The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
Small Business Saturday on Sunday
Yesterday was Ainslie’s birthday party, and while I got some shopping done, I neglected Small Business Saturday:
So today, I went to Wishes Toy Wonderland, an independent toy store in Glenview.
The great thing about this store is that it carries products that you just can’t find at the big box stores. The downside, of course, is that it is rather pricey.
I didn’t find anything for Alex, (because I refuse to spend money on Angry Birds stuff) but there was plenty for Ainslie and Ashlyn.
Now to start thinking about Cyber Giving Monday.
Dr. Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
Book 53
Dr. Zhivago had been sitting on my shelf for about ever until..I..cheated on my library. I went to Northbrook to look at the audiobooks and there it was.
People. Audio is totally the way to go with the Russian epics.
This was like War and Peace, set during a century later. One of the reviews on LibraryThing said that the film was actually better, because the screenwriters were forced to condense the points of view to Zhivago’s and Lara’s which made it easier to follow. I haven’t seen the film, but I can see the point. It is easy to lose focus.
As great love stories go, I wasn’t terribly impressed. As a narrative of the Russian Revolution, it was fabulous. Zhivago is an educated working man with affluent roots, so either side could potentially make a friend or enemy of him. And this was this first story I have read – fiction or non – of the Revolution that was not focused (in fact, it didn’t go near) the center of power. Parts were set in Moscow, but we never see the leaders of the nation and the name Rasputin is never spoken.
I might have to read this again sometime, because I know there are things that I missed. And I suppose I will have to see the film. This was worth the time.
He Was Positively Considerate
You may recall that six months ago, we lost a dog. Shadow had a rough final year and it was hard to watch his decline. Of course when it was over, we had another cloud hanging over our heads in that Spooky the Cat was 20 years old.
You may also recall that Spooky was the first cat we’d ever had. Mostly because we are dog people, but also because my mother is allergic. He was 8 1/2 when he came to live with us.
Because we are very dutiful about veterinary care, we knew that if nothing else got him, his kidneys would fail. And I gotta tellya, I have heard terrible stuff about that. But the older he got, the more we heard that he was in great shape for his age. The joke was that this one would go when he decided to go and it would be damn quick.
So. Yeah.
Wednesday he was fine. Yesterday, we came home from my brother’s house and found he’d been throwing up. Spent the better part of the day at two different vet’s offices and finally got the verdict: abdominal mass; it was big and it was malignant.
He was already in pain; which we didn’t know. So that was it. We had one horrible, godawful day and it was over.
So without any violin music, this is how I will remember Spooky.
Officially Part of the Problem
I’ve been doing my holiday shopping all sneaky-like for thepast couple of weeks – trying to beat the crowds without owning the fact that Iam now officially a part of the problem with the ever-expanding holidayseason.
I have done a fabulous job of buying myself new clothes.
I went in to Toys R Us for the kids and came out withsomething for my brother.
The Pictures Are Back!
I was telling you all about the Adopt-a-Pet pictures with Santa. Here they are:
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| All Portrait-y and Stoic |
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| Looking Good, but Not Looking at the Camera |
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| Smiley, or Scared? |
So Gibbs wasn’t entirely game, but the photo quality was great and Santa was pretty smooth. If you are interested in your own pet portraits for a good cause, I’ll repeat the details:
Trying the New Burger Place that I Didn’t Know Existed
I was over at Old Orchard, heading in to Crate and Barrel when I noticed a new burger joint right next door. I had never heard of Epic Burger before, but by the time I was done shopping, I was ready for red meat. Also, my friends, family and colleagues expect me to know everything about every place to have lunch in Cook County – I am still in trouble for not trying Smashburger yet.
So. The motto is “a more mindful burger” and while I was standing in line, I noticed the ketchup bottles on the table were Heinz Organic. I knew not to bother asking for fries with cheese sauce. When I reached the front of the line, I asked how big the burgers were. I may have mentioned that since I gave up the giving up of junk food, I have gotten serious about kid-sizing.
The regular burger is 1/3 pound (there is an option for a double) and a junior is 1/4 pound. I ordered a junior cheeseburger. The cheese options were “blue, cheddar and havarti”. I went with havarti. They also have a fried egg option (which seems to be getting more popular these days) and nitrate-free bacon. And plenty of other stuff, although now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing avocado.
Avocado makes everything better.
The bun appeared to be fresh made and was grilled with butter. The havarti involved horseradish, which I would absolutely not have done if I had known, but it was only one slice so it didn’t overwhelm the meat. Overall, it was very tasty. The fries were crispy, which isn’t always the case when they are fresh cut. Along with the organic Heinz on the table was a bottle of Grey Poupon, but they make you walk over to the condiment display to get a shaker of salt. That’s just not normal. I’d call it hardcore, but they aren’t really hardcore because they do have a soda fountain that includes phosphoric acid (even if it is Pepsi products).
I paid what I would normally pay for lunch out..$8 or $10. The seating area was clean, but I could see it being very cramped during the lunch rush. The staff was pleasant. My table was bussed before I had my coat on, which turns some people off. But again – lunch rush.
Then I came home and checked out the website. It includes nutritional information, so I plugged in my meal. 1279 calories, minus whatever the difference between a regular and a junior burger and the fact that I didn’t eat all of the fries. Not tragic for a burger and fries, and I was hella full.
I think I can recommend it.
Losing Mum and Pup, by Christopher Buckley
Book 52
I haven’t read any of Christopher Buckley’s fiction, but I read great things about this memoir when it was released. His story is that of a middle aged only child who lost both parents in the span of a year. Add on that his parents were William F. and Patricia Buckley and there was no way this book wouldn’t be good.
I was right. It was great.
He won me over right away by saying that he never meant to write a book about his parents, but that “when the universe hands you material like this, not writing about it seems either a waste or a conscious act of evasion”. He apologizes nearly every time he name drops.
But here is an example:
St. Patrick’s Cathedral limits each funeral to two eulogies. For his father’s funeral, he was doing one and Henry Kissinger was doing the other. Then the White House called. Dick Cheney would like to attend, and to speak. So Christopher had to decide – drop his own eulogy, boot Kissinger (a great friend of his father) or decline Cheney. ‘Cause there is no arguing with St. Pat’s.
Cheney was out.
I particular liked the stories of Patricia Buckley. Apparently, she was a storyteller in the sense that you could never quite tell if her stories were true. Put that on top of the ability to throw a helluva party and I would’ve loved to be her friend. Seriously, look at that cover photo. She was clearly fabulous.
Finally, I listened to the audiobook, which Buckley narrated himself. Listening to a guy quote his own parents is pretty cool.
I am not rushing out to pick up any Buckley fiction – Boomsday just sounded morbid – but I will probably stop and look the next time I see his name.
Adopt-a-Pet, Inc.
On Sunday, Morton Grove Animal Hospital hosted an event for Adopt-a-Pet: Holiday Pet Photos. The office isn’t terribly far from my house, and Dr. B is a Crowdrise buddy, so I took Gibbs over for a portrait with Santa Claus.
Hi, my name is Anne and I just paid $10 for my dog to have his picture taken with Santa Claus.
For charity, people.
I actually took Gibbs to the dog park before heading over. I somehow thought that if he was tired, he would cooperate better. Ha.
They had two options – snapshot that you could take with you or digital to be e-mailed at a later date and you better believe I took the digital. They also had a “paw print painting” holiday card thing, but that might have been more than Gibbs could stand.
I am happy to report that Gibbs was perfectly pleasant to everyone that he saw – except perhaps that one lady that eyed him suspiciously as her 10 pound darling walked by us. He might have barked. Then it was over. I am thinking he just didn’t understand the concept of a dog wearing a sweater.
He was less than pleased with the photo session and barely stopped squirming long enough to snap the shots. Luckily, the photographer had an awesome camera and is certain that he got what he needed. Santa was very patient (there were Hanukkah options also) and the other volunteer had squeaky props to get the dog’s attention. I don’t have the pictures back yet, but it felt pretty professional to me.
Adopt-a-Pet also had fresh baked dog biscuits for sale and we went home with a small bag of those. Gibbs likes pumpkin cookies.
So why am I posting about this when I don’t even have a picture? Because Adopt-a-Pet has one more such event scheduled:
November Blanket Day and Blanket 62
Saturday was Blanket Day for our chapter of Project Linus. I am sorry to say that I totally forgot to take pictures. But the final product looks pretty much the same every time:
This day’s take resembled 560 blankets bagged, tagged and ready to deliver.
I was working on this:
It had been awhile since I’d done a fully crocheted blanket. This was Bernat’s Waverly yarn in Greek Sea and Aqua Frost. It really irritates me that the one skein was clearly shorter than the others. But it is a thing that I doubt the kids will judge. Otherwise, I really liked that yarn and I finished the blanket that night over an audio book.
Judy and Linda, the chapter coordinators, mentioned that they were looking for volunteers to help with some other chapter stuff: delivering blankets, newsletter, tagging blankets, etc. I said that I’d do anything that could be done online – so we’ll see where that goes. And we have Starbucks night on Wednesday, which means I am sure to come home with a big pile of prepared fleece.
Until then, I am working on scarves and..scarves.
Pumpkin Cupcakes
After my last visit to the cupcake truck in Washington, I told several colleagues that they were insane. The lemon cupcake was clearly superior to the red velvet. A non-zero number didn’t even want to talk about Curbside Cupcakes, because just that week a colleague in PR had brought pumpin cupcakes to the office and they were the best thing ever.
So the next time I happened to be passing by the lady’s office, I told her that the building had judged her cupcakes better than Curbside’s. She laughed and said it was a recipe from Emeril.
I told my mother this story when I came home and she went online to find these mythical cupcakes. Before tracking it down, she found one from Betty Crocker that involved using a dry yellow cake mix, a can of pumpkin and some other stuff. She ran with it:
She actually roasted pecans. A woman that wouldn’t make the cake from scratch roasted pecans for the icing.
They were good.
The Next Dark Age 