As Beb notes at the bottom of the last comment thread, I am indeed recovering from my vacation — which was only a weekend. We got in about 8 last night, just in time to order and eat a pizza and watch Sunday-night teevee before hitting the sack. One more big trip next weekend, and then the summer whirl officially begins.
In the meantime, new thread while I take time to go over all the stuff that happened over the weekend. I checked Twitter early Saturday, saw the news of the earthquake, tried to find it on cable news but what were all the chatterers chattering about? Bruce Jenner, of course.
Anyway, this is me, Deborah and Heather at lunch on Saturday. Thanks for lunch, Deborah, and thanks for the company, both of you. It was fun:
Back here tomorrow.
brian stouder said on April 27, 2015 at 9:39 am
That photograph is absolutely the way to begin the week!
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Jolene said on April 27, 2015 at 9:42 am
What a great picture! Looks like a party I’d love to join.
Lots of news about the earthquake now, all bad, unfortunately.
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Snarkworth said on April 27, 2015 at 9:44 am
Nance, looks like you photobombed two elegant ladies having lunch.
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Judybusy said on April 27, 2015 at 9:45 am
You all look so relaxed! The local NPR station nattered on about the local hockey team during the ten minutes I was in the kithcen this morning, so I didn’t get a lot of news. I did see a picture on my FB feed. The earthquake damage truly looks awful.
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Dorothy said on April 27, 2015 at 10:12 am
That’s a terrific picture! How great that Deborah and our hostess got to meet!
As most of you know, Mike and I were host parents for four years to two international students when I worked at Kenyon. One of the girls is from Nepal. Her mom and dad came to the graduation two years ago and it was so wonderful to meet them. So we were sick with worry all weekend and were finally relieved to hear that Palista, her brother and her parents survived, their house was damaged (I don’t know to what degree), and they stayed in a shelter temporarily. They are back home now since the weather improved – these are small tidbits of information but truly all I know. The most important thing is they survived. Seeing the pictures and hearing that over 3,000 people have died is so upsetting. I am guessing they might have friends or relatives who died but I hope not.
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Deborah said on April 27, 2015 at 10:24 am
I wrote a comment but it disappeared into the ether. I’ll try to recreate it.
I need to get a copy of that photo, reminds me anew of what a good time that was. It’s weird how you can get to know someone before you’ve met them face to face. I’ve had dreams about you all, that we’re at a gathering and I can clearly see you and speak to you, even though some of you I’ve never even seen so much as a photo of, ever. I had an experience at work where I ordered art supplies over the phone from a place for well over a decade, I spoke to the same guy every time I called. The funny thing is when I finally met him face to face after only hearing his voice for all that time, he looked exactly the way I’d pictured him.
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MarkH said on April 27, 2015 at 11:11 am
What, Saturday in Chicago and you couldn’t find Borden? Very nice photo…
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nancy said on April 27, 2015 at 11:15 am
Actually, Borden and I got together for evening cocktails. No picture of that one, though. It was a drinky kind of day.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 27, 2015 at 11:16 am
Young woman on our block, whose brother is a friend of my son’s, is with the Peace Corps in Nepal right now. They’ve been able to talk to her, and count themselves quite lucky, but she’s telling them “whatever you’re hearing? it’s worse than that.” This is a nation that in sum isn’t even Third World. They’re about Fifth, hoping to make Fourth before this happened.
And I had no idea Kathmandu had over a million residents, in Himalayan favelas. The fear is that the death toll won’t just go up from the quake’s impact, but the aftermath may kill even more thousands. Grace and peace to them.
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Hattie said on April 27, 2015 at 11:27 am
Guardian has pix from a drone.
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Hattie said on April 27, 2015 at 11:29 am
Here:http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/apr/27/drone-footage-kathmandu-nepal-earthquake-video
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Charlotte said on April 27, 2015 at 12:26 pm
As my favorite six-year-old says: Hello Ladies! (Imagine ultimate only-boy-of-5-kids smarm on that too!).
News trickling out about the earthquake — terrifying video of the cloud-bomb-avalanche from Everest: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/nepal/11562782/Nepal-earthquake-live.html
I have mixed feelings about the climbers — I hung out with climbers for most of my 20s, but they were real climbers, no these rich people who pay sherpas to haul them up and then down Everest. I really kind of hate the Everest scene — so now, all these non-climbers are stuck at Camps 1, 2, and 3 because the set routes on the icefall have been swept away, and they can’t get down because most of them don’t actually have any mountaineering skills. They’ve just trained and paid guides to take them up the mountain. There’s a metaphor in there for something.
Everyone I know with people in Nepal has heard and they are okay. Considering UNESCO had a conference a mere 2 weeks ago and estimates were 100,000 casualties in an 8.0 quake, so far, fingers crossed, so good. But rubble. Unreinforced masonry and slum conditions are not a good combo.
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Basset said on April 27, 2015 at 12:45 pm
Deborah, I for one would be interested in hearing what you think some of us look like. I’ve met Joe in real life, wouldn’t know about anyone else.
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Julie Robinson said on April 27, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Fun picture! Knowing the weather in Chicago on Saturday, I’d say it was a drinky kind of day. Here too, but yesterday made up for it and today looks very good, from what I can see in my dungeon office.
From the very beginning I knew the earthquake numbers were going to go up, way up, but we’ll probably never have an accurate count. It’s good when folks mention people they know, to help make it real, rather than just another tragedy we see on the news. I was heartened to read that our church’s international emergency workers were on location within 24 hours. So much misery.
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Jill said on April 27, 2015 at 1:57 pm
Fun to see all three of you!
Someone I know runs a small orphanage in Nepal. There is damage around them but their facility is OK and serving as a kind of headquarters for neighbors. The devastation is frightening.
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Sherri said on April 27, 2015 at 1:59 pm
From what I’ve read, because of the tremors and unstable ice, even with real mountaineering skills, it’s not safe to climb down to Base Camp from Camp 1.
I hope that the people who have spent thousands of dollars trying to summit Everest will be likewise generous in rebuilding Nepal.
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Dexter said on April 27, 2015 at 2:21 pm
After making sure the bills were paid I decided I’d have one last hot fudge sundae, because tomorrow I start a fancy-schmancy weight loss regime. It’s so damn cold and nasty, when I got to the ice cream stand I decided against it altogether. Now I have a strange window of leisure time; everything’s done around here and I don’t have to scramble off somewhere for some appointment.
I even have two hours before the next dog-walk.
I was aware of the Sawyer/Jenner interview, and 17 million watched, but all I needed to watch was a short clip. Jenner is 65, let him be who he wants to be, but not worth the time to watch him talking about it.
Tonight on PBS at either 9:00 or 10:00, depending where you are, Dick Cavett presents his Vietnam War special. I will be watching that one. Today I heard Cavett say it should be required viewing for everybody. Forty years are gone since that day when the American embassy was taken by the NVA and the American involvement was over forever. http://www.historylink.org/db_images/PI_19750430_p1.jpg
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Deborah said on April 27, 2015 at 2:46 pm
Basset, I’m not going to touch that with a ten foot pole. But I do know what you look like because I saw a video you took after that flood. You remind me of that reporter who used to travel around and do interesting programs about all kinds of places and people, Charles Kuralt (spelling?).
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Jeff Borden said on April 27, 2015 at 3:01 pm
The only thing better than the Manhattans was the conversation with Nancy and Alan. And, yes, it was absolutely a drinky kind of day in Chicago. . .cold, dreary, wet, ugly. Thanks for picking up the tab, you two. My treat next time we meet.
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Julie Robinson said on April 27, 2015 at 4:01 pm
Amen, Sherri.
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annie said on April 27, 2015 at 4:20 pm
Nancy, what perfect teeth you have!
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jcburns said on April 27, 2015 at 5:07 pm
The better to uh…see you with?
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Charlotte said on April 27, 2015 at 4:30 pm
Yes Sherri — exactly. I think after last year’s avalanches, the climbing community and the government put better support systems in place for the Sherpa communities.
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brian stouder said on April 27, 2015 at 4:31 pm
Deborah, back in the day, we loyal Telling Tales readers always saw the columnist’s face, but wondered what she sounded like.
And the first time I spoke to her, it was like yapping with an old friend…so I can offer a sideways appreciation for what you are saying!
Aside from that, I wonder what friend-of-NN.c Laura Lippman (not to mention her ‘The Wire’ husband) would have to say about her Baltimore, today.
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Deborah said on April 27, 2015 at 4:34 pm
Funny how you can get caught up in the rabbit hole of the Internet. After commenting earlier about Charles Kuralt I googled him to see how to spell it correctly. I found this great story http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-06-01/features/1998152070_1_charles-kuralt-kuralt-america-kuralt-america I had no idea.
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Jakash said on April 27, 2015 at 5:54 pm
Deborah,
I remember the news about Kuralt’s “other life” coming out after he died. Not a guy I’d have expected that from, for sure.
Might one inquire as to where today’s belles of the blog had lunch?
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Deborah said on April 27, 2015 at 6:12 pm
Jakash, I gave Nancy a choice of Italian, French, Spanish, Greek etc. She picked Spanish, and I had been to Cafe Iberico on LaSalle, near Chicago Ave before and liked the food even though it’s kind of a hole in the wall place. So that’s where we went, got a few tapas that we split, plus wine. Since it was bad weather I tried to pick a place nearby, although for Heather it was a bit of a trip.
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alex said on April 27, 2015 at 6:23 pm
Glad to hear Iberico’s still there. It wasn’t my favorite, but my favorites are gone. A couple of years ago I was devastated to find out that Arco de Cuchilleros was under new ownership by people who didn’t know jack shit about tapas, or for that matter running a restaurant, and by all accounts it still sucks several years later. My other fave, Emilio’s at Clark and Fullerton, was just plain gone. 🙁
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Jakash said on April 27, 2015 at 6:57 pm
We’ve been to Cafe Iberico a number of times, though not for a while. Fun, and a pretty good value, all things considered.
Alex,
There are still two other Emilio’s locations — one a few blocks east of N. Michigan Ave., on Ohio Street…
http://www.emiliostapas.com/sol-y-nieve/index.html
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Deborah said on April 27, 2015 at 8:10 pm
I’m going to have to try Emilio’s it’s close to me too, the one on East Ohio anyway. I’ll say one thing for sure about Cafe Iberico, the wine pours are generous! I was pretty tipsy after two glasses.
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MarkH said on April 27, 2015 at 8:19 pm
I, too, remember when it all came out about Kuralt’s other life in Montana. Compartmentalizing doesn’t begin to describe it.
Aside from his remarkable ability to keep this all a secret, what struck me was that in the early to mid ’80s I worked and lived periodically in the Twin Bridges area doing geophysical work. Of course we had no idea that he was around. But I could see how he fell in love with it, as I did, all of SW Montana. Later, I found out he spent a lot of time on one of my favorite fishing venues, the Ruby River, to the east of Twin Bridges in the Alder Gulch area. Young (30), single and for six years paid to travel all over the Rockies. Gawd, I miss it.
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Deborah said on April 27, 2015 at 8:34 pm
Brian, Here’s what David Simon had to say about Baltimore http://davidsimon.com/baltimore/
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MarkH said on April 27, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Anyone else been watching the Late, Late Show with James Corden? Has some funny stuff, like when Katie Couric punked him on April Fools Day.
But they have a really cool band and I admit I watch the opening to catch a glimpse of Hagar Ben Ari, the fetching female bass player. She’s really good, too. Reminds me of nn.c first daughter, Kate, on several levels.
http://www.jambase.com/Gallery/371/Photo/17158/Hagar-Ben-Ari-photo-at-Brooklyn-Bowl-Brooklyn-1.21.2012
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brian stouder said on April 27, 2015 at 10:12 pm
Deborah, excellent link! The back-and-forth between Simon and the lunkheads is worth the click, by itself.
The news from Baltimore is certainly heart-breaking. Presumably a lot of folks who didn’t do anything wrong, and who aren’t throwing bricks and all the rest, are being besieged (from all sides) and/or hurt.
It would be nice to think that we’re better than this; certainly we’re capable of better than this
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basset said on April 27, 2015 at 10:35 pm
Deborah@17, nice of you to say that… if I remember right I was just talking on the flood video, no face, but maybe not. Might be a little fatter than Kuralt, not as bald but working on it. Sure as hell can’t write like him, but who can?
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