The Sandwich Life

The Olney Glow

David Olney says I can't change the color of my living room and I'm with him. Any time I think of it, I think about having a house concert with a different color in the background, and I realize I have to leave it gold. He says it reminds him of a Rembrandt painting and I know it seems to embody the warmth and comfort we find in these shows.

My beloved David Olney.

I couldn't love him more, or the wonderful Dan Seymour.

David, the person, the songwriter, the performers, the musician....every one of those is so exceptional. Put all together? Heartrendingly perfect.

I don't think I have the words right now, so I'll just post some pictures.

Oh, and I stole a bunch of these, so thank you Richard, Teri, Anne, and Eva!

Love to all that were there. I know Thursday can be a hard night...thanks for making it out.

Onward, with that Olney glow.

Thanks so much to Anne for capturing the last song....Deeper Well, with Kubla Khan, and even a dash of Edwin Starr thrown in.

Only David.

 

Summer Saturday

I've had a remarkably busy and social weekend thus far. It's been wonderful; I'm definitely in need of some quiet time and some work time today. I slept horribly Friday night, so woke up bleary yesterday. I had a quiet morning reading and doing a bit of work. Then I got antsy and said we needed to go on a drive. We headed off, wending our way through cornfields on county roads. The day was gorgeous, and it felt nice to be out in the green fields. I wish I'd brought my camera, but I made do with my phone.

A church near Parkville, I believe.

We passed a row of telephone poles with these black bands. Ernie mused that they might be in mourning.

Maybe an old general store? Complete with gas pump, in Bourbon, Illinois.

A few of the remains of what used to be Rockome Gardens. Sad to see these pieces overgrown and neglected. It's a wildlife park now, and these delightful little things are not the focus anymore.

As we headed home, we got a text from Teri, so met her and Brian for a drink at Quality.

We toddled home, planning to smoke a pork tenderloin. I think the weekend caught up with me though, so I suggested the guys have pizza. Of course, I ended up cooking for myself anyway, so we really should have gone with our initial plan. I sauteed a piece of mahi-mahi, well kind of over-sauteed but what the hell, and then threw spinach and what I thought was a banana pepper in the pan with it and sprinkled some flaxseed and slivered purple cabbage on top. Turns out it was a very HOT pepper, a bit too hot for what I was going for, but overall still pretty wonderful. Oh, and there's just a tiny piece or two of avocado because I seem to be going through an avocado drought of late. They're too hard when I get them and when they're softened they're half bad. Just when I'd convinced myself that the key to perfect avocados is just to buy and eat them regularly. Oh well.

The guys enjoyed the pizza, and as always, I stole one piece of sausage. We watched a little tv. I was too tired to even mess with the pictures I'd taken. Watched the beginning of SNL and realized I was WAY too tired. I left Ernie with the tv and drifted off to bed. Slept like a ROCK.

Onward.

Friends, Food, and Music, FTW

Yesterday was a lovely day. 

Got a new client that I'm super excited about. Will let you know when all is official.

Went to a couple of doctor's appointments with Ernie and they were painless.

Met an old friend, Jennie, and her partner Steve, for dinner at Black Dog. Loved seeing Jennie and Steve was delightful. Such a nice time and got to bug Owen a bit as he worked. Perfect, even though I forgot to get a picture.

Went to the Bill Chambers house concert at Sandra and Kevin's place (their new place is wonderful, and perfect for shows). I just could not adore Bill Chambers more, he is so incredibly talented. I could have just listened to him all night; he is a dangerously charming man, as I'm sure his wife, Kate, could attest (we missed you, Kate!). We got there late because of our dinner but happily managed to catch Bill Poss for one song (sorry, Kevin). Bill had a wonderful singer with him, Sharna Burcher with whom he's working on an album. Here's a song she did last night...from a previous album she did with Bill. Lovely voice, great songs, and charming as well! 

Got home, watched tv for a bit and chatted. Toddled off to bed and couldn't sleep a wink. Finally got up and took a shower, read, drank a glass of wine, read some more, texted Angie Heaton giddily, read some more, and finally drifted off.

A good day.

Onward.

Bill did some songs on his own, then some songs with Sharna, then brought up Bill Poss and Kendell Scott. So good.

I loved watching Angie sit on the couch and smile. 

 

Does Hurt Echo More Than Happiness?

Fighting hard to put myself in a good mood. Look.

Sunflowers.

See? I'm trying.

Sad and upset with one of my sons. Hell, they're teenagers, I know it's to be expected, but it is still difficult. Whenever I get angry at one of them I always end up angry at myself, because I feel that I have failed them. And, of course, it doesn't feel good to be angry at yourself. Feeling hurt brings back some of the hurt I felt last year when I was so sick and so many people either never reached out to me, or didn't believe me. People I had known, or worked with, for YEARS. I'm still processing a lot of this. Of course, I had a ton of friends that DID reach out and support me completely, so I'm not asking for pity. I am very fortunate in so many ways. However, as I continue to feel better, but also realize that I still have a ways to go, I also continue to process the experience. Maybe hurt echoes more than happiness. I'll have to think about that.

Onward.

Friends and Flowers

Lovely day yesterday, visiting beloved friends in the afternoon and then having a perfect dinner with others in the evening. We are so fortunate.

Look at this? Could it be more wonderful? Roger Blakely and Ceal Allen's home. Just stunning.

And I'm honored, beyond words, that Roger and Ceal would have one of my photos in their home. I love them so.

Then a gorgeous dinner with our beloved Boo and Doug. Or Doo and Boug as Ernie sometimes calls them. He does amuse himself. An admirable trait. It just feels like being home when we are with them.

In garden news, our yard is the worst it has EVER been. Weeds, weeds, weeds.

I have yet to pull out my diseased coneflower. Does anyone know if I am ok to plant more coneflowers, or will the disease be left in the dirt???

I didn't plant enough zinnias this year. Only one row! I was going to plant more behind them but got behind between Ernie being gone and rain, so I weakened and just bought some cosmos from Prairie Gardens. Usually, I plant cosmos from seed, but I was lazy and just threw these in. The thing is, the damn things don't grow. It's incredibly odd...even when I've planted so-called dwarf cosmos, they always get huge. These things just sit there.

Not my best gardening year. Oh well.

I like my little Bachelor's Buttons despite the surrounding weeds.

Today will be quiet. I have to spend some time working to get everything set for when I'll be out of town this week with the Big Boy.

Onward.

The Sustenance of Friendship

Lovely evening last night. I'm reminded of how important it is to spend time with friends. We decided to recreate one of our Beaver Island dinners as a thank you to Teri and Brian for them including us on that trip. I did the salmon my favorite, easy way---poaching it in olive oil, herbs, and lemon. I put a drizzle of olive oil in the bottom of the pan, then fresh herbs (we had tarragon, thyme, and garlic chives--which are oddly low-fodmap---and lemon slices. We packed the salmon in pretty tightly--otherwise, you'd have to use a ton of olive oil, and since you're not trying to roast it, it's fine close together. In fact, when I make this for the two of us (the guys don't like fish), I put it in a loaf pan. Then add olive oil, so it comes partway up the side of the salmon, finish off with more herbs and lemon...oh, and some salt. Then you pop it in a 300 oven for about half an hour. I made up a couple of platters of spinach, arugula, mixed greens, walnuts, and strawberries. When the salmon was done, I just broke it into chunks and put it over the salad, using the flavored olive oil from the pan as the dressing. It was pretty delightful. Oh, and I seared up a bunch of scallops in brown butter.

I always end up smoking up the house with my cast iron pan. But, HELL, look at that sear!

I think this is about the tenth time I've written about this recipe. Oops. It's just so damned good. I made chocolate avocado pudding for dessert but it was a tad odd. I used the smooth-skinned avocados instead of the nubbly ones I usually use, and it didn't work as well. Lesson learned. Not bad, just not as good as I've made in the past. That and some cherries was dessert. A bit of wine and beer was consumed, the guys hung out for a bit, we all scratched off lottery tickets to no avail. It was lovely.

Onward.

 

The Nascent Sandwich Life: the Jefferson Building 1982

Our dear friends Pat and Doug stopped by the house the other day. It was a lovely treat. We hadn't seen Pat in too long, and Doug came bearing gifts: a cool old book on trains from the 40's for Leo, and some vintage local papers, the Psychadelic Boneyards and Fingerprint Files. I finally got the printer working again (why is it that they won't SCAN when they don't have ink? Infuriating) and took the time to scan one of the articles. I didn't do a good enough job to get Photoshop to photomerge them but I'm too impatient.

Could this be the nascent birth of our house concerts? I had completely forgotten that this was in here. My friend, Eileen, and I wanted something fun to do on Halloween in 1982 so we decided to...well, put on a show. We trotted around downtown Champaign (which was a very different place back then) looking for a place. We landed upon the Jefferson Building, the old Masonic Hall on Hill and State. We rented the theatre and got to collecting bands. The B-Lovers (pre-Turning Curious), Milktoast, the Erasers (why don't I remember them? Who was in that band?), and the debut of the Outnumbered. I remember a phone call from someone that thought they weren't high enough up on the bill...I think I let Eileen deal with that one. Heh. Milktoast HAD to play last as Pat Daily was playing somewhere else earlier that night.

Bernie made a flyer, Jack Rundle got something in the DI, we bought pumpkins and black balloons.

Good lord, how cute. We took in enough money to pay the B-Lovers a bit. Someone stole a sign so we lost a hundred dollars on that, but we came out with enough money to go to dinner. 

I wonder why we never did it again.

"One of the best local musical events of the year." 

Heh.

Look, there's Ernie in the back:

Gretchen Peters, Ian Hunter, and the Magic of 80 Years

I met Rick Graves a few years back when I sat next to him at an Ian Hunter show at City Winery. I could tell he was taking great pictures so I asked him his name. Since then we've run into each other at an Ian show here or there (well, Chicago for me...he goes all over to see Ian) and he's always been lovely. When I moaned online that I couldn't get a City Winery Ian Hunter 80th birthday party bottle of wine that was available only at the New York shows, he kindly said he'd bring one back for me. Sometimes you just gotta love social media. I know it has its downsides, but then again; how delightful is that? Yesterday evening, a friend of Rick's delivered the wine to our house. 

I was giddy.

I even let Ernie take a picture.

Thank you a million times, Rick!

Then I sat it on the mantel, in a place of honor. As I lay in bed trying to fall asleep last night my mind kept obsessing over the fact that the Cable goblet next to it was made around 1860, which was around 80 years before Ian Hunter was born, and now it's 80 years since he was born. I don't know....late at night, it all seemed very meaningful.

Ernie and I have been puttering around the house, getting ready for the Gretchen Peters concert tonight. Off to doctor appointments in a bit. The house is freezing right now, but I know the air conditioner will have to fight to keep this drafty old uninsulated house cool tonight, so I am determinedly shivering.

Hope to see you all tonight. This is going to be a very special show.

Onward.

Love Was Bouncing Off the Walls: Adam and Chris Carroll

I happen to adore Adam and Chris Carroll. Just the way it is. Pure love.

Chris popped in the front door when they arrived. We both squealed and then I put my hand up and said, "I have a cold, you can't hug me." She said, "Are you sure it's a cold?" I said I was, and she paused, and said, "You want to hug anyway?" "YES," I shouted. I love her.

The day after the show Teri posted some pictures on Facebook and Chris commented, "Love was bouncing off the walls."

Those two Chris-isms pretty much sum up the whole night for me.

They have two new albums out, a solo Adam, and a duo (can't find the link to that one....maybe it's not out officially yet). They are both truly great. Adam's songs are so incredibly spare...they are honed down to the barest essence, and yet they are packed with images and stories, humor and sadness. How he can pare them down like that amazes me, and it's of course what makes them so powerful. And Chris on the spoons now, as well as her beautiful mandolin (and that voice)! They are truly special. The real deal, as they say...which I said until Heather and Sue made fun of me for saying it too often. But DAMN, we get some great folks here, and they really ARE the real deal.

Great food the other night too----thanks all. And thanks to everyone that came---lots of old friends and regulars but we were delighted to welcome some new folks too. That makes me so happy. Of course, Kirk wins the prize, as he drove all the way from Ontario!

As always, nights like this make my heart full. Thanks, Adam and Chris. We'll be with you in spirit as you travel on.

Thanks to our beloved Richard Hill for the photos!

Oh, and don't worry if you missed this one, we have some more great shows coming up!

Oh, oh, one more thing...I'm thinking about making Sandwich Life House Concert t-shirts. Anyone interested?

 

Beaver Island Trip: Day Five

The last day of our trip. We meandered down from Manistee to Bangor. I've got a bit of a cold right now and feel lousy and bleary so will abandon commentary, except for the last few pictures which are of our beloved friends, Val and Bob. Being at their house and spending time with them was utterly lovely. As is their gorgeous old house. There truly is nothing better than old friends. Well, old friends, a good dog, a great porch, an amazing dinner, and fresh strawberries. Yup. Thanks, guys, we love you.