Friday, February 26, 2010

Grandma is a Supercentenarian!

Now that my mother-in-law, Mary McGowan, has reached her 110th birthday on February 17, 2010, she is qualified to join the list of living supercentenarians. The Gerontology Research Group keeps track of these people around the world who have documented proof of their birth more than 110 years ago. Their list is updated every day. You can also see a similar list on Wikipedia.

Mary has no birth certificate since she was born at home, but she does have a baptismal certificate. In those days, babies usually were baptized within a week of their birth due to high infant mortality rates. I expect to see her added to the supercentenarian lists very soon!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Golosa

The crown prince works with a guy whose wife is the director of a Russian folk choir somehow connected to the University of Chicago down on the south side of the city (we live on the northern border). So now he is singing with the choir, Golosa, in Russian!

Whenever I heard him singing around the house, he always made his voice as low as possible, so I had to laugh when I heard that he was assigned to the tenor section.

NPR's Worldview program last Wednesday had a section on Golosa and we got to hear them sing. What a shock! They don't sound at all the way I'm used to hearing Russian choral music on the radio. Golusa's cultural background is from a group that was exiled to Siberia and there is a wailing, shouting element to their music. The director said that they have opened for rock bands at venues in Chicago and rock fans really like them! Download the program and see what you think. We'll be able to see and hear them in person in April when Golosa is part of an ethnomusical conference at DePaul. Can't wait to see their costumes!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Ushering at Symphony Center


Last night we had our first chance to usher at Symphony Center. The concert was not part of the CSO's regular series, but it was for some jazz performers I had never heard of (the better to practice on). The first group was Eliane Elias, a bossa nova jazz singer/pianist and her backup guys - all from Brazil. She did a version of "Tangerine," a song my mother taught me to sing way back when, that I really liked. There was a nice crowd of all types and ages of people that came to hear them.

At intermission, we resumed our posts as statues at the bottom of one set of stairs to the balconies. When we realized we would never make the 10:35 train back home, we decided to leave right after intermission to make the 9:45, but we had to really walk FAST. We made it with one minute to spare and were home by 10:30. A good first assignment. Now we can feel ok about doing a real CSO concert!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Sic Transit Gloria



The poor economy has lately claimed two businesses that I will really miss. Piatto was a restaurant within walking distance of our house - and it was really nice! Our family had many little celebrations there in the last few years. The delicious olive spread and bread basket are gone forever - sigh.


And I used to stock up every winter on a 10-lb. box of steel-cut oats at The Home Economist in a nearby suburb. They sold lots of baking ingredients in bins, long before stores like Whole Foods took over the idea. You could buy as little or as much as you wanted, including grinding your own peanut butter. It was a great way to buy a little bit of a spice that you knew you wouldn't use very often.

So, to all of you out there: patronize your local businesses! They might not make it otherwise.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Google Maps Store View?

I hope this is a bona fide news item, but I just read about Google photographing the inside of stores so we can go in and browse online. Nice! Read all about it.