Chicagoing

After opening presents and attending church on Christmas Day, we hopped on a plane and landed in Chicago to spend a few days with my parents and siblings. My aunt and uncle had offered their home to us while they were away for Christmas and it was a wonderful site to gather, smack in the middle of the country.

Joy! It's the first time we've all been together for 5+ years.  It was time.

So that's where I've been:

spending hours around the table

reading on the sofas

going to the Chicago Art Institute

and Berghoffs (remember when I went there with Sam a couple of summers ago? they fixed their sign)

singing around the piano

and doing Muppet impersonations (Chris's Animal ftw)

My people. I love them.

I miss them already.

24 hours

What to do when your husband's overseas on business for a couple of weeks, you need a little boost, and you have a relatively empty weekend calendar, a brother & sister to visit, hotel points to use, and a gorgeous weather forecast in the northeast? 

Take a spur-of-the-moment road trip. A 24-hour energizer. 

John's Pizzeria.
Last-minute, cheap Phantom of the Opera tickets.
Listening to RadioLab, helping Sam learn his lines, laughing together in the car.
Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, Macy's, and the rest of the city decked out for Christmas.
City walking, walking, walking. 
NY Public Library.
Exploring Wired magazine's awesome pop-up store (with an amazingly high quality photo booth!). 
Meeting Chris for brunch.
Watching Harry Potter on tv in the hotel. 
Good talks and (after the kids fell asleep) nice quiet thinking in the car on the way home. 

It was just the thing.

Those 24 hours will fuel my next 24 days.

p.s. Miss you, G. Miss you, Lauren. Come home soon!

Snippets

"No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today" ~ Fra Giovanni

1. I'm going camping in New Hampshire tonight with the family.  G and Sam planned all of the dutch oven meals, shopped for the supplies, and packed us all up. Apparently all I have to do is pack my sweatshirt, pajamas, pillow, and toothbrush. Heaven.

2. This morning I sat in the September sun on a bench with a good friend. We talked for two hours and felt the breeze and twinges of autumn. It was so restorative and helped me remember to look upward and outward more. Heaven.

3. I'm giddy with anticipation for a girls' adventure starting Monday. Christie and I are heading out on a long-planned, much-postponed and eagerly anticipated journey to London and Paris for eight lucky days.* (Believe me, I know how lucky I am. Europe? In October? With Christie? For a whole week? Heaven.) My happy dance looks like this:

Note: I don't know about the song's hypothesis about the relationship between wifely ugliness and any subsequent husbandly happiness that springs from it. I just like the dancing, not the message. But, oh, what dancing!

4. What I do know, however, is that I married a terrific man who really is willing to find ways to build bits of heaven for us here on earth. He continues to amaze me with his kindness and support. He not only tolerates my pursuits and wanderings he nudges me to do them, knowing me as he does. Here's to G. Heaven to me.

. . .

*please let me know what your Londan and Paris faves are. I admit I've been to London a few times but I've still got a lot to see and learn about that city. And I've only been to Paris once, when I was 18. What to see/eat/walk/experience?

There's no place like home...

Naturally we had to make a pilgrimage to see Dorothy's ruby red slippers. There was a time when 4-year-old Maddy had a particular obsession with all things Wizard of Oz, including her own pair of sparkly red shoes that she wore EVERYWHERE.

We also toured Georgetown University, went to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (which we never did in all the years we lived there), attended Eryn's wedding and reception, shopped for school clothes, and had breakfast at Eastern Market with Brigham (my cousin), Jennie, and Dalton (off walking during this shot) before heading home.

It was a good last hurrah for summer. Although we did hit this on 95 while driving home (note the people out of their cars and lounging around on the shoulder; this was completely stopped traffic for about an hour):

Ruby red slippers, where are you when I need you?

p.s. We made it home in one piece. First day of school: tomorrow.

Stone of hope

We were happy to be able to check out the newly opened (but not yet dedicated, thanks to Hurricane Irene) Martin Luther King Jr. memorial while in DC.  It was a gorgeous evening--my favorite time between sunset and dark.

This is the entrance out of which that middle part becomes this:

the stone of hope with MLK facing across the pond to Thomas Jefferson (a little irony?). There are a handful of MLK quotes on the surrounding interior wall like this one:

When we lived in Washington DC, our architect friend called from the other side of the country and asked me to go to a certain point on the tidal basin, across from the Jefferson Memorial, and take a few photos. His firm was submitting a design for the competition for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial that was slated to be located there and they wanted a few more visuals of the area.  Fast forward a decade+ and it was really amazing to see how the memorial ended up (though not created by our friend's firm after all).

On the other side of this statue is a paraphrased quote (I was a drum major for justice peace and righteousness) that has stirred some controversy; Maya Angelou said it makes MLK sound like a twit when the lengthier passage demonstrates his truer humility. I do like the longer quote better but, of course, that wouldn't have fit on the statue.

Either way, it's a lovely tribute on the whole.  Jefferson + FDR + MLK + Lincoln are not bad company for an evening walk.

Going postal

We decided to make a quick jaunt south to Washington DC before the school year starts next week. The daughter of our longtime friends (the Fifes) was getting married there so it seemed like the perfect time to have a road trip.

Since we used to live in DC, we wanted to mix in some new-to-us sights. Our first stop was the National Postal Museum. Sam had read about it in the Smithsonian Magazine so we thought we'd check it out. 

It's housed in the beautiful old post office headquarters building:

We had it pretty much to ourselves (as with most of the other DC attractions).
Early September travel is lovely. 

Maddy was especially a fan since she's a perpetual post service booster and loves getting and sending real, stamp-and-mailbox letters.

LOVE the mailboxes.    
Next up, the new Martin Luther King memorial...

North

We headed north for a quick jaunt to Vermont this weekend, G and I.  Our fab friends (from back in law school, oh, 19 years ago) are in New England visiting their daughter who's at Dartmouth's debate camp this summer. We jumped at the chance to hang out with them when they invited us to crash their vacation for a blissful day or two.

You've got to love a town with an announcement blackboard, right?^

Such great people. (Hope you don't mind my posting the photo, guys...hey look, I'm in the window. Never let it be said I don't post pictures of myself.) 

Amazing what a 24-hour roadtrip can do for your outlook. Vermont, you did yourself proud.

G generously offered to drive while I put back the seat for a bit and snoozed on the way home in the warm afternoon sun. Our time up north was filled with marvelous views but I think this one was one of my favorites.

True north, that G.

Ancestors 1, Progeny 0

There was precisely one week this summer that would work to go to visit G's parents before they return from their mission this fall so we packed our bags and headed to Nauvoo last week.

Lauren, now gainfully employed as a full-time camp counselor, stayed home with Louie.  (This is why I didn't mention the trip before now, because you know how you never know with the internet?) We missed her. I think she missed us a little but mostly really loved the taste of independence and solo living, judging from all the cereal bowls scattered throughout the house.

I'm pretty sure we'll never ever have the chance to see G's parents in a show again. Every missionary there participates, no exceptions. This is about 639 miles outside of his dad's comfort zone. I don't think raised-on-an-Idaho-ranch civil engineers have "perform in a musical" on their bucket lists. They've been hiding their lights under a bushel, though! They've got comic timing and great projection. Nevertheless, I think Grandpa is counting down the days to his theatrical retirement.

This is where G's parents live. Don't you love the lettering along the roofline? We tried to guess the translation but failed miserably. A party city is very good? 

Maddy in the room where the Relief Society was organized, the upper room of the Red Brick Store.

I feel like I need to confess something. The last day there it was SWELTERING. I've always kind of rolled my eyes a bit about midwest heat and humidity. I mean, I live in Boston; we know humidity (I thought). Let me apologize to all of you midwesterners: Illinois/Missouri heat and humidity is a completely different beast. The final day the heat index was 106 degrees.  We had saved this special family time right before we left to walk down Parley Street where, in 1846, the wagons were all lined up for departure across the Mississippi and into the west. We planned to read the personal accounts on each marker and ponder about our ancestors doing really hard things. Everyone says this is very moving and spiritual. 

But it was so hhhhhhhot. So instead we made Sam get out of the air-conditioned car and yell/read the quotes at us through the window of the car. Believe me, the irony was not lost on us. Sorry, ancestors. We're wimps. We can do hard things but not at 106 degrees. 

Speaking of ancestors, this is the land owned and occupied by my great great grandparents, Richard Bentley and Elizabeth Price, back in the 1840s. (G's mom helped me look up my family's names in the land records and--lo and behold!--he had a nice little parcel of land.)  I wonder what they felt about leaving this beautiful field behind. I wonder if they were in the line at Parley Street. For me, this was the more sacred and personal space, standing where they stood. If things went differently, would this have been my hometown? 

After Nauvoo, we headed north to see some of our favorite friends ever (we are still recovering from their move away years ago) for the 4th of July weekend. Fabulous food, happy & content kids, comfy beds, swimming, movies, and talks late into the night--it was the perfect weekend, so perfect that I only managed to get out my camera once, at the fireworks.

Under Christie's photography tutelage, I took my 387 photos of fireworks:

It was a great trip.

{The only possible downside to the trip (besides the heat or our wimpiness) was that my wallet got lost/stolen on the trip there. Boo for cancelling credit cards and losing my favorite red clutch, yay for having my drivers license in my pocket so I still had id for the plane ride back.}

. . .

Trip miscellany

Read: The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton), The Summer of the Bear (Bella Pollen) -- recommend both

Heard: Radio Lab podcasts, Vocal Point cd (they performed in Nauvoo), The Civil Wars (my new band obsession)

Ate: Way too much.

Quote: Sam~ (on seeing a photo of himself) "This camera just doesn't understand me" (I completely know how that feels)

Especially memorable: Carthage Jail, Vocal Point, walking through old Nauvoo early every morning with Maddy, adjusting to being a (temporary) family of four, lots of laughs

Great speeches and other outbursts

If you're strapped for time, here's the summary:

It was a great time in the old town Monday night.

And I'm getting too old to try down-and-back-in-one-day trips to NYC, by the way. 

. . .

All in all, it was a fun night, very hipstery & New Yorky. I met Nancy at Hampton Chutney on the Upper West side and then we walked up to Symphony Space for the show.  Good to have some sister time: lots of laughing and good talks.

I won't try to review the whole night (you can get a feel for it in this blog post I came across).  It was a great selection of speeches, from lots of different political and historical perspectives, hilarious at times and moving at others. I geekily got out my trusty Moleskine to jot down the names of speeches, since I knew I wouldn't be able to recreate the whole list from my rusty memory. Here goes, with links where I could find them in case you're curious:

1. John Winthrop's City Upon a Hill speech (delivered by John Oliver)
2. Chief Seattle's "We Will Haunt You" speech (Sarah Vowell)
3. Mario Cuomo's Democratic Convention speech response to City on a Hill (Bobby Cannavale)
4. Washington's letter to the Hebrew congregation in Newport (Sarah Vowell)
5. Interview between Woody Allen (Bobby Cannavale, who does a perfect impersonation) and Reverend Billy Graham (Eric Bogosian)
6. Abraham Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural (Ira Glass)
7. Theodore Roosevelt's The Strenuous Life (John Hodgman, complete with push-up breaks and "bully!")
8. Queen Elizabeth to her troops before defeating the Spanish Armada (John Oliver)
9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer's battle pep talki (Ira Glass)
10. George Patton's address to the 3rd Army, 1942 (Sarah Vowell; George used some salty language)
11. Dick Gregory's speech after release from Birmingham jail (Wyatt Cenac)
12. Don Rickles and various other oddities and outbursts (Amy Sedaris)
13. John Cleese's funny eulogy for fellow Monty Python-er Graham Chapman (John Oliver) following the Undertaker sketch by Cleese (John Oliver) and Chapman (Wyatt Cenac)
14. Eric Bogosian's own spiel on normalcy in the Reagan era
15. John Hodgman's own speech at 2009 White House tv/radio correspondents dinner with Wyatt Cenac playing Obama

 . . .

Afterwards, I walked the 30ish blocks back to my car (I do love city walking but I had parked at Lincoln Center mistakenly thinking that the theater was in that neighborhood) and started back for Boston around 11:30. Big mistake. There was a ton of construction on the way home, lots of stop-and-waits and traffic narrowed to one lane.

It reminded me of the night I went to Philadelphia for dinner with Nancy and Chris and back home again. But this time (older?wiser?) I gave in.  At 1:45, when I realized it was going to be after 4 a.m. before I made it home, I found a little cheap Comfort Inn in Connecticut, texted G not to worry, and declared defeat against my drowsy eyes.  Note to self: do not kid yourself. You cannot pull all-nighters anymore. 

Still, it was worth it.

Glass ceilings and mockingbirds

What a fun & full weekend! On Saturday we met my parents at the MFA & saw the Chihuly Glass exhibit (amazing! look at that ceiling in the big photo below!)

But the real reason we went was to see Hey, Boo!, a feature-length documentary about Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird. Definitely see it if you get the chance. It was surprisingly emotional for me and, judging from the sniffling and wiping away of tears around me, I wasn't the only one. (Obsession alert! I've also written about Harper Lee here and here)

A few take-aways:

1. I always thought that To Kill a Mockingbird sprung sort of fully formed from the mind of Nelle Harper Lee. But it actually took a LOT of work and two years of grueling rewrites even after she finished the initial story. 

2. Two friends (a married couple by the name of Brown) believed so heartily in her talent as a writer that they gave her a Christmas gift of enough $ to support her for a year so she could quit her job as an airline reservations clerk and dedicate herself to writing. She said it was not so much the $ but their complete faith in her that carried her through the creation of the book. What fantastic friends, definitely fifth business material.

3. She started law school but quit to be awriter. Sometimes quitting is good.

4. Atticus is based loosely on her own father, A.C. Lee, who was a member of the state legislature, an attorney, and an editor for Monroeville's newspaper. (I just found a great LA Times article about Lee's last interview and some of her influences here.)

4. While the character of Scout definitely embodies Lee's characteristics as a young girl, over the years she has come to feel more akin to Boo Radley as the media and well-meaning, curious fans have sought to bring her out of her private isolation. "Know what'd happen then? All the ladies in Maycomb includin' my wife'd be knocking on his door bringing angel food cakes. To my way of thinkin', Mr. Finch, taking the one man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin' him with his shy ways into the limelight – to me, that's a sin. It's a sin and I'm not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man, it'd be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch...Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough."  Although meeting her is one of my dreams, I suppose reading her book is enough for me, too.

. . .

Click here for a clip of the documentary, a portion of the section on Scout.