Bookends

Last week was quiet again, but on Friday we did manage to go out to Ruby Tuesday’s in Canton. It was a good dinner, but expensive – I have reconciled myself to forty-dollar meals at Cheesecake Factory, but I am not used to it at other restaurants.

On Saturday, we had a happy day. We spent the early afternoon at Ray and Sara’s house as part of the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary. It was an informal affair, with kids running around everywhere and people dropping in and out – just how a George celebration should be. Aunt Mary was there, and we were able to see Ken and Janet as well as the George children and grandchildren. Fifty years of marriage should be celebrated, and it was a fine gathering. Somehow, the kids even tracked down all of the attendants from the wedding, so the entire wedding party was together again – that was neat.

We had to leave the party a bit early to go to a wedding celebration. Mer had her first former-student marriage. Two of her former students who’d graduated in 2007 got married a few weeks ago in South Carolina, and they were having a local celebration, to which they invited Meredith. It seemed a fitting follow-up to the fiftieth anniversary party.

The party was held at the bride’s parents’ home, which is lovely and large enough to accommodate the fifty or so people who were in attendance. I made myself comfortable on the back porch, where we could chat in smaller groups. We were both happy to see Mer’s former student Cara show up – she is quirky and fun. Also, the family of one of my Ceili Club students came, although Robyn herself could not make it. Again, it is rather nice being part of a community like CVCA – it surprises me how many places we bump into people we know.

The dinner was fabulous – it was catered, and I ate way too much. One of the caterers was one of Mer’s classmates back at CVCA, and it was the first time they had seen each other since graduation twenty years ago. Actually, that was the second such occurrence that day – the salon where Mer had gotten her hair done that morning is the workplace of another one of her classmates whom she had not seen in twenty years.

Although I will probably not be around to see it, I wish Calvin and Allison their own fiftieth anniversary party.

Later that evening, we hooked up with Dubbs and drove over to Blossom. Blossom is an outdoor concert venue, and is also the summer home of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. On Saturday, the Blossom Festival Orchestra (and men’s chorus) was being employed in providing the soundtrack to the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean. I am fond of the movie, and I liked the idea of hearing the soundtrack played live while the movie was playing, so it was an appealing evening. I had never been to the music part of Blossom before (Porthouse Theater is on the same grounds); it is massive. We had lawn seats where you sit any way you like on the grass slope of a large bowl that looks down on to the stage. We got there late enough that we were on the upper edge of the bowl, but we could still see one of the three movie screens, and we could hear just fine. It was a bit hard to see the orchestra because they were so far away, but the sound quality was excellent.

We sat in camping chairs, and we had a fun time. The orchestra did take one intermission, but otherwise played much of the two-hour movie. It was fun to see the film with the live music, and it was great to share the experience with two-thousand-plus people (it was packed) while still being able to visit with our own party. The people in front of us had some knowledge of Dubbs, and so offered us chocolate cake. I was stuffed from the wedding, but Mer and Dubbs both had some and said it was excellent. It was a happily social day.

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