I drove back down to Chicago yesterday after my brief sojourn in St. Paul.  After hauling boxes from my mother's house to the car and then sitting in the driver's seat all day, my lower back hurts.  My left knee aches too -- I'm having arthroscopic surgery Thursday to get that fixed and can no longer take ibuprofen to keep the inflammation down.  My shoulder and elbow don't feel so good, either.  I'm the grumpy old man of Hyde Park.

   We're off this afternoon to see Pinchas Zuckerman and the Chicago Symphony play an all-Bach concert.  We'll see if that improves my spirits.  The reviewer for the Chicago Tribune takes a rather snide stance toward the program:  Zuckerman makes the error of thumbing his nose at certain reigning doctrines of authenticity.  I've never been much of a purist, though, and I suspect the reviewer is just another grumpy old man.  It takes one to know one, after all.