I just came back from Chicago, where it was colder than here, but there’s not a lot of difference between six and zero F. In spite of the cold we had a great time. Robin, Steve, Charna and I went to the University of Chicago Folk Music Festival and, of course, to see Eli. Three of us were there on a great nostalgia trip. Robin and Steve worked for the festival while they were in school. It didn’t exist during my years there, but we listened to a lot of folk music and the buildings are the same. I helped wear the varnish off the railings and make the indentations in the stairs of Ida Noyes Hall more than 50 years ago. It’s strange to be back; things are the same, yet they are different. There’s even an elevator now, but I preferred to touch those bannisters again. I tend to live in the present; seldom look back. But I envy those kids at the University. Their opportunities are so much greater than mine. I would like to be back there again.

We went to the concerts on Friday and Saturday nights. During the day, Saturday, the family went to the workshops that are part of the festival. Charna brought her fiddle and had a chance to play with the other fiddlers. I spent the day with my friend, Betty. Among other things we drove out to see the nursery my grandmother built. It’s still standing and is now part of a large complex called Casa Central, a Hispanic social services center. The nursery, which functioned for a time as a Jewish old peoples home, now houses Hispanic seniors.
Enough wallowing in the past. Time to do my homework for tomorrow’s class.