Crazy Town

We had a great Christmas....it is amazing how quickly 2 children can unwrap what took you hours to shop for, choose, pay for, drag home and wrap. We Skyped with Ross and Zakia - Christmas Day is also Zakia's birthday, so we called to sing Happy Birthday to her. Ross' kids took 2 hours to go through everything - but, to be fair, they save everything from all family members for Christmas morning, while Miles and Naomi open "family" presents on Christmas Eve.

We had a fantastic Christmas dinner at my niece, Colleen's, home here in Chicago. She lives on a pretty street lined with beautiful old brownstone houses, mostly single-family. Her house was easy to find, as it was the only one with a cracked front window from the bullet hole in the upper right corner. (Hey, it's Chicago, whatcha gonna do?)

Yesterday, Bob, Becky and I went to the movies - we had forgotten that the movie, SING, opened on Christmas. There were, literally, hundreds of children running around - the movie had sold out, so they were all getting tickets for future showings. We were able to get tickets for FENCES, which is the new Denzel Washington movie. Run, don't walk, to the theatre when it comes to town. You do NOT want to miss this movie! Five amazing actors, ONE set, 2 hours equals Best Movie Awards all around. We saw the play in the early 90's at the Seattle Rep (back when we had season's tickets), and it was good - but this adaptation is absolutely fabulous. Denzel Washington reminds you just how good an actor he is from the first line of the movie to the very end. Don't miss it!

Bob and I ran errands this morning - I'm still not driving our truck in city traffic - and on our way home I became irritated again by a stop sign 2 blocks from Becky's. It bugs me every time I come here. It is in the middle of a one-way street. There is no corner - just a wide spot in the road - so it's like a "Surprise Stop" since, normally, stop signs are at corners. It even has an "All Ways" sign on it - but it's a ONE WAY STREET - how many ways are cars going to be coming, in the middle of the street? So, I'm now wondering what relative of Rahm Emmanuel lives nearby? Or, what city councilman lives in Becky's neighborhood?  And why do I have to stop in the middle of the block on a residential street? No school on the street. No church on the street. No playground on the street. No crosswalk on the street. Just a stop sign.

This is a crazy city.