Bob's Day

...was February 20 -- middle of the week, nothing special. He got some cards, a lovely box of candy from his pharmacists and techs at work, and I sang "Happy Birthday" in my best, most sultry, Marilyn Monroe "Happy Birthday Mr. President" voice.

It sent the cat scurrying for the hinterlands.

I could see Bob trying to not scurry after the cat.

So much for my singing ability...

But Torrey and Chris came into town this weekend -- we met at the "other" Weber Grill where Tim doesn't work. The food was wonderful, but the service left a bit to be desired. Obviously Tim was not our server. Torrey gave Bob last year's gift -- it took her a full year to find exactly what she wanted which was a stone to put in the garden that said "In Loving Memory of Grandpa...."

When Bob's dad died, he left a wee bit of money, part of which we shared with the kids, and part of which we used to landscape our yard. It looks lovely -- and is in memory of Grandpa who loved working outdoors.

So we've been having a great time with Torrey and Chris this weekend, and with having Tim advise us on the best food and drink at the Grill on Friday night. This morning we're all meeting up at church so I will have nearly all my family around again. It's tough with Jill et al in Florida....I miss them so much during family times like this.

And it occurred to me that this may be the last birthday Tim celebrates with us for quite a while. He got his letters mailed out on Friday; if he is able to raise enough support in a timely fashion, will be leaving for language school the end of May.

Three months from now.

That is SOON!

The Library...Part 2

Such a weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth by the library patrons when it was announced the library would be closed for as many as 8 to 10 weeks.

Never mind that we had reciprocal agreements with the other libraries in the area (and that -- gasp -- Naperville had MORE audiobooks than anyone else), it just wasn't the same as coming to our own HOME library.

Never mind that the reason for the closing was to make the library bigger and better (a $21 million renovation).

Never mind that we had been living in cramped quarters when they moved the books from one section to another ever since spring.

Library patrons are not big fans of change. Especially when it means that one has to get their weekly dose of reading/listening/watching materials someplace else.

I chose the Glen Ellyn library as my new BookPlace. Since Glen Ellyn is less than half the size of Wheaton, obviously their library was quite small too. Very pretty, nicely laid out (if you don't count having to actually WALK up stairs to get to the adult department!!), but small. They did have a great new books section and I found I was able to get a lot more best sellers a lot more quickly than I could at home. That was a plus. Their audiobook section was woefully inadequate. Inadequate of course in that they didn't have any new Elizabeth Peters' books I hadn't already heard.

At first they limited the Wheaton folks to 10 items apiece. But when they found they were inundated with over 3000 people wandering over from Wheaton to use their facilities, they got a bit narkier and limited us to 5 items at one time. Which, of course, could be circumvented by taking out 5 one day and another 5 a couple of days later, should you be so inclined. As they pointed out, 3000 Wheaton patrons taking out 10 items apiece added up to 30,000 items which was rather decimating to their small facility.

As the 8 weeks grew closer in which the Wheaton Library was supposed to open, the Glen Ellyn staff started wearing buttons which read: "Wheaton won't tell us either." I got a huge laugh out of that!! I had this sense that the librarians were thinking, "Hey, y'all are nice, but it is time for you to GO HOME."

Of course that is what we thought too. And finally, on February 12, a full 3 months after it closed, the Wheaton Library opened again. I was devastated that I wasn't home, but was in NC. I wanted to be there at the dot of 9:00 when it opened.

Our Valentine's Day date couldn't have been better. Dinner at Alfie's and then to the library to see it in all its glory.

And it is glorious, indeed! Lots of space to hang out and read. (Maybe when we've retired?), Comfy chairs in nooks. To open closer to spring -- a place to read and eat, overlooking Adams Park. The new books section is bigger and better, and oh, the fabulous number of audiobooks! It's just too bad my ears can't listen as fast as my eyes can read.....

An observation: despite all the technology available at home, folks STILL like the library. It's a wonderful place to be.

When my sister came to visit shortly after we moved here in 1982, she had lost my address, and for some reason she couldn't get my phonenumber. "No problem," she told her then fiance, "Jan will have registered at the libary first thing. We'll get her address from them."

And, of course, she did - because Torrey and I registered at the library the day after we moved in....

The Library

Quite possibly my favorite place in the whole city is the library. Visiting the library and coming home with an armful of books that you simply can't wait to dig into is better than going shopping -- in fact, quite takes the place of shopping.

Now, I do enjoy our Borders' dates, but they tend to end up being a bit expensive if we end up buying some books -- and whenever haven't we?

But the library? Ahhhh -- the library is FREE!!

However...for three, long, miserable months, the Wheaton Public Library was --

CLOSED!!

Interesting Update

Bob just came home to tell me that approximately 1200 flights are in and out of O'Hare daily. Yesterday 900 flights were canceled. We know that at least 300 flights were canceled out of Midway, but we don't know what their daily total is.

In any case, that's a LOT of planes hovering around the Chicago skies!!

Valentine's Day, Travel, and True Love

A mere 17 years ago today I put out the little Valentine's gifts, cards and candy I had for Bob and the three children, covered it all with a red tablecloth, and left for Charlotte where I was to participate in my first-ever mid-winter board meeting for ILCA as president-elect.

That is, I intended to go to Charlotte. I got a limo to O'Hare where I met up with ILCA's treasurer and vice president -- and the three of us spent the night on concourse F, so snowbound we not only couldn't get out to Charlotte, we couldn't get back home.

Last night I thought I was going to spend the night in concourse A in the Charlotte airport...due to snow in Chicago.

What is it about Charlotte? The only time in my life I've ever been in a plane that is being de-iced is -- in Charlotte.

The worst, and most prolonged ice storm I've experienced? Charlotte.

I really am too old to be sleeping on the floor in any airport -- even one as nice as Charlotte's. I did spend some time checking it out though as all the hotels were full, Linda and Will had left for San Diego, and Bob (TheOtherBob) had driven down from Fort Wayne to pick up Carole and take her home so he wouldn't have to worry about her stranded in an airport. Fort Wayne was supposed to be harder hit than Chicago -- and from all reports I've gotten from the MC in Indy -- it was.

Three of my flights were canceled. I've discovered that either they will cancel them a day ahead of time for no particular reason, and rebook you -- or wait until the last moment. "Good luck" the ticket agent said when I checked in. "Chicago's a mess."

Gee thanks.

I consoled myself with a giant sized Mr. Goodbar (figured the protein in the peanuts would be good for me), and tried in vain to get on the free internet -- that is until I figured out if I sat by the windows it would work. And waited. And waited.

Such cheering went up when the gate agent told us that the plane had not only left the gate at O'Hare, but was no longer sitting on the tarmac -- and was actually in the air. However, she cautioned us, we'd have to wait until the plane actually arrived in Charlotte before a final decision would be made as to whether or not we would head back to Chicago.

We did -- at 10:20 pm, arriving 2 1/2 hours later to snow covered runways and a light snowfall.

And here's the true love part: My DB (dearly beloved) picked me up. I could have taken a limo home. But he came and got me.

Say all you want about chocolates and flowers and Valentine's day presents -- I got the best gift of all. Bob picked me up.

True Love In Action.

Oh -- there WAS a vase full of flowers waiting for me, along with Debbie's little pink heart cakes she has brought over for our family every year since we have lived here.

And tonight is "Turn out the Lights" night -- when all the rest of the Christmas lights come down on our block -- for us that means the candles in each of the windows.

The weather today is gorgeous -- about 8 to 10 inches of nearly pristine white snow, glittering under a brilliant sun and a clear blue sky.

And I'm home.

It doesn't get much better than this.

A Cat of ??? Lives

We have a cat. Rather, the cat has us. I'm not sure any human ever is able to own a cat. We certainly don't *own* Munchkin.

He started out as a tiny little "free" gift to Torrey for her 12th birthday from one of her best friends. "Free" is relative. He may not have cost anything when they picked him up from the humane society, but within a week, he had been to the vets for an awful cold ($$), deworming medicine($$), and a checkup ($$). Within a few more months he was fixed ($$). Of course, there was the litter box, food, toys -- the usual sort of stuff that one has to have around when one has a cat.

Munch's personality was skittish -- either he was weaned too soon, or he was abused before he went to the shelter. After several years he learned to not run when my clients came to the door, and in fact, would choose the occasional one to sidle up to and rub against. Only and always the ones that were allergic, of course.

Munchkin is beautiful -- black silky fur with white markings and a long, very fluffy tail. He's duely admired by one and all. Since Torrey left home for college over 10 years ago, he decided that he would adopt Bob.

Well, what about these lives? First of all, he loves to be outdoors. Summer, winter -- makes no difference. The vet warned us that he would most likely cut his life short by going out. We decided we'd rather have a dead happy cat than a live miserable one. He's 16 1/2. So much for cutting his life short.

At one point we decided that he had made up his mind that he was going to breathe his last. He was under my computer desk and refused to come out. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't drink -- he just stubbornly stayed there. After 48 hours I crawled under to coax him out, only to find out he was hopelessly tangled in all the computer cords and couldn't move. We took him to the vet where they rehydrated him, and Munch was fine.

Then there was the itching. Bob took him to the vet where they gave him a shot of cortisone to make him feel better. Within 24 hours that put him in the ICU of the local 24 hour animal hospital in congestive heart failure. He rallied, but we were warned that because he was in heart failure and his kidneys weren't working well, his time on earth was limited. That was about 2 years ago -- which in cat years is at least 12.

It wasn't long after that episode when Munch started peeing on the carpet, particularly in the bathrooms -- sometimes in the hall, once in our room. It got worse and worse. If he peed on my antique Chinese rug in the living room, I WAS going to make mittens out of him, I vowed.

To top it off, he decided he now needed to go outside at night. Or be fed. Or both. He would come around to Bob's side of the bed, jump up on him and paw him until Bob woke up, stumbled downstairs, fed him and let him out. Just like a dog. Sometimes he wouldn't go out -- and then would come and wake Bob again a couple hours later.

This last summer he started eating people food. Never has Munch touched anything except dry cat food. All of a sudden he has developed a taste for chicken (his favorite), steak, pork chops and fish. The milk at the bottom of Bob's cereal bowl. This is the cat that when he needed medication Bob would hold him, I'd pry his jaws open and shove the pill down quickly hoping not to get bitten and then quickly rub his nose so he would swallow. We tried putting it in baby meats, fancy canned cat food, peanut butter, butter -- to no avail. Now? Haven't had to give him any meds since he started eating people food at the age of 16 (96 in cat years).

And now he absolutely has to have his time sitting on Bob's lap on the couch in the evening. If Bob isn't quick enough, he whines and stares at the couch until Bob gives in...Or, he needs to be in the middle of Bob's desk while he's working...




Oh -- and he suddenly decided that he will use his litter box. He has two now, one in each bathroom. He has been VERY good for the past few months, but will only use it once and then will wait for it to be changed.

A leopard may not be able to change his spots, but this cat has certainly changed his habits!