Monday, December 3 – Sunday, December 9
The Week in Making Someone Else’s Pregnancy About Me: Yep, it was tough sitting next to a pregnant woman at work for the last 9 months and a bit uncomfortable. First I gained some weight. Then I got a bit irritable. I was super hungry, too. Finally, this week she went and gave birth to Baby Adam (who is, of course, adorable) and I can now try to shed some of this sympathetic baby weight and get my hormones back in order.
The Week in Contemporary Art: This week at the Contemporary Arts Center, there were a couple exhibits of photography, some part of the recently concluded 2018 Photo Focus, a biennial, city-wide, photo event. There was also an exhibit of new-to-me contemporary swiss artist Mamma Andersson. Her work resonated with me, one of the few times I looked at a painting and felt like I “got it” on an emotional level. The inspiration for the work is Nordic folk art. I have always had a weird thing for Nordic art (the Norwegian movie Kitchen Stories is the movie that made me realize this niche in my entertainment preferences). Her paintings Emo and Saturday Night especially got my attention.
Saturday Night 
Emo
The Week in Natural Art: The Cincinnati Museum Center (which in my youth was called the Natural History Museum) is almost finished being refurbished, but most of the building exhibits are now open. The dinosaurs looked fantastic (though most of what I learned about dinosaurs in my youth have been scientifically revised and I’m a little lost on the subject – to paraphrase a friend, I really need to science the fuck up.) The chocolate exhibit was neat, too. But I went to see the holiday trains. Those are always spectacular. I was there on a weekday afternoon, and the train rooms only had a few visitors. It was great to not have to jostle around with a bunch of screaming kids. But, I told my friend, the whole experience would just be more authentic if there was at least one crying kid. On cue, the kid across the room freaked out because Granddad plopped him in the kids’ train. He shrieked holy hell and made my day.
A dinosaur whose name escapes me 
Framed Dino 
Intimidating Dino
The Week in Flavor: I’m a black coffee drinker. I like the occasional hazelnut or French Vanilla, or whatnot, and I’ll always pour the flavored Winter Solstice coffee at Coffee Emporium, but plain black coffee is my thing. Still, every December I usually buy a “holiday” flavor, a clove-y thing that evokes a Christmas Card kind of Christmas. Well, standing in the coffee aisle today, I forgot that usually do this and it was time to get cracking. Before I could get to the specially marketed holiday flavor, I found some Dunkin caramel flavor on sale. Some people picked it as their Flavorite which seems like a good, honest recommendation. The brew tasted fine but I don’t know if it tasted like a caramel cookie, much less a dulce le leche one. It’ll do until I hit the markdown table for leftover holiday coffee in January.
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 