Best Of

L'Shana Tova Tikatevu, for all who celebrate Rosh Hashana—and a good sweet year for everyone. Service last night was terrific, but I woke up too late to attend this morning in person, so I "attended" via YouTube livestream. (Really sore from all the walking from our garage to the temple & back; so couldn't handle a repeat of that, nor the steep stairs in the yellow school bus shuttles from St. Andrew's parking lot). Rabbi hinted that one of his sermons would be about Israel (and "will upset some of you") but said it wouldn't be during the Yom Kippur Kol Nidrei evening service. Today's sermon was more about the partnership of God & humankind, so by process of elimination it'll be one of the Yom Kippur daytime services…which one (morning, afternoon, Holocaust, memorial and concluding) he didn't say. Way to increase attendance! (Of all the rabbis we've had since joining in 1987, he's our fave—retired now, but returns for the High Holy Days and also runs a podcast).

Cindy, Canarycat—wonderful pictures. Cindy, I've also been to Arlington but never at Arlington House. The Smithsonian TV sitcom and kids' program exhibits made me smile (especially Lamb Chop—"ShariLand" was one of my favorite shows as a kid, and I can still remember the theme song). One year on vacation in NYC when Gordy was little, there was a celebration in Central Park called "You Gotta Have Park," with so many kids' show all-stars: the Speedy Delivery guy, Bob Keeshan (in full Captain Kangaroo regalia), Mr. Greenjeans, and Lady Aberlin. For the longest time Gordy thought they all lived in Central Park. Loved the "All in the Family" chairs—didn't they also have Martin Crane's duct-taped fraying recliner from "Frasier" too?

Canarycat, great sets! The Bar Show (lawyers' musical) used to have elaborate set pieces, fog machines, drops, etc. But as funding kept drying up, first the movable sets got the ax, then the full drops; now we just have projections and lighting. Back in the day it ran for a full 2 weeks, at the Hilton ballroom before a stage collapse forced it across the street to the former Blackstone Theater. When I joined the cast in 2002, it ran for 6 performances Tues-Sat. plus Sun. matinee. Now it's down to 3 (Fri. & Sat. night & Sat. matinee plus a Wed. open dress rehearsal for $10 admission. Thursday is out, because that's when NPR holds "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me").

We may not be able to do the show this year: 3 years ago the Bar Assn. pulled the plug on us because after our long-time theater bowed out due to post-pandemic staff shortages, the powers that be decided we hadn't raised enough via sponsorships for them to match in order to switch to the Studebaker Theater. (And they were ticked off that there was no Thursday. performance, because that was traditionally when they held their "President's Party" and bought up 1/3 of the house). They were unwilling to switch the run from early Dec. (the show used to be officially titled "Christmas Spirits") to Jan. We managed to eke out enough in "24 & '25 to do the show—but now we are expected to raise at least $30K via sponsorships & advance sales. As firms get smaller and more lawyers are either semi-retired or just starting out and running their own practices from home, there are fewer and fewer mega-firms to buy sponsorships, ads in the program (which used to be an actual Playbill) and to whom to sell blocks of tickets. We must each sell at least 10-15 tickets. And more and more, we must self-costume. (We used to have the DePaul U. theater students run the makeup room—now we do our own. Wigs may be the next casualty).

Making headway with the boxes, though we still have a huge problem of where to fit everything. Our house was not built with a separate pantry room or closet (even most 1920s-40s Chicago apartments have them). We don't have floor space in the kitchen or dining room for a freestanding cabinet (though we could sacrifice a bar cart from the dining room and put a tall metal one next to the sideboard. Today, we noticed the semicircular pot rack the contractor installed on the framing above the kitchen window is buckling (before the fire, there was a fascia where it was mounted, but they eliminated the fascia; now the sink is by that window—the sink used to be in the corner but the inspector said it was against city code). It was so high I couldn't reach it to hang the hooks, so we had to suspend an oval one (originally designed for suspension from the ceiling) below it. The weight of the pots & pans was threatening to pull the winfow framing from the wall. One more thing to hire another contractor for (though our landscaper/handyman has done ceiling pot-rack installations the right way and I trust him to do it). We're already going to have to hire a painter for the kitchen and bathrooms, and bring our usual electrician in to add a switch to connect to the downstairs bath fan (which does vent to the outside, per city code—but the contractor's electrician turned the switch for it into a light switch instead—he could have installed a double switch plate, but that would have made too much sense). We did without an exterior vent in the main (2d fl) bath for 38 years, so I guess running a duct from the fan to the exterior will have to wait.

Had a minor mishap today: found an empty humidor and decided to put it on the shelf below the windowsill behind Bob's armchair. But the chair has boxes on it so I had to reach around and stretch…and my elbow caught one of the wineglasses on the breakfront surface…oopsie. I think it may have been one of the pair of little Riedel crystal riesling glasses—not cheap. So before we allow the cats back in, we'll have to move that chair and sweep and vacuum thoroughly, We are loaded with stemware, so will give away any of it that's either not crystal nor acrylic in good shape (for dining al fresco). We located about half our Kirk Stieff heavy silverplate, as well as the pre-war silverplate from my mom, and the chest in which to put it; but we have so much stainless that we will give away all but the best formal stainless stuff. That alone will take up a kitchen drawer and two in the living room breakfront. At our age, we've decided it's time to use the good china & silver (or at least the good stainless), Much of the cheaper stainless came from Safeway in Seattle during our grad student days—one place setting per week with a minimum purchase. Amazing how much I'm finding. With the boxes mislabeled as to room & contents, it's like opening a surprise package every time. Spent much of today going through CDs (giving away the freebies traded for at gigs & folk conferences, isolating the empty jewel boxes and "orphaned" discs for Gordy to put back properly).

Titrated my Zepbound up to 7.5mg last night. Already noticing a difference, with earlier satiety and no cravings (harkening back to when I first started on 2.5). We went to L. Woods for their annual Rosh Hashana menu, and I wisely paced myself with the family-style appetizers, knowing how huge and carb-loaded the entree portions would be. Apps were: apples, honey & challah rolls, regular and vegan chopped liver (pretty good, almost a mousse), gefilte fish, and matzo ball soup. I was right—entree portions of brisket in gravy, glazed carrots, green beans, potato latkes, and kasha varnishkes (shells instead of the usual bowties) were enough to feed four people. Even with early satiety I may have eaten enough to be in caloric equilibrium. Waiter saw all the boxes we requested and wisely packed our desserts to go. It's five hours later and I have no desire to snack. (Though I did need some grated-ginger "tea" to settle things down a bit). We have enough leftovers to take us through Friday.