THE NEW ME

Saturday, August, 15th, 10:00 am

Well, I am still continuing. This morning I weighed 188, yesterday 187. Yes, I do weigh every single day. And I have read that those people who manage to keep their weight off for five years and more do the same. It helps me somehow to do this.

I did no exercise at all on Friday, the second time in two weeks. Thursday was my Chicago Art Institute Day and I walked my feet off, starting with walking from the train station to the Harold Washington Library on Congress because I was early and wanted to see if they had any back issues of Woman's Day magazine. There is one with a scrumptious yellow kitchen pictured in an ad, but damn, I can't remember what issue or even what ad, so I'll have to scroll thru microfiche. A real pain.
Then I walked to the AI and walked all over that place and up and down stairs til around noon, when I left and walked to The Chicago Theatre at State and Randolph to get tickets to Macy's Glamorata. Now at my age this would seem silly, but I have never in my life seen an honest-to-god fashion show, and I would like to. Plus it's a fund raiser for The Ronald McDonald House, and I figure it might give me incentive. Then back to the AI, more walking and up and downing, and a bus to the train station, and back to pick up my car, which my husband leaves so I don't have to walk home. A feat I'm not sure I could have done at that point. Miles and miles that day.

But I did have the cheapest lunch and stuck to my diet at the AI's cafe, which does have really good food. I looked at the salads, but of the three offered, two had cheese and other stuff, that I shouldn't eat, at least not now, so I opted for just the garden salad, then walked over to the sandwich station, and asked for two pieces of sourdough bread (I think it was just plain white) and some turkey breast. When he said "You want that on the bread, don't you?" and I replied "Not particularly", he plopped what was at least a quarter to a third of a pound if not more of meat on my plate. Wow! It was a lot. And I treated myself to a pat of butter for the bread. Plus I got some fat-free Italian dressing, which was like water, but it did the job. I had a huge salad with low-fat meat, bread and butter, and coffee. Lunch was $6.32, and coffee alone was $1.85. I do save the taxes because I am a member.

I felt good about that lunch. Sticking to the plan. This morning I got up at the normal thirty minutes before dawn, and trooped down the Path. My knees are bothering me now, and I'm not sure what to do. I suspect a lot has to do with dancing around the basement, but I truly love to do that. Everything I do involves the knees, whether walking, dancing, or the exercises I do. And I must do them in order to lose and then maintain weight. A Catch-22 indeed. In fact, yesterday I went to see a terrific flic, "Bandslam" and loved the music so much I came home and bought the CD off of Amazon, because I know I can really move to it.

But I am reading while eating. Period. I don't think I can give that up. I do weigh and measure my food, something that perhaps someday I can get away from. Not now.

14 days down.

ODDS AND ENDS

I am back from Lyon, and it was a wonderful trip. Well, how can you go wrong in France? But this blog is about Chicago, so I thought I might just add a few places to go that you might not have seen yet. First off is the Holocaust Museum in Skokie. I went there before I left, mainly to see the architecture, which is strange. One half of the building is black, one half white, and even more odd, it faces into the side of the hill creating the Edens Expressway, so that you cannot even stand back to really take a good look at it. It is the rear of the building that faces the parking lot, and little of that there is too. I took no pictures, it was a cold rainy thoroughly nasty day when we went. Inside,, at least during this first opening week, there was mostly nothing but videos, interminal videos, three hours worth, viewed one at a time at different stations throughout the museum. Granted they were hugely interesting, but after three hours my eyes were blury. And all the while we were standing. Personally, they could take all those short videos and turn them into one documentary that would be terrific.

Perhaps that was just opening week problems, and that by next year things will have gotten better. Although I fear the architecture is here to stay.

On the same day that I saw the fountain behind the AI finally working again, and I have posted pictures in the appropriate number for that piece of public art, I went to see the Art Institute's new wing and bridge, and all that. Unbeknownst to me, it was free day last Wednesday, and in fact all week, and let me tell you, the entire free world was there!!! And that's great! They were milling all over the place, and actually looking at the art. I saw people looking and studying pieces that most of us just pass by on our way to something else, me included. I even tried to get away from the masses in the farthest place I know, the glass paperweight room in a sub-basement, but they had discovered that too. We all love art, it seems; humanity has that much in common at least. Too bad it's so pricey, both to see and to own.

But the new Modern Wing is not really quite what it seems, for at least 50% of it is devoted to the new Education Center. It is huge, with three enormous classrooms, full of light from long, tall windows, plus smaller rooms and storage and workspaces, stuff. I was quite impressed. The main part has only added to the display space by about 30%, but that is a third and nothing to snivel at. Again, lots of natural light. I loved the main hall. But the bridge is something else again, I ventured out on it from the third floor and after a few feet, once I hit the end of the building, it started to wobble, like a suspension bridge. Although it was full of people coming and going, that was enough for me. I am not good with heights or wobbly bridges. Blair Kamin, the architectual critic for the Chicago Tribune mentioned this wobble, but he talked about it as only being in the middle. I suspect he crossed it when it was somewhat empty, not loaded with visitors.
But go for yourself. Better yet, get a membership, it's not very expensive, and for a single one, you can still take a guest and see all the extra shows; you can go any day the Museum is open. If you and a guest go two or three times a year (but go more often) it will have paid for itself. Needless to say, I love our Art Institute, go once a month, and never find it boring, although they do need to change the menu in the outside garden restaurant once in a while.

CHICAGO PUBLIC ART # 16 - CELEBRATION OF THE 200TH ANIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC

Another one that will have to wait til spring. This one is right at the east door of The Art Institute, and unfortunately, is the recipient of all the detritus from the construction work going on there. It is a fountain, and the cement pool and surrounds are chuck full of boards, litter, pipes, etc. As that construction is due to be finished by May 16th, I will return around then to see both it and the newly refurbished Buckingham Fountain. Both are fountains. Hmmmm. Season for fountain renewal?

March 27, '09 - It has occurred to me that this is a piece of public art, and hence, not owned by the Art Institute. Why then is it being trashed by their construction crews?

May 25, 2009

Hurrah!! It's up and working. Last Wednesday, May 20, I went to the Art Institute, and ( I thought) on the off chance the fountain is working and cleaned up, I took my camera. And LO and Behold! it was. Will wonders never cease?

Unfortunately, since all this time has elapsed, I have lost or thrown away my notes, although I'm sure I could google it. I do remember that the granite used to construct these two pieces is something like two or three million years old. Is Noguchi trying to say something about the endurance of our nation? It was erected in 1975 and looks like it was done yesterday, water cascading down from both the tall piece and the long, log-like piece. It is right at the east door of the Art Institute. It's OK, but I think it needs more land around it to fully appreciate it. It backs right up to the east windows of the AI, and is reflected in them. Again, his purpose?

















Here you can see the log part reflected in the windows. The pictures do not show too well the water flowing, but it is. And see how the obelisk mirrors the building behind it?

PUBLIC ART IN CHICAGO # 10 - CERES 1930

Now we enter the 30s and Art Deco. This statue, atop the Chicago Board of Trade Building is of the goddess Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, of grains, of wheat. It too is rather quintessential Chicago, but darn if I know why it was put way up there where, really, nobody can see it.

It was created by John Storrs.

To quote Mr. Artner: "A treatment in aluminum of the Roman goddess of grain holding a bag of corn in her right hand and sheaf of wheat in her left; her blank face and classical gown show the ultimate degree in Art Moderne streamlining."












These two horrible pictures are the best I can do with my equally horrrible cheap digital. I do own a magnificent Nikon with all kinds of lenses, including a good zoom, but of course I cannot upload that. And no pedestrian on LaSalle can begin to see the features that Mr. Artner describes. The Chicago Board of Trade, by the way, is at 141 West Jackson Boulevard; LaSalle Street dead-ends there from the north, then takes a zigzig behind to continue south of that building. Perhaps we should all go around Chicago with a pair of binoculars. Some great stuff is way up high.
As to Ceres, you can perhaps, if you look hard, see that her face is blank, but no way you would ever suspect she is of aluminum, or what she is holding.
I move she be relocated to the lobby, or at least a copy, so we can all enjoy her.

January 16, 2009.

Well, wonder of wonders, there are indeed copies. I stumbled across one in the Art Institute before Christmas, sans camera, alas. So three days ago I went back and took some pictures. It is in Gallery 271, just inside the door, in a glass case, about three feet high. It seems, according to the info I read there, that Storrs, seeing how popular the Ceres was, did make smaller copies for private investors, and this one was donated to the Art Institute in 1981. It is copper alloy plated with nickel and then chrome. What she is holding is a grain bag in one hand ( I thought it was a bag full of money, which seems appropriate, given what the Board of Trade does, but then I guess goddesses are above such crass concerns), and in the other a sheaf of wheat. Further info says that the fluting on the gown echoes the vertical stripes on the roof of said Board of Trade, but of course, nobody can see that from street level.



















Here you can indeed see that her face is blank.