Everything in this house is too high for me, including the shelves, and sometimes, when I try to put things on the shelves, something falls off. This time, it was a glass from the lower shelf. I didn’t have time to catch it, and I was expecting the burst of small glass pieces when it would hit the granite countertop. Instead, something else happened.
I didn’t hear the glass breaking, but suddenly, I saw the whole countertop covered with tea! When the glass was falling down, it hit a teapot spout on its way down, and sliced it off! I should have taken a picture, because it was a remarkably clear cut, but I didn’t, so you have to trust me!
Here is a replacement; as usual, nicer than the old one 🙂
It was not the first day over 70F this season, but one of the first (and also, I missed a couple when I was out of town). I didn’t have a chance to get out of the office during the day because I had no time between meetings, but the weather was so nice that I made a point to go for a walk before I boarded the train back home.
When I reached the Tapp (and found that the Tiny Cafe was not open yet, so there was no ice cream), I sat down on the granite and looked at the River. No phone, no listening to an audiobook. Instead, I was taking in the noise of the Happy Hour crowd, this unique Chicago summer buzz, and looking at the summertime over-the-river sfumato:).
Sometimes, you need a day when you do not have to hurry somewhere after work!
We had a subscription for a series of three family matinees at the CSO, and due to the scheduling conflicts, we had to miss two of them. May 3 was not easier, but we all made an effort, even though Anna had to drive to the Loop and drop Nadia just in front of the Orchestra Hall, and had to leave immediately after the post-concert activities.
I was disappointed with a very low attendance, and I can’t even attribute it to anything except for general not-so-great people’s mood. it’s a pity because the concert was absolutely wonderful. Thomas WIlkings was absolutely magical – the way he spoke with the kids from the stage, how he introduced each piece, how he talked about building a community… As a CSO for Kids Ambassador, I (with the rest of the family) was invited to lunch in the Grainger Ballroom. that was a little bit overkill, because only two other families joined us, but as I said, the concert attendance was not great, so that was expected. I still think it’s a great idea to pre-order lunch for before or after the concert, and I hope that things will be better organized for the next season.
Then, there were the usual between-the-concerts activities, including “Mini Maestros” and the “instrument petting zoo,” which both Nadia and Kira thoroughly enjoyed. A new activity was creating some music with the large sticky notes:
The musicians actually played these two measures :).
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On Sunday, I took my mom to another concert conducted by our Music Director Designate Klaus Makela (Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 and Dvorak’s 7th Symphony). That’s the second time I listen to him conducting; I didn’t hear him before his was appointed the CSO music director, so now I am just starting to get a “taste” of him. Both works are beautiful, and Brahms sounded very unusual, though in a good way.
Makela is so different from both Muti and Borenboim, the two Musical Directors I’ve experienced at the CSO that it will probably take me a while to take his style in.
I was hoping for two of my big unknowns to resolve, but none happened.
Boris went to the visa interview, but they didn’t make a decision. Instead, the officer told him that “he will receive instructions about next steps by email.” And I don’t understand what in the world it could mean, because they also told him that he does not need to come to the consulate again. I am super worried and nervous, and don’t know what to do next.
My big not-for-profit battle is not over yet. For several months, I have avoided writing about it, hoping that “it will be all over” and I will be able to give a short summary and move on. And things are still happening, and I am still unsure whether “it’s over” or not.
I know that it all cyphered, but I do not know how else to express the fact that I am still very nervious and up in the air.
It didn’t become any warmer, and not only did I not plant anything; I can’t even think about hanging the flower baskets! However, this morning, I biked to the Buckingham Fountain for the first time this season. After three days of biking hills in Helsinki, it was easy 🙂
On the way back, I biked against the wind all the way, and the wind was so strong that it took me twenty minutes longer! I went to Charmers immediately after I returned home. They do not serve quiche, but I love their avocado toasts!
One of the conference attendees (and my good friend) stayed at my house for the whole event and the weekend after, which was great for both of us, and we were each other’s moral support :). It was her second visit to Chicago, and this time, not only did I show her places in the city she hadn’t seen before, but also, I walked with her around Rogers Park and showed all the best local spots, because she and her family will stay with me in August.
Keeping going through the last week. I hosted two conference attendees, plus Anna for one of the nights. My first houseguest, B., was a conference speaker from Madagascar. She is an absolutely outstanding woman, and I want ot tell more about her in the near future. That was her first time coming to the US, and she had a 22-hour long journey with two connections. I told her I would meet her at ORD, because it is very difficult to navigate this airport even when you are an experienced traveler.
Her flight arrival time was 7:30 AM, and I took the L-train there, because everything runs relatively normally on a weekday morning, so it was a 4 AM wake-up, leaving the house at 5:30. The airport was as quiet as it could possibly be, and we saw each other right away. I took her to the office where we left her luggage, and then to the Architectural tour, because Wednesday was the only opportunity for her to see something!
One of the conference attendees took the same boat tour with us, and then we went to the Art Institute. I didn’t plan to be at work on that day, but one of the customers kept having issues, and I was the only person who could fix them. I asked Igor to take over my Chicago guide responsibilities, and rushed to the office to save the world. My second houseguest, L. was arriving at 4 PM, and we calculated that with the luggage and the passport control, she would be at my house by 6 PM, so I had plenty of time. But then I was stuck with saving the world, and her flight arrived earlier, and by some miracle, her luggage came out very fast as well.
With all that, she waited for us for twenty minutes! At least, the weather was warm on Wednesday, and she just sat on her luggage in the sun reading a book. Nobody wanted to go out for dinner, so I made a quick meal and went to bed.
In the past two days, I have slowly regained the sense of normalcy, which sometimes resulted in the desire to fall asleep while walking, but mostly in a burst or energy and a fountain of new ideas.
Now, I feel I need to explain more about what exactly was happening during the past three months, but at the same time, I want to forget and move forward.
Let’s focus on the past week. Except for a very modest Easter celebration, I was busy working on my opening and closing remarks for the conference, finally looking into my own presentation which was in a miserable state, and a million small conference-related questions, like finalizing logistics for both training and the conference days, finding additional free tickets for students, emailing, confirming, advertizing, etc. My co-workers from the Austin and London offices arrived on Monday, so we tried to work together on things. On Monday night, I finished all my presentations and went to bed thinking that I should have probably saved them on OneDrive, but oh well, I will do it the next day. On Tuesday morning, the first thing I saw on my phone was a message from one of my European friends: Hettie, is the PG Day Chicago site down? I jumped up to check on my computer (not trusting the phone). The site was up. Then I thought that this would be my only opportunity that week to bike in the morning, and went biking, returned later than I planned, and took “the next” train. This train was crowded, and there was no place for me to sit and do any work or what’s not. I was the first one to jump off the train and ran to my office building.
The elevator doors were closing, but the people inside read the sense of urgency on my face and held the door. I thanked them and got in< and then… this elevator got stuck! We were not stuck for very long, but by the time I entered our floor at 8 AM, I already had a day worth of stressful events!
A rare case, especially for spring, when the morning weather was so much better than later in the day!
What surprised me this morning was a large number of people watching the sunrise on the lake. And not just watching, but also setting up a picnic, chairs, tables, food, and water. I mean, I am all for such a way of celebrating Easter, I just never saw it before (or never paid attention).
We had a small Easter celebration at my house, just for me, Igor and my mom.
I bought Colomba bread for the first time in my life, and now I am head over heels about it! It is so rarely happens to me that I can’t stop eating something, but that was the case.
One of the perks of working in a trading firm is that there are no trades on Good Friday. An extra day off is great, especially after several completely exhausting weeks.
Of course, the negative part is that there is no breakfast catering:), but the Charmers Cafe across the street works just fine. And unlike in the office, they make good cappuccino!
Hettie's Reflections 