July 31

It's been 8 days since our AC went down.  Thankfully tonight is not as hot and sticky as last night.  It will be another week before the new one is installed, so hopefully no 100s between now and then....  Mary

Alas, no AC yet

July 30

It very hot and sticky, and we're waiting for the AC guy to come give us a quote on the new system.  And watching synchronized diving....  Mary

 It's too darn hot!

Synchronized diving

July 29

The best thing about the Olympics is the stories:  The Irish gymnast who was twice told he'd never walk again.  The American gymnast from the Bronx with his mom who gets so nervous she has to close her eyes when he competes.  The eight month pregnant shooter from Malaysia.  To have worked so hard and overcome so much, very inspiring and cool. 

In second place for coolness is, of course,  the Queen as Bond girl.  Who knew QE II had such a wonderful sense of humour?  Mary

"Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth"

July 28

This morning I stopped by the Oakwood Village (senior living) Resale Shop.  For less than a dollar I bought a bit of paper ephemera.  It is the wedding invitation, "At Home" card, and 1899 Touring Club de France membership card complete with childhood photo of Elizabeth Storrs Fabian.  Elizabeth was married in 1915, so I'm guessing she was 7 or 8 in the photo.

By Googling her full name, I came across her oldest daughter's obituary.  Elizabeth Webster Lewis passed away earlier this year in here in Madison at the age of 95.  I'm guessing she had been living at Oakwood Village.

It turns out the Touring Club de France was founded in 1890 to encourage cycling tourism.  And they are still around today with an office in Paris and a Facebook page.  Just gotta' love the Internet.... Mary

 TCF Paris office

July 27

Olympic Opening Ceremony!  Mary

 Olympic venues

Olympic torch

July 26

The father of a friend of Eileen's has an art show of over 100 paintings hanging at one of the conference centers on campus.  The art is beautiful, and it is wonderful to see someone who takes such delight in his work like Dr. Chang does....  Mary

C.K. Chang's Fish Pond, Feeding Time

July 25

Hot, really hot.  The girls baked Olympic gold sugared cookies tonight for an opening ceremony party.  Did I mention really hot?

We went around in circles with the condo folks about the air conditioning all day.  Hopefully we've given them enough information to make a decision very, very quickly.  Hot, really, really hot.  Headache inducing hot....  Mary

Dead AC unit on left

July 24

The compressor on our central air conditioner died, so we have no AC.  Since we live in a condominium, we must get approval from the condo board to do anything different with the outside venting of the furnace/AC.  The old furnace vents out the chimney, but a new high efficiency furnace will have to vent out the side of the building.  Our townhouse is the middle unit, so we only have two sides to work with on this, neither one ideal.  Rick is stressing that this is a heat emergency in talking with the condo folks so they will move a little faster than usual on our request.  Let's hope they share our sense of urgency.

It's going to be 100 degrees with a heat index of 106 tomorrow.  I may sleep at my office, or maybe at Anne's apartment with her cats on the chaise in the living room.  At any rate, it will be fans, fans and more fans around here....  Mary

Vintage fan

July 23

One of the best programs on PBS is Antiques Roadshow.  Everyone loves it; everyone gets hooked watching.  And by crisscrossing the country to film, the Roadshow has probably been to a town near you.

In a completely brilliant move, the Roadshow has begun doing Vintage Roadshow taking clips from earlier programs and showing what those items are worth today.  Did they go up in value?  Down?  Stay the same?  New show interest for the price of some editing and a little research.  Genius...  Mary

Antiques Roadshow

July 22

Feeling rather directionless....  Mary

Spinning Compass

July 21

Last night I watched the original Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn.  Tonight I watched the Harrison Ford/Julia Ormond version.  As charming and lovely as the original is, I find I buy the Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond couple more the Bogart/Hepburn one.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, but when you know Bogie is going home to Lauren Bacall each night it's no contest.  Lauren is in a whole different league.

In the newer version, Sabrina talks about the four mile walk crossing all the bridges of Paris.  In the older version, Sabrina talks about Paris when it rains smelling sweetest because of the chestnut trees.  It all sounds very romantic and very, well, French....  Mary

Autumn in Paris

July 20

Had the day off.  Felt like I spent the day going in circles mostly and not accomplishing much.  I did accomplish the most important thing though.  I had coffee with my dearest best friend JK in the morning....  Mary

Circle garden

July 19

Work today.  Errands after.  One of our faculty members turned 50 today.  His graduate students draped his office in black, then threw a surprise party.  They had great fun doing it, but I've never understood the whole grim reaper theme for turning 50.  I personally loved hitting that landmark birthday, and I can't wait to turn 60 in eighteen months....  Mary

 

"Relax, I'm just here for the cake."

July 18

Rain, glorious rain!  In June we had 0.31 inches of rain and not much more in July until today.  And we may get more tomorrow....  Mary

Madison rainfall

July 17

We need rain, and we need really good tree karma....  Mary

Madison

July 16

When Eileen lived in Albuquerque, NM, she adopted two shelter cats.  Duvy was of indeterminate age and had been abused and abandoned in the desert.  He was found under the buffet table in a Native American casino out in the middle of nowhere.  Duvy is, without question, the most Zen creature in the world.  He eats; he sleeps; he gets his cheeks and tummy scratched.  Repeat.

Monster, a fluffy white puffball who could curl up inside Eileen's shoe when he first arrived, had been put in a bag with his litter mates and tossed onto the highway.  Monty was on the only when who made it, and even then the shelter folks told Eileen to come back when he died and get a new one.  While Eileen bottle fed the little guy, Duvy groomed him and kept him warm.  When it was time for solid food, Monster would stand under Duvy, between his front legs, and Duvy would push Monster's face down into the food bowl until he figured out he was supposed to eat the stuff.

Both cats made the trip back up north to Wisconsin with Eileen and have taken up residence with us.  As far as we can tell, Monster doesn't sleep at night.  Instead he has many adventures, all of them no doubt swashbuckling because in the morning he is simply exhausted.  It's all he can do to stay awake and keep tabs on us until we leave for work.  The weekends really wear him out because we don't leave for 8 hours so he can nap and get ready for further adventures.  Today's map is just small sampling of Monster's day/night....  Mary

Monster with his odd colored eyes (one blue, one amber)

Duvy, the Zen Master

July 15

Spent most of the day cooking stuff for the week in our terminally beige kitchen.  The kitchen desperately needs a complete renovation.  It's on the list of things to do when we win the lottery.  Of course, I'd actually have to buy lottery tickets for that to happen.  As beige as the kitchen may be, it is fully functional, and I have lots of good food to eat this week....  Mary

July 14

We drove down to the Chicago suburbs today for Harriet's funeral.  Katie, her granddaughter and an amazing writer/editor, wrote the wonderful obituary below....  Mary

Harriet Ann Glidden Beverley, cherished wife of the late Thomas Albert; devoted mother of Michael (D'Anna), Patricia (Pat) Patterson, Bill (Ilene), Bob (Casey), Mary (Jim) Plew, Joan (Jim) Izzo, David (Kate), Dennis (Danae), Danny (Anne), Anne (Jim) Donnellan, Kevin (Barb) and Jim (Kathy); proud grandmother of 34 and fond great-grandmother of 24; loving sister of the late Benjamin Glidden Jr., Dodie (late Norm) Henning and the late Jodie Rezab Hudgens; sister-in-law of the late Margaret (John) Tyne and the late Sister Louise Beverley O.S.P.; aunt, cousin and friend to many; daughter of the late Benjamin and Leila Glidden. Harriet was born in Oak Park in 1922. Graduate of Oak Park-River Forest High School (1940) and Triton College (1974). She was a LPN at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital from 1974 to 1985. Longtime resident of Lombard, Bradenton, FL, Mayslake Village, Hinsdale, Sunrise Assisted Living in Naperville and recently Lexington Healthcare in Lake Zurich.  Harriet was a Eucharistic minister, Meals on Wheels Volunteer, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, election judge, Cub Scout troop leader, Maytag advertising pin-up, dinner incinerator, knitting instructor, geriatric bicyclist, soaper of mouths, dispenser of justice, inspiration of wit, antagonist of bigots, delight of caretakers and joy to her family. 

July 13

Early to bed so we can be up at dawn and drive to Chicago for a funeral....

July 12

Anne and I do our errands together each week on either Thursday or Friday after work.  This serves several purposes.  First, we push each other to actually go do the errands and not put them off to, god forbid, the weekend.  Second, it saves gas since we would each go to the same places separately.  And finally, errands are really boring.  It's much less dull if there's someone to talk to while doing them.

After work, I take the bus from work to Anne's apartment.  Whoever is less tired and cranky drives.  We make a loop around the west side trying to be as efficient as possible in our route.  Tonight we only had a few stops so it went pretty quickly.  Other times, it can be quite a long evening.  But the most important stop each week is at Mounds Pet Food Warehouse for cat food since our supplies are running low, perish the thought....  Mary

Mounds mascot

July 11

My map of the perfect day....  Mary

Fern sculpture at Olbrich Gardens

July 10

Thirty-four years ago in May, Rick and I were married in Illinois.  Soon afterward we ran away to Madison, Wisconsin.  In all those years, we've lived in just three places on the west side of town.  We lived 11 years in half of a duplex with our landlady, Millie, living in the other half.  Both of the girls were born while we lived there.

We then moved to a neighborhood closer to the University and the girls' Catholic grade school.  It was a wonderful two bedroom/one bathroom home on a block with delightful neighbors whom we still count as dear friends.  After grade school the girls went to the public high school just a block from our house.

After 17 years, we moved to our current home while Anne was in grad school and Eileen in college.  Most people down size at this time of their lives, but we upsized to three bedroom/three bathroom townhouse.  It gave us plenty of space for children or elderly parents to join us as needed.  So far only the girls have come and gone, but the extra space has worked very well for us.

Six months after we moved in, I needed a hip replacement.  This would have been extremely difficult in our old house with the only bathroom on the second floor.  With the first floor bathroom here, my recuperation was a snap.  Rick regularly works from his office here at home on the lower level utilizing much of the additional space down there.

One of the best parts of this house though is that, no matter the season, strapping young men come and make outside work happen.  They shovel snow, cut grass, rake leaves, trim trees, paint, upgrade, and maintain....  Mary

House Number 2

July 9

Just another Monday....  Mary

Last of our fading roses.

July 8

A map of the front garden....  Mary

 Where this unfurls into this...

And tomatoes grow six feet high.