"Memory of Summer"

November 19, 2011.

For my dad, who was born on November the 19th.

For now, summer is over, but under the tolerable cold and the gentle winds rushing the brittle, brown leaves down the sidewalks, I still felt the urge to pick up my pen and pad and produce my impressions of another fine summer gone by, of another warm Sunday afternoon with a slice of deep-dish pizza and a mini meatball sandwich at a usually crowded Taste of Chicago, of another Saturday afternoon with a glass of wine and some cool, soothing sounds at the Chicago Jazz Festival, of another hour or so in the old and used books at the Printers Row Lit Fest on Harrison and Dearborn, of an easy ride on the trains because the kids were off from school.  

Over breakfast this morning, I sat at the table with no one around me and started making this drawing of a lovely young woman posing proudly in her denim maxi dress, reminding me of the simple pleasures that summer affords, making you feel like a child again.