Monthly Archives: June 2011

A moving week

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With the date for my exit from my apartment rapidly approaching I'm feeling increasing pressure to find another place to live. I've spent most of the last week looking at apartments, without finding anything that makes me happy. My requirements are, first, size. I want two bedrooms. Second, location: I want some place interesting to walk to or about. Of course, affordability is very important, but there seem to be lots of places I could afford, or almost afford. Third is resale potential. This might not be the last place I will live.

I found a great condo I can almost afford in a building I don't want to live in. Location is OK, but not the greatest. I will have to get a mortgage, which I'm not sure I want to do.

A co-op building near Pitt and CMU has a number of empty apartments, several of which I like. The location would be great and the apartments are cheap reasonably priced. I kept wondering why they were so hard to move and finally got an answer. Co-op rules require you to pay cash for the asking price, have an additional $100,000 in the bank and have an income four times the monthly maintenance, about $4000/month. I can't meet the income requirement, and I suspect few people who might want one of those apartments have that kind of income. 

I think a case could be made about discrimination against elders, however I think the rule was made to keep parents from buying their student children an apartment, another kind of discrimination.

I owned a co-op apartment in New Jersey and swore I would never do it again. This brings it all back to me. Too bad; one of those apartments would be ideal.

So I'm still looking. I won't be homeless: worst case, I put my stuff in storage and move in with Robin and Steve until I find something.

Chicago continued

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One of the exhibits at the History Museum was

Facing Freedom

What does freedom mean? To whom should freedom be extended? How are denied rights gained? These are some of the questions the new American history exhibition explores. Based on the central idea that the history of the United States has been shaped by conflicts over what it means to be free, this new exhibition uses images, artifacts, and interactivity to explore familiar and not-so-familiar stories from the nation’s past. From women's suffrage and the formation of unions, to Japanese internment, to a local school boycott, the exhibition highlights some of the ways Americans have struggled over the true meaning of freedom.

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It's a powerful exhibit as pertinent today as its recollection of events of the past.

On Thursday we went on an Architecture Foundation tour of the Fine Arts Building, an artists' building on Michigan Avenue. I've been in the building many times, but learned all sorts of new things from the tour. I didn't know there was this beautiful courtyard on the fourth floor.

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I would like to have a studio that opens into the courtyard and have tea every afternoon when the 4 o'clock low hits me.

Afterward we went to Millenium Park, the jewel of Chicago, and looked at the Lurie Garden. Chicago's motto is "city in a garden." You can really believe that here.

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Friday morning I left Chicago and drove down to New Albany, Indiana, a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, to go to Jan's opening. Here she is taking my picture. Be sure to note the wonderful banner they hung for the show.

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You can read more about the show in her blog here and in the show blog here. It was a great opening and a great show. I'm very glad I went, although I hope I remember not to do two hard days of driving, back to back, again. I got back to Pittsburgh in spite of tornado warnings in Ohio and a terrible traffic backup in Kentucky.

 

More from Chicago

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Sunday and Monday were family days. My family grows smaller each year, and sometimes that's hard to watch. Mostly it was fun to see everyone.

Tuesday I had an early blood test downtown (this can be done anywhere), then spent most of the remainder of the morning wandering around the Cultural Center. This is my favorite place in the city. The building is fabulous with Tiffany domes and amazing glass mosaics. They usually have excellent art exhibits, performances, a good cafe, a special gallery for seniors with computer access and more art exhibits, usually by seniors, but with no sacrifice in quality. I met B at a blues performance by the Mississippi Heat. It would have been wonderful if they had skipped the microphones, but I had to leave in the middle because the sound was so loud. I rmoved my hearing aids, but this time it didn't help.

Here are two large banners from the performance space:

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After lunch we went over to the Art Institute to look at Japanese art. I'm sure you knew I would do that. Tuesday evening I had dinner with Eli, Charna and Adele, who has become a new member of the family. We ate at a Vietnamese place, then walked around until it was time to move the car. Parking regulations are a real pain here: Ordinary street spaces cost $1.50/hour and there are many arcane rules about loading zones, no parking zones, etc.

Wednesday we spent the day at the Chicago History Museum, a rather nostalgic bit, but most of the exhibits are from before my time.