My hair is old, my knees are gray

Usually, I can tell if I'm sick. It's not always easy, since I can go from feeling crappy one minute to okay the next. But now I'm positively confused. My sinuses have been annoying lately, but that's just given me headaches and congestion. However, last night I feel asleep before nine. I thought for sure that would fuck up my sleep schedule and I'd be wide awake at 4 a.m. But I went back to sleep and didn't get up until my regular time. Whenever I sleep like this, I figure I must need it. But why in this case? It's not like I've been up tell 2 a.m. every night shaking my tuchis at Charlie's. Worst of all, I don't feel particularly refreshed. In fact, I felt like I could've gone right back to sleep.

I only had one glass of wine with dinner, which shouldn't knock me out. The Clark Street Bistro has reopened as Dunlay's. It's basically the same place except (1) the dining area seems more bright and open; (2) they've played around with the menu, trying to make it more casual and innovative while retaining the high prices; and (3) the waitstaff has apparently been selected for maximum blonde perkiness. It's like One North meets Bennigan's, in a Trixieland setting.

But I enjoyed my sea bass and the accompanying rice salad and Monshu et up his glorified meatloaf with gusto. We took a pass on their iron-skillet fried chocolate chip cookie [see above] and scored a tub of croccantino al rum gelato from Monterotondo around the corner to take back to my place. Monshu admired the rumminess. I insisted that he put it away himself; when he did so, he expressed amazement at the ice-free nature of my freezer. Biting my tongue, I was like, "Isn't there anything else you notice?" I swear, he stared at that thing for half a minute before saying, "It's a new one."

Less than an hour later, we were both asleep. At dinner, when neither of us could remember something, he pleaded age and asked me for my excuse. I said "Spongiform encephalitis." Then this morning I hear of BSE in Canada. Gee whiz, guys, first SARS, now this. What's next? Ebola in Nova Scotia?

In other news...

• I bought the Glink book e. suggested yesterday and started reading it on the train. Rather than eliminating all my anxiety, it's got me kicking myself for not get some crap done earlier, like requesting a credit report and comparing mortage rates for different lenders.
• Tuesday night at Green Tea, Chef Jeff tried out a new roll on me, the "autumn roll". I guess it's meant to let you store up fat for the winter, since it's made with smoked salmon, eel, and cream cheese, then wrapped in raw salmon. He baked one half and asked me which way I preferred it.
• My weekend is finally falling into place. It begins tomorrow with a visit to the Palmer House and, possibly, getting together with Nuphy and the Swiss Miss. Saturday's main event is a general meeting up on the patio at Buck's (though I hope to pop over to the online party to scope for LJers). I may hit the dance Sunday night, but probably not, and Monday is leather mart discount day and Sidetrack.

Garden report

My informal dogwood count has more than doubled with the recent discovery of three new specimens: one in Lakewood-Balmoral (spotted on a stroll with Monshu), one in West Lakeview (spotted on a stroll with e.) and one a few blocks south of chez moi. The one near me looks spotty; I hope that's not blight. But the one near Meinl is the largest and healthiest I've seen in Chicago, so there's hope! (It was also a different variety than the typical Missouri C. florida, which may be why.)

Also on a walk near my place, I saw a buckeye in bloom. The (horse)chestnuts are starting to open up, too; this might be an excellent weekend to take a walk through the park or the cemetary and view them. Alas, the azaleas are fading, but the lilacs are going strong and the bridal wreath and honeysuckle are coming on line.

(I don't wish I had a camera on these walks, but I sometimes wish I had bitterlawngnome along and he had his camera.)