I think instead of "solutioning" you should use "thinging." You know, like in the Monty Python sketch where the government discusses taxing thinging.

Spoke with Dad tonight. He's pretty conservative, both in terms of politics and just not wanting things to change. We were talking about my brother's upcoming drive out to Chicago to drop his son off at college--bro's bringing his girlfriend with, who hasn't been out here before. He and I were talking over the weekend to figure out when we can get together for dinner in their long weekend trip (it'll be my first chance to meet the GF). They're doing touristy stuff on Friday, so I thought it'd be great if I could meet them for dinner in one of the neighborhoods; it'd be a great way for her to see some of the city that most tourists don't.

I mentioned to Dad that Andersonville has some wonderful Mediterranean restaurants that'd be perfect for dinner. Dad only remembers Andersonville as the Swedish neighborhood it was when he was a kid/younger adult. It started changing in the '80s when Iranians fleeing after the revolution moved into the area, so there are still some older Swedish establishments alternating with some great Persian/Middle Eastern places.

Dad prefers not to think about such things and said so. I told him that what I love about the city is its shifts in neighborhoods, how an old South-side synagogue from the 1890s is now a Baptist church, and that the Bohemian community of Pilsen is now a Mexican enclave. Dad totally disagrees and can't understand me at all.

I'm still going to take my brother and his girlfriend to Reza's or someplace like that if I can convince him to drive ten minutes out of the Loop and show the gf someplace new.

Dad totally disagrees and can't understand me at all.

Ossification! I remember the first time I looked at my grandparents and thought, "They're like clay and when they get older they can't mold anymore, they just crumble like dust."

Note: this note does not apply to anybody else's superhip grandparents who just learned how to fly gliders and write in Sanskrit and toured Uzbhekistan. Just mine.

I am the next person on the list, and then we may start it all over again!

We should! I have things that have to go in the box!

That tomato sauce was a total revelation for me. I made it, ate it over four nights and went to get more ingredients. I'd have already made another batch but for our heat wave. I've never been a huge tomato sauce fan. This was amazing and honestly doesn't have much butter per serving. I plan to eat it forever. I actually crave it right now.

It's like my revelation when I was 18 and someone had me try a tomato fresh off of the vine and ripe. I didn't like tomatoes prior to that. I still order many things without them. But actual tomato flavor is amazing to me.

We should! I have things that have to go in the box!

OKAY!

"Superhip grandparents" doesn't really apply to either of my parents, nor to my now-gone grandparents. Although I think my maternal grandmother might have been cooler than I gave her credit for. I would really have loved to find out from her just how she met Grandpa and how their courtship happened. I've heard stories about their (shotgun) wedding from older cousins and mom's generation that sound like a rural soap opera!

I just wish I had known her as an adult--she died when I was 20, but was always an elderly woman to me (she was 66 when I was born). Finding out things about her youth and her pre-grandmother life from Mom and her siblings makes me realize just what I missed out by only knowing her as "Grandma."

My one grandma was just nutso, and my grandpa on the other side was maybe an alcoholic, I think? But died when I was young.

But the other grandpa was awesome (til he had a stroke, sadly), and the other grandma (not married to him) was also cool--I remember her deciding to get her ears pierced when she was about 70, because she was tired of clip-on earrings, and all her granddaughters had pierced ears! We and her daughters went to the mall with her. It was fun!

OKAY! YAY! I have stuff that could go in the box if it came around again too.

By the time the box gets to me again, I'll definitely have a few more things to throw in there. I have a few purples that are too close in shade, and a greeen I loathe. (On me, I mean. It looked good in the bottle.)