New York trip ( Read more... )