le voyage sur un jour gris

It's an overcast day here in Chicago.  A little drizzly.  Normally, I steer clear of grey, rainy days, holing myself up indoors, perhaps napping or reading or both.  But today, sitting inside, vacuuming up cat hair and ants (how do ants get up to the third floor!?), I got a little stir crazy and decided to venture out.

And I am so very glad I did.

First of all, I got my library card renewed.  Why it has taken me this long to get this done, I have NO idea.  The Chicago Public Library in Uptown is a sort of rundown affair, but you can't beat the volatile mix of people you are bound to encounter.  When you go to the library, why isn't the place teeming with activity?  Sure, most of the computer terminals are full - with people researching God knows what, but where are the folks perusing the books?  They're probably downloading their reading materials onto their iPads or Nooks or Kindles at Starbucks no doubt.  Now, I'm not hating on those that have transitioned from tangible books to the electronic aesthetic, but c'mon, checking out a book from the library is free!  Reading is good!  Librarians are cool!  (PS: the librarian who renewed my library card was sporting some awesome glasses and called me "sweetie".  Not gonna find that on iTunes.)

AND, I found the book I was looking for!  The Little Friend by Donna Tartt.  I started reading this many years ago when I still worked at Borders, but for some reason, I didn't finish it at the time.  I recently read her other novel, The Secret History and it was fantastic -- so I thought I would go ahead, correct the error of my past and finish up this book.  Stay tuned for further updates about the book.

Ryan and I recently decided to cool down the search for our first home, but I saw there was an open house at a condo near where we live, so I also decided to drive over and take a peek.  When I arrived, it was just me and the real estate agent.  A young, friendly, if not slightly rigid gentleman.  It's always a slightly uncomfortable experience when it's just you flying solo at an open house, but I meandered through the rooms, casually asking the necessary questions about the condo association, the age of the roof, etc.  It actually turned out to be a really great space with a customized bathroom, kitchen and dining room.  There were a few places that need some work and I'm not sure the rooms are quite as spacious as I would like, but definitely glad I got a chance to poke my head in.

My last stop before heading home was hopping over to Ch'ava Cafe, a coffee shop that serves Intelligentsia coffee.  Their no-nonsense baristas  will serve you one the best cups of coffee (or espresso) you can find in Chicagoland.  First off, you know they're doing something right when they do not churn out your latte in about 30 seconds.  Another bonus - thankfully, you don't have to utter the words, Grande, Venti or Tall.  I'm not going to get into my prejudices about these terms right now.  But the most fantastic part, of course, is drinking your beverage.  It doesn't taste burned or acrid - just a well-roasted cup of joe.

They don't have a website, but if I've tempted you, you can read more reviews on Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chava-cafe-chicago

And that brings me back to now.  Since I've been back, I've been dabbling in Photoshop, creating a new background for my blog.  How do you like it?  Is it too much?  Too dark?  Let's be honest.  It's just us.

On Friday, by mistake, I came upon some features on Ryan's Nikon that really spiced up some pictures I was taking.  I've been importing those into Photoshop and trying out some new effects.  I have to be careful otherwise I will get sucked into tweaking images and suddenly, it's dinner time!  The picture you see at the top of the post is a tiny fruit of my endeavoring.  It's a riff on the Dirty Projectors album from a few years back - which is probably a riff on something someone else did.  Funny how that all works.

But, I think here is where I will close.  If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading!  It's been really nice to get back to writing on a regular basis.  So, if you get a chance, leave me a note.  Knowing you are out there reading this keeps me coming back to work the soil just a little bit more.

The Woman in White

Last night, I finished an excellent, old novel called The Woman in White.  When I picked it up initially, I presumed I was diving head-first into a creepy, ghost story.  As it turned out,  I didn't properly do my homework, but was pleasantly surprised to find myself immersed in a Victorian mystery told from the perspective of a handful of characters (archetypes, really).  It is this shifting vantage point that makes the story particularly compelling.  As a reader, the story is revealed in layers which are then peeled away as each character gets his or her chance to contribute to the overall plot.  The threads of each character are tightly woven together through written testimonials that are composed, in places, like defense statements.   As you travel through the story, you are rewarded with new characters who are all folded into a complex history of lies and betrayals.

In reading some of the supplemental material, I learned that this novel was the first "sensation" novel, the beginnings of a sub-genre that fuses together the atmosphere and suspense of Gothic literature with the "psychology" of what was then new literature.  This new way of telling a story feels like the beginnings of what we know as our modern mystery genre. 

When it was first written, the novel was published in serial format.  I think it's this format which allowed the author, Wilkie Collins to really map out this web of intrigue, populating it with some of the most perverse and melancholy characters in modern literature. 

For me, the result of this shifting, intricate puzzle is like marvelous pieces of candy that you keep popping in your mouth -- deep down, hoping your fingers will never place their tips on the final sweet morsel sitting at the bottom of the bag.