Yesterday (Saturday) was an odd day in that it got off to a really late start. I was supposed to go running with Nate, meeting him at 6:00 on the Towpath Trail, but when I got up, it was pouring and in the middle of a thunderstorm. So, we cancelled the run, but then I could not get back to sleep. After an hour, I gave up trying to go back to sleep, and I noticed that the rain had stopped. I checked the radar online, and I guessed I had about forty-five minutes to go running, so I went out and ran 4.3 miles, getting back to the house just as the next wave of storms came through. I showered and got on the computer and got caught up on writing blog entries, and by then it was about 10:00 and I was sleepy. I headed back to bed, just as Mer was waking up; she was happy in thinking I had finally gotten a good night’s sleep, when in fact I was going back to bed. I got up to help Mer with a grocery list and ate some breakfast, and then I went back to bed around 11:00. I was then interrupted by two robo-calls on the phone, and I finally fell asleep at some point, waking up around 2:00 just as Mer was returning home from visiting her parents and going to the store. So, “the day” started around 2:00.

I wanted to get out and about, so I wanted to go hiking in a nearby park over in Stow, the next town over. We went there and set out on the trail, but we had to turn back after about five minutes because the bugs were so thick. Usually, this time of year the bugs are not an issue, but this month has been unusually rainy, so the mosquitoes were out in force.

My Plan B evolved on the fly as I remembered it was the Italian Festival in downtown Cuyahoga Falls, so we headed over there to wander through the streets. There were a good number of people, and there were lots of “fair food” carts, some real Italian food offerings, and even some carnival games. We got to the far end of the grounds when we heard a band playing in the bandstand, so we walked toward it as Mer realized they were playing “It’s a Grand Old Flag,” which was an interesting choice for an Italian festival. We stopped and listened to the very excellent band for about thirty minutes, and they played mostly patriotic songs and musical medleys. Mer accurately noted that the Italian Festival has better food, but the Cuyahoga Falls Irish Festival has more culturally relevant entertainment.

We wandered along the river after the band wrapped up, and we saw there was equipment next to and even on the river, getting ready to take down one of two dams along the Cuyahoga River in an effort to return the river to a natural state. It will be interesting to see how the river changes. We wandered down to the Sheraton Hotel, and then up to the street level. I thought I had seen a boardwalk along the river from the highway, and so we continued along the street until we came to a small park about which we had not known about – the Highbridge Glens park. The park was small, but quite interesting, with a footbridge over the river (the footbridge was blocked on the far side by the highway) that offered amazing views of the river and the gorge below. There was also a small boardwalk that wound down to an observation platform. We even saw a bridal party having pictures taken in the park. It was a good find.

We made our way back to the street and then back toward the car. Along the way, we stopped at the entrance of the Italian Festival to watch the bocce tournament going on. It was being played by eight middle-aged and older men, and they were really competitive. It was amusing to see how seriously the game was being taken.

We went home, where I made supper, and we watched two episodes of Lost on DVD. We managed to have a pretty good day, given how late we started.

Today (Sunday), we had the last of this year’s graduation parties. The party was for Joseph, and we were very close to Joseph’s older sister while she was at CVCA, and so we’ve known Joseph for the last three years or so. We also know Joseph’s extended family pretty well, with one of his relatives teaching English at CVCA. The party was small, but quite fun, with a very talented three-man band playing music mostly from the 50s and 60s. We got to catch up with our colleague Lesa and her husband Jay, and we ate quite a bit of good food. We got to dance to two of the songs played, and we talked for some time with Joseph and his sister. It was a mellow ending to “the season.”

After the party, we swung by Dale and Carlene’s place to visit. We only stayed for about thirty minutes, but that is the joy of having Mer’s parents so close at hand – we can visit whenever we like, so there is no pressure to fit in long visits every time we see them. The “drop by” visit is pretty satisfying in its own right.

We ended the day by finishing off some ice cream we had on hand and by listening to Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!