Monday, June 26, 2006

Mozart, Buddhists, Cows, & A Dead Woman

With Norbert at sleep-away camp, Myfanwe and I had an evening free to attend a concert at Millennium Park's spectacular Pritzker Pavilion. Anyone who doubts Chicago's status as a world class city need only to visit Millennium Park to have their doubt resolved. And the performances are free to the public!


The program was an innovative performance of Mozart's Requiem by the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus combined with a performance of Tibetan Buddhist monks invoking harmony, peace, etc. The weather was perfect and a great crowd turned out.

I love music, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to hear such incredible performances for free. What I can't figure out is why so many people have no respect for either the musicians or the people sitting around them. They act as if they are the only people there!


These horrible cows talked through the entire concert and didn't even have the presence of mind to lower their voices to a whisper...which still would have been annoying, but at last I could have tried to block it out. But no, they mooed at the top of their lungs. During the monks prayer for world peace I found myself praying they would spontaneously combust. Probably not the response the monks were hoping for.

On Saturday morning we went to a bunch of garage sales in the neighborhood. By and large the pickings were slim, but at the last one I saw a ghoulish face staring up at me from a box and I knew I had a find on my hands!


I call her Callie, and she is a glazed ceramic Day of the Dead doll. Her head comes off and swivels. She currently resides on the window sill in the bathroom, where I have her head positioned so that it looks like she's staring at anyone sitting on the toilet!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Callie is a great find! I wonder why her head comes off. (I understand the swivel-thing.)

Too bad you couldn't MOO at those women. Very bad form!

Michelle said...

Callie is fabulous! Color me jealous.

amandamonkey said...

She is GORGEOUS. Nice find!

Anonymous said...

Rude people everywhere, Aidan. Had a parent sit next to me at school open house text messaging the whole time ... a dad on his phone for over an hour during a school concert ... and my particular pet peeve people who are out for a meal with someone but spend huge amounts of time talking on their phones to other people. If you wanted to speak to that person then why didn't you invite them along for the meal?

I love your shawl! You inspired me to try lace knitting. My first attempt will be knitpicks Adamas Shawl. I have the yarn, pattern, needles, and markers. I'm still looking for the courage (think it may have rolled under the couch). It's chart knitting and I've never knit from a chart before.

Anonymous said...

Rude people everywhere, Aidan. Had a parent sit next to me at school open house text messaging the whole time ... a dad on his phone for over an hour during a school concert ... and my particular pet peeve people who are out for a meal with someone but spend huge amounts of time talking on their phones to other people. If you wanted to speak to that person then why didn't you invite them along for the meal?

I love your shawl! You inspired me to try lace knitting. My first attempt will be knitpicks Adamas Shawl. I have the yarn, pattern, needles, and markers. I'm still looking for the courage (think it may have rolled under the couch). It's chart knitting and I've never knit from a chart before.

Aidan said...

Diane: If the Knitpicks pattern has each row written out, I recommend transferring each row's instructions onto index cards and putting them on a ring or in binder. (NancyK tells me she found index cards already punched with 2 holes and a corresponding 2-ring binder.) I use a binder clip to keep me on the right row when I have to tuck it away. There is a picture of my cards a few posts earlier in the month.

I thought I had come up with such a great idea, but last night at Stitches in Britches Franklin referred to it as a Maggie Righetti Lace Book.

Whoever thought of it, it offers infinite assistance. Good luck with your first lace! You never forget your first!

Anonymous said...

Aah, I have a mini-pink Dona Catrina. She's featured in the Diego Rivera mural, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon, etc. I knew I liked you for reasons other than bringing dark chocolate and cookies to knitting events.

Franklin said...

Oh dear. Should I ever be invited to visit you, I'll need to make sure I go before I leave home. I just can't do it with somebody watching me. Especially some dead chick.