The one tradition that Mer and I have in our relationship is carving pumpkins for Halloween. This year marked our 15th year of carving pumpkins, so here is this year’s crop:

Mine was supposed to be a cool pumpkin with eyes with pupils, but it got beyond my skill, so I made a slightly worried-looking pumpkin instead. Mer made a great-looking pumpkin of a person flying a kite (it shows up better in real life than in the picture). We saw a play version of The Kite Runner last night, so I assume that is where the inspiration came from. It certainly shows more artistic value than mine does. Still, the tradition continues.

Last Thursday, Mer and I headed over to the Kent Stage in, well, Kent, to see one of our favorite bands, Great Big Sea. Great Big Sea is an interesting band – they are from Newfoundland, Canada, and their music has serious roots in the folk music tradition of Newfoundland (Irish and Scottish and lots of sea-inspired songs). However, they bring some modern attitude to their songs, but maintain traditional sound (with fiddle, whistles, accordion, banjo, and guitar) and have written original songs that sound as if they are one hundred years old. They also bring a ton of energy to their music. It is a mix of sounds that seems to work – Great Big Sea is very popular wherever they go, and they managed to sell out the 640-seat Kent Stage.

We met up with Clarice and Matt there and found what I thought we our seats. The seats were labeled by row letter, but were missing the seat numbers. It turns out that I was wrong, and we were sitting in four seats on the wrong side of the aisle. We moved, and all was well. It actually may have turned out for the best. The Kent Stage sells beer and wine, and the people we had been sitting in front of were feeling artificially good by partway through the concert and were not shy about dancing around.

There was no opening act for Great Big Sea – they did two long sets, so the concert was almost three hours long. It was great. The Kent Stage is mostly a folk venue, and I was quite surprised that Great Big Sea had brought a small but effective light show with them. Then, once the music started, everyone stood up and stayed standing much of the time. This was no ordinary Kent Stage show.

The audience was diverse; there were families with small children, college students, lots of thirty- and forty-somethings (the members of Great Big Sea are all in their early forties now), and a fair number of people with gray and white hair. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Great Big Sea may very well give the best concert I have ever seen – lots of good music, good stage banter (without being obnoxious), and good rapport with the audience. One example – the band ended the first set by playing licks of various songs from the 80s, and the audience had to sing the lyrics. We all ate it up.

All in all, it was a pretty great concert. This was the second time we had seen them in concert (we had seen them a few years ago in Akron), and I would love to see them again the next time they are in NE Ohio. They started a string of good (according to us) bands coming through the area – in the next six weeks we have David Wilcox, Eddie from Ohio, and Over the Rhine all coming to play here. NE Ohio always surprises me at how much good music passes through here.

Last Saturday (the 16th), Mer had us up early, and in the car by a little after 8:00. We headed south to the mysterious and nebulous city of Green (which is basically North Canton, but with no well-defined downtown), and went to Boettler Park. To my delight, we were there to cheer on CVCA’s cross country teams for the PAC (our sports conference) championship race.

I had run cross country in high school, albeit without much acclaim, but I have continued running my whole adult life, so I am fond of the cross country teams. In ten years at CVCA, I had never made it to a race because CVCA does not have a home course. So, I was pretty excited.

We got to cheer on our successful and huge (30-member) girls’ team first. Our girls’ cross country team is often discussed as a potential state-caliber team, having won the state title in the past, and we were pretty well expected to win the PAC. Still, you have to run the race, and the course was such that Mer and I could see the start, somewhere around half-way, and the finish, all with just a short walk. Our girls looked very strong running, and one of our girls won the race in about 20 minutes. We had the top five girls all finish in the top ten slots, so we did win the PAC. As fun as it was to see the girls win convincingly, it was great to see the rest of the team come in. The girls who had already finished cheered for those still finishing, and it was pretty clear that CVCA had the largest fan support for the girls’ race (it evened out some for the boys’ race).

The boys’ race was fun to watch too – it was a more competitive field, but our boys ran hard and won. I know a couple of the guys on the team, so it was good to be able to pull for them. One of the things I love about running is that you can run against yourself. So, even though only the top five finishers count for a team, you can still run a great race if you get a personal best time. Some of the guys did just that, and that was encouraging to see.

After the race, Mer took me to brunch at the Waffle House. We have a song by David Wilcox about the Waffle House that we have had for years, but we had never eaten at the chain. Mer decided to change that. We both got a good breakfast after a short wait, and the bill was really cheap. I recommend it.

Since we were in the Canton area, Mer wanted to go out for dessert at Taggart’s ice cream. We both got ice cream pie with lots of toppings to pour over the pie (the toppings, like hot fudge, come in separate containers for you to put on the ice cream). That really hit the spot.

We had a mellow afternoon, and then Mer took me to Cleveland, to the Cleveland Playhouse. One of the theaters there was hosting a two-night run of a stage adaptation of CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. In the book, which the play closely followed, a senior demon, Screwtape, writes letters to his younger nephew, Wormwood, giving him advice on how to tempt Wormwood’s human in order to try to keep him away from “the enemy” (God). It is a very insightful and, at times, blunt book that calls Christians on the carpet to examine how they live and what they believe. I am very fond of the book, and so I was looking forward to the play.

We had trouble getting there at first. We have never had trouble with parking at Playhouse Square before, but there were cars everywhere this night. We finally found parking in back of the theater, in a pay-lot. As best as I could gather, Screwtape was nearly sold out, and then one of the other bigger theaters was hosting Cedric the Entertainer. It was packed.

We got to the theater on time (after I got a quick look at Melody, a sculpture of a fiddle player that I love that is at Playhouse Square); in fact, for whatever reason, the doors were not open yet. While we were waiting, Mer spotted our colleague Ray and his wife Shelly, so we went over and chatted with them for a bit. They told us another of our colleagues, Cindy, was there as well. We did see Cindy across the theater, but did not get to say hello to her.

The theater was very full, and we got to chat with the people sitting next to us. They had driven two hours from Pennsylvania, and they had gone to a church retreat near where we used to live that morning, so it sounded as if they had had a full day.

The production itself was excellent. It was a two-person show. There was Screwtape, who dictated his letters to his secretary, Toadpipe. Toadpipe was played by a young woman dressed as a demon, in a suit covered with scales and bones and hair, but one that was spandex-based so she could move well. It became immediately clear she was a dancer; she sprawled out all over the place while taking letters. She wrote them from sitting on the back of the chair, on the desk, on a ladder, on a footstool, and more. She also got to impersonate humans whenever Screwtape started talking about types of humans, like how the demons influenced taste in women over the years; to illustrate this, the actress played exaggerated types of the women Screwtape described. It was a very effective way of staging the letters.

Screwtape himself was played by a deep-voiced actor who took on the tough job of basically having a series of monologues for an hour and twenty minutes. He played it magnificently. He used a wide variety of emotions, lots of asides, and some snide comments, and he moved around the stage a lot to add interest to the words he was dictating. Having his fellow actor on stage to add some comic moments helped as well, and, at least for me, the play never dragged, and I never lost interest.

The set was basic but effective. There was an easy chair with a footstool, a desk, and a couple of ladders leading up and down. Letters were sent or received by a box connected to a tube halfway up one ladder. The entire set was backed by a backdrop made of human skulls and bones, which was at once creepy without being distracting.

I really enjoyed the play, and it was an excellent adaptation of the novel. It is traveling around the country and is also based in New York for a few months. If you get a chance to see it, I recommend it. It is a thought-provoking book and play.

There has been a delay in blogging due to the fact that I had the flu Monday-Wednesday and slept most of the time, so blogging did not happen as I would have liked. Anyway, here is a quick week-in-review:

Tuesday the 11th – Mer and I went back to Massage Envy for massages. I wanted to try to work the pain out of my shoulders and back, and so I scheduled a deep-tissue massage for myself. Mer is okay with my going for massages as long as she gets to go too, so she came along for a relaxation massage. My massage therapist spent an entire hour just on my shoulders and neck, and boy, did it hurt. She found lots of knots that she worked out, and some of them were pretty intense. Mer enjoyed hers very much. Even though mine hurt, within a few minutes of the massage being done, I did not hurt in the shoulders any more, which was the first time I had been pain-free in my shoulders in a couple of weeks. It took another two days for all the soreness to go away, but the deep-tissue massage certainly seemed to work.

Since we were right there, and since I had a little money saved up, I took Mer out to eat next door at PF Chang’s, which is a Chinese restaurant chain that we had eaten at before when visiting Mer’s parents in Florida. We liked the food, so we tried it again. We both got a really good chicken dish, and skipped dessert because we were pretty full. The food was good, but I was surprised at the bill – about $40 with tip, and that is without dessert. Normally, Mer and I easily come in under $30, and when we skip dessert we can come in at about $20. So, while I very much enjoyed PF Chang’s, it may be awhile before we go back there.

Wednesday the 13th – Our kitchen was a mess of dishes, so I took Mer out to eat again, this time at Aladdin’s in Hudson. We both enjoy Aladdin’s very much, and usually it is pretty cheap. This night, we both opted for full entrees, which is rare for us (usually we get wraps or soups), so it was another expensive night out. We were a bit crunched for time and I was running out of money, so we again skipped dessert.

We then headed over to Clarice and Matt’s apartment for game night with them and Josh and Kristen. This night, we opted to play Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit. We split into three teams. For some reason, we were having trouble with questions when it was for a pie piece, or we could not land on the category we needed, but what is normally a fairly quick game went on for two-and-a-half hours, and we finally decided to have a sudden-death question for the two teams in the lead. It was 10:00 when we finished. It was still a fun night, but I would have been happier if the game had been 45 minutes shorter.

Thursday the 14th, Mer took me out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. When we had gone the Friday before, Mer had skipped dessert, and it had been on her mind most of the week. She wanted to correct that. So, we drove up and had an excellent meal, and Mer was able to get her Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake, which is what I had had the last time. I got a rather large piece of chocolate cake, some of which I took home with me.

Friday the 15th, CVCA had its fall Open House. This is where the school gets all the clubs and sports teams to have student representatives to talk to prospective students from interested families. One or two teachers from each discipline also are available to talk to. We usually have 75-100 families come through the Open House. I have two clubs – Royal Fools Improv, and Ceili (Irish dance) Club, so I am usually around for these events as well as my two or three student representatives. Mer is often around to represent the English Department. We get fed pizza, and while it is not always very exciting to sit and watch people walk past (only a few ask questions about the clubs), I do believe it is important to have a presence for each group just to show what CVCA offers.

To add some excitement to the evening, the power went off at 3:10, and did not come back on until 4:55, with the Open House scheduled to go at 5:00. That made me rather busy with getting computer stuff taken care of for the first hour or so of the event.

After Open House, there was a football game. Mer wanted to grade until halftime, so I went out by myself. I missed my usual post of cheering for the band this night because the band had marched early so it could honor the seniors in a special pre-game ceremony. That was sad, but I did take up my usual post next to the band. One of my former students, Andrew, saw me, so we watched the game together and chatted. Mer joined us right at halftime, and we watched a new band show, which was a lot of fun. CVCA was winning pretty handily at halftime, so we left after the band show, especially since Mer had early morning plans for us for Saturday. Probably ones that involved more food.

Last Sunday was the Towpath Marathon, which I had agreed to run with my friend Jason. I was supposed to help pace him along at a steady pace so he could qualify for Boston, which was an ambitious but achievable goal. It would involve both of us running personal best runs, with an average pace of about 7:40/mile (a 3:20:59 or better marathon).

Anyway, I wanted to make sure I was as ready as I could be. I knew that I generally slept poorly the night before a marathon, and this was no exception. I slept fitfully until 3:00 when I got up to use the bathroom, and then I finally got up for real at 4:00. The marathon was at 8:00, and so I figured the four hours would give my body time to digest a little food and get over a nervous bladder. That stratagem did work for me, as it turned out.

Mer got up around 5:30 or so (we had slept in separate bedrooms so she could sleep in), and she got ready. We headed out of the house around 6:40 or so, and got to the starting area around 7:00, which was recommended if we didn’t want to have trouble with traffic or parking. It had occurred to me that Jason and I had not specified a meeting place, but I hoped we would find each other. The main building of the ski resort (where parking was) was open, so I left Mer there and went to use a bathroom. When I got back, Mer had confirmed that Jason was there and was in line for the bathroom.

Jason came out of the building, and we met up. Mer had decided to go set up her spectating camp at Boston Store, where the marathon entered the Towpath, about 1 mile into the race; that same spot would also let her see us at mile sixteen without her having to move. She had brought a folding chair and some grading, and so she was all set. Jason and I walked with the rest of the runners about 3/4 of a mile up the road to the starting line. It was a cool morning (about 55 degrees) and sunny, so we had good weather. We hung out at the starting line for twenty minutes or so, and we started the race.

I’ll spare you the blow-by-blow details. We got to see Mer at Boston Store, and I got a quick kiss from her. Jason had planted some support troops along the way. Our colleague JT and his fiancee were in Peninsula at mile three (and mile fourteen on the way back) to hand us small bottles of Gatorade. There were eighteen support stations along the course with water and some other drinks, but Jason wanted Gatorade, and wanted it in squeeze bottles so we would not have to stop to drink. JT was a game soul to hand them to us.

Jason’s family was near Szalay’s Farm at mile six (and mile eleven) to hand us more Gatorade. Jason’s kids handed us our drinks, which was cute. We were humming along pretty well. I felt we were going fast, but we seemed to be going okay – we were averaging 7:30/mile consistently, so we kept at it. We turned around at the southern turn point, around mile nine, and had some crowded running for about three miles as there were runners in both directions on a path only six feet wide. It was still okay.

Around mile nine or so, my left shoulder started to hurt. This did not surprise me since it had been bothering me, but I had hoped the massage would have helped it out for longer. I also noticed some slight discomfort in my right knee, which was new to me. I did not think too much of it, though – I figured it was the fast pace.

Around mile fourteen, my middle back started to cramp. Again, this was not a huge surprise since it had been bothering me during the last few weeks. My legs were also starting to get tired, but we were still right around 7:30/mile, and we both seemed to be doing okay.

We saw Mer at Boston Store again around mile sixteen, and I waved at her. I could not give her the traditional kiss because she was on the far side of the trail, but I was able to shout that I loved her. Jason and I started chatting a little but about race tactics for the last ten miles, when around mile sixteen-and-a-half, everything suddenly fell apart for me, and all in the space of about two hundred yards. First, my lower back cramped up, which quickly spread to my right hip and top of my right leg, which caused the right knee to hurt more. I told Jason I was hurt and told him to keep going. I was having trouble lifting my right leg. I found a tree and used it to stretch my leg and back, and then I tried running at a slow pace, just to try to finish the last nine miles or so. I had to stop and walk and stretch often. I saw Jason after awhile; he was running back after having turned around at the northern turning point. He was still running well, but looked really tired. I yelled some encouragement to him and tried to keep going myself.

Mer was waiting for me at a trail at mile twenty-one. She was worried because it had taken me almost fifty minutes to run the five miles since she had last seen me. In fact, she was only a minute or two from going back to the car to go back to the finish line at Boston Store in case she had somehow missed me. I made the difficult decision to drop out of the race since I was having a hard time even walking at that point, and so we went back to the car and went back to Boston Store. By the time we got there, we missed Jason finishing, but we found Lisa, his wife, and found out that Jason did qualify for Boston with a time of 3:20:12. He had had a serious cramp in his hamstring at mile twenty-five, but had stopped to stretch it out and was able to finish. I was very happy for him, and was pleased that I had helped Jason with the pace at least through mile sixteen.

I was happy for Jason, but sad that I did not finish, especially because I had wanted to finish to honor my friend and former student Mark, who passed away from cancer last summer. I was wearing his name on my shirt, and it was hard to let him down after all the shouts of “Go, Mark!” that I had heard on the course. I’ll try to let my body heal and see if I can try again for Mark in a month or so.

I slept and rested for most of the rest of Sunday. I did make and deliver some frosted brownies for Jason’s kids. They were good sports in hanging around for three-plus hours to see us run, so I wanted to thank them for that. So, not a perfect 10 kind of race, but happily, it was not a 0 either. Next time will be better.

Last Saturday was “my” day, so I decided we should sleep in. Once we were up and rolling, we got in the car and headed over to Summit Mall in Akron to have brunch at First Watch, a breakfast place with great hot chocolate. As we were waiting to be seated, Mer saw our friend Dubbs, who was with another teacher, David, and two former students. As luck would have it, the host sat us in the booth right next to Dubbs’ booth, so she was able to amuse herself by throwing things at me. It turns out that Dubbs, David, and the two former students meet for breakfast monthly to discuss a book. Mer and I were just there to eat, and the food was good.

After brunch, we headed next door to Massage Envy, a national chain for massage. I had hurt my back and shoulders several weeks ago, and they still hurt. My chiropractor had done well in getting my bones back where they should be, but the knots in my muscles would not go away. So, on the eve of my marathon attempt, I decided to try a firm massage to see if I could get my back and shoulders to relax. This was to be only my second professional massage ever. Mer was along just to get a relaxing massage – if I was going to get a massage, she thought it was a good idea to get one too.

It turns out that Massage Envy is quite nice. The receptionist was helpful, and the place was very clean. The massage therapists were attentive. Mer went for a whole-body relaxation massage, and I asked my therapist to work just on my back and shoulders. She spent the entire hour on those sections, and it did seem to help – I hurt quite a bit less than when I had come in. Mer was pretty much a puddle of relaxation; she certainly enjoyed her experience.

When we were checking out, the receptionist asked if we wanted to become members. Members pre-pay one massage/month, and in exchange for that, they get reduced rates ($45 and $35 for one-hour massages). Since we no longer have the two houses, and since I have started to hurt more in the last year, I made the impulse decision to sign us up. Mer was surprised, but went along with it. If it helps keep me from being in pain from my back problems, it will be well worth the $80/month for us to be members.

After our massages and a quick trip home to change, we headed over to the Kendall Lake Park area. I wanted to take Mer on a trail that I had run but that she had not been on before. It was a very pretty fall day out, but a little ways out I started to need a bathroom pretty badly. So, we veered off the new trail and walked the mile or so up to the Ledges Park, where there were restroom facilities. On the way back out of the Ledges buildings, we ran into one of our colleagues, April, who was there with her husband and their very cute toddler daughter. They were having family pictures taken. It was a great setting for that. We chatted for a few minutes and then Mer and I headed back toward the trail that would take us back to the car. We took a short detour to go to the Valley overlook area of the Ledges. It is not quite at the full fall splendor yet – that will be in another week or two. It was still quite pretty.

Once we did get back to the car, we headed to Bob Evans to get supper. Mer just ordered a bowl of chili since she was still to go out with some friends later in the evening, but I got a full meal. That made me fairly sleepy, and since I was going to be up at 4:00 am to get ready for my marathon, I went right to bed (in the spare bedroom so Mer could sleep undisturbed) when I got home. Mer went out to meet her high school friends. Sadly, my drifting off to sleep was interrupted by Tava fighting with Emma, and I had to get up to break that up. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard Mer get home, so at least I knew she was home safely. I still had a rough night’s sleep, which is pretty normal for me the night before a marathon. Good thing I had gotten some relaxation in during the day.

Last week was a good eatin’ week, with a little productivity thrown in. On Sunday (the 3rd), Mer and I went down to Canton and had lunch with Aunt Mary at Taggart’s Ice Cream Parlor. Taggart’s is a restaurant in Mer’s old neighborhood, so we have a pretty good history with the place. It serves burgers and sandwiches and such, and makes pretty good ice cream. They have been in the same location since the 1920s, and we like it quite a lot. After lunch (and ice cream), we headed back to Aunt Mary’s new place and dropped Mer off so she could grade. Aunt Mary and I then went over to her old place and we spent the early part of the afternoon moving everything from her basement to the main floor and moving everything from the second floor to the main floor. This is not a huge help to getting Aunt Mary’s old place cleared out, but it got everything in one place that did not involve stairs so that Aunt Mary could organize things without a bunch of trips up and down stairs.

Monday evening (the 4th), we had our first meeting for our J-term course, Literary London. Mer and I are leading a trip of 13 students to London in January as part of CVCA’s J-term program. We wanted to have a meeting to get information to the students and to their parents, so we had the first of probably two meetings. It went well. We had all 13 students show up, and they all had at least one parent with them. One of the families had offered to host the meeting, so we had plenty of room and enough seats. Mer started the meeting off with a game of matching the British word (like “bonnet”) to the American word (like “car hood”). That was amusing, and everyone seemed to get a kick out of it. Mer runs good meetings. We then went over expectations, the itinerary, and the grading system (pass/fail). The meeting went about an hour and a half, and Mer and I were happy with it.

Last Wednesday, Mer and I went to the Akron Hibernian Club. We go on the first Wednesday of every month to dance to live Irish music at the club with my CVCA Irish dance club. We had a small group this time – just three students, but we also had one returning alumna, so we had six people altogether. That was enough to dance for about an hour. We have a good time, and the club musicians are pretty great. We’ll dance one and sit out one just to listen, and so on. Anyway, we were getting ready to leave when the bartender pulled us aside and said they had cake and ice cream for the Purple Man’s birthday. The Purple Man is a ninety-three-year-old man who is often at the Hibernian Club, and is always dressed in purple. Cake and ice cream and getting to sing for the Purple Man were all good things, so we stayed. After we sang and the food had been served, a woman got up with a man who played guitar, and she sang three Irish songs – “Black Velvet Band,” “Wild Rover,” and “Fields of Athenry.” I had forgotten how much I had missed hearing live Irish ballads. It was great. We stayed an extra hour until 10:00, and  it was well worth it.

Last Thursday, Mer took me out to supper at a fundraiser at Dairy Queen. We like to eat for a cause. Most amazingly, we were both satisfied with the new super-small blizzard dessert that comes with the burger meal. Since it was a fundraiser, I did buy a large blizzard for Dubbs, who was at school for much of the evening running volleyball tournaments. She ate the whole thing, even though she is lactose intolerant. I guess it hit a spot.

Finally, to wrap up the week o’ food, Mer and I went out with our friends Zach and Londa to the Cheesecake Factory on Friday night. That was a good time. Zach and Londa are fun people, and Zach always has a bunch of funny stories to tell, usually at his own expense. We had not gone out with them since early in the summer, so it was great to catch up with them. Since we had seen them last, Zach had gone to his brother’s wedding in Israel, Mer had been to Romania, and Mer and I had been to Vancouver. We ate a lot of food, although I finally found a normal-sized meal (the smallest burger), and Mer skipped dessert. That may have been good, since some part of my meal (probably the dessert) caused me digestive problems for 36 hours. I may have to go back to gather more data to see if it really was the dessert. That would be another food week, then.

Last weekend was Homecoming weekend for CVCA, and Mer and I partook in the festivities. On Friday was the big Homecoming football game, and as part of that the school always sets up an alumni tent to welcome back alumni. Since Mer is an alum, we got to go. It is not super splashy or anything – hot dogs, soup, and cookies – but it is still a free meal and a chance to catch up with former students, which Mer and I did for about 45 minutes while we ate. I then ran off to do my usual cheer-madly-for-the-band while Mer stayed at the tent.

I followed the band inside the stadium, and for the first time ever at a CVCA game, I went up into the stands, as high up as I could go (second row from the top). You could actually see the football game pretty well, and I still got to sit next to the band. Mer joined me, and a few minutes later, Mer’s friend Marie joined us as well. One of my former Fools made his way over to us, and later still, some of Mer’s former students joined us. It was a pleasant gathering. I was interested in the game and watched it pretty intently, while Mer kept one eye on the game and chatted with the folks around her.

At halftime, the other team’s huge and impressive band did a great show, including spelling “Ohio” in script, which involved many crossing lines of marching students. It was well done. Our portion of halftime was spent announcing the homecoming court. One of my former Fools won queen, which was very cool. She is a nice girl, and I am happy she won. I did not know the boy who won king very well, but everything I hear about him is positive.

After halftime, Mer’s friend wanted to go on a building tour, so Mer joined her. I was feeling hungry, so I walked home and grabbed some of my homemade pizza. I do enjoy living so close to school. I was back in time to see the fourth quarter, and Mer joined me partway through it. We ended up winning the game, something like 30-14 or some such. Our team played well once we settled down. Then, our band came on the field for their “halftime” show which was put off because of Homecoming court. Mer and I stayed and cheered and enjoyed the entire show, and then we walked home.

On Saturday, Mer had a busy day, while I did not. Mer went to CVCA for CVCA’s “spa day.” The school was encouraging the girls of the school to spend less money on Homecoming this year, and to give the money to a family to help the family defray adoption costs – it was called “Bring a Baby Home” and was a nice addition to the Homecoming festivities this year. Anyway, CVCA had a bunch of women volunteer to help the girls do hair and nails for a donation, and so Mer went to the spa at CVCA. She said it was fun – she got pampered a little while getting to chat with good friends and students. She had a good time. I think I may have napped – I don’t remember for sure.

Then, Mer went to a friend’s baby shower. Jen is about to have her first baby, and Mer wanted to support her. When Mer came back, she said about half the people there were CVCA people, even though Jen does not work at CVCA (her husband does, and Jen is an alum). Mer had won a contest at the shower by saying the word “baby” the fewest number of times during the party. Again, she had a good time.

We then got all dressed up – me in my suit and Mer in her new shoes and dress, and we headed down into the Valley to go to Todaro’s Party Center for the Homecoming banquet and dance. The outside of the building was nondescript, but the inside was very nice. We got there at about 5:30 (the dinner started at 6:00), and the place was already humming with activity. We went inside, found our table, and then started mingling with students. I am pretty close to this year’s senior class, so I was happy I could make this Homecoming. I got to chat with several of my students while Mer and I munched on appetizers. Happily, the banquet hall’s idea of appetizers was cookies and brownie bites. That was good.

We spent a fair amount of time chatting, and then we sat back at our table with other CVCA teachers and administrators. We had a fine time talking, and Mer and I compared notes on which dresses we liked the most. Supper was a buffet, and was very fine – the chicken and potatoes were very good. After supper, there were numerous announcements for various teams and clubs to get together for photos. Dessert (cake and more cookies) was served, and then at about 9:00 the line dancing started.

Dancing at a Christian school is a tricky thing, so a few years ago the administration decided that various line dances would be okay at Homecoming. So, you see things like the Macarena, the Chicken Dance, and so on. It does mean that we got to hear the amusing announcement “If there is too much dancing during the dance, we will have to stop.” That made me smile.

Mer went out on the floor with students for two dances, but then we both decided we were pretty tired – it had been a long evening the night before and was a long day Saturday. So, we headed back out to the car and headed home. It had been a good evening, and I was happy to have gotten to see the students all dressed up.

I forgot to blog about an important even from last week – silly me. On Monday (the 27th) of last week, I went to the vets’ to get cat food since one of our cats eats prescription cat food. Anyway, I came home with the cat food and a cat. Oooops.

When I got to the vets’ there was a cute mostly-white cat that was in a 2′ by 3′ cage and had been there the last time I had needed food, a month before. She was very sweet and very friendly, and so I asked about her. She had been abandoned in a holder at the vets’ one morning, and had been living in the cage for six weeks. Since she was not a kitten, no one was adopting her. The idea of her living in the cage got to me, so I brought her home. Without informing Mer. Heh.

I told Mer I had something cute locked in our bedroom. She was suspicious, and was alarmed when I was looking under the bed and calling to a cat. Then she saw the cardboard cat carrier. She gently berated me on getting a cat without talking to her first, but I explained about the six weeks in a cage, and she just shook her head. I told Mer we would take the cat back if she wanted me to, or if the new cat did not get along with the other cats. Mer said she would not make the cat go back as long as the others were okay with her. As such, we waited over a week to even name the new cat since we were not sure she was going to stay.

It turns out she is a very confident cat, and some hissing and one or two fights aside, the cats seem to at least tolerate each other. So, Mer and I finally got around to discussing names. After a few tries, we both agreed on Octava. An octavo is an early form of book, which was folded eight times to make eight pages. Octava is the feminine form of the word, so that is what we named the new kitty. She is Tava for short.

She is very active. She is only about a year old, as far as the vet could guess. She has been spayed and declawed already, so we have no worries about having to take care of getting her “fixed.” Tava loves to jump, and within two or three days of having access to the whole house she had discovered how to get up on the false wall in our living room (floor to counter to refrigerator to top-of-wall), a feat that none of our other cats has figured out. Tava loves to run, and much to the consternation of the older cats, she loves to chase them if they run from her. She is very friendly, and is happy to curl up with us on the couch. She has a tremendously loud purr. So, even though we never planned on being a three-cat household again, let alone a four-cat household, Tava is here to stay. The jump from three cats to four has made the activity of the house go up. Mer tends to use the word “swarm” a lot now. They are cute, but we really need to stop so that we do not become “those cat people.”

Writing about Tava has reminded me of my other kitty shortcoming – I never blogged about the arrival of Jackson, about a year ago. Jackson was another unplanned kitty. People we know developed allergies to Jackson and had to get rid of him. No one was adopting him, but Mer and I were holding firm against becoming a three-cat household again after Bocca’s death just a month before in July. This went on for over a week, but Mer finally caved to the picture that was posted at CVCA – a pretty-eyed, sweet-looking tiger kitty that, as Mer said, kept looking beseechingly at her. So, we went to see Jackson and found him to be sweet and cute, and Mer really missed her tiger kitty, so he came home with us.

Jackson had a harder time with the two other cats, especially Macska. Macska is male, and oddly (for such a fluffy, effeminate-looking cat) is an alpha-male kitty who needs to be at the top of the pecking order, so Jackson did not like him at all. Even now, Jackson will still growl and hiss at Macska if Macska catches him off guard. Emma and Jackson seem to get along pretty well on the whole, with just a few small hissing fights over the year. Oh, we kept Jackson’s name since he was 12 years old when we adopted him. Mer figured that he had been “Jackson” for so long that we should not change it on him.

Anyway, our family has grown much larger than I ever intended it to be. Tava needs to be the last one, at least as long as we have all four cats, which Mer and I both hope will be for five or more years yet to come.

September ended fairly quietly for the Riordans. On Sunday (the 26th), we went to Aunt Mary’s church for lunch and had a very fine potluck dinner. Mer and I also approved that they had pretty much full-sized paper plates next to the massive dessert spread, which was tasty. After lunch, Mer graded while I helped Aunt Mary clean up the cardboard boxes in her old condo – I helped her break them down and loaded them in my car to drop off at her work place’s recycle bin. Mer and I then headed home, where we both cooked, and I was able to deliver some bread to some friends, which I like to do on Sundays. Granted, I had to let myself in Nate and Rachel’s house, but the Bread Fairy must deliver bread.

The only other social action of the week (until the weekend) was on last Thursday. Last week was Spirit/Homecoming Week at CVCA, which is both fun and crazy. A tradition of Spirit Week is that the 11th and 12th grade girls play football; it is called (quite proudly by the girls) the Powder Puff Game. This year was special in that the girls were getting to play in the stadium under the lights, and there was a $5 admission charge, with the admission going to a family who is trying to adopt a baby, to help defray the adoption costs.

Mer and I showed up at halftime. This year, because of a rash of injuries over the last few years, the game was changed to flag football, about which I was a little disappointed (I like to see people break tackles, which is hard to do in flag football). The stadium crew was funny – the announcers had very little idea about football, and the scoreboard often said things like “1st and 23” or “1st and 3” with no real pattern to it. Mer and I wandered about and chatted with a few fellow teachers who were there, and we laughed at the commentary. Sadly, the game ended after 40 minutes of play in a 0-0 tie, which I’m of the opinion is the fault of the flags – I’m quite sure the game would have been much higher scoring if it had been tackle. While I would not necessarily want a humorous-style game every year, it was novel and fun this time around, and it was for a good cause.

That, of course, still left the Homecoming game on Friday and the Homecoming Dinner/Dance on Saturday.