Sometimes The Best Stuff Is Right At Home

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My sister left this in my bedroom when I was home last weekend. Think she knows me much?
The Mt. Pleasant house, over 150 years old and lived in by my grandparents for almost sixty years and currently owned by my dad and stepmom, has been updated and cleaned out over the years, and yet, there are always treasures to be found. I've found stuff in the barn from the original owners, and I've laid claim to my grandmother's sewing drawer, where there is always one more good button to bring home, or a fine package of bias tape or some such.

MAJOR SCORE!

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This photo does not do even a little justice to what I picked up at a garage sale in Mt. Pleasant this weekend. For five bucks I got dozens and dozens of more or less brand-new embroidery floss in absolutely lovely colors, every tiny variation in shade. I will pretty much not ever have to buy any more ever again, except pink. There's very little pink here. I also got a sweet fifties lamp for 2$, miscellaneous trim for less than a buck altogether, and a clock for 25 cents.

Giftie

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This little giftie was one among several from the brilliant Lisa Gerstein, she of Flounce Vintage in Echo Park. Shop there, and love her.
BTW? I did the beading on the sweater myself.

I Love My Family

I was in Iowa this weekend for a memorial gathering for my Aunt Barby, who died about a month ago after a few years of suffering from the dreaded c-word. My Uncle Al, cousin Ann and her kids Dana (the one who visited me last summer) and her brother Jack came from New York, and my folks hosted a luncheon and then we buried her at the Crane plot, where I’d never actually been but where a couple of hundred years worth of Cranes are buried. It’s a nice spot, right across from Old Threshers, and there’s one of those big old obelisks marking the area. It was sad, but the weekend overall was joyful, and I am very fond of Ann and her offspring. Jack seems to be taking after his big sister with a talent for drama, appearing recently in The Crucible! The redbuds were in bloom – there are about a hundred on the property but I always seem to miss the short window during which they’re blooming, and it’s something to see – also the lilac bushes smelled heavenly. We all played Frisbee golf and our other new favorite family game, Lie-brary, and laughed a lot. We’re a funny bunch. No really.

And guess what I saw from the window of the train on the banks of the Mississippi? A huge, regal, CRANE. I don’t think I’d ever seen one before.

I Am A Bad Blogger

I have so much on my vintage dishware right now that it’s been impossible to find a minute to blog about it and I probably should be doing any number of other things right now but I’m doing this.

Wide Open … Ahem

My friend Ian Belknap is remounting his excellent solo show, “Wide Open Beaver Shot of My Heart, A Comedy With a Body Count” which I strongly recommend if you’re at all human.

Where: Neo Futurists in Andersonville. (nice bit on him in last week’s Time Out, featuring a good photo of his handsome mug)

What: This season's only true-crime, unsolved murder/suicide comedy. To my knowledge.

When: Thu, Fri, Sat, Apr 27 - May 6, 7:30pm

How much: $15, pay-what-you-can on Thursday

Where: Neo-Futurarium 5153 N. Ashland (just shy of Foster)

How: 773/275.5255 or www.neofuturists.org

Why: Cause there are those of us that seek a deeper source for our comedy than the
"Jack-overhears-Janet-and-Chrissy-misinterprets-their-intent-(hopefully-in-some-double entendre-type-way)-predictable-hilarity-ensues" model we've received from our forebears. I hate them. Those forebear bastards.

BUT DON’T FORGET WHO THIS BLOG IS ABOUT:

Reading tonight at Quimby’s with Me, Megan, Ken Foster, Mojo and Furry Friends.

Reading Monday – Now With Doggies!

Monday night the 24th at Quimby’s, 7:00 pm., 1854 W. North Avenue, Chicago!

Ken Foster, reading from his new book, The Dogs Who Found Me
Megan Stielstra (with Mojo)
Me
and some
Furry Friends
for you to take home and love up.

What Our Week Was Like

Orders of business on the agenda today:

1) Ben and I had a nice Easter weekend in NJ. We ate a lot, walked around a little, went to my mom’s church – there was a really nice service about – well what I took away were some thoughts about how we’re all connected on the earth – things I think about a lot anyway. She also talked about how nothing created ever truly dies – which is interesting to think about but almost too much for my brain. Anyway one of the things I like best whenever I hear her speak is that in some way she always acknowledges that doubt is an integral part of faith. She never says THIS IS THE TRUTH. She just says This is what I believe and this is what this means to me.

2) There’s a new issue of Other Voices out with a story of mine (linky on the side), What Our Week Was Like, and also a ginormous interview with me and Steve Almond that we did last year. It’s pretty interesting, if I do say so myself.

3) Speaking of days of the week, Nina and I had a funny conversation recently. She mentioned that she doesn’t love weekends and although I like them much better now than I used to, I totally understood. I hesitated to say that part of it was that TV sucks on the weekend until she brought it up – we cracked up about that. Nina doesn’t even watch as much as I do. But just as much it’s sort of about – you work all week and there’s so much pressure to both relax and get stuff done on the weekend, and it’s kind of not possible. We also talked about how each day has a different feeling to it, which is such a weird thing but it’s something I’ve always been conscious of. I’ll get into the particulars of it later, but for now I’ll leave you with this – yesterday, probably because Ben isn’t usually off on Mondays and because we flew back and got home pretty early, it not just didn’t feel like a Monday to me, it felt like no day. A lot of this is about being a creature of habit – if I’m not on some vaguely regular routine – it just feels weird.

Found in My Mailbox!

You know, we writers don’t tend to get 30,000 dollar gift bags, but one of the perks for those of us with a couple of books and a blog with a half-dozen trusted readers, is that every once in the while the mailman delivers something that isn’t a bill, which today includes a picture of our friend’s very cute new baby in a monkey blanket we sent him (okay, this has nothing to do with being a writer) and a copy of the new Found Magazine compilation. I’m sure most of you have seen Found at this point, but if you haven’t, it’s a magazine of, um, stuff people find. Check out their tour schedule over on their site- their exhibit of stuff was here last year and it was pretty great.

Weird Baby Names I Was Unaware Of

With the birth of little Apple’s new brother, Moses Martin, perhaps a loaded but nevertheless pretty cute-sounding name, I think, the reporters are once again talking about weird baby names, and I learned of two that need to be known, and pondered:

Penn Jillette has a kid named Moxie Crimefighter.

Pondering?

Even better than that, in my opinion, is Jermaine Jackson’s kid Jermajesty.

Take as much time as you need.

Should Ben and I consider bringing a little Bermajesty into the world?