Book Club Christmas Tea 2021

Book club has been a wild ride through the pandemic. We met on zoom for all of 2020, and finally reunited in person in May for a rainy meeting in my back yard. Through the summer, we were lucky to have good weather for outdoor meetings. Even in November, we met around our fire pit with blankets and winter coats. We’ve really made the most of being together.

Last month, before Omicron and the latest surge, we decided we would do our annual Christmas tea in person. We are all vaccinated and boosted, so we all geared up for a back-to-normal kind of party again. But…things changed so rapidly, and we decided to modify our plans at the last minute.

We still met in person, but we decided to do our toast out on Susan’s porch in the open air. We all masked when we weren’t actively drinking and we wore our winter coats to stay cozy. There were only six of us–two members were traveling, one member wasn’t feeling well, and one member had a close call with Covid so decided to opt out–so we spread out in Susan’s spacious living and dining room to eat and then put our masks back on for the book discussion. We ate chicken salad sandwiches, radish and sandwiches, sausage rolls, scones, grape salad, and lots of Christmas cookies. Susan made a spiced ginger Prosecco cocktail that was warm and festive.

It was super cozy eating and chatting by the fire. We read Miss Read’s Village Christmas which is a short, sweet book from the 1960s about two spinster sisters and a Christmas adventure with their new neighbors. If you’ve never read Miss Read, her books are just delightful.

In 2022, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary as a group. Who knows what that celebration will look like, but I’m so grateful for this group of ladies who share my love of old books!

Mr. Zip Is My Boyfriend

There is an Invasion of the Scarecrows happening in Forest Park for Halloween. It’s a fundraiser for the Historical Society and the Arts Alliance and I was so excited to participate. It didn’t take me long to land on Mr. Zip for our scarecrow. His cartoony face and his simple blue suit wouldn’t be too complicated to make for someone like me who has zero drawing skills.

We picked up our kits in August and this is what it came with–a simple wooden cross base, the fabric sewn and ready to design for the head and some other crafting things that I didn’t use. I pulled everything out of the garage on Monday night to get started. (The scarecrow was “due” on October 1st…) I got the rest of the stuff–a simple blue t-shirt and sweatpants, loads of felt, and some blue fabric–online throughout September while I marinated on his construction.

I decided to use felt for his face because I am terrible with fabric paint. I freehanded his eyes, nose, and mouth while looking at his pictures online. It’s not a perfect depiction, but as my dad likes to say, “Close enough for a town this size.” The hat was fashioned with swear words, magic, blue fabric, and yellow and black felt. I doubt it will last through a rain storm to be honest.

And I just cut some buttons out of black felt for his “jacket” and sort of safety pinned everything together. He has a little wire running through him to help his arms hold their shape. I made him a little bag and a letter out of felt and called it a day.

The actual putting him together was the least fun part–I don’t know how I was thinking it would work–but I think an engineering degree would have come in handy.

If you’re local, there’s a map on the Historical Society of Forest Park’s website and the idea is meant to get people out around town to check everyone’s out. There’s a contest, too, for the most artistic, most historical, Forest Park Pride, and people’s choice. I think the competition is going to be fierce! I hope to get out to get some pictures of other scarecrows soon and I’ll share them here. In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures of Presley. She’s made a bed of the excess felt in my stash and I guess it’s all hers now.

Dispatches From Home Part 5

How’s everyone doing? I know some places in the US and beyond are opening up a little bit. I can’t imagine how nervous I’m going to feel when that starts happening here. Right now, we’re still staying home with no end in sight. I’m sure a slow opening is coming sometime in May…probably towards the end of May, but hey, what do I know? Last week was kind of a week of treats. We haven’t been dining out much because we’re more than content cooking at home and eating our Trader Joe’s food since groceries are aplenty around here. But on Friday, one of our favorite places, Goldyburgers, re-opened for carry-out and a group of friends decided we should all order from Goldy’s and dine on Zoom together. You guys, it was so fun. I miss dining out so much. Not really because of the food, but because we usually bump into people we know and then the night takes us to unexpected places. Happenstance is really missing from life right now. But a planned dinner together was great, and my homemade Manhattan was delicious and it was good to catch up with everyone. Another treat from last week–we ordered cookies, breakfast sandwiches, and pie from Spilt Milk, our favorite local pie place. Their snickerdoodles are the best I’ve ever had and seriously, just to be able to get a couple familiar treats makes you almost forget about this current situation. I don’t think we need to go out for treats every day, but it felt like such a delicacy to have take-out and cookies after being away from them for so long. I had to go into the office for a bit last week too. I don’t mind going into the office. Some things are impossible to do from home, so it’s good to get caught up when I can. When I work from home, it’s usually from bed (or from the living room) and Presley is monitoring my progress. (She’s such a demanding manager!) I am going to miss sleeping in until 9, but I am looking forward to going back to the office someday…I can’t believe April is two-thirds over. I am so bummed that we won’t get to experience the cherry blossoms again this year. (Last year the cold spring kept them from blooming and we’ve been planning a Chicago hanami ever since!) It’s quite depressing that the weather is finally warming up and our time outside will be limited. I’m trying to make the most of it by planning our garden plot and shopping for plants online, but it’s not the same as visiting the garden shops in person and picking out the perfect plants. I don’t want to end on such a depressing note, so I will say that I’ve been enjoying letter writing and reading again. And I just started season six of 30 Rock and I’m so glad I’m finally watching it! It makes me laugh right before I go to bed and honestly, my dreams have been slightly less weird since I started it. (Have you been having weird dreams, too? Apparently it’s a thing.) 

I hope you are staying safe and healthy! Please let me know how things are going in your state or country! It’s been so fascinating writing so many pen pals and learning about their stay-at-home standards. 

Book Club Christmas Tea 2019

Last weekend was our annual book club Christmas tea and it was delightful, as usual. We had four kinds of sandwiches (egg salad, shrimp salad, roast beef with provolone, and cilantro chicken salad,) two kinds of scones (cranberry-orange and bacon cheddar,) Christmas cake, grape salad, and Christmas punch. I love a good tea sandwich so I ate way too many and also floated away from all the tea. Stasia brought corsages for everyone so it felt especially fancy. I think corsages are under-utilized and I’m going to demand one for every birthday from now on. We read PG Wodehouse which was enjoyable, but I read it all in a couple days so I was sort of Wodehoused out by the end. The writing is really charming though so hopefully I’ll be ready to tackle a short story here and there in the future. We always have party poppers with crowns, mustaches, and jokes. Reading the jokes and guessing the riddles is always my favorite part of the day. Three cheers for good book discussions in 2019!

Petite Boutique 2019

This week I’m preparing for another Petite Boutique! Prepping for this show always reminds me of how quickly the year goes…I can’t believe the holiday season is back again. This is my fourth year at Petite Boutique, which you may remember was my first ever craft show! Petite Boutique kicks off my holiday show season–I have three shows in November and one in December. If you’re local, this page has all of the information on where to find me this season.

Halloween Snow

It snowed on Halloween this year and we had to break out our winter coats already. I wasn’t ready!!! I am still not ready! The snow started on Wednesday and I walked through Austin Gardens on my way to work. It was really pretty with the snow falling on the brightly colored trees. However, tree branches were falling like crazy all day because of the weight of the heavy, wet snow on the leafy branches. Thankfully, I made it through the park unscathed. The snow is all melted now and temperatures are back to fall-like levels. And the fall colors are still pretty vibrant. Halloween is always pretty low-key at our place since we don’t get trick-or-treaters. I’m recovering from a cold (again!) so I spent most of the day reading scary stories and hanging out with Presley, who really enjoyed her costume…

Such a good sport, that old cat.

 

Church Lady

So, I’ve been at my job for three weeks now and so far so good. It is really hard being the new person…I haven’t been the new person in so long, I’d forgotten how unsure I would feel so much of the time as I get to know the rhythms and routines of a new place. But everyone is super nice and welcoming so I feel like I’m slowly getting my footing.

In case you didn’t notice by the title, I’m working at a church doing administrative work. It’s still part time, so I have plenty of time to devote to Galaxie Safari, but it’s more hours and more regular hours than my previous job, which is a good change. I really enjoy office work (Is that weird?) and I’ve been looking for an office job for quite some time, but it’s been difficult to find part time work with a company or organization that I felt good about. The church is very progressive (which matches my sensibilities.)

I have to tell you how serendipitous getting this job feels! In 2013, Anne from my book club passed away and she had been a member of this church. I went alone to her memorial service and noticed how diverse and friendly the congregation was. So many people got up and spoke so fondly of Anne, you could tell the community really valued her. So when I started looking for a new job, I was delighted to discover that the church looking for someone to work in the office was Anne’s church. I applied and interviewed (where we talked about Anne!) and got the job. The timing was perfect. The church is currently in a temporary location (at another church in the area) because they had a fire last year and are rebuilding. My commute is about a mile walk right now, and it will be about the same when we get back into our own church next spring. It’s a nice little stroll in the morning, that I’ve actually been enjoying, even in the cold. (But ask me again in January!) I get to walk through Mills Park, which is right by Pleasant Home where we used to hold book club and where I sell at Petite Boutique every November!

So I’m embracing a new routine, getting out of the house a little earlier in the mornings, and the discomfort of not knowing what I’m doing…some change is good, right?

It Feels Like Fall

I took this picture of Naoto last week when temperatures were still warm. It has been so cold ever since! We haven’t turned our heat on yet, but nights are cold and I’m wearing a jacket every time I leave the house. It’s amazing you can go from skirts and sandals to socks and jackets almost overnight. We had a light frost this past week, so I assume our garden is done…we need to go and clear off our dead plants, pick the last of the carrots, and plant our garlic so we can have a fresh start next year. I brought in all of the balcony plants I want to overwinter, so now I have to figure out where they’re going to live.

I’m looking forward to the weekend. Tonight, I’m going to a marujuana forum for Forest Park. Recreational marujuana is going to be legal in Illinois starting on January 1st so a lot of communities are deciding right now if having a dispensary or growing facility is right for them. It’s all been an interesting learning experience! Last time I live-tweeted it because it was so entertaining. And tomorrow is book club and live music at Goldyburgers! I can hardly wait!

Have a good weekend!

Upcoming Shows

I have two shows at the end of this month. First, on the 21st is the Brookfield Fine Arts Festival. We loved this event last year because it’s right next to the Brookfield Famers Market and Naoto was able to snack all day long. Naoto has been going to this farmers market all summer because the Mirai corn people sell there and also because I’m in love with the muffins. Also I should mention that the artists showing their work here are all really great. It’s a nice variety of work and all different price ranges. Then, on the 28th, we’ll be at Empowering Gardens for the Music, Art & Wine event. We love Empowering Gardens and it’s a joy to show at this event. For a $5 donation, you get snacks and wine and to peruse the plants and art while listening to music and mingling. It’s really great. And finally, I got accepted again to Petite Boutique at Pleasant Home this fall (November 8 & 9.) Petite Boutique will always be special to me because it was my first show back in 2016 and I love the local maker vibe and the variety there. I can’t wait. I’ve applied to a couple of long-shot shows this fall/winter, so hopefully I’ll be able to update with a couple more events before Christmas.

In other business news, I finally opened an Instagram account strictly for Galaxie Safari stuff. It was time. If you feel like following, you can find me there at @galaxiesafari (and still updating all things Presley, random like, cocktails, and more at @adamihasegawa, too!)

Garage Galleries 2019

My last show for August was Forest Park’s Garage Galleries. It was my second year participating and this year was even better than the last. Our garage host, Mary, was fabulous and welcoming. She created a whole little snack station for our guests to enjoy, even bringing out a tray of pigs in a blanket around dinner time! Naoto manned the food and drink table, offering snacks and water and wine to all of the garage visitors. I shared the garage with Carolyn Dunn and Kennedy Shenberg. The Garage Gallery organizers are always so great about varying the types of work in each garage. I’m really liking my new double rack set-up. I don’t have as much space for my framed pieces though, so I’m still working on making that less crowded, but my cards are the bread & butter of the business so it makes sense to give them the most real estate. I’m hoping to have a new logo and sign before the holiday shows start up in November…eeks!

The top picture is a “limited edition” postcard I made for Garage Galleries. No one bought them so now they’re going to be thank you notes for the GG organizers and our garage host. Sometimes you try something and it doesn’t catch on…I really love that stamp though, so I’m going to bring it back as a “You’re a work of art” card again.

Next week, I’ll start preparing for the Brookfield Fine Arts Fest and Empowering Gardens Music, Art, and Wine event. I’m trying to be more proactive with my preparations so that I am not cramming at the last minute, or so I have time for last minute ideas. “Always trying and failing to be more organized” is going to end up on my headstone, I swear.