On Saturday, I did a lot of running around – literally, in the morning at any rate. Shannon and I went and ran in the park for another 4.5 miles. That gave me about sixteen miles over four runs in the seven days after a marathon, which is pretty amazing for me, since it usually takes me four to seven days before I can run at all after a marathon.

After we got home and ready for the day, Mer and I decided to go downtown. I was sleepy, but Mer and I make a conscious choice to try to do something every day when we are away from home, whether that be hiking or touring or seeing theater. So, we headed downtown on the El. We started at Moody Bible Institute to drop off a package of cookies for one of Mer’s former students (we give cookies as graduation presents to students). We then walked in a direction that I thought would take us to the Water Tower. The walk took us through several cool neighborhoods we had never seen, including a block-long restaurant district, but ultimately took us about four blocks too far north. We were able to correct that, and we got to the Water Tower so we could visit Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA). The museum is small (we were able to see the whole thing in about three hours), but is full of Christian art from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Shannon and Jo recommended it highly to us, and we were not disappointed. The permanent collection is on one floor, occupying three rooms. We went through most of the works when it came time for a guided tour. Mer went and joined the tour while I rested on a bench. Although I can run for about four hours and suffer no back issues of any kind, standing in one place makes my back ache badly after just an hour or so. Mer returned with two people – a guide and a docent-in-training. Mer and I made up the entire tour, which was cool. It lasted about an hour, and they took us around to see several works. The guide kept asking us what we saw in each painting, and that was interesting to be forced to look hard at each painting. Being a bit impatient when I am not experienced in a topic, I did occasionally wish she would just jump in and tell us about the painting, but it was an informative tour. After the tour, Mer and I took a quick look at the rotating works on a different floor, but we were short on time and the works were all modern and so had less historical importance, and did not deal with Christian themes, so were less personally interesting.

We jumped back on the El and had to tromp home about a mile to Shannon’s in the rain. Shannon told us he had hoped we would just stay downtown since we were going back down to Moody (on the El, of course). We ate a quick bite, and Shannon and Mer and I headed back out in the now-rain-free evening to go see the Informal improv show. Jolene stayed home to work since she is in the middle of getting her master’s degree.

We got to the show an hour early (shocker, I know), and we were first in line. Ben and John, my former students, saw us and ran out of the auditorium to say hi. They needed to warm up, so could not chat long. Shannon and Mer and I passed the time chatting and watching the growing crowd – Informal manages to fill a four-hundred-seat auditorium twice in an evening, which is impressive. Playing to a mostly-college-aged crowd must be fantastic, given the energy in the room.

Since a ton of CVCA students end up at Moody, Mer and I saw several former students, including one of our “daughters” who was in Chicago for a concert, but had agreed to swing by the show if she could make it. That was fun. Ben’s parents came out to see their first show, so we were able to freak them out with them seeing and hearing Shannon for the first time (he is my identical twin).

The Informal show was fun. They always do about fifty percent sketch comedy (pre-planned scripted skits) and fifty percent improv. Both were well done. Informal has two new members who did very well; one of them is excellent at physical comedy, which is always a plus in an improv group. I always look to Shannon for an outsider opinion on the show since he does not know anyone, and he liked it very much, saying he would take a show of that caliber any day.

After the show, we visited with Ben and John and some other students, and then headed home on our friend the El. Mer and I stopped to pick up some Chinese food on the way back to the apartment, which we ate while watching YouTube videos Shannon and Jo wanted us to see and while we talked about the show.

We had to leave on Sunday, getting on the road about 10:30 Chicago time, which put us home about 6:00 after an uneventful drive home. It was a great weekend – a world-class city with friends and family, and theater and museums (and good public transportation).

I have two former improv students who are in an improv group called Informal – the improv group of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. I made it to two shows last year, and I wanted to try to see them again this year, so Mer and I headed out to Chicago last Thursday to see their first show of the season. But that was not until Saturday. Mer and I took Friday off from CVCA so we could spend time with Shannon and Jolene. The Thursday drive was uneventful, except I was able to tune in the Bills-Browns NFL game in on the car radio for about thirty minutes of the trip, right around South Bend. We got to Shannon’s place around 10:00 Chicago time. Jolene was already in bed since she had to work, but we stayed up to watch the last ten minutes of the game with Shannon. Sadly, the Bills lost in a close game.

Friday morning, Shannon and I went running in a nearby park while Jolene got ready for work and Mer slept in a bit. The park is very nice – the loop in it is one mile around, so Shannon and I ran there and then ran four laps before walking home to cool down, having done four and a half miles.

Jo had left for work by the time we got back, and Mer was awake. We all got ready in a leisurely  fashion, and then struck out on the two-mile walk to Anne Sather’s restaurant in Andersonville. Anne Sather’s is a favorite breakfast place for me and Mer – they have the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had, and you get two just as a side. Yum. We ate well, and then walked back, taking the opportunity to walk through some very pretty parks on the way home, although I started to feel ill from my breakfast – I’m guessing it was the rather greasy egg-and-ham burrito I had.

Shannon and I took a nap while Mer graded. We then all walked over to the El to take the train downtown to go to Magnolia – a cake shop in the Loop. Shannon swore they had the best chocolate cake on the planet, and he was pretty much right. We all got a slice of cake, and Shannon even remembered to get Jo a piece. Since we were downtown and it was after 4:00, we walked over to the building where Jo works so we could all go home together. She was pleased to see us (and the cake).

After supper (Thai take-out for everyone but me, who got pizza), we geared up to go see a play. Shannon said he had looked up the location, and Google insisted it was less than two miles away, so we should walk. Fair enough. We set off at a brisk clip, and got there a bit winded an hour later. Two miles, my eye – it was over three. We made it in time for the play, though, so that was good. The play was a small production called Set Up. It was a modern look at a blind date between two 40-ish-year-olds, who both had relationship issues from the past. Add in an over-involved waiter, a well-intentioned girl friend, and a pushy brother, and the play was funny for much of the time. It had thoughtful moments, and while certainly an exaggeration, there was much to relate to, even for someone like me who never really dated (just Meredith). It was not a heavy-hitting play, but was fun and had enough to think about not to be total fluff. It was well done.

We hoofed it back to the apartment, tired but happy. Shannon has a watch that keeps track of his steps, and it put him somewhere around 38,000 steps, which put us roughly in the region of twenty miles walked and run during the day. Not quite a marathon, but enough for us to feel pretty beat.

Last Friday was CVCA’s Homecoming football game. I enjoy football, and I like high school games, but my real passion with CVCA football is cheering on the band. Years ago, my brother told me a story of how the Williams College band claimed to be undefeated. That joke stuck with me and made me realize that the bands work hard but do not have screaming fans. About ten years ago when CVCA added a band, I decided I would be a screaming band fan. So, as often as I can make it to a home game, I stand out in front of the school and scream like a madman when the band marches by. I love it. During games, I sit as close to the band as I can, and I chat with them when I can. It is fun.

The CVCA Homecoming game also usually has a bunch of alumni show up, and this was no exception. I felt as if I had to leave early because I had a marathon I was running on Saturday morning, but Mer and I still interacted with several alumni students. We had a good time.

Saturday morning came earl,y as the Akron Marathon start was at 7:00. We got up around 4:30 and left the house around 5:15. I thought I was being clever, and we went the back way to Akron to avoid the highway traffic back-up that I thought might be there. Sadly, when we got to the “Y” bridge into Akron, it was closed for the marathon, even though it was only a little before 6:00 a. m. A kind policeman let me through on the condition that I go really slowly to avoid the crews setting up. Lesson learned – if I run Akron again, which is likely, I’ll take the highway.

We parked with little effort since I headed straight for a lot that charges five dollars to park; there were backups at the free garages. We wandered over to the start area, and I met my friend and running partner Nate Gurnish there. Akron did something new-to-me this time – they had separate starting corrals based on estimated finish times. If you had the wrong color bib, you could not get into a faster starting area. That was sweet, and made for a smoother start, although it was still very crowded for about two miles.

Mer was there to spectate, and she was able to see us four times – at the start, coming back through downtown (mile 3), at the University of Akron (mile 11), and at the finish in Canal Park stadium. I love the Akron Marathon, and the half as well; it is well run, it is (for the most part) interesting to run, it has decent crowd support, and it is close to home. Nate and I ran quite well through about mile 17, when we had to start the five-mile on-again-off-again climb out of the Valley up to Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. The hills were rough, and we had to walk a fair amount, and Nate was suffering from lack of fuel. Nate’s family was there around mile 23, which was a great pick-me-up. We finished the race without injury, in a time of 3:53:36, for a pace of 8:54/mile.

After the race, Mer and I went home, and I showered and napped while she went out to get her hair done, since we had the Homecoming Banquet for CVCA in the evening. We both got dressed up, and headed down into the Valley, to Todaro’s Party Center. It was nice – the inside had been recently renovated, and the CVCA Student Council had decked the place out. The kids were all sporting their best looks, and there were a lot of fun staff members there. The evening consisted of milling around and pictures, followed by an excellent dinner, followed by a faculty “rap-off” that was very funny and, wisely, fairly short. The evening wrapped up with various forms of line and group dancing. I was too tired to dance, but I had a good time watching the students having fun, and I got to visit with various students and faculty members. Mer and I even got a good picture taken of us by the event photographer, so we have a good paper photo to give to relations.

I got to run and then go out with my favorite person. It was a good day.

I do not usually pay much attention to mass mailings, but I recently got a mailing from Tuesday Musical, a fine-arts group in Akron, and they were sponsoring a concert by the male a cappella group Cantus. Mer and I like Cantus, so I thought we should go. As I thought about it more, I decided that Mer’s parents, Dale and Carlene, would probably like it as well, so I got four tickets. On Tuesday the 24th, we had a double date that started with supper at Cardinal Retirement Home with Dale and Carlene before we headed down to EJ Thomas Hall in Akron. No one besides myself knew where we were going, but everyone seemed pleased when we got to the venue. I dropped everyone off and parked the car before rejoining the group. Those who know me will not be surprised that we were about thirty-five minutes early, but there were comfortable couches to sit on in the lobby.

Cantus was doing a show highlighting American music through the ages, with a couple of side trips to Canada and Mexico. The music was amazing, and my only complaint was that Cantus dropped two songs from the program for some reason, and they happened to be the two songs I most wanted to hear them cover since they were folks songs with which I am familiar, and I wanted to hear their take on them. They won me back by doing Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More” for an encore. It was a pretty great evening.

A tale of two cities – Kent and Akron. On Friday, Mer and I headed over to Kent, where the Kent “Around Town Folk Festival” was happening. The Around Town Folk Festival is the new name for what was the Kent State Folk Festival, now that the festival is held all over Kent rather than just over at the university. We went there to see our friends’ band, Bethesda. Bethesda has an alternative-folk sound that varies from very folk to alternative rock. They are quite good, and the lead singer, Shanna, has one of most remarkable voices I have ever heard.

Before we headed over to the music, we did swing by Insomnia Cookies, to pick up warm peanut butter cup cookies, which we ate at the concert. Those are remarkable cookies.

On the way to the venue, which was in Acorn Alley in the spiffy new part of Kent, we ran into a couple that used to go to our church. We had met them years ago at the Kent Folk Festival, so it was fitting to run into them again. They were planning on checking out Bethesda, and so they went with us to see the concert, and they stayed for about half of it. Mer and I stayed for the whole two-hour concert, which included three songs by Alan Brooks, another colleague at CVCA. The concert was great – Bethesda had a ton of energy and sounded really good, considering they were more or less playing in a brick cave. My only complaint was that the “cave” was stuffy and humid, so it was hot for us and must have been almost oppressive for the band.

Saturday was Mer’s day, and she took us to Akron, to see the Akron Art Prize. One of Mer’s former students had a piece on display in the festival, so we wanted to go see it and vote for it. Mer thought it would be in one gallery and we would be done pretty quickly. It turns out that the festival takes place in four galleries and had over a hundred artists involved. We did see them all, and since we walked from gallery to gallery, we discovered a new area of Akron on the far side of the Martin Luther King highway – a small block of a couple of restaurants and two galleries which worked in metals and glass – very cool.

We got to vote for ten artists,which was harder to do than I thought it would be – there were some pretty cool works. The Akron Art Prize was a great surprise, and I hope to do it again next year.

After Akron, we went home and ate before heading down to North Canton to the North Canton Playhouse to see their production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Mer and I had seen Desire in Florida many years ago, and I had forgotten much of the play. It was well acted, especially by the man playing Stanley, but what a depressing play – there is no one that I feel completely behind. This led to an interesting discussion with Mer on the way home – we talked about why a morally void play like Desire is art. We came to the conclusion that it is masterfully written, and that makes it worth doing even if you can’t pull for any of the characters in the play. It was thought-provoking.

A concert, four galleries, and a play in three cities. Who says we are not cosmopolitan?

Saturday was “my” day, and it was a pretty day, so I wanted to go hiking. I also thought eating in Amish country would be grand, so I looked for hikes in that area, and I landed on Mohican State Park near Loudonville. I had heard of the park before (they have a multi-day music festival there), but I had never been. I decided to correct that.

Mohican is about an hour and a half away, but the GPS took us along a bunch of pretty back roads, which had the advantage of confusing Mer as to where we were actually going. We got to the state park and started at the camp store because it was the first place I found, I thought there would be an admission charge to the park (there was not), and we bought a couple of candy bars to tide us over until supper. The camp store was, not surprisingly, near the campground of the park, while the hiking paths were a couple of miles off, so we drove there. It was “Smokey the Bear” Saturday in the park, so there were fire trucks, including sirens, on the campground side, so I was not too sad to leave those behind.

We stopped first at the “Gorge Overlook,” which gave a good view of the Mohican Valley. It was not dramatic in a cliff sort of way, but it was worth a stop. There are no trails at the overlook, so we got back in the car and proceeded to the smaller campground.

We got to a smaller campground that was near a modern covered bridge, and was near several hiking trails. I picked one that wandered along a branch of the Mohican River. The trail was pretty primitive and in rough shape in many places. It was pretty to be right next to the river, which is very shallow and rapid in places, but we were finally forced to turn around when we got about halfway to the bigger campground; there were several tress down across the trail, and it was not so pretty as to make it worth scrambling over them just to get back to the main camping area. Oddly, on the way back to the smaller campground, we ran into two guys, one of whom was wearing a CVCA shirt. He graduated in the 90s, but his younger brother was at CVCA during my first year or two. Small world.

Once we got back to the car, we crossed the covered bridge, as I would have to – it’s a covered bridge! On the other side was a trail called Lyons Falls Trail. Well, that settled it, especially when I found out there were two falls – Big Lyons Falls and Little Lyons Falls. We struck off on the longer trail that would get to Big Lyons Falls first. Along the way, we passed a bunch of Spanish speakers, including a nun in full habit. We figured that if she could hike this trail in a habit, we could manage.

Big Lyons Falls was interesting. As a falls, it was very small, being just a trickle that ran over a large cliff and onto the trail we were on. The real sight was the cliff itself, which was in the shape of a C, which made it seem bigger as it enclosed the trail on three sides, and gave it good echo acoustics. There was a long stairway (up, of course) away from the falls that took us to the Little Lyons Falls, which were also interesting. The little falls were an even smaller trickle of water, but it plunged into a small gorge, into which Mer and I climbed partway down until we both thought it safer to go back. Mer was a game soul.

The Lyons Falls path took us up to Pleasant Hill Lake, an artificial lake that was dammed by an earth dam on one end. There was a small overflow outlet that accounted for the branch of the Mohican River along which we had been hiking. We wandered around the dam area, and then went down the steep hill on the other side, pausing to be amused by two teens rolling down the hill for the fun of it. We took a path back to the smaller campground, and along the way heard a group of Christians across the river singing songs. The acoustics of the valley were such that you could hear them for a long time after we passed them.

 It was late afternoon when we got back to the car, so we decided to go find a restaurant. I used the GPS to find a restaurant with the word “Amish” in it, so we ended up at Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen. We had been there once before a few years ago. The food was pretty good, although we skipped the buffet – it looked a little smaller than some we had seen in Amish country, and I did not really need to eat multiple servings. We did skip dessert since I wanted to stop at the Amish Door on the way home to get whoopie pies. Sadly, the GPS sent us way out of the way for some reason, but we eventually found our way when Mer remembered the name of the town in which the Amish Door is located. We got there about ten minutes before they closed, so the dessert day was saved. We got dessert to go and headed home. I liked Mohican, especially the Lyosn Falls Trail, but I’m not sure it demands a quick re-visit.

Last Saturday was Mer’s day, but she did not have any plans until the afternoon, so it gave me time to run a twenty-mile run with Nate, which is the last long run until the Akron Marathon on the 28th. Of course, one of the kitties had played with my Nike+ receiver that keeps track of my running distances and speeds, so the long run went unrecorded; happily, I found the receiver the next day, ironically under my treadmill.

In the early afternoon, we headed up to Cleveland, to the area around the Cedar Lee Theater, to see Mer’s friend and former classmate Jill. We had a grand visit with Jill in her apartment, talking about music (mostly Over the Rhine) and eating french fries from the shop downstairs from the apartment. Later in the afternoon the three of us went over to the Case Western area to check out MOCA – the Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum itself is worth seeing – it is a funky building with lots of angles and glass. I’m not much of a modern art appreciator, although I do like some of it on occasion. Most of the art in MOCA was very abstract and did not excite me too much. I liked a small building made out of found and rescued stained glass, and I liked some sheets of colored paper that had been exposed to the sun, one day at a time, to form a sun-faded calendar. One hallway was “painted” in different colored lights with music playing that had that color in the title of the song, and that was fun. It was good to see another museum in Cleveland, and we went on a free-admission day, and the museum is easily toured in ninety minutes since it is only three small floors.

After a brief swing back to Jill’s apartment, we headed over to Shaker Square to meet up with Jill’s family to go to the Shaker Square Garlic Festival. The festival is two blocks long and celebrates garlic. The food we tried was excellent, and we saw the entire festival in about an hour. It was very enjoyable, and great weather for it. The only downside was admission – it was $8 each and that just got you into the festival – food was extra. I’m glad to have done it once, but $16 is too much for two people to then pay even more for expensive food.

As if the french fries and garlic festival were not enough, we headed over to Little Italy to meet up with one of Jill’s friends, also named Jill. Jill-2 lives right on the edge of Little Italy, so we walked there from her place. We went to Mama Santa’s restaurant, which is known for pizza, so of course I got pasta. The pizza that Mer and Jill-1 got looked really good, so I will get pizza next time. After supper, Mer and I picked up too many deserts from an Italian bakery, which we took home with us and ate back home. First, we walked back to Jill-2’s place, and then took Jill-1 back home before heading home ourselves. We did not quite eat our way through Cleveland, but we managed three distinct areas.

Saturday was my day, and I’m happy to say we did not do too much. We headed down to Hartville, to the Hartville Kitchen, where we picked up a wedding gift that Mer had ordered two months ago (the order was delayed several times for various reasons), and of course we ate in the Kitchen itself. They have pretty amazing food, and it is all comfort food.

We went home, where we both took really long naps. We followed that up by my renting the superhero cartoons Justice League:  Doom and Batman:  The Mystery of Batwoman. Neither was amazing, but both were entertaining. Doom was more serious and for an older audience, but Batwoman was based on the classic Batman:  The Animated Series. I enjoyed them both.

That was the sum of the events of the day. Sometimes lazy days are pretty great.

Sometimes puttering during the week has serious aspects. I worked with John Schwarz at CVCA for ten years. He died last week from cancer at the age of eighty-five, and his calling hours were on Tuesday. It was a sad occasion with some happy aspects. I will miss John, of course, but it was good to see former students who showed up to pay their respects. John was a brilliant man, and we talked pretty often. The greatest advice he ever gave me was to tell me that my body must age, but that I did not have to get old. John disliked old people, and he never became one, always creating and reading and living.

On Wednesday, Zach and Londa came over, and we had supper together while watching a BBC show called The Power of Art, this episode being on the life and art of Rothko. Zach is a Rothko fan, so I wanted him to see it. Unfortunately, Mer was at the hospital with her dad, who had an urgent but non-life-threatening medical issue, so she missed the evening, not getting home until almost 10:00. I had Mer’s assurance that I could stay home, and I had a good time with Zach and Londa.

On Thursday, we headed down to North Canton to visit with Aunt Mary. She took us to a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant called Mama Guzzardi’s. The food was great, and it was a cozy place inside. We did not get to visit long after supper, but I enjoyed the time we did get to spend together. These are the ways to live a life.

Saturday was Mer’ s day, although she was gracious enough to let me carve out my Saturday morning long run on the Towpath (sixteen miles, in this case). Running turned out to be the theme of the day, because after I got back home and ready for the day, we jumped in the car and headed an hour southeast, to McDonald, to see the CVCA cross country team at the Billy Goat Invitational.

The Billy Goat invitational is held in a park, and runs (roughly) the same course twice to get in the five kilometers. It is a perfect spectators’ race – we were able to see the runners seven times with minimal walking on our part. The race ends with an infamous hill into the finish line. Saturday was dry, but I have heard tell of people pulling themselves up the hill using hands when the hill gets muddy. It is a rough ending to a hard race. CVCA’s guys ran well, coming in second out of thirteen teams. The girls’ team had a harder time, with some of the top runners out because of injury. It was a great day to watch a high school race again, and we got to catch up with the junior high coach (and our friend) Jordan.

After the race, Mer had us head to West Branch Reservoir. I was shocked that on such a beautiful day there were not more people at the beach, but that was the case. It was by no means empty, but it was not crowded. We only went to the beach after we had to give up on hiking the trail system, which was mosquito-infested because of the recent rains. The beach was a fine place to stroll, though – we took off our shoes and wandered the whole length of the beach and back, wading in the water. It was not a huge beach, but it took about ten minutes to walk it in each direction.

We then headed home, where Mer decided we should play Jeopardy! on the Wii video game console. That worked out well for Mer- she won handily. All hard feelings were taken care of with a trip to Handel’s for ice cream.