Summer farewell

Summer is over. A closed chapter on the year of 2008.

I am always sad to see summer end, yet happy about the possibility of fall. This year, I feel that way more than ever; in Texas, we got a pseudo-fall - all the activities, but none of the weather and wardrobe changes. We went to football games, had bonfires, and trick-or-treated, but it was all done wearing shorts and using mosquito repellent.

It's felt as if summer's over for a while now - the kids have been back in school for two weeks. But the pool is still open, so this weekend we got to party a bit as if summer were still for real. Which it is - only the school calendar's say otherwise.

• Friday we swam. My friend JoAnn came over and we hung out by the pool.
• Saturday we took care of some small around-the-house details, then my Mah Jongg group came over. We swam, played three or four games, then I headed to Global Fest (leaving Gary home to watch Mizzou v. Illinois on television).
• After Global Fest, we headed down to Red Seven, fun downtown bar with outdoor seating, for drinks. Gary and some others met us there.

Then yesterday, we headed to Chicago, per Sylvia's request. She wanted to celebrate her birthday (belatedly) with a visit to American Girl Place and lunch at Ed Debevics. We did - surviving the crowd and chaos that apparently always reign supreme at AG - I've never been there without hordes of people. But she loved it.

We walked from AG to Ed's, then, after our burgers, walked to Millennium Park. We checked out the sites along the way, stopped in Urban Outfitters for Alison, then moseyed back. Our hotel was in Deerfield - a very nice Hyatt, where we felt as if we were crashing the wedding reception in the lobby - and Gary and I then headed to Ravinia, where we had concert tickets: Aimee Mann and Squeeze.

Aimee Mann played first. I had read a review somewhere and thought we might like her - she did not disappoint. She was best known to me as the singer of that awful Til Tuesday song, Voices Carry. But her brand of folky-rock was really good.

Plus she opened up for Squeeze! I was so into them when I was in high school - they were slightly alternative, meaning critically acclaimed without a lot of commercial success in the U.S. Yet they had - have - their devout fans. Some British critics called Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook the best songwriting duo since Lennon and McCartney, yet that never did translate into big sales.

I love them, love everything they've ever done. I don't own it all (I've missed a couple CDs over the last few years), and I have not replaced all their vinyl - though I don't think there's a single band I've done that with, not even Elvis Costello. I've seen them a few times - saw them in St. Louis once, and saw them in San Francisco at the Fillmore (amazing, by the way - great show, great venue, now closed).

Last night had three original band members, and they played a great set. All the big numbers, naturally, but a couple of more off-beat ones that the entire crowd clearly did not recognize (but I did!!) They played for about 90 minutes, opening with songs like Up the Junction, rounding out the first set with Another Nail in My Heart and Hourglass. They returned for their encore and finished off with Slap and Tickle, Some Fantastic Place, and Pulling Mussels.

Oh, and it was Tilbrook's birthday. We sang to him, and they played a little film tribute done by some friends. And treated him to dancing girls - which appeared to be a genuine surprise. Lots of fun - it was a great show, taking me back, once again, to the 1980s. It was fun to visit, but it's always good to return to real life.

That was the end of our summer. Next weekend we have soccer games and the first Purdue home game. Thus will begin our fall - a welcome change.