This is so sweet and awesome, and made me feel so happy, I just had to share it.  Hope you like it, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcsSPzr7ays

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 This afternoon I was cleaning out a closet and found an old box that my mother left at our house when she moved out of her apartment a few years ago. It’s turned out to be a time capsule of what she was up to during WWII.  (The only souvenir my father/… Read full post »

My grandmother Francie was a lot of fun, but didn't talk about serious things.  The exception to this was the topic of her first husband, my grandfather Arnold, who died in his sleep at the age of 47. When discussing him, she would pull a Kleenex from her purse, daub her… Read full post »

This Halloween story was originally posted in March.

 In the fall of 1969 my older sister moved into her first apartment on the twenty-fifth floor of a brand new, gleaming, glass walled highrise. It was part of the Sandburg Village housing development named after the wr… Read full post »

Last week, I happened to hear a segment on NPR where the host reviewed and rated the quality of various miniature video cams that seem to be available everywhere these days. The technology is ubiquitious, and you never know if you are being surreptitiously recorded or photographed.&nbs… Read full post »

 This one's for Theo:  Carved peach pit removed from black safe shown in photo above.… Read full post »

^{If this looks familiar, you may have been one of the two people who saw it when it was briefly posted last fall} 

In November 1968 my parents, sister and I made our annual Thanksgiving trip to Manhattan to visit my senile-but-favorite grandmother, Bobby. She was withering away in a very smal… Read full post »

 

 Work has been busy while other life events conspire to make me too tired to write. But the good news: for the past few nights I've had a wonderful time catching up on reading fellow OSer's posts - both new discoveries and old favorites. The diversity of w… Read full post »

^{Postscript --- No surprises to report. The HR lady called me at work to inform me that I "was not among the candidates who were selected for the second round of interviews."} 

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Maybe it wasn’t all that bad.

Perhaps I am just “thin skinne… Read full post »

Now that my son has completed his first week at our local high school, and is working hard at perfecting his cynical teenage facade, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic for the summer a few years ago when he was satisfied with simply being a boy. 

At the tim… Read full post »

 My unlikely relationship with a small painting and the spirit of the female surrealist who created it.

^{"Moored to the Moon" 1951 - Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977).  A Chicago Surrealist artist who lived in Hyde Park and befriended many jazz legends. One}… Read full post »

My husband is practically despondent because tomorrow is his 50th birthday. This isn't about vanity or the fear of getting old. Along with the well wishes of friends and the cards with the bad jokes comes a very real fear about our family's future. He… Read full post »

Until I was in second grade, we lived in a 1920's gothic revival building on Chicago's north side.  Faux gargoyles and heraldic symbols were molded into the plaster facade where a pair of wrought iron lanterns flanked the heavy carved wood doors,… Read full post »

I grew up in apartment buildings that were vertical neighborhoods.  My friends lived upstairs or downstairs, or in other buildings around the congested streets of Lakeview in Chicago.  We played in the maze of alleys and gangways around our homes, and rode our bikes full spee… Read full post »

Valentine’s Day 1988, Dayton Street

Decide to bake a cake for fiancé. Directions on box call for two 8-inch round pans. Mix eggs, oil and contents of box into bowl and beat with a whisk. Pour batter into pans and place in 350 degree oven. Apartment begins to fill with… Read full post »

In the fall of 1969 my older sister moved into her first apartment on the twenty-fifth floor of a brand new, gleaming, glass walled highrise. It was part of the Sandburg Village housing development named after the writer who called Chicago the "hog butcher for the world." Fun… Read full post »