Hi! Today I started blogging, again. What's New with me?
This past week, I got out for a short bike ride - in the 50's here in Chicago. The week went well:
Tonka at 11 weeks!
- Sunday - That evening after work I went to Scott's to see his new kitten. Baby Tonka arrived and is 11.5 weeks old. Weighing in at just over 2.5 lbs! A little bigger than a teacup! (But that is another story!) He is a rare breed called Tonkanese - (cross between Siamese and Burmese) - mostly white as kittens, with a little 'dirt' on his nose, paws and tail. The markings of a blue-point Siamese. His eyes are gorgeous pools of aqua, the color of the Caribbean! Loves people - bold as brass - comes right up to perfect strangers - very active - like a little monkey! His other cat, Jordan, is about 2 yrs. old, and she was hissing and growling at her new baby brother! I was afraid for Baby Tonka's life!
- Well, after we had a nice home-cooked dinner over at Scott's, we went back to my place, before my allergies kicked into high gear from the kittens! We visited our friend Tommy (who is our Board President at Hollywood Towers). He had just come home from the hospital on Friday. He was walking around, (having been in a wheelchair for nearly 2 weeks) - someone was on the phone, and he had his tax lady (Patsy) sitting in the dining room! I guess you could say he is doing well, with all the activity at 11:00 on a Sunday evening!
- Monday, we had a quiet day. Had a late lunch at Papa Milano's on Rush, then went shopping at Bloomingdale's for kitchen items - William Sonoma is there.
- Got a call from our friend Ed - saying he was having dinner with "Our Doug" - at Nookies - inviting us to join them. We were on our way to the pet store to pick out some toys for Tonka, and some Healthy Choice for my Puss puss - (who is getting fatter by the week!) We declined the dinner invite - and stopped in at Big Chick's (in my 'hood) for a nightcap. Nice crowd, not crowded. Everyone was eating off the menu, and watching "Sex in the City" on TV. Which I hate! That stupid woman and her shoes and whiney voice. Gimmeabreak! I'd been up for something like 20 hours, so my patience for low drama in bad taste was very marginal!
- Tuesday - Took the train to the gym. Bally's on Clark/Diversey. Nice walking to and from train. Worked abs, biceps, back and 30 mins on the ski machine. Took about an hour. Weighed in at 175 - the same I've been all summer. Then took the "L" back home to start domestic errands, make dinner, read my new book. (Just finished John Berendts book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" - Ed loaned me - a juicy Halloween tell-all, set in quirky Savannah, Georgia. I had seen a review in the Times, last week, and turns out both Scott and Ed have read it - it is a cult classic - so he let me borrow it last week! I give it an A+, btw!
- Wednesday - Made coffee in the 'big' pot for the first time in years. I plunged headlong into domesticity - laundry, cleaning, cooking. Hopped on my bike for a round of marketing in the 'hood' and came back and started a big pot of chicken soup. Also made a green V8 in the juicer (part of my Alkaline-boosting-cancer-preventive-immune-boosting-diet)- made of celery, spinach, carrots, tomato and a designer apple. Settled in for the night to read Clive Barker's thriller "Coldheart Canyon" - about a haunted house in the Canyon above Hollywood. (It lies parallel to Laurel Canyon) - inhabited by ghosts of dead starlets and moguls - intriguiging sub plots involving a silent film star (100 y/o) but still looks in her 20's - something to do with a secret room they call "Devil's Country" in the house in Coldheart Canyon, so named because the owner Katya is/was such a cold-hearted bitch! Boy (30s) meets girl (100s) fall in lust, she scares him off, she connivingly gets him back, they almost drown in the Pacific, he goes back . . . to be continued!
Note: Clive Barker's Abarat Paintings are now on display (until Nov.14, 2004 - Admission Free!) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cgo!
Thursday - A little chilly out - took the express bus downtown to meet my sister, bro-in-law and 'mieces' at Navy Pier - we took them to the Children's Museum, now that they are both old enough to appreciate it a little more. (3 & 5 y/o). We had lunch at Joe's Be-Bop Cafe, a favorite spot. (I was good, ordered a wilted Spinach Salad - sticking to my new diet.) We colored with crayons, played tic-tac-to games from their kiddie menus, and sipped pink lemonade. There were two little birds flying around, (they had the patio open, the day before, it was so warm out) - and the nieces were laughing at my 'silly talk' about the birds hopping around on the stage like jazz musicians!
We spent nearly 2 hours at the Museum, and stopped for Ice Cream at Ben & Jerry's, on the way back to the car. I managed to injure only ONE of my mieces, that day - scraping her frail belly on my belt buckle, sliding her down from my arms to order ice cream! (Soo Jin ordered plain chocolate, and Chae Rin ordered plain vanilla, btw!) Sister and bro-in-law ordered sweet sweet sweet desserts, and I ordered a coffee. (Not on my Alkaline diet, but not fattening, anyway)!
I walked them back to their van, I picked up the new blazer my mom had sent UPS to sisters, (early Christmas)- along with a couple of books - "Life 101" which she thought I had left at her house ??? Not!- and a cookbook. Sweet of her! I haven't even BEGUN Christmas shopping! I used to have everything finished before Halloween, back in the old days B4 child support! I don't know HOW I manage!
- Friday - back to the weekend grind at work. So far it's been a fairly peaceful work-weekend. Scott met 'Our Doug' for dinner at some tacky roach-infested Chinese place over on Argyle (near where Doug resides) -
I told Scott that Pablo Picasso's grandson was speaking at the Art Museum at 6pm - and he would surely touch on the subject of the inspiration for the sculpture sitting in Daley Plaza - which no one has the slightest clue as to what it is suppose to be! Turns out, it is likely inspired from a blond female model, he knew back in the 50's - the pipes behind the horse's head - most likely to be the tresses of her pony tail! I would have been distressed if I'd taken a vaca day and had to pass that up to go sit at some smelly hole-in-the-wall dive to talk about Doug, Doug and more Doug! Ed told him the other night that we're getting tired of hearing 'all about him' ad infinitum! I had to laugh. I told Scott to leave the therapy up to his shrink, and just try to enjoy their time together. He said they had a pleasant time, and Doug had nothing but good things to say about the both of us. My expectations were no different, tho.
- Looking forward to Sunday night - my Friday - I really like that night! I want to pay a visit to Baby Tonka and Jordan - see how they're getting along. Ok Laters !:@>
