On Monday, the actual Fourth of July, we slept in again, and then proceeded to play tourist. On Saturday, we had gone to Bear Cave Campground to see the actual cave they have there. Sadly, they close the cave at 4:30 because the bats get active. That was enough to discourage Mer for the evening. So, we went back the next day. The cave was open, and we paid our $3 each and were let in to the cave.

While certainly not Mammoth Cave, it was interesting. The cave was a narrow corridor that looped around onto itself. There is a room in the cave where runaway slaves used to hide, but the entrance to that section was mostly underwater. I thought hard about it, but decided against wading/swimming in water that was probably forty degrees. It was a fun little tour, and after it was over the owners showed us where two bats hang out (literally). They were just inside the door to the cave, and they were about the size of mice, but with wings. While I would not want one buzzing around my head, they were cute enough.

The owners of the camp then told us there was a waterfall over the back of the cave and encouraged us to walk over and see it. The waterfall was small, but pretty, and the path led us to the banks of the St. Joseph River, which was very lovely to see. It was a nice little campground.

After seeing the cave and camp, we moved on to Mer’s next planned stop, the pick-your-own fruit farm, Tree-Mendus. The farm currently only had sour cherries, but I was still game to pick some, if only for the experience. However, we gave up on that idea when we found out that we would need to pick a minimum of ten pounds. That is a lot of cherries.

So, we comforted ourselves with getting cherry waffle boats. These are little boats made of waffle batter and topped with cherries. They were okay – I’m only so-so on cherries. But, while I was waiting for Mer to get the food, I was able to people watch, and somehow western rural Michigan seemed to be a destination for Mexicans and Eastern Europeans. It made for a festive atmosphere.

Tree-Mendus boasts being the home of the cherry pit spitting championships. The current record is about ninety-eight feet. Mer bit into a pit in her cherry boat, so she decided to give it a try. She got up to the runway (you can take a running start), and she trotted to the spit line, spit, and the pit dribbled out off her lower lip and fell at her feet. It was most amusing. She was a game sport and laughed.

We went back to Mom and Marc’s, where they had prepared a wonderful supper. We actually sat at the table (a nonexistent concept in our house) and had a good conversation. Oh – Mom had also made chocolate chip cookies that morning before we even got up, so we did not get ignored on the dessert front.

We made it down to the beach in time to see the sunset. There is a tradition at the beach in Bridgman where two (and on rare occasions, three) trumpet players play “Taps” as the sun sets. It is a great tradition, and brings out lots of people when the weather is fine. The sunset on the fourth was excellent.

Mom and Marc had both recommended the St. Joseph’s fireworks display as being excellent. So, we headed toward St. Joe’s again. We started seeing groups of people about two or more miles outside of town, and it quickly became obvious we were not going to get into downtown. So, we tried several side streets, and we finally found a parking spot across the street from a cemetery. Since the cemetery is on the bluff, we figured that would be a good vantage point. There were several other people already there.

The fireworks started pretty promptly. They were low on the horizon, and really small – you could not even hear them. I was unimpressed, but held my tongue so that I would not rain on Mer’s parade. She said she could still feel my disapproval rolling off of me. Ah well – I tried. During the show, some other people showed up and joined us. They were of the opinion that the show we were watching was a different town north of St. Joe’s. I was skeptical, since the fireworks we were watching were down near the beach and had started at 10:00, the advertised start time.

At about 10:40, a huge firework went off right over our heads. The other people had been right – the St. Joe’s fireworks were huge, close by, and had started really late. The show lasted about twenty minutes, and was really impressive. I’m glad we stayed for it.

So, that was our mini-vacation. We drove home Tuesday with no problems. It was good to get away, and really good to see Mom and Marc again.

After an uneventful five-hour trip, we got to Mom and Marc’s house. Aunt Linda and Uncle Kenny were there, and so we had a good visit together that was quite fun. Mer and I finally got to give Mom and Marc a couple of small art presents we got them last time we were in Amish country, back in January. Mom had lots of good food kicking around, most notably strawberry shortcake, made Maine-style (building it on a biscuit instead of shortcake). It was quite tasty.

Kenny and Linda left before we were up and around on Sunday. Mer had brought along a tourism book about Michigan with the plan of seeing sights, so that is what we planned on doing. We took it easy and visited with Mom and Marc some, and so we did not get out the door until about 12:00. Our first stop was Fernwood Botanical Gardens, which is about fifteen miles south of Bridgman, where Mom and Marc live.

Mer and I had a great time at the Chicago Botanical Gardens last summer, and so we were looking forward to Fernwood. Happily, Fernwood did not disappoint. It was much much smaller than Chicago’s, but that was okay, as we were able to do the entire garden in about three hours. It was especially fun in that it was the opening weekend for ten sculptures that were set up around the grounds. I am very fond of sculpture, and so that was a fun addition to the grounds. Jumping ahead of myself, we did see all ten, and I liked two of the sculptures very much, and the rest were okay.

The gardens were pretty, and we got to see the reception of a very cultural wedding of people from Africa (I’m not sure where). They had ethnic robes that were very pretty, and not much English was spoken. The gardens did make for a great wedding site.

As for the gardens themselves, they were very pleasant. Most of the flowers were past blooming, but everything was very green and well cared-for. There was a model train garden that had replicas of famous buildings from around the U.S. and the rest of the world, with three working model trains. There was a Japanese garden with raked stone and “islands” of plants in the middle. There was a very cool water wheel near some falls of a small stream. There was an herb garden that was very fragrant. It was well done.

The botanical gardens also included larger grounds that had paths through them. So, we walked around the perimeter trails of the woods. That included walking down to the very pretty St. Joseph River, and the long climb back up again to a reproduction five-acre prairie. The only slight marring of the day was that the gardens are near a motor-cross track, and the dirt bike engines could be heard most of the time, especially down by the river.

After we got back to the car, we had a pretty drive over to Tabor Hill Winery. While neither of us drinks wine, it is pretty country, and they give free tours of the winery. It was interesting to see all that goes into making wine, including a small room with historical wine-making tools. We skipped the wine tasting, but were a bit tempted by the ridiculously overpriced chocolate.

We then headed back to Mom and Marc’s, where we ate supper (Marc’s burgers are excellent). Mom and Marc had previous dinner plans, so we ate supper while they got ready. I then had a bit of a rest (and more dessert), such that I overcame my original tired stodginess and agreed to go to see a concert band perform up in St. Joseph – a town about twenth-five minutes north of Mom and Marc’s.

The day was very pretty, and we actually found parking. I had been afraid of a hot sun beating down on me, but it was almost 7:30 by the time we found the concert (after some wandering around), so the edge of the heat of the day was done. We missed about half the concert, but the half we did catch was enjoyable. It was probably a fifty-piece band, and they did show tunes, and songs, and a few pieces specifically written for concert band.

After the concert, we wandered down to the beach (which at St. Joe’s really is down – there is a steep bluff you take stairs down). We waded in the water, and then watched people play in the nearby enormous fountain that includes shooting off water canons every fifteen minutes or so. Next to the fountain is a carousel. That seemed festive, so we rode that twice, the second time both getting to ride giant cats (a leopard and a tiger). It seemed all-American.

Once we got out of the indoor carousel, we were able to see that the day was ending with a great sunset. We sat on the beach and watched the sun go down, and then we headed back to Mom’s, getting home about 10:30 or so. It was a good tourist day – a good mixture of seeing sights while not getting all worn out.

For most of last week, Mer’s parents were in town. They arrived late Saturday, and they stayed through Friday morning, when they headed off to Maine with Aunt Mary. Mer saw them every day during the week. I had to work, so I was not so available.

On Tuesday, Mer and I went over to the house of CVCA’s librarian, Cindy. Cindy and her husband, Tom, had opened up their house to a number of CVCA staff and administrators, and they provided burgers and hot dogs and some really good desserts. The house had numerous rooms where people could gather in smaller groups, so even though there were twenty or more people at the party, it felt small. I ate well and had a good time, although we left the party early, at about 8:00, because I had to work the next day.

On Wednesday, Mer and I got to go with Dale and Carlene and Aunt Mary to a Chinese buffet in Cuyahoga Falls called The Royal Buffet. Aunt Mary was treating, which was nice. The food was great, and I ate way too much, especially since I had just come off of six grad parties the weekend before. We had a good visit.

On Thursday, Mer and I stayed home in the evening, and we watched a very good production of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, which is a book neither of us has read yet. Hollywood sexed it up a little in places, but it was not over the top; it has made me curious to see how Austen handled the scandals in her story. I’ll have to read it.

On Friday, Mer and I again stayed in and watched a movie. This time, it was a movie she bought at the CVCA Auction last spring, called No Greater Love. It is a Christian movie about a man whose wife leaves him in their early marriage, and she turns up again ten years later. The story is well done, and the lead actors were very good, but some of the supporting actors were spotty. It can be hard to take things seriously when serious things are being discussed and one character can’t stop smiling. I’m still glad to have seen it, though, especially when it formed a date night for me and Mer.

On Saturday, we went to just one grad party, in the afternoon. We knew several people there, so we had a good time catching up. We also used the party as our main evening meal, since we left from the party and came home, loaded up the car, and headed to Michigan to see Mom and Marc for the first time since last Thanksgiving. I was really looking forward to a few days away from work.

On Wednesday, our friend and former colleague Julie swung by with her very cute daughter. Julie was one of our closest friends until she had the nerve to move to California about six years ago. There, she met her husband, and they currently have one child. Jeff, Julie’s husband, could not make the trip because of work reasons, but we were excited to see Julie and her baby.

We headed over to Rockne’s, a local restaurant chain, where Mer and I ate, and Julie tried to eat, but spent much of the meal feeding Riley. I think most moms can relate to that. Julie may be a mom now, but she is still lively and funny, and we still miss her. It was good to get to see Julie, even if only for two or three hours.

After Julie left, Mer and I headed over to Porthouse Theater, which is an outdoor theater that is associated with Kent State. They do three shows every summer, and a friend had given us two tickets to go see their production of Chicago. I know Chicago is an awful play about adultery and murder, but the music is great and the stage production is always well done. I was even impressed that the costumer for the show managed to have slinky outfits for all the dancers without their being wildly scandalous. The play was very well done, and we had a great time. When I compared it to the professional version of Chicago Mer took me to last year, it held up well, although I did notice the differences. Basically, in the professional version, everyone was sculpted and super buff, they could all sing, and they could all dance. In the Kent production, everyone was in good shape, but more or less what you can expect from twenty-something actors, and they were either excellent singers and okay dancers, or excellent dancers and okay singers. That is being picky – it was still a fun production, especially since we got to see it for free. Oh – the orchestra was great – they held their own against the professional show, with the slight exception that some of the instruments were hard to hear from time to time.

On Friday, Mer and I had a quiet evening. We got a small ice cream at a local ice cream stand (Rita’s – we had a coupon), and then we stayed home and watched the Hugh Grant/Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility, which I approved of, even if they did cut some scenes that surprised me.

On Saturday, we had another whopping five grad parties. They were quite fun because I knew all of the graduates at these parties. Some of the highlights, apart from great food and fun people:
– The kids managed to turn a Sno-Cone machine into a snowball fight.
– One party had a very friendly kitty.
– Mer managed to lose in foosball to me when she scored on herself.
– I got in a Nerf sword fight with a couple of students.
– We got to sit around a campfire eating sundaes.

Late Saturday, Mer’s parents got to town for about a week. So, on Sunday, Mer went to church with them, and I went to a local Lutheran church because I hoped to get a half-day of work in at school. Instead, I fell asleep for most of the afternoon. We went to another grad party at a pretty house on a small lake where we got to spend some decent time visiting with Dubbs. After the party, we sung by the DiPaolos’ house, where we dropped off some cookies and visited them for about thirty minutes.

Summer turns out to be a busy little time, but very much in a good way.

Our friend Brandon was bachin’ it last week, so we invited him over on Monday. I made homemade pizza, which I had not done in a couple of months. It turned out quite well. Brandon is a Batman fan, so we watched a couple of episodes from the 90s Batman: The Animated Series cartoon, which was well received. Mer then made a dessert called “pudgy pies,” which are dessert sandwiches that are meant to be made with special campfire irons. We have a grilled sandwich maker, and so Mer used that and it worked well. The pudgy pies she made were cinnamon bread stuffed with marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs and Nutella spread; they tasted like s’mores and were very good. We then chatted with Brandon, mostly about theater, until about 9:00.

On Tuesday, Mer had organized an outing with students to go play laser-tag. Mer had won a coupon to Laser-Sport at the CVCA Auction a few months ago, and she liked the idea of getting together with students to play. We had about ten students show up. Laser-Sport has a smaller arena, so this number of people worked well. Laser-Sport also forces you to “power up” on a regular basis – you have twenty lives or eighty shots on your gun. When either of those expire, you have to go back to base and recharge.

I decided on a different strategy for this venue than my usual one of stealthy wandering. For both games we played, I stayed on the second level of my home base and sniped people. It was less exciting, but since there were snipers on the other team, I felt as if someone had to cover my team on the floor. So, that is what I did. It seemed to work – our team won both games, and I was the number-one player both rounds. It was a lot of fun, although I do prefer the version of the game where you have unlimited shots and a more maze-like arena.

After the games were over, some of the students invited us to Handel’s for ice cream, to which we happily agreed. Handel’s had slow service that night, but that was okay since we got a chance to catch up with some of our students. Mer and I got home around 10:00, just minutes before a major storm rolled though. We were happy to have missed being out in that storm, but we happier still to have been able to be sociable during the start of the week.

Last weekend we continued the graduation party circuit. We had one party each on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The Friday party was a double party (two students hosting the party), so it was a pretty big party with lots of students and faculty there. The party was catered with make-your-own burritos, so that was very good eating. After supper, Mer was invited to play euchre, a bridge-like card game, so I wandered to the back of the property to watch some of the high school guys play volleyball. It became apparent they were playing by a modified set of rules since they continued to play after the ball hit the ground. They invited me to play, so I joined in. It is called “smashmouth volleyball” and it is very much like volleyball, except you can hit the ball as many times as you like before getting it over the net, and also the ball is allowed to hit the ground one time (if it hits twice, the point is over). It was a hoot to play. We played three games, and we laughed a lot. After the games, I rejoined Mer, who was done with her card game, and we left shortly thereafter.

Saturday’s grad party was fun as well. We ate well, as we do at these things, and then Mer and I played our first game of cornhole this season. I was leading by as much as nine points, but she came back and won by two. That was disappointing, but I comforted myself by lounging with Mer in a hammock and watching some of the students play badminton. After the party, that evening we spent a quiet time at home, and we watched the movie Moulin Rouge, which I like quite a bit. Mer finds it entertaining, but does not feel particularly sympathetic toward any of the characters, so she does not get into it so much as I do.

Sunday we finished off the weekend with a grad party in Cuyahoga Falls that took us to a park that we had never been to. The city has a large park, part of which is a water park called Waterworks. Our party was at the back of Waterworks, in a large “normal” park that was a pretty setting (the river runs through the park).

Sunday evening, we headed over to a friend and colleague’s house. Matt teachers English and Latin at CVCA, and he is married to a CVCA alumna, Lis. We like them both very much, and Matt is a very scholarly person (he has a PhD in English). Our friend Ellen (who also has a PhD – I know a ridiculous number of people with advanced degrees) loves a Catholic poet from the late 1800s named Hopkins. Hopkins’ poetry is difficult but worthwhile, and Matt likes his work but has not studied it. So, Mer and I went over to Matt and Lis’s house for dinner, and then we discussed Hopkins’ poems for about an hour and a half. Matt and Lis have a very cute daughter who is learning to talk. At one point, Matt said we should turn to the poem “O, Death, Death.” Matt and Lis’s daughter then wandered the room saying “Death…Death” over and over. It was great. We love nerdy children. The Hopkins study went well, and we covered five or six poems. We hope to meet again to go over more material once in July and once in August. That is assuming that Mer and I can still fit out our front door after grad party season.

A few weeks ago I was in the music room, which looks out ground-level at our back yard. I noticed an adorable kitten just outside the window, so I called Mer down. We then looked out the window and discovered there were five kittens and the momma kitty. The momma kitty looked to be the same kitty that had kittens under our porch three summers ago, and she was back with a new family. I had no idea what to do – we certainly did not need five new kittens, but I went outside to see them, which made the momma kitty upset. The next day, I had to free a kitten from being stuck in our porch screen door, and the momma kitty saw that as well. I think she had seen enough, because the next day the kittens were gone.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to last Friday. I was walking to work, and I happened to look over at the back porch of our neighbor’s house. There was a big mound of fur in it, so I went to investigate; it turned out to be the momma kitty and four of her kittens. They all scattered as I got close. One of the kittens went inside through a basement window that was slightly open. That worried me very much. Our neighbor’s house is currently empty (no one living there for the time being), and I was afraid that the kitten might have fallen into the basement of an empty house.  Moreover, as the kitten ran in to the basement, I heard another kitten crying from the cellar. I was afraid they might both die, so I tried to find a way into the house. All the doors and windows were locked, but out of frustration, I pushed on the partially open cellar window. It moved slightly, so after a minute or two of wrangling, I had it open enough to wiggle though and let myself in the basement. It was more or less dark, and I could not find the kittens, so I let myself out through a door and went home and got a flashlight. I went back, and found the first kitten on the sill, sitting among the floor joists. I grabbed her and brought her home while she tried desperately to get away (and she had very sharp claws). I went back and searched hard for the second kitty, and I finally found him on the sill, hiding in the floor joists, but halfway around the basement. I think he had climbed all the way over there and then could not figure out how to get back. I grabbed him as well, and he did not struggle too much – I think he was scared and I’m pretty sure he had been in there for some time, so he may have been weak as well.

So, we now have two adorable kittens living in our guest bedroom. I got tired of not having names for them. I thought the male kitten was an alpha-male because he was big and he was the first to explore the room. The other kitten was clearly a runt and was scared, so I joking called her the omega-kitty. So, we have been calling them Alpha (“Alphy”) and Omega (“Megs” or “Meggie”). This has some irony since it has since become clear that Megs is the bolder of the two kittens, and Alphy is even scared of the mouse toy that Megs plays with. They still won’t let us pet them, but they do both come out while we are in the room, and we can play with Megs using the mouse toy.

I have no idea what we will do with them once they are used to people. I know I will not break them up. We may try to find a nice home for the two of them, but we may also keep them. While we never intended to have more than two cats (and this would bring us to five), they are very cute and I may not be able to give them up.

Last Tuesday, Mer and I met up with our friends Matt and Clarice. We had made plans to go play mini-golf, and we were still going to do that, but since we had made the plans, Matt had proposed to Clarice and she said yes. Matt and Clarice are a great couple, so we were pretty excited about that. Matt proposed to Clarice at the Akron Zoo, and gave her a very cool ring of white gold and a blue stone that comes from China that changes hue dramatically in the light. I am very happy for them.

Clarice and Matt directed us to Downview Golf, which is a mini-golf/driving range/skate park/batting cage complex that is actually owned by the park district of the city. We had no idea that the place even existed. It was a fun and challenging little course, with several pretty artificial water falls. We had a good time, and Mer won the day, although we were all competitive. Mer got the only hole-in-one, and Matt had the best shot of the day where his ball went into a stream hazard on a hole, but unknown to us the stream was designed to carry the ball close to the hole and then spit it back up on to the green. Matt was pretty pleased with that very accidental shot.

After the golf outing, Matt and Clarice took us out to Handel’s for ice cream. We munched on dessert and discussed the upcoming (next spring) wedding and dress options. It was really good to catch up with Matt and Clarice, even if I did not win mini-golf.

The good-time parties continued last weekend. On Saturday, we had three graduation parties, which seemed tame after last week’s five-in-one-day. We had two parties in the afternoon, and one in the evening, and in between we went to the Riverfront Irish Festival in Cuyahoga Falls. Our first party had the wonderful surprise of our being given a gift instead of our giving one away. The girl whose party it was is close to both me and Meredith, and she went on our London trip back in January. As a thank-you, her family had a picture book put together from an online book maker, and they gave us a copy. It came out really well.

After the second party, we headed to the Irish Festival, which is held annually and is free. We stopped and watched some excellent dancers, and then planted ourselves in a tent to hear some music. We started to leave to go hear some other music when we ran into a group of our former students, and so we stopped to talk with them. True to form, shortly thereafter the skies opened up and we fled back to a music tent. It seems as if it rains every time we are at the Irish Festival. The rain stopped after about fifteen minutes, and we made our slow way back to our car to head off to the last party of the evening.

The last party had a number of people we knew at it, and it had copious amounts of good food, so we had a great time. We spent about an hour in a real wood-paneled library talking to one of the owners of the house. She was a good friend of the family who was having the party, so she offered to let the party be at her house. She was fascinating to talk to – she loved theater and knew a bunch of people we know, so we had a good chat (while eating dessert). We closed the party out, leaving about 10:00.

On Sunday, we actually had a party conflict. Most of the time, graduation parties are drop-by sorts of affairs, but on Sunday we had a party that was also a senior recital for a very talented student who was going to showcase her harp skills. Because there was a performance element, the party actually started at a specific time. At the same time, we had been invited to an ex-colleague and good friend’s wedding. We compromised. Mer went to the student recital and I went to the wedding.

Rita used to teach at CVCA, but had become very ill and moved to Florida for her health about seven years ago. She got stronger and moved back to Ohio a couple of years ago, and she recently got engaged to a man who goes to her church. The small wedding was on Sunday, and I was delighted to attend.

Rita went bold, and she had an outside wedding. It was cool and overcast, but it did not rain. The wedding was on the yard of a country club, and it was very pretty. Rita looked beautiful in a simple dress and a mini-veil. The ceremony was relaxed but still formal, and the pastor exhorted the couple to try to live a biblical marriage that was based on love and respect. I was in the last row of the seats, so I had some trouble hearing everything, but I was still pleased to be at the celebration. After the wedding, there was a dessert reception, and I got to talk briefly with Rita. It was very good to see her again.

I understand from Meredith that the recital was very impressive. It’s a pity that we had to have a schedule conflict like that.

Last week was a movie-rich week. On Monday, we were excited that our friend Ami (aka Dubbs), who had recently had ear surgery, was cleared to go out of the house for the first time. We decided it would be fun to go see X-Men: First Class. Dubbs’s sister, Chris, also came along, and in a pleasant surprise, so did our colleague David. David is wry and has an understated sense of humor, so I was happy to see him. The theater had a special on Mondays where a film only cost $5.00, so that was good.

The movie was fun and entertaining. For an old comic book fan such as myself, it was a little disappointing that the movie stayed mostly clear of the original X-Men from the comic. The only original member in the movie was the Beast. Still, the focus was on Professor X and Magneto in their early days, and that was interesting to see. The movie had lots of action, and some pretty good humor. The negatives of the film were weak acting in some places (especially the actress who played Emma Frost), and the fact that the main villain in the film (played by Kevin Bacon) was very Magneto-esque in his mutant-first philosophy. That felt a little overused. Still, I found the film to be a good evening out.

On Tuesday, Mer and I broke out a DVD that I had bought a few months ago called A Midwinter’s Tale. The movie was written and directed by the Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh, although he did not act in it. A Midwinter’s Tale is the story of a poor out-of-work actor who decides to put on a production of Hamlet at Christmastime in a rural village. He gets together a group of eclectic actors, and they begin rehearsals. It is wonderfully funny, especially if you love theater. The actors are very British and talk super-fast, so we did not always understand them, but for the most part, the dialogue is fine. I highly recommend A Midwinter’s Tale for any theater buffs.

On Thursday, Mer and I broke out the modern-myth story Big Fish. We had seen Big Fish before, but not in a long time. I had forgotten much of the story. The film tells the life story of an old man as he recalls his life, and it is not clear where he is telling the truth, where he is exaggerating, and where he is lying. It is a brilliant movie, and I loved it again.

On Friday, on a whim, I called up Dubbs to see if she was up for ice cream at Handel’s. She was, so Mer and I drove over to her place to pick her up, and headed over. After we ate and chatted, we went back to Dubbs’s apartment and watched the wonderfully wacky comedy Waking Ned Devine. Waking Ned Devine is the story of a small Irish village where one of the townspeople wins a huge lottery jackpot. Although it was filmed on the Isle of Man instead of Ireland, it still has gorgeous scenery, and the soundtrack of the film is amazing (if you like Irish music, which I do). The accents of the actors are charming, and the storyline is ridiculous enough to be wonderfully funny. Great movie.

I do have to say that I like summer – since Mer does not have grading to do, she has time to do fun things in the evening, which is one reason the ol’ blog has been a bit neglected of late. I like to chronicle what is going on in my life, but I like to actually live my life more. Summer is a good time.