Chicago Weblog

Samita Sinha brought her vocal music to Chicago, and we went to hear it.

While we were waiting for the theater doors to open, CVH asked me if this was the sort of concert that I would take dates to.

“Not twice,” I replied. “I found that it only took one Philip Glass show to snuff out any budding interest.”

It was a recital in an intimate setting; so intimate that the artists invited audience members to lie on the stage floor for the best experience. My bones are too old for that, though. The duets were operatically powerful. Sinha has a voice like Natalie Merchant. The music was what one could call minimalist – no words, just chants of a South Asian influence.

After the show, CVH said “I really enjoyed it. I’d go on a second date with you after that.”

The rain seems to fall mostly at night here; I don’t really know if that’s true or why, but it feels that way. And it rained last night. But was still drizzling this morning.

So it was a good morning for an indoor activity, like visiting the Art Institute.

I saw Paris Rainy Day, which CVH has on her raincoat. She was wearing it today.

My favorite piece of all at the Institute is this model boat from ancient Egypt.

This piece fascinates me. Four thousand years old, and unlike most Egyptian art, a realistic depiction. It’s like a photograph; you are peering into a time fantastically far away. What would these men have thought if you told them someone would be gazing at their likeness forty centuries later? Not to mention the question of how could a wooden model boat be so well preserved.

Yesterday we visited the Museum of Illusions, a popular Chicago tourist trap. Fortunately, we went as part of a group field trip, so the expense was more appropriate to the experience than the usual ticket cost.

The museum has a lot of the usual optical illusions that you’ve seen many times (so to speak).

But they do manage to do some very lovely things with mirrors. I particularly enjoyed the rooms that make you feel like you are falling even though you are just standing straight up. The physical sensation is nearly overwhelming – if you could put something like that in your living room, it would be great for parties!

On the way out, I told CVH that the exhibits prove that in our everyday lives we see what we are conditioned to see and not the truth or reality.

“That’s a very Buddhist way of describing it,” she replied.

It rained all day yesterday, and now CVH wanted to get out of the apartment. We took the good old 147 bus downtown.

We got off at the 900 Shops, a mall with a huge condo tower/Four Seasons hotel on top.

The mall was gaily decorated for Christmas, with a huge tree and a section where you could get your photo taken with Santa in his sleigh.

Earlier in the morning, they had hosted “Breakfast with Santa”, and there were still a lot of little girls and their parents roaming the mall. (There were very few little boys; I don’t know why.)

As we sat and ate in the food court, one toddler kept going by and staring at me. I smiled and waved. She kept coming by and staring.

“That little girl doesn’t know what to make of me,” I told CVH.

“She’s trying to figure out if you’re Santa,” she replied. Sure enough, in my red tunic and white beard and carrying a large bag, I’m sure I was confusing the poor thing.