Dear everyone,
I’m writing this a day earlier than usual, because tomorrow
Jami’s younger step-daughter, Christine is getting married in the early
afternoon, and it promises to be a long day.
Earlier, I will be at aikido judging an exam; one of the senior students
is demonstrating for a second degree black belt.
Earlier this week was Vivian’s birthday (9/11), and Jasper’s
(9/16) is coming up in a couple of days. We are planning on meeting them at Aba for dinner on Wednesday.
Cindy and I are considering taking the train into the city early, and doing
something downtown in the afternoon. We
wanted to see the Georgia O’Keefe exhibit at the Art Institute; alas, it’s
closed on Wednesdays. Did I ever mention
O’Keefe’s favorite cocktail (her recipe collection was recently on sale at
Sotheby’s; Yale University purchased it)?
It was called the St
Peter’s, and it is basically a gimlet with some added absinthe. I like gin and absinthe, so yum!
The weather lately has been pretty glorious: warm days
(lower 80s) and cool nights. Too bad
all of the kids are in school! I have
been playing pickleball at the intermediate level, but sometimes at Brook Park
there are some pretty advanced players.
It’s instructive (if a bit demoralizing) to see what good players can
do. I have to work on putting spin on
the ball, and occasionally creating lobs. Last Saturday, instead of
working out in Jami’s basement, Jami and I went with Joel Greenberg to the site
of Fort Sheridan’s old air field, now the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve
to watch the hawk migration. I went with
Joel a couple of years ago in October.
Two years ago the weather was cold and cloudy, but we saw a good number
of hawks - - the wind was from the northwest, pushing the hawks towards the
Lake, and it was later in the season. This time the weather was nice, but the wind
was from the northeast, and we didn’t see too many raptors. A few accipters (Cooper’s and Sharp-shinneds),
turkey vultures, and red-tailed hawks.
There had been a couple of bald eagles before we got there, but in all a
bit disappointing. We did get a
fantastic view of a Great Blue heron catching a vole or a deer mouse though!
Meanwhile, Cindy was in Danbury, Connecticut with Cheryl,
visiting Cheryl’s daughter Brittany and her husband John. Brittany gave birth to twin (sororal) girls (Isabella
and Ariella) earlier this summer, and they are super cute now. Cindy’s flight back had a dogleg in
Baltimore, and she was kind enough to bring some real Chesapeake Bay crab cakes
home.
Entertainment wise, I watched the Bears make a surprising
win last Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
The Bears offense, with their new quarterback Caleb Williams was
frighteningly awful, with less than 150 yards in the game. However, the Bears defense was very good, and
the Titans offense made some terrible errors, with the result of several Bears
defensive scores. I have also finished
watching a series on Netflix called Warrior, which takes place in
San Francisco in the 1870s during the early tong wars and amidst a lot
of anti-Asian politics. Great fight
scenes in every episode; it reminded me a lot of Fonda Lee’s Green Bone saga. I have also been enjoying the live action
version of One
Piece - - I have never followed the anime, but now I’m kind of interested
in seeing it.
Good books lately include A
Better World, a satirical future dystopian horror thriller (with giant carnivorous
poultry!); and A
Short Walk Through A Wide World, an interesting fantasy where the main
character has a ‘disease’ that forces her to move to a different location every
3-4 days.
Love,
H
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