Friday, July 23 & Saturday, July 24

Friday
I wish I could remember where that sticker was from -- some food product from either Baloney's or the concession stand. It stood out as funny to me for some reason. And, obviously, as an excuse to get a little design-y with the page again.

Saturday
Gaby, her sister, Gerald and I drove up to Woodstock to see our friends Wil and Towny in a performance of Phantom, a dramatic, non-musical telling of The Phantom of the Opera (an adaptation that predates the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, in fact). The Woodstock Opera House was beautiful, and Wil and Towny were fine in their small parts. My strongest memory of that portion of the evening was seeing a woman with severe rhinophyma -- the tip of her nose was literally elongated and bumpy from it, and slightly purple from the rosacea. It's burned into my memory.

After the show we went to Around the Clock in Crystal Lake, "my" diner.* We got the big eight-seater booth in the corner and goofed around like teenagers, but not so much that we didn't overhear some shocking statements from one of the men sitting with his wife/girlfriend and two other people in the booth next to us. Remember kids, half and half will not cure an upset stomach.

What ever happened to Clearly Canadian? Did the market for sugary, fruit-flavored fizzy water just dry up?

*Mike, Chad and that whole crowd sort of claimed our regular diners, the one we hung out at or preferred the most. 'Round the Clock was mine -- Crystal Lake wasn't exactly close, but it was the closest 24-hour diner to my house; I'd have to drive all the way across Barrington (no short drive) and part of Palatine to get to Denny's. The owners were friendly (or at least tolerant) and it served cherry cheesecake and its own "epicurean blend" of tea. It was a mix of orange pekoe and "flowery darjeeling," and really hit the spot.

Mike's diner was the Golden Eagle -- or whatever its Albanian mob owners were calling it that month. It changed hands among the family frequently as part of some tax fraud, so it had a half dozen names before they finally sold it to one of the waitresses. Mike sat in the back corner booth, near the bathrooms. Chad's was Hillcress and Charlie's was Denny's, despite the fact he had to get a ride to it, because he didn't drive.