Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

It was a Black Monday yesterday on Wall Street, but most of us have to get up and get on with it.  For some of us, it's a little more of a challenge.  Clink the link above, and meet Darin Peets-and Robis.  You know that "everything I needed to know I learned in Kindergarten essay?  These kids are learning WAY more. 

I am LOVING Jesse White today!

I have never EVER had a ticket. 

I hope I did not just jinx myself by saying that. 

Steve would say it is because I am a tentative, pokey driver.  I prefer to think I am cautious and moderate.  But today I enjoyed the benefit of whatever it is I am- I got to renew my driver's license online!  I will receive a sticker for the back of my license, and for 4 more years I will be frozen in time photographically.  What more could a woman want?  Actually- I could wish for a better hair day in 2004, when I last ambled to the Lombard Secretary of State Office to renew.  However,  I will deal with that.  For a measly $1.75 surcharge, I saved myself the trouble of driving, lining up, taking an eye test and getting what could be an even more terrifying visage on my license.

I am carried away by joy- so euphoric, in fact, that I told Jesse he could have any organ that survives my leave-taking.  I checked the box online, and now you are all witnesses. 

Whoa- I may just have jinxed myself again.  I am going to quit while I am alive and ticket free.  Drive carefully- it will pay off. 

I am Chill

I have a weakness for crushed ice. I come by it naturally- Mom used to ask us to crack ice cubes for her when we were young, and of course we obeyed. She had a little mallet with a metal ball on the end- we would put the cubes in our palms, and have at. We never suffered any injuries beyond chilly palms, but it was a time intensive practice. She upgraded to a manual crank model, but in truth, it took longer and required more strength. She was elated when refrigerators began to crush ice. Of course by the time this happened, we had long been freed of this duty, and her dental work made her less in love with chomping ice.

I have carried on my Mom's habit, and my fridge gives water and cubes- no crushing at all. A few weeks ago, a power surge blew out my Sub Zero- an appliance with 20 years of dedicated service. I was determined to get it fixed- replacement costs would be ridiculous. But then I began to dream.....could this be a chance to get crushed ice? Was it worth $7000 to replace my unit with another 48 inch, counter depth model? NO. Diamond Appliance got the old box back on track, and I continued to use my counter top ice crusher- the only appliance I allow on the counter top, due to its constant us. My current crusher is a 40 buck dynamo called the Deni. It is loud- the same decibels as a Harley, I am thinking. The cause is the safety flange, which saves the user from the temptation of inserting fingers into the blade. Ice cubes thrash against this metal tongue, and the result is sheer cacophony. And a few cups of crushed ice. Steve hates the sound of this process, he hates the fact that it sits out while the toaster hides in a cupboard, and he kind of hates me when I crush. I hear his pain, and I have remedied the situation.

Today's UPS delivery brought me the new love of my life- a Waring professional ice crusher. It is a beautiful thing. And it is quiet. It has no safety flange- and Steve has already tested the fates by pushing ice cubes through the chute with his fingers. It will crush 50 pounds of ice in an hour, and has a 12 cup drawer to catch chipped ice. I am currently enjoying a Diet Sobe beverage upon crushed ice with a fluorescent straw. Life is good.

On the down side- it is too tall to fit under the cabinets. With efficiency comes bulk. I plan to remove Steve's charging station under our microwave- where the i-pods and phones re-juice- and create a beverage center. I am sure that Steve will not mind plugging his electronics into the bathroom outlet- or some other less convenient place. Maybe I will make him a shrimp cocktail on ice, since he does not indulge in frosty beverages. Whatever- at least I have never handed him a mallet and asked for crushed ice....because I know he would be tempted to use that mallet on me.

I am now in the market for little umbrellas for the cute drinks I will be inventing. Cheers!

Back in the Nest

In 2005, Steve booked a vacation for us in London for October. The White Sox were ablaze in the summer, and Steve wiggled and whispered the "once in a lifetime" rejoinder to What is a wife to say to the possibility of a World Series? Our free First Class tickets from Apple Vacations and United Airlines (a generous make-good for another traveling snafu) evaporated. Reservations were canceled; my crown jewels were put back in the hatbox. The Sox came through in a big way, and the family has memories that will be with us forever. I held no grudge.

This year, as Steve and I mark 30 years of wedded bliss, (with the occasional dollup of misery) Steve cleaned out his hoarded miles to book us on our deferred getaway. (I cannot withhold the observation that he booked a week when the Bear and Sox toiled in other cities than Chicago- I am sure it was coincidence.) On August 24th, I began to experience touring Steve-Style. Oh, my. I felt like royalty. It was a far cry from the girls' tours that I take with my sisters and our friends. No bus was in sight, save the double deckers. No luggage needed to be outside the door at 6:45am. A girl could get pretty spoiled with Steve. Oh, yes- I have.

We were determined to do all that we could without making our 7 days into work. Of course, we worked pretty hard at our fun. We had the blessing of an amazing, brilliant tour guide, John Blakey. He is combining acting/writing/and guiding into his employment mosaic so he is always busy. Summers, he guides. Winters, he writes. As he wishes, he acts. He studied for almost 2 years to earn his Blue Badge, indicating that he knows more minutae about London and its neighboring countryside than I know about Steve. If there was an artifact, he knew its origin. He was patient and amused by Steve's affection for Showtime's Tudors, despite his observation of egregious historical error. He nudged Steve to an accurate history without offending. John is currently enmeshed in a marathon viewing of the series, year one. As we saw London through his eyes, he wishes to see it now through Steve's. He reports that he has acted with many of the cast of characters, and he is now as addicted just as Steve is. I hope the HBO inaccuracy does not bleed into future tours. Who knew that people did not travel in horse and buggies in the 1500's? He gave us some wonderful imagery to bring home- like the king who bathed so infrequently that his chest hair grew threw his clothing, and had to be cut off when he died. Stuff like that brings London to life! We spent so much time with John that he has moved from guide to friend.

These are things we did- boat ride on the Thames, Double Decker Tour, Buckingham Palace, Seeing(like dots) the changing of the guard, Tower of London tour, Hampton Court, Westminster Abbey tour, Walking tour of Southwark, the London Eye, Oxford University tour, Stratford on Avon, the musical Billy Elliott. We hung out in Soho and Covent Garden, had fish and chips and meat pies along the river bank, ate dinners at Rule's, Gorgon Ramsey's at the Claridge Hotel (thanks to Charlie Trotter)and Wolsey's. We stopped for afternoon tea (Steve had tea and scones with clotted cream, I had chocolate cake and coffee- I am not an anglophile, I guess). We took the tube to St. Paul's in London City, and spent time in the crypt, admiring tombs of military heroes who had attained glory before the US was independent. We paid our respects to Florence Nightengale, who saved thousands of lives by figuring our contagion. We went to the hidden bunker that housed the Allies' War Rooms. After the VE announcement was made, the commanders put on their hats and went home, leaving the bomb-shelter headquarters almost exactly as it was. It was like time traveling. The Churchill Museum is connected, and that man was a wordsmith and a genius. When you step on the floor in front of the exhibits, you hear him describing what was happening. Most understated: in front of a photo of Hitler in front of the Eiffel tower, the accompanying speech from Winston was "The news from Paris is very grim." This held special significance to me, since my dad flew daytime missions over Germany from rural England. How chilling to see the tote board of casualties. The deployment/strategy maps had so many pinholes that they looked like lace. I was moved to think back on a 19 year old Tom Joliat, hanging out, and following orders that were formulated there. The back altar at St. Paul's (where Diana was married) is a monument of thanks to Americans who died in service in the United Kingdom. It was quite a trip.

Sure- there are things that we did not do. I have a bit of a bad knee, and so I was museum adverse. The dollar is so weak that I did not shop. However, I have no regrets for what I failed to explore, only gratitude for all I DID see and learn. One of my favorite times was just sitting in Hyde Park, reading and people watching while Steve ran. A second was having appetizers and cocktails at Trader Vic's, or eating in China Town, channeling Warren Zevon's Werewolves in London. ( My first Chicago date with Steve was Warren Z at the Park West) Steve was amazing genial, indulging me in all my travel misbehaviors. Sure, he was irritated that I took a tiara for photo opportunities, and pulled it out in public. But he suppressed his smart ass remarks. He is not a fan of my photo-addiction. But he posed. It has taken 30 years for me to blend into a cohesive side-car, and I do not take it lightly. I loved London, and I loved it more because I shared it with him.

Whenever I go away, I am reminded how young and fresh we are in America. Romans invaded and ruled England in AD 43. They had currency, roads, taxes and roads. 2000 years ago! Henry 8 was king before Columbus hit the shores. It humbles me to learn about their history, and it allows me to watch our current political climate in a slightly less agitated way. We will survive and thrive, I am sure. We have plenty of guidance from studying what once was our Motherland. It is a good pedigree.