tally of lost items/PSA/travel notes

Considering I left my purse on the #4 bus at 6:15 am last week, AND got it back approximately 2 hours later on my bus driver's return trip through Downtown (Thank you nice person who found my purse and nice bus driver who kept it for me!), I shouldn't be complaining too much that I left my new-ish moleskine date book on the plane. Had the flight been full capacity, as they only seem to be anymore, I wouldn't have strewn all my belongings on the empty seat next to me and none of this would have happened. Thanks alot,United! Not the biggest deal in the world, as nothing was really filled out beyond this week. However, it was the only place I was keeping the schedule for Half & Half art shows for 2007, sooo if you are reading this and I have talked to you about doing an art show before July, please remind me again. I have a gap of at least two people, and I will know who you are once you reveal yourselves to me. Anyone else interested in an art show, please bring in a disc or something, I still have 6 months to fill up, and I am very partial to group shows/concepts.

Otherwise, Betsy (aka Mom) and I are having a great time here, doing our thing in Chicago. The weather is crappy, and the rain here so much worse than Portland's. For one thing, the actual rain is colder, and it is constant. Even on the rainiest day of the year in Portland, there are occasional breaks, and it always seems to stop at night. It's been raining since we got up, it rained through breakfast, our first movie, through shopping, dinner and our second movie. Do I use an umbrella? Well, no. Considering everyone else is using one, there's really not room on the sidewalk for another umbrella. Umbrella's don't work in cities! Am I right? The alternative is to wear a raincoat and let your pants get soaked. That's how we roll in Portland. Because what's a little room temperature rain on the front of your pants. It's water, it dries. Otherwise, Chicago is delightful!

I had my coffee too late in the day. Memorable food notes: Had a perfect lox plate at a fancy grocery/cafe called Fox & Obel, and a very solid dinner at the Frontera Grill, a mexican restaurant that doesn't need any more PR than it already gets (though it's all pretty well deserved.) At the end of the meal, the famous chef/owner Rick Bayless came out of the kitchen to do his ceremonial rounds, and Betsy nearly had to be physically restrained. She just wanted to touch him, as he's the most famous chef she has ever seen in person, with the exception of the more obscure but highly revered French chef Freddie Girardet. Him, she touched.