So many boxes to pack! Dust everywhere.
Why those deep sighs? You are picking up a habit of mine. I sigh all the time now.
It's the dust. Can't get enough clean air into my lungs. I feel I'm back to smoking three packs a day.
Working frantically to get as much done before morning movers come. These will be the Madison to Chicago movers. Local guys will come Thursday to help me fix some broken pieces of furniture and shift stuff over to the loft, still others will come Friday to move hundreds (it seems) of boxes into storage. At the same time that a garage sale will be (if I did this right) in progress.
I sent myself the lecture text to work on for Tuesday's classes. What a relief to get the mind focused on textbook problems of domestic relations law!
Most every good restaurant is closed for Labor Day.
Magnus? Harvest?
All closed. Delmonico's?
Never been there. [...] Oh, nice! Candles, they need candles and then it will be perfect.
I take photos. At home, I have lost the cord to the computer. No photos can appear here without the cord. The missing cord is driving me nuts. How could I misplace a cord? I am way too anxious over that cord. I think about it nonstop.
Beef Wellington. When was the last time we ordered Beef Wellington?
That's easy: September 3rd, 1977.
Twenty-eight years ago: a small group, seated around a long table in a wonderful French restaurant in Chicago (it has long gone out of business, but it was sweet). Beef Wellington and champagne. People ate beef without reservation then. No one thought to provide a vegetarian alternative. No one was a vegetarian and if they were, it would be regarded weird enough that you did not have to accommodate it.
At the loft now:
So nice, it is so nice here! Add the striped armchair! You'll love having it in this spot.
Yes, okay, I'll do that.
At home, evening rolls into night rolls into morning. Boxes, dust. Keeping order, making sure everything is marked well. So complicated: Chicago, loft, storage, garage sale, Goodwill. Separate piles, diverging destinations. I need to leave for class. Or, to take the car to the loft from where I'll walk to class. When I come back late in the afternoon, the house will still have debris, many boxes, dust, and a chunk of furniture, but it will be, for all intents and purposes, empty.
20 hours ago
Beef Wellington in Chicago-1977...must have been Le Perroquet! Saved up for months once to dine there...I more rememner the Soufle Grande Manier and a marvelous bottle of chablis but it was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteJeff (still in Chicago)
Nina, if your camera has a removable disc you can plug that into your computer too, that is, if your computer has a slot for it as mine does, in the front below the place for the CD ROMs and floppy discs.
ReplyDeleteWalking to class. Memories. I used to walk to class with a Sony Walkman. Those things don't last very long. I used it one semester. Played Beethoven's Third and a Tom Waits. Seemed to go well with Autumnal northern Colorado, and Greeley. So I place those walks through a suburb, three athletic fields and half a campus in the early morning. Would take a bus home if really tired.
correction: not le perroquet but The Bakery on Lincoln Avenue...my apologies for the inaccuracy
ReplyDeleteJeff: Le Perroquet was indeed one of the first wonderful restaurants we ate in back then, but we chose another for this day -- Cafe de Paris. Do you remember that place? I considered it such a splurge! We took about fifteen people to a wonderful Beef Wellington meal and I wrote out a check at the end for $450 -- which included champagne, wine, and a generous tip.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: I never even thought of listening to music! Today was my first such walk and I have to say I loved the city noises. There's a lot of construction along the path I've chosen and it is significantly soothing to see all this taking place early in the morning. (I may feel less enchanted with the walk in the winter. It does take some 20 - 25 minutes.)
Nina,
ReplyDeletedon't remember Cafe de Paris but remember the extravagence of meals costing $450.00. Now you can hardly go to Charley Trotter's for two for that amount (i am told--wouldn't myself know anymore).. always liked Kiki's Bistro for combination of price and environment...
I really need to know the name of the restaurant that was famous for beef wellington. I believe it was in or near the same spot that Harry Carray's is now in. Or it is was on Dearborn close to Marina City. I remember having to walk across the bridge from my office that was at 162 N.State. Oh, the memories...
ReplyDelete