Well, I guess we've finally arrived in the 21st century. We went out yesterday and got new cell phones that have all these incredible features like voice dialing, voice mail, text messaging, call forwarding, conference calling, and hands free operation. You can choose from among 35 ring tones, and you can assign a different ring to each caller. The phones are Nokia, and the plan is from VoiceStream. Chuck did all kinds of research, but I think the deciding factor for him was that Jamie Lee Curtis is the spokesperson for VoiceStream.

Nokia is made in Finland. I remember being in Helsinki in 1998 on the first international LCC tour. That was before cell phones really caught on here in the states. It seemed so strange to see everyone walking around with a cell phone to their ear. Nokia was giving away free cell phones for everyone's birthday.

I love being a tourist in my own home town! All the fun and none of the uncertainties of travel. I took a vacation day yesterday (Chuck was off anyway--summer school doesn't start for him until Monday), and had a real date day with my husband. We went down to the Taste of Chicago and got there a little after it opened. It's the best experience I've had there. We got there before it was so crowded you couldn't move, the weather was perfect. I had all "taste" portions. Some of the things I ate were crawfish tails, chocolate dipped strawberries, rangoon crab, tempura vegetables, barbequed pork sandwiches. I stayed away from pizza and burgers, stuff I can have any time.

After I'd sampled everything I wanted, Chuck hung around the Taste for about an hour while I ducked into The Art Institute to see the Gerhard Richter exhibit. Then we took the free trolley over to Navy Pier and went for a speedboat ride on Lake Michigan.

Unfortunately, we had to go to a wake in the early evening. My sister-in-law Barbara's (Chuck's brother's wife) mother passed away. She was 81 and had Alzheimer's, but was otherwise in perfect health right up until she died. At least no apparent problems.

After discharging that bit of familial duty, we went to Sabatino's for dinner, and spent a little while at the piano bar where our friend Richard, who sings in LCC with us, was entertaining. Before we left, we sang the duet from The Music Man (Lida Rose/Dream of Now). All in all, except for the dead person, it was a perfect day.

Well, it's happening again. The thing that always happens at every job I've ever had. It's the thing about being everybody's best backup. Denise, my immediate supervisor, between me and Loretta my real boss, is going on vacation. And guess who will be doing her end-of-month reporting on Monday? Yours truly. Loretta doesn't know how to download queries from the system, and I do it all the time, so it's just a matter of running a query, downloading, formatting, and massaging the information a little bit. I think I can manage it.

This isn't so bad, but at the last banking job I had I feel they really took unfair advantage of my trainability. I ended up being the backup for the Wire Transfer and Money Desk. A very stressful and exacting job. And for such a pitiful wage.

At the job I had before this, at Sabratek which went bankrupt, they hired an unneeded middle manager who didn't have a clue. I had to train him, and then he evaluated me. I just don't get it.

Hooray! I got rid of the black toilet! This lovely item magically appeared on my front lawn on my 50th birthday, and it's been taking up space in my garage for the last two and a half years. Last night Don and Corinne picked us up and we rode out to Lynne's house and put it on her lawn. Her 50th birthday was two weeks ago, but she and her family have been on vacation, and they're due back today. Other decorations included black balloons, buzzards, and a sign with pictures of the birthday girl at various stages of her life. Now she gets to keep the toilet until someone else's significant birthday. What would we do without our traditions?

It was a very calm day at work until mid-afternoon, when Loretta, my boss, told us that the folding machine in the mail room had been broken for a week and no invoices had been mailed out since June 14! I quickly ran a report of invoices for all my customers from that date on, and spent the rest of the afternoon phoning and faxing. Loretta said she found out by accident. I wonder if they ever planned on telling us. Word is that everything will go out tomorrow, but it'll still take a few days for the customer to receive the invoices. I think I'll just continue to fax, just to be on the safe side. At least when the DSO month for next month goes through the roof, we'll have an explanation.

John Travolta is building a home in Darien, one of the southwest suburbs of Chicago, next to a private airport. The house will be across a pond from Bob, who I eat lunch with at work. I wonder if Mr. Travolta will keep totally to himself, or if he'll be friendly with his neighbors. Maybe he'll only be there once in awhile anyway.

Chuck had today off, and spent part of it investigating the dishwasher situation. It appears that our portable dishwasher has sprung a leak. It could be fixed, perhaps, but then we would still have a dishwasher that is way older than average. We got this one when Diana was a sophomore in high school. She turned 29 on May 30. You do the math. It just seems like we're going through a series of very expensive replacements this year. Anyway, Chuck determined that the best dishwasher for us is at Sears, and is due to go on sale on Sunday. Because he is a very wise man he will not make a commitment until I give it my blessing, so he's going to take me there and show it to me. That's the relatively cheap problem.

The more expensive problem involves concrete work in the front of the house, the driveway, and along the side where the lilacs grow. I'm having the guy who is doing my next door neighbor's stuff estimate ours. I have a feeling it will be somewhere between Ouch! and Boiiing! (I cannot take credit for that last sentence. See "White Christmas" with Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby.)

I got my hair cut yesterday, and did a most unusual thing. I made an appointment for my next haircut before I left the shop! Afterwards, I stopped by the "Jeff Fest", Jefferson Park's neighborhood festival, which had just opened. I bought a pendant and some earrings. I don't know what the stone is called, but it changes color, depending on the light. It's mostly blue-green. I had a half-slab of ribs from the Gale Street Inn booth, and then went home to laze about in the air conditioning.

Played hookey from church today and got Jim to help me with some yard work. He's a maniac when you get the electric hedge trimmers in his hands! We have lilac bushes along the side of the house, and I think even with the gutters is about the right height for them. He cut about a foot off the top. Then there's some other sort of hedge starting at the end of the patio and proceeding along the back between Charlies house and ours. Honeysuckle is part of it, but I think there's something else growing in there, too. At one point, I know there is elderberry, which we have to keep cutting back each year. I'm totally ashamed of the side of the house. Before we built the addition, there was a shed there, but it had to be knocked down in order to get the diggers to the back of the house. It was never rebuilt, and therefore, we never pay much attention to that area. As a consequence, it is nothing but a jungle. I'm hoping that next week Jim will bring his chainsaw and we can attack some of the "volunteer" trees that are growing there.

I loved Galileo Galilei! Great staging, wonderful voices, and an engaging story. It starts with Galileo as an old, blind man sitting beside his telescope. Quite poignant. Then it progresses backward through his life. The opera had the added appeal that I know someone in the cast. Zach, the young man who played the child Galileo towards the end of the work, portrayed Colin in Trinity Players' production of The Secret Garden a few years ago. Chuck and I were both in that play. Zach was also in the movie Stray Dogs, which was produced by his mother and in which I invested. I even got screen credit. Don't know if I'll ever get anything out of it, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Leno's Headlines. Very funny.

Today is the Summer Solstice. Time to sing one of the alternative verses to "That Old Time Religion":

Let us worship with the Druids
Drinking strange fermented fluids
Running naked through the wuids
It's good enough for me.

I've discovered a very interesting site called Fitday. It allows one to track calories consumed and burned, as well as nutritional requirements. It makes journaling a lot easier, for those who use that tool when attempting to eat healthy. (I try not to use the "D" word)

I'm going to the Goodman Theatre this evening to see Galileo Galilei, a new opera by Philip Glass "before it goes to Broadway". I hope it isn't too depressing like the other two things I saw at the Goodman this year.

My friend Jim's sister Marti is an aspiring novelist. She's written several manuscripts, but hasn't yet connected with an agent to get them sold. When we were visiting Marti and her husband Henry last October at thier home in the south of France, I was priviledged to read one of Marti's manuscripts entitled "The Keeper of the Castle". She actually incorporated some of my suggestions in her next draft! I now have the honor of reading another of her manuscripts called "Portuguese Eyes", and it promises to be very enjoyable. It's really exciting to me that someone is interested in my opinion of their work.

Yesterday's mail brought a statement from a credit card that I haven't used in years. It showed a credit balance of $2,700.00. It said "***No Payment Required*** Your account has a credit balance. You may use it to offset future purchases or you may call Customer Service for a refund." Well, I can think of many ways to use a windfall of $2,700.00. We need work done on the outside of the house, either painting or putting up more durable soffit & fascia. We could get all new walkways and driveways like our next-door neighbor is getting. The main bathroom needs re-papering. I could use a digital camera.

But, unfortunately, I am an honest person. Not to mention the fact that I worked in banks long enough to know that it would only be a matter of time before the mistake was discovered. So I called the Customer Service number and told them that this payment had been credited to the wrong account. They kept me on hold for several minutes and came back and asked me if I knew somebody named "Meggie Something". No, I didn't. Then they put me on hold for several more minutes, came back and thanked me for my honesty, told me my account would be adjusted within 14 days and assured me that the person whose payment it really was would not incur a late fee.

Ah, well, I suppose things like that are tests.

We just got back from auditions for Finian's Rainbow. Yes, I know, I said I wasn't going to auditon, because I know Floyd would let me sing in the chorus anyway, and there's no part for an overweight 52 year old woman this year. But Chuck decided to audition this year, so I went along, totally unprepared. No music. I sang "Where Is Love" from Oliver! a cappella, and instead of a memorized monologue I read the poem I wrote. It wasn't so bad. My pantomime was being an amoeba engulfing another life form, and the thing I had to say three different ways was "I bet you can't guess what color I'm wearing underneath!" The worst thing for me was the dancing. I felt like I was falling over, I couldn't balance, and I'm sure I started off on the wrong leg each time.

I think I need to join Joanie's dance class to help me learn how to move. I went with Janet and her daughter Laura to see Joanie, the church secretary, in a dance receital Saturday afternoon at the Lane Tech auditorium. It was the dance teacher's 50th anniversary receital, and I couldn't believe how many dancers there were, of all ages and sizes!

I especially wanted to go because Joanie always comes to my LCC concerts and the plays that I'm in. I knew better than to ask Chuck to go with me to the receital, though. I had dragged him with me to Light Opera Works to see Gypsy Love on Friday night, and it didn't end until 11:00 p.m. It was a good production, as always, but I really prefer Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, which they did a few years ago.

Today is the 225th birthday of the American Flag. For anyone who's interested, the link to info about the American Flag also contains information about the flag of the City of Chicago.

It's also my sister-in-law's 44th birthday. Chuck plans to get Janis a magnum of champagne. Get it? (Feel lucky, punk?).

In 1992 my daughter married her first husband on this date. The following year there was a major fire at Chuck's Dad's house on June 14. Janis lived on the second floor, and when she came home from work she was greeted by Duke, sitting in his car in front of the burning house, with fire trucks all around. He asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner. "How about barbeque?" she replied.

I always wonder what's in store on this date.

Cheops' (builder of the Great Pyramids) Law at work. Nothing is ever done on time or within budget. At last night's Church Cabinet meeting, I found out that we finally have the city permits to begin the work of repairing the cupola and replacing the cross. But now the structural engineer will not certify that the portico roof will support the scaffolding. Therefore, two scaffolding towers must be built, with an I-beam between them so that nothing will actually rest on the portico roof. That will satisfy the structural engineer, but of course it will cost an extra $5,587.00.

Here's some background. Several years ago, during a late spring ice storm, the cross on the top of our huge old colonial style church building fell off. After a long time, we finally found someone to construct a new cross, and work was begun to replace it. The company that was preparing the cupola to receive the new cross started a fire, which thanks to a very bright nine-year old boy in the neighborhood was contained to the cupola. After interminable haggling with insurance companies and contractors and engineers, we got a settlement from the insurance company of the people who started the fire. It won't cover the entire cost, but we're hoping to get some more money from our own insurance company.

We're currently in the process of searching for a new minister. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could install the new minister and dedicate the new cross at the same time? I wonder which will happen first. Any bets?

I’m keeping the front yard looking pretty good, and I’m beginning to move on to the backyard. There are tall weeds and thistles growing up around the three rose bushes I planted last year, but the bushes are alive and the roses are blooming! My next-door neighbor has thistle seeds in a bird feeder to attract goldfinches, but the byproduct of that is the fact that I need a pair of heavy gloves before I can clean up my rose garden. I began cleaning up the square flowerbed made from railroad ties that used to have a birdbath in it until last winter when it broke. I took cuttings from a “live-forever” and stuck one in each of the four corners. I’ll try to get some more perennials to plant there.

Yesterday afternoon, before we left for the anniversary party, our nephew Micah dropped by. He's 18 years old, I think, and attending Roosevelt University. He was videotaping in the forest preserve for a class until his battery ran out, so he stopped in to get something to drink and say hello. I'm glad Chuck answered the door, because I hardly ever see his brother's kids, and I might not have recognized him. We got to talking, and I discovered that he has been involved in a theater group that makes original plays out of the personal stories of members of the group. How creative! I gave him a copy of the audition notice for Finian's Rainbow. He might not be able to take part in it, though, because he has a full scholarship to a school in Minnesota for next year. (He told me which one, but I forgot.)

We were woken up by Will calling from Germany, and it was just as well he woke us up, since it was already after 8:00 a.m. We were both really tired after an exhausting day yesterday. Will didn’t have much news, except that he had shaved his head and he’s hoping to submit his packet for Warrant Officer School by August 1, in which case he’ll be back stateside before Christmas. I still don’t have any pictures of my newest granddaughter, but he PROMISED to shoot a roll of film and send it to me to develop.

Last night was Strawberry Festival, our church choir’s only fundraiser which enables us to make the choir’s annual pledged contribution to the General Operating Fund of the church. It’s a variety program of secular music, skits, dances; sort of a hodge-podge. This year’s theme was “Celebrating America”, and it included a number of songs of a patriotic nature as well as some “Americana” type things such as “Erie Canal” and “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad”. Adele (85 years young) did a parody number that she made up, “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Rummage (every spring and fall)” and Lucie did a tap and twirl to GI Blues. Chuck did Charlie Daniels’ “In America” to a background CD, complete with a little dance during the instrumental interlude, and the kids of the church did a “Living Map” thing with Joanie singing “God Bless America”. The finale was the Wilhousky arrangement of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

The song I chose for my solo this year was “How Could I Ever Know” from the musical The Secret Garden. I introduced it by saying that I was singing it as a tribute to those who lost their lives on September 11, and also to provide some words of comfort to those who were left behind. Here are the words:

How could I know I would have to leave you?
How could I know I would hurt you so?
You were the one I was born to love.
Oh, how could I ever know.

How can I say to go on without me?
How, when I know you still need me so?
How can I say not to dream about me?
How could I ever know.

Forgive me, won’t you forgive me
And hold me in your heart
And find some new way to love me
Now that we’re apart.

How could I know I would never hold you?
Never again in this world, but, oh!
Sure as you breathe I am there inside you
How could I ever know.

Janet, who had lost her husband last year came up to me after the program and gave me a big hug and thanked me for the song, and said I made her cry.

Today was a surprise 40th anniversary party for Art and Janet at Don and Corinne’s house. I got to try out the new hot tub there. Very nice.

The poem I wrote is going to be published in an anthology called "Letters from the Soul" (Library of Congress ISBN-0-7951-5160-8) scheduled for publication in Fall 2002. I'm not sure this really counts as being "published", since I'm not getting paid for it, and I have to buy a copy of the book if I want it. But the volume will contain my poem whether or not I purchase a copy. I know this is how the International Library of Poetry makes money. But still, I doubt that they publish everything that gets sent to them, so the poem must have some worth.

According to the letter I got, the poem itself is still my own property for which I retain the copyright. "Letters from the Soul" is copyrighted as a compilation. Also, the poem is a semi-finalist in the International Open Poetry Contest, winner to be announced on June 15. I still have a few days to anticipate actually winning some money from my writing.

While I know this is probably just one step above a "vanity press" arrangement, I still think it will be fun to see my work in a real book.

Chuck made German turkeys on the grill rotisserie for dinner last night. What are German turkeys? (Caution: the following is rated "F" for Family Story) My daughter Diana was living in Germany with her first husband, an Army officer, and the son of a friend of ours was also in the Army and stationed in Germany. Ty, our friend's son, went to visit Diana and Shane for Thanksgiving. Neither Diana's oven nor her cooking skills were equal to the task of preparing a full-blown traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, so she made Cornish game hens. When Ty called back to the States to wish his parents a happy Thanksgiving, his Mom asked if they were having turkey. He said they were having three, but they're kind of small. They must be German turkeys. So, ever since that time Cornish game hens have been known as German turkeys in our family.

Another very busy day Saturday. It started out with the “transitional” meeting between the old and new LCC Board members. The Secretary/Publicity job, which I held last year will be shared this year by Deb (Publicity) and Ev (taking meeting minutes). The job will be lightened by the fact that Andy, the Artistic Director, has agreed to design and have the programs printed. That part of the job was a major source of stress for me last year. I pulled several very late nights at the computer getting the program ready to be e-mailed to the man who would print them for us, and then bit my nails the next day waiting for his phone call saying he needed me to send him a font or a picture I had neglected to send separately. I had to get it to him no later than a week before the concerts, but I often didn’t get the material I needed until two or three days before I needed to send it.

Since Deb will be doing publicity, I gave her the PageMaker program and all the books that went along with it. I made identical CD’s for both Deb and Ev with all of the electronic files I was given at last year’s transitional meeting, plus what I had added during the course of the year. I also brought a large plastic file box with the physical files, most of which concern publicity. I also brought boxes of letterhead and envelopes. I put the minutes in a separate file to give to Ev.

Deb graciously accepted everything I handed her, but every time I tried to give Ev something, she resisted. She seemed to have it in her head that we were going to meet separately. What’s to meet about? This was the transitional meeting, and it’s all I got last year.

Yesterday afternoon we went to see a young lady from our church perform the role of Widow Corney in Oliver! This was performed at a church a few blocks from our house, and it was the second performance we had attended. We went Friday evening to see Harris perform her role as the Rose Seller in the alternate cast. The play was produced by a theater group for children ages 6-18, and there was a wide range of ages and talents, but they all put forth a good effort. Harris sings well, and shows some acting ability. I hope she’ll try out for Trinity Players this year. We’re doing Finian’s Rainbow.

When I was in Oliver! a few years ago I played the role of Mrs. Bedwin, the housekeeper in Mr. Brownlow’s home where Oliver was taken after he was wrongly accused of stealing Mr. Brownlow’s handkerchief. Chuck was the Knife Grinder in that production.

Diana and Rick came over for dinner without the kids. I love my grandkids, but it’s a real zoo when they all show up. This was a nice break for Diana, too. And Rick sure loves our beer!