This isn’t a full-fledged posting. We’re just back from our trip a few days, most of which has been consumed by nursing Rosellen through a nasty few days of wrestling with the dreaded norovirus. It’s brief but nasty. Wash your hands. Given how contagious it is, I can’t believe I’ve been unaffected – so far. I just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year, one not filled with any more foreign invasions...
Every Sunday the Chicago Tribune runs a column in its real estate section devoted to answering readers’ questions about condo-related issues. How to deal with an owner who refuses to allow management to enter her apartment for pest control? What recourse does the condo association have to deal with an owner who is in arrears on paying monthly assessments? Is it possible to fine an owner who...
A few days ago, I got an intriguing invitation from a young friend. Karen is the daughter of good friends of ours, and you could say we’ve known her since before she was born. We seldom know the children of friends in settings apart from their parents, which was true for Karen as well, with one exception. She was on a short study course in Costa Rica in her senior college year at the same time...
Recently, an odd-shaped package arrived in the mail. It wasn’t even from Amazon, and it was a lot more inviting than the assault of fund-raising letters that fill my mailbox these days. Pity the poor mail carriers. It turned out to be a framed copy of an extraordinary poem by a high school student who is working with a writer from a program called Writers in the Schools (WITS) in Houston. Much...
I hope everyone had a fine Thanksgiving and weathered the Midwestern snowstorm safely. The week was full of food. We mapped out the preparation, so each day involved tackling just one or two dishes. By Thursday morning there was nothing to do but put the turkey in the oven. If you haven’t learned this yet, the best approach to that part of the meal is to do nothing but turn up the heat to 425...