Been a crazy last couple of weeks, and it's not over yet. Had lots of guests, and lots of travel, and lots of fun.
Missed out on commenting about a lot of stuff that happened on the internet. Will attempt to remedy that. Maybe.
To sum up:
Three weekends ago, had Paul's family over. Saw Studio Ghibli's touring CatBus and Totoro, and gifted his nieces with comics. Saw Blue Dahlia perform the live soundtrack to Buster Keaton's The General in a park, munching popcorn and counting lazy fireflies. I could see that movie a hundred times and never get sick of it, especially when you add the Dahlias.
Two weeks ago, had friends over to the house for a week. Played lots of tunes, had lots of fun. Taught a seven-year-old boy how to make seltzer water and then shoot his dad with the siphon from across the kitchen. Fried zucchini and made a huge squash-and-tomato gratin that made me change my opinion on summer squash entirely. Paul's brother visited from Seattle. Went to Bell's, saw Who Hit John? in the Biergarten. Found out the bassist lives a few doors down from us, and has for years. Small world, and really good bluegrass.
Two weekends ago, caught up with another couple and went to the Sizer family cottage. Gorgeous weather, lots of good food, lots of conversation. Talked fiction and movies and food and comics. Drooled over Swedish pastries, made mojitos, took long walks on the beach, got tossed around by the riptides.
One week ago, had a very nice session and a couple nice dinners out with friends. Got a bunch of work done for a project I can't talk about yet.
Last weekend was Chicago Comic-con, formerly Wizard World Chicago. Buddy Layla came into town from Alaska, so although I didn't have a table at all, I drove down Friday night and had Tasty Cuisine with the Chicago gang. Saturday I enjoyed seeing the show as a civilian for the first time in seven years -- I'll leave the con-reports to folks with more invested in the show; I mostly was there to catch up with old friends and find new books to read -- then headed down to Wicker Park with Dirk and Jennie Breeden and Layla and Paul for our traditional night of noodles. Sadly, we narrowly missed Quimby's, which literally closed five minutes before we got there. On Sunday, Layla and I ditched the con entirely to take the eL into Chinatown for Dim Sum and sweet tea and Japanese candy, then, because we were wilting under the oppressive heat, headed back into the Loop to the cold dark Shedd Aquarium where we goggled at the jellyfish lava lamp and the sea lions that bark in their sleep like dogs and found out that belugas have bellybuttons too and Layla bought out the gift shop's entire supply of plastic penguins. We scored real Chicago-style hotdogs from a real Chicago-style hotdog cart, watched the boats on the lake for a while, listened to the last two songs of Vampire Weekend's set at Lollapalooza (Oxford Comma and I Stand Corrected) then headed back north of town. I really like the CTA, with its speedy, regular trains, its well-placed stops, and its blessedly ice-cold air conditioning.
Left Rosemont late and tired and sunburned, and drove around in a search for iced coffee, because it was still a hundred freaking degrees out at eight pm and I was exhausted and needed caffeine for the long drive home. Three closed coffee shops later I hit on a brand new restaurant, Thai Viet (on Des Plains River Road -- go eat there, they're really nice!) that sold me yummy summer rolls and iced coffee. In talking to the sweet guy at the counter, found out that he'd done Alternative Spring Break volunteering in Scotts, Michigan at Tiller's International, the place where we have Harvest Fest every year. Small world, and really great iced coffee.
Arrived back in town last night at midnight, fighting off the con-crud and sucking down more iced coffee. Collapsed.
Hoping to get a break in here somewhere. More news soon, as soon as I get one.