I freely admit Chicago is a city I love to visit and go to. I would even like living there, if I didn’t have to shovel the snow at least. I do love the city though, and find it fun. So I am always happy to do MidWest FurFest despite the absolutely hectic time of the year it happens to fall into. Christmas is a busy time and it needs a lot of preparation with my family traditions. The timing for MFF is never ideal and at the same time right after Midwest is my favorite convention Further Confusion. A busy time for a convention. February is going to feel tame.

As a prelude before MFF I decorated the house early for Christmas as my big gift for my mother. Now that my parents are living with me a few more details need planning out. My mother loves Christmas so getting it all in order for her is important. Also, rRight before the convention is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, and part of what makes that a good holiday for me is I love a holiday with few expectations beyond a delicious meal. So I eat well, but I have to be careful with leftovers so nothing sits in the fridge. Right before the convention I need to do a lot of Christmas preparation and there are always little jobs that need doing. This year I baked 52 fruitcakes. Right after I got back from the convention the cakes were mailed out to family and friends.

Then right after MFF my mother joins me in Chicago for our annual tradition of Christmas in Chicago where we stay at a nice hotel and do touristy things. So the convention while a lot of fun and honestly very rejuvenating, is bookended by some stressful work which makes me a bit kooky. Then Christmas then New Years then Further Confusion. This is indeed a busy time.

Anyway, I flew up early to MidWest FurFest. I was meeting Ajax a few days early so we could do tourist things. He had never been to the Art Institute and I knew he needed to see the Thorne Rooms because they’re such a unique part of the collection and there is nothing else like them in the world. It will seen be their 100th anniversary at that! Also he wanted to see the Cloud Gate (the Big Bean)

Naturally there were difficulties, the hotel lost my reservation so I had to juggle that while getting on the plane. I suspect I was double booked. Ajax though got to the room and I followed along. The room was perfect for our needs of getting to the new dealers space and around the convention. It was also a really nice room. Loved the showers. We did a little catching up, I gave Ajax his cookies, then grabbed dinner at Fogo de Chao. I only eat at the one at MFF with Ajax so it is a once a year indulgence. It was a grand time and I enjoyed the honey and pork belly. We quickly walked over to the movie theater to confirmed they had Zootopia 2 and made plans to see it that weekend.

The next day we slept in a fair bit as November had been busy. After making sure hotel arrangements were done for everyone else in our group the two of us departed for down town Chicago. The weather was sunny but very chilly and then while we were seeing the big reflective bean it began to show a bit. Ajax got his picture flicking the bean, I did a little video with my Midnight Carewere.

We then spent the day at the Art Institute and I got to be a huge nerd over the collection showing him some highlights. Ajax was very patient. He was delighted with the Thorne Rooms, who isn’t at the end, and was excited to find out he could get a selfie with American Gothic. I also got him to see the Hiroshige wood block prints, Georgia O’Keefe’s Skull and Calico and the truly staggeringly sized Sky Above Clouds. Some classic Greek and roman pottery. Of course I had to do a little trolling and make sure he saw Song of the Lark. I’m only human.

A full day of the museum and we saw EVERY room and display open to the public. I only wish they had a better Winslow Homer selection. After that we did a pilgrimage to Menards and did battle with Chicago Traffic. The snow continued to fall but didn’t accumulate. Ajax hates snow while I find it magical. To be fair he had to grow up in it and I’m from Albuquerque.

Getting back to the hotel finally Ajax wanted to rest. I grabbed some pizza and did some walking around doing a few more videos with Midnight. I ran into the every charming Flux the Fox in the Regency and had a nice chat. Flux had brought me some maple syrup steeped in a calvados barrel because he’s very Canadian.

Getting to bed a little later I slept the sleep of the righteous.

Thursday Teiran was driving in the stock and we found out we couldn’t check into the table without him so we slept in, hung out, I did some editing. A quiet slow Thursday before things go busy. Eventually we ran into Buck and WuWei and grabbed lunch. It was a low stress time which I think we all needed. Teiran eventually arrived and we got our badges sorted, the table set up well enough that it would just need tweaks and settled enough. Buck, WuWei, Mavis, Bree, Runa, Ajax, Terian, and I were ready to handle the convention. I will admit being a little worried about the new convention space as it was larger then the year before and had an odd layout.

Friday was when it got busy. After getting the table a little more fine tuned and set out the rush began. I wont give the blow by blows. I will say it was steady and busy in the new dealers space. So a quick run down of folks I saw in now particular order:

Kyell, Kit and Hashtag had all helped at the table or came by. Kyell worked the table with us and was selling his books and meeting folks as he sold his new book https://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1325 That fox is always personable and great to chat with over stories, events, and movies and we had a great conversation about Zootopia 2. Hashtag is usually fun to chat with and we both like TF. Kit was doing stuff helping the Sofa Wolf table this weekend but he is always nice to chat with.

Bill Beagle stopped by and said hello. Always a good pup and great artist. Joaquín Baldwin was one of the Guests of Honor and his incredible epic fantasy Noss Saga was at the table. I got the hardcovers of three and four which I was missing. You need to read this series https://www.joaquinbaldwin.com/prod.....thervale-ebook and he really is just a luminous and fun person to chat with as well as being a very talented author and artist. Rowland Fox who is always charming came by as well and showed me some wares he got. Slip Wolf did coffee runs for us as his new book came out at the convention. You should all get Iron Ark https://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1326 It was charming seeing Vasuki at the con as a good stoat and fun artist. I saw Othello and Nighteyes as well as Ty Fox over at their tables. Ty Fox’s new book Gravitational Pull was out and I had to get a copy https://bewere.net/product.php?id=1185 Rukis buzzed the table a few times when not busy at their space. MeekOne stopped by as well checking out the table. I finally caught up with RubberBuns for a few minutes after missing him several times. I missed BoopyBat because he came by the table but it was busy, which is a shame as I wanted him to see how his books were selling. Kosh came by and was a delight to finally meet in person (get some of his great sticker work! https://bearandbeagle.store/ )

And a whole lot of other folks to boot. Chicago deep dish, as per the tradition, in Buck and WuWei’s room. Always fun and while I enjoy deep dish I can never eat as much as I want, such a tragedy. I did lunch with Flux on Saturday at the Fat Rosie’s Taco bar. Then Teiran, Ajax, Buck, WuWei, and I did dinner at Crusts before SlipWolf, Ajax, and I went to Zootopia 2. I’ll have a longer review at some point but I absolutely had a great time and loved pretty much all of it (bought the album when I got home to enjoy the music). It was great to see with Ajax and Slip though.

Sunday got busy and I ate a burger that made me feel a little gross (or maybe the weekend was just too busy) so I skipped dinner. Still the table got packed up, things were set in order, and it all got cleaned up in good time.

Bed with a slightly upset tummy seemed wise. Overall, a fun and good convention but I do feel bad I didn’t spend more time being social. My batteries were kaput though after the table and food most days. I’m bad about it. Still next year I need to make more of an effort. The convention itself raised over $150,000.00 for charity and had 16,925 registered attendees. So still a huge convention,

Ajax left early the next day. I had intended to rest up a bit and hang with folks a few hours but it turned out my mother changed her flight and was coming in eight hours earlier so the next day I was out and about to down-town Chicago after saying far too brief goodbyes to good friends.

you can read the mom side of things here https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11274262/