Photoblog--an Indian Summer Saturday

Today we took a trip to the Lincoln Park neighborhood. First, lunch at R. J. Grunt's, the first restaurant in the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant chain. Grunt's was where the salad bar was invented, or at least, that's the claim.

What we really liked, though, was the children's menus and the crayons:

Then we played in the park for a while. My son took this picture of the statue of the turtle.


And yo! all you people who think we're heathens: we have all kinds of appreciation for the arts:


Then on to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, which is Victorian horticulture at its best. The main room, with its aquatic plants, goldfish, and statuary, the koi pond in the Fern room, and an orange tree:

The Fern Room:






The Orchid Room:



Naturally, after all this fresh air, nature, Victorian didacticism, and beer at lunch, the kids are just as fresh and frisky as a pair of chipmunks.

The adults, however, are a couple of zombies. One of us is asleep. Can you guess which one?

--P.

Today is Sweetest Day.

Would somebody be kind enough to tell me--WHAT THE HELL IS SWEETEST DAY?

I've always figured it was Valentine's Day's half birthday. Although I just counted on my fingers and the math doesn't work out.

But why the hell am I being guilt-tripped into buying somebody something?

Actually, I just did a search on it and found the answer. Which I won't bother to discuss. It's actually pretty uninteresting, and anyway, you can always find it yourself. God bless Internet search engines, right? It's great--you don't have to know anything anymore--as long as you have internet access, you can find out your answer and then forget it. Which is exactly what I just did.

--P.

Where to begin?

As a test of my multiple-photograph-uploading abilities, I am pleased to present the upstairs bathroom of our house in New Hampshire.

As Conrad so succinctly put it, "The horror. The horror!" Right on, Joseph. Truer words were never written. And as my title says, where to begin?

While I'll admit I'm fairly amused by the Chinoiserie-style vanity (which is complemented by the Chinoiserie-style electric outlet plate--you can't see it, but it's there) for the most part, I'm flummoxed by the decorating choices made by Person or Persons Unknown.

For one thing, while Mother Nature would assure us that all shades of green go together beautifully, or at least, she would, if she weren't busy with the upkeep on her rain forests and such, this bathroom is living proof that actually, they don't.

If the details escape the viewer, allow me to fill you in. The walls are a sort of olive green paisley stripe. The toilet and bathtub are a shade I've always called Gym Uniform Green.
Some tiles in the tub enclosure have been replaced, but not with matching tile. No, Person or Persons Unknown selected a paler shade of Gym Uniform Green--perhaps what lacrosse players wear during their spring and early summer practices.
The floor is covered with a faux-marbre vinyl tile in a streaked Ivy Green and white. The bathroom sink is yet another shade, something between Ivy and Gym Uniform. And at some point someone saw fit to replace the original toilet seat with one that is once more, Yet Another Shade of Green.

You will all be gratified to hear that there were pale green corduroy curtains in the window, as well as a wooden valance painted with a Chinoiserie-style design. But I removed them. I don't know--call me overly cautious, but I thought six shades of green would be enough for a small room.

I would also like to point out the bizarre-looking mirrors.

Mind you, there are things I like about this room. First, it's nice and big. Also, there's a good sturdy lock on the door, something I very much wish I had in my primary residence, but lack. And it has a linen closet. The pecan-colored wood of the doors, trim, window frame and vanity is in great shape and isn't actually all that ugly. And the little demi-lune vanity kind of cracks me up. It has a sort of Eva Gabor-in-Singapore vibe.

OK, we're really getting petty now, but that thing clipped to Eva Gabor's vanity mirror is a heat lamp, which I'm sure will be nice in the winter. And there's an outlet for a telephone.

Not that I tend to indulge
in the full-on Joan-Craw-
ford-as-Crystal-Allen-in-
The Women-taking-a-
bubble-bath-while-
talking-on-the-phone
thing ...

but it's nice to know that I could if I wanted to.

--P.

Shabby but not chic.

The front of the house
Originally uploaded by Trilby.

This is where we spent Columbus Day weekend (geeze, relax, Badger, will ya? It's named for the city in Ohio, OK?)

The picture was taken during a rare moment when it wasn't raining. It poured buckets on Saturday ... and once again, I am not exaggerating for humorous effect. I was running around all day in flip flops, figuring that at least I wouldn't ruin my leather shoes by stepping right smack into the six inch-puddles that were appearing everywhere I looked.

Also, the Red Sox lost three games to the Chicago White Sox. Which sucks more than anything I ever sucked. So I did the only things I could do under the circumstances--drank heavily when I could, and at other times, bought Red Sox stuff. So I now have two of those magnets to stick on my cars, and two baseball caps: a black one with an orange "B" on it for Halloween wear, and a green one with a red "B" on it for the Christmas season.

And no, I'm still not exaggerating for humorous effect. See what I mean about not being chic?

--P.

First day of school

First day of school
Originally uploaded by Trilby.

Still playing catch up with the camera and the uploads and the blogging and the whole internet thing. So here is a first day of school picture so you can see not just my kids, but the ongoing McMansionification of the house across the street, as well as the truly terrible condition of my driveway. And the flower beds don't look so hot, either.

On the other hand, the children add a certain je ne sais quoi. So like any devoted homeowner with an interest in her property value, I do the obvious thing: I keep them in a pen in the front yard.

--P.

What I was wearing last Friday

Friday outfit meme picture thing
Originally uploaded by Trilby.

So I'm using my groovy new laptop, and I've managed to install the crucial software (MicroSoft Office, NOT games, OK?) and get email up and running and everything.

Then it occurs to me that I have a camera full of pictures that I haven't been able to upload anywhere. But now I can!

So this was my attempt to improve on the typical taking-a-picture-of-oneself pose. You know, the one where the subject/photographer's arm mysteriously gets very, very WIDE towards the edge of the shot.
However, I'm afraid that this ultra-foreshortening technique is no better. In fact, it's worse. It is clearly the New Coke of picture-taking techniques.

But anyway, this is what I was wearing last Friday. A hot pink and orange plaid long-sleeved Lilly Pulitzer cotton shirt, Barry Bricken jeans, and Leatherman flip-flops with striped grosgrain ribbon tops. Also my glasses. (Good Lord, you'd think I'd have at least BRUSHED MY HAIR before flaunting this mess before the entire internet.)

Mind you, one interesting thing about this picture is that I believe it actually conceals the size of my hooters. I don't mean to brag, because it's not becoming in a young lady to boast, but as they say in France, I have a lot on my balcony. But you can't tell from this picture. At least, I don't think so. Of course, I might be fooling myself here. But if anyone ever asks me--and admittedly, this hasn't happened in a while, because it's been a long, long time since I attended a kegger at Psi U--"Can you see your feet?" I can whip this picture out and answer "Whomp! There they are." Or something equally witty about my titties.

--P.

Generalisimo Franco is still dead and other updates

Hello.

Um ...

OK, I guess I don't have much to report. And what I do have to report certainly doesn't fit into tidy paragraphs, but what the hell--here it is:

1. Apple computer sent me the Fed Ex tracking information for the laptop they're sending me to replace the one that broke either five or six times in two years. So far the laptop has traveled from California to Tennessee and is now skulking around on some depot or warehouse somewhere in Chicago. Which means that if all goes well, on Monday I will have a brand new, blazing fast, smokin' hot laptop with wireless DSL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

2. I made another Target run, ostensibly to return a video game that was the wrong game system (X Box instead of PS2. Hey, what do I know? I'm old. And anyway, we're a Nintendo family.) Anyway, I really went mental. AGAIN. I am not exaggerating for humorous effect, here, either. When I left, I was pushing a full-to-overflowing shopping cart and pulling another.

3. It's turning into fall around here, which would be great except that I haven't even started the whole shifting-the-closet-from-insane-looking-resort-wear-to-rather-more-grown-up-looking-clothing-that-adults-wear thing I have to do at the end of the summer. It involves a lot of trips up and down stairs as I get stuff out of trunks and pack other stuff away. So I'm wardrobe-challenged. This would be OK, except tonight we're going to my friend Pam's for dinner. Pam is extremely style-conscious, which would ordinarily be surprising in someone with a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago, except that unlike me, Pam actually finished and went on the job market and is now an Associate Professor of film studies or the like--and filmies dress kewler than anyone else on the planet. Also, I'm still working off some of the lobster, corn on the cob, and blueberry pie I consumed in August, which means that the few clothes I have available are not only not really in season, they're kind of tight. So I have to go rummaging around to find some larger-sized transitional-seasoned clothes, hooray! And I have an hour to do it.

4. The good news is that That Stud Muffin I Married and I will be going out without our children, which, come to think of it, hasn't happened in a few weeks.

5. More good news is that being a Brownie Scout Leader is slightly less nauseating than being a Cub Scout Den Mother. Also, the uniforms are less ugly. Can I have a calloo, callay, here, people!

--P.