I could cry...

but what would be the point? I am not the only one who has lost this way- everyone knows the winter was devastating- but this is my yard exactly 51 weeks ago

and this is what it looks like today-

My poor bamboo, my poor witch hazel bushes - the ivy in the front yard is MIA - especially on the west side of the porch... this is so incredibly sad- it took ten years of growth for the bamboo to be that lush hedge wall of green- lost in four months of devastating weather... 

the landscapers are due next week to plant some new things in that bed- I will miss the bamboo but I don't have ten years to wait for it's full return- the one side of the bed has a few scattered shoots but the other is barren- really so so sad... will update this post with a new photo, after the bed is re landscaped.

being social

so we went off to goosefoot for our anniversary and found flowers on the table for us from the owners and staff of the restaurant (really sweet and the flowers were fabulously lovely!)

we celebrated with our last bottle of really high end champagne- a vintage grand dame-

the burgundy was closed but opened up nicely when decanted and aerated -

the scallop course-

the custardy egg course-

Chris's always amazing soup!!!!

the salmon with the espelette-

the "wascally wabbit" - LOL (unbelievably tender chunks of rabbit in a creamy polenta)

the beef-

the cheese and fruit course- blue cheese beignets and cherry soda-

palate cleanser of yuzu and beet juice - so good even Phil likes it! LOL

the fruity dessert followed by the chocolaty dessert-

and a final touch- a passion fruit filled chocolate made by Chef Chris!

a lovely evening - fun to see everyone! - and next up was seeing Kathy & John at Himmel.  The food was only OK there but it was great to catch up with the two of them, since I hadn't seen them since last fall- schedules being what they are... Kathy had some surgery in the spring which had her off the calendar for a bit but she looked good last night (as a matter of fact she looked marvelous!- which is good news)

tonight we explore Korean BBQ with Steph & Emma... then we head into July-

July promises to be quite a bit busier than June - two trips planned (Michigan and Oregon) and two special dinners (42 grams and EL ideas) three different concerts (Mark Cohn, Jackson Browne, and Christine Lavin) a wino party here and two parties "there" (Irene & Richard's and Mon & Beth's) and a visit from our Israeli cousin Iddo!

August brings two more trips (my DART trip with TB and our Canadian Maritime Provinces trip) then we get home - already well into September and have our friend Mac visiting, in the middle of the month, from India (yeah!!!)  and likely other house guests near the end of the month- and Phil has concerts and ball games---

October we have a trip to Italy with Trieste, Venice and Bologna as our destinations, and we hope to see our friends Claus & Evi in Frankfurt on our way back home (we have one night layover there)--- pretty soon it is time to return to the seaside (while I don't want to be in the 90*heat and high humidity weather that they are having now, I do miss being so near the beach and water, outdoor dining without the fumes of Chicago traffic and grouper sandwiches! LOL)

so stay tuned for more fun and games along the way- I promise photos- and will give you the complete run down of the Korean BBQ experience after we have been to Gogi... it sounds wonderful, hope it turns out that way-

oh and I did promise the awning saga but since that is still in process I think I will let it play out before airing my grievances (however I do hope to have that post ready well before Festivus where the ritual airing of grievances is a part of the holiday tradition)

onward and upward....

what I have been doing

So I know the posts have been kind of scarce lately but here is what has been going on in my summer - got back from France after Memorial Day (you saw all those posts) -

then in June had an amazing dinner at 42 grams (has it's own posts) - a play at lookingglgass (also had its own post) - went to Cincinnati for a few days to see my family and celebrate my aunt's 80th birthday.

Then in the following two weeks I had three lunches with old business colleagues, dinner at Restaurant Michael with Ron & Mary, the CG Cyrano's dinner and day out at the Field Museum, a visit to Eataly Chicago, the (posted) A10 dinner with Mon & Beth, dinner with Neil, dinner with Sheila & Mary, dinner with Brian & Tina, dinner with Jeremy & Jenna- Phil had two concerts and also a four day folk festival in NY, we met with the financial planner and I fought with the awning people about getting my new awning installed...(more on that one later as it is ongoing at this point) and along the way I finished all the arrangements for our maritime provinces trip in August and I read a bunch of books-

here are the hardback ones-
took me a long time to finish this but it was worth it- a whole new appreciation for the man and his demons-

a fun beach kind of read-

an interesting account of a time past HKG in the 50s-

hilarious Buckley in the style of "thank you for smoking" black humor that hits the targets right in the bull's eye

a weepy (somewhat historical) romance that is quick and entertaining- the characters appeal and the story well written-

then I also read Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin-- my thumbnail review of that one is "eye opening!"

right now I am in the middle of Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson (another really funny one)

Today is our 13th anniversary - so a celebration dinner tonight at goosefoot- then Friday dinner with John & Kathy and Saturday dinner with Steph & Emma... and that pretty much covers our June

when I ask where the time goes it is usually because we are so busy it just flies by- so sometimes it is good to stop and spend a moment acknowledging, reflecting, and savoring the events, rather just looking ever forward... which is of course so easy to do---

so Happy Anniversary - and a photo of us on one of our adventures together - the trip we took for our 10th anniversary-