Last Tuesday, Mer took me up to Cleveland, to Playhouse Square, for an Educators’ Evening. The Playhouse puts on these evenings for teachers, at which they give a presentation on the play, feed us, and let us see the play, and all for free. It is an amazing program, and I am thrilled that they go out of their way to treat teachers so well.

I was excited this evening because the play was Lombardi, a semi-fictional play about the famous Green Bay Packers head coach. I was looking forward to the talk about the show to see what the Playhouse drew out of the script or found challenging about the material. I was a bit surprised, and a little disappointed, when the presentation for the evening focused on grant applications and writing grants. It was a well-done presentation and was probably very helpful to many of the teachers there, but from my selfish perspective, I had been hoping for a more theater-specific focus. Still, they fed us, and the evening was all free, so all was well.

We did get to go to the public pre-show talk about Coach Lombardi and the show itself. The lecture was good, but was given by a very soft-spoken college student who had to put up with some flak from those in the back rows who could not hear her. She was a fun person who threw out small footballs when people answered her questions, and she gave us some background on Lombardi’s life and how he rose up through coaching ranks. He was also a family man, although he seems to have had quite a temper. The play explored those aspects of Lombardi through a fictional situation in which the playwright had a reporter live with the Lombardis for two weeks.

The play itself was excellent. Coach Lombardi was played by the same intense actor who had been the lead in the play Red that we saw last spring. It is a credit to the actor that he was able to play two very different roles, and that after just a few minutes I forgot all about the artist of Red and only saw Vince Lombardi. Lombardi’s wife was played by a tough but lovable actress who was fully believable as the woman who supported Lombardi from home. The cast was small – just the Lombardis, the young actor who played the reporter, and three actors playing football players.

The script did a nice job of weaving human interest throughout a play that also featured football. The players and the reporter had back-stories that slowly came out throughout the play. It was pretty fantastic for me – I love both theater and football, so this was a great evening of entertainment. Add in that it was a Tuesday and it felt as if we were “getting away” with something by going out on a school night, and it was a good time indeed.

Last Saturday was Mer’s day, and we headed back to Holden Arboretum. Our year-long membership ends in October, and Mer wanted to make sure we’d hiked all the trails there. This time we headed to the western and northern trails, which are the most rugged, involving quite a few stairs and some rough spots on the trail. The longest main trail we hiked along more or less followed a stream, and was very isolated and pretty. We only ran into people twice on all the remote trails that we were on over the couple of hours we were hiking.

We did also hike in a field section of the arboretum as well. Mer likes to be complete in her hiking, and the maps showed a trail through the meadow, so we did our best to follow it. I think we stayed on it, but it got a bit hard to follow in places in the field. In all, we hiked about four miles, and we are pretty sure we have covered all of the major trails at Holden. We’ll have to go back in the spring to see the new rhododendron garden addition, but for now, we’ve gotten our money’s worth out of our membership.

In the evening, Mer took me out to eat, and she chose an Indian restaurant called Raj Mahal. I had not had Indian food in several years, and now I remember why – it is too spicy for me. I got the mild version of my chicken-and-rice dish, and the spices still made me slightly ill. Mer loved her food; I expect it is because she is naturally hot.

On Friday, Mer and I headed over to Kent, to the Kent Stage, to see a concert by the Canadian duo Dala. We are both big fans of Dala – they have a great sound featuring tight harmonies, and they play guitars, ukelele, and piano during their concerts. They are funny and engaging performers, and they really do like each others as best friends, which adds to their on-stage energy and chemistry. They ad lib a lot of conversation between songs, and they seem just to be themselves. The sang for almost two hours, and then encouraged people to come see them in the lobby. Mer and I waited in line to say hi and to thank them, and they seemed very real. They are a great group, and I look forward to the next time they come to town.

Last Saturday was a treat for Mer and me. One of our students kindly gave us free admission tickets to go to the Ohio Renaissance Festival, which is located a little over two hours south of us, south of Columbus. I had not been to a renaissance fair in over fifteen years, and Mer had never been to one before, so we were both pretty excited.

It was a very pretty day, sunny and not too hot, although it had rained as we’d driven down, so the grounds were a bit muddy. We got to the festival too late to see the opening ceremony, but we were still early enough on the grounds to have the place largely to ourselves. The fair sits on about thirty-five acres, and is organized roughly in a circle. We decided to walk the circuit to get our bearings, and that was when we hit our first surprise – the vendors in the shops along the road are very aggressive in pitching their wares. They call you out and try to embarrass you into buying flowers or clothing or jewelry “for the pretty lady.” The vendors stayed in character, and they were pressuring without being obnoxious,  but it took me aback a bit, since I am a shy boy and have a hard time blowing people off. I succeeded in not buying anything during the day, though, so I managed (we also had free vouchers for lunch, so we did not even have to pay for food).

The fair’s main attractions are the shows. There are five or six stages around the grounds, and they have various acts throughout the day. We could not make every show, since they overlapped, but we did a good job of being efficient in our viewing. The actors make their living based on tips from the audience, so we did tip each act, although looking back on it, we probably should have tipped more than the $2 per act we did. We can make it right next year.

We started the day’s shows by catching the end of a sword dueling show. The swordsmen were funny and skilled, and it reminded me that after my brother had seen real swordsmen go at it, he decided these movies where a novice hold his own against a master are pure lies. These guys really were good, even in goofing off.

We proceeded over to the “Muditorium,” a theater that featured a mud pit. Three actors did a very cut-down version of Beowulf, where the story had almost no resemblance to the real tale, but existed in large part to make three full-grown men wallow around in the mud. It was much fun. We had been tipped off to sit back in the audience, and with good reason – the first five rows were in the splash zone of mud, and people sitting in the front row were freely and deliberately splashed with mud. The show lasted about thirty minutes, and was very funny (and muddy).

We proceeded from there to the next theater over to see a juggling act. It was a man and a woman, and we were curious as to how they met – he looked to be over forty, and she was in her early twenties. They were excellent – they juggled fire and large objects, and the woman did some contortion. They had a couple of skits that involved audience members, which is always a good time.

We then headed back to the Muditorium to see their production of Dante’s Inferno. Again, it largely existed to get the men muddy, but they also hauled a woman up on stage to be the beloved one whom Dante was trying to reach. Happily, she remained dry and clean, but they used her as a foil for much humor. By this time, the day (and the mud) was warming up, so that even in the twelfth row (where we were sitting), we got splashed with mud once. Impressive.

We caught other shows throughout the day. We saw a retelling of the Robin Hood/Maid Marian tale that used audience children, and that show may have been my favorite, since they set the kids up to kiss often, which has inherent humor value when watching eight-year-olds. We saw a human chess match, and saw real jousting twice (very impressive and looks as if it hurts a ton), and we saw two washerwomen try to catch men picked from the audience. It was a pretty great day.

There were a ton of people “in garb” – that is, in costume. We saw a lot of people wearing elf-ear extensions, and lots of cloaks and impressive leather boots. We saw one woman dressed as Spock, which was a delightful nod to the show The Big Bang Theory, in which one of the characters goes to a renaissance fair dressed as Spock in order to study all the anachronisms that bother him.

We had a wonderful time, and on the way out, a woman from the wall who had tried to sell me flowers called me out and asked where my flowers were. When I said I had none, she made me kiss Mer there at the gate. When I did, the women on the wall all cheered. It was fun, and I hope we get back next year.

On Friday, I took Mer out as part of our fourteenth anniversary celebration. As you may remember, on our actual anniversary back on August 8th, I took her to Steak ‘n Shake after a failed attempt to go to a pizza buffet that Mer had wanted to try (the pizza buffet had closed). At the time, I realized it was a lame anniversary celebration, but that was fine, as I was planning on using the generous gifts we received from friends and family to fund multiple dates throughout September. Friday was the first installment.

We drove out to Lorain College, a forty-five-minute trip. We had gotten all dressed up, which was not required, but was fun and celebratory. I had wanted to bring Mer to our second visit to The Big Broadway Singalong, an evening of singing Broadway tunes. We had done the show last year and really enjoyed it. It did not disappoint this time, either. It helped that with one exception of a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, we were by far the youngest people in the room. That does not happen much anymore, and made us feel pretty glamorous, which was also helped in that no one else dressed up. We were pretty happening.

The music was much fun. The singing lasted almost two hours, as we sang thirty-eight songs. It absolutely flew by. Mer and I knew the vast majority of the songs, having to skip only two or three of them because we did not know them. During intermission, the hosts of the evening even commented on our knowing the songs (their notice of us was helped by our being seated in the front row). It surprised them that two younger (youngish?) people would know so many older Broadway tunes. The oldest songs were from 1904, and the latest songs were from the late 1980s (for Phantom). Most of the songs were from the forties through the sixties. It was a grand evening for singing, and I hope it redeemed my lame anniversary date.

Last Sunday was the last of our ten-month-long wedding extravaganza. Sunday was Steve and Rose’s wedding, our seventh wedding in the last ten months. Steve and Rose were both CVCA students, and Steve was one of the founding members of my Royal Fools improv group. Steve and Rose have been dating since their senior year at CVCA seven years ago, and they are a very cute couple, so I was excited for their wedding.

In addition to the fun of the wedding itself, Mer and I love catching up with Steve and Rose’s classmates. We were both pretty close to that class of students, and we have stayed in touch with that particular group of friends. It was a very good time to get to see them again at a wedding and reception.

The wedding was lovely, and was held in a private room of an orchard/restaurant. The ceremony was originally supposed to be outside, but the skies looked as if they might rain, and it had rained earlier in the day, so we ended up inside. One very funny and fun moment – the bridal party came in from outside, and had to pass a huge window that looked into the room where we were seated. To keep the proper suspense about seeing Rose, the wedding coordinator hid her behind a large umbrella so we could not see her go by. It was very cute. The ceremony was quite good, with the minister giving some points on how to make a marriage work, which included things like “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” The minister also read the love chapter from Corinthians, reading most of chapter 13. That was good to hear, since Mer and I had been a bit snippy at each other of late, and it helped us both reflect on how we should be better to each other. Toward the end of the ceremony, Steve and Rose also tied two pieces of rope together with a strong knot, and that was cool. They also personalized the ceremony with a recessional to the theme from the original Star Trek movie. That was great.

The reception was much fun, starting with the popular-with-us “candy bar” in addition to appetizers. The “candy bar” was new to us with this round of weddings – it is a bar area with various candies available as part of the pre-meal munching. In this case, it included full-sized packages of M&Ms as well as other candies. Yum. The real appetizers were also excellent (cheese and crackers and Swedish meatballs and such). Mer and I sat with Matt and Clarice, and we had a great time getting caught up with them. We had not seen Matt in awhile, so it was very good to hear how he was doing. Mer and I were both pleased that when we went over to see the cake, we saw that there was a second small cake with a TARDIS on it, from the science fiction show Doctor Who.

The bridal party arrived and a buffet dinner was served. Steve and Rose cut the cake after supper, and then the dancing started. The DJ did a decent job of mixing slow songs with line dances and with faster songs. Mer and I danced the slow songs and did some basic swing dances to many of the faster songs. It was gratifying to put the lessons to good use, including being out on the floor at times when many of the younger folks were all sitting down. We closed the party out at about 10:30 and headed home. We’re both very happy for Steve and Rose, but sad that we do not have another wedding on our social horizon for the first time in over a year.

Last Saturday was Mer’s day to be in charge, and she decided to head back to the Holden Arboretum for the afternoon. We joined Holden as members last October, so Mer wants to see if we can see all the trails in the arboretum before our membership runs out.

We were aiming to be there at 1:15 for a tour, but got there a little late, as there was a detour around construction, and I got pulled over for speeding; I had missed the sign that signified a change in speed limit, and was going 41 in a 25 mph zone. The officer was pleasant and let me off with a warning, but it did make us a little late for our tour. Happily, we were the only people scheduled for the tour, and the tour leader welcomed us and ran though her tour. We had an informative thirty-five minutes or so of touring the Butterfly Garden looking for and learning about butterflies. I learned that butterflies fly during the day, whereas most moths fly at night; also, moths rest with their wings horizontal while butterflies rest with their wings in a vertical position. We learned the fun fact that butterflies “pump” up their wings with fluid when they first come out of their cocoon. We saw four or five different kinds of butterflies, including a very pretty monarch butterfly.

At 2:00, we headed back into the Visitor Center to meet up with our next tour leader, a former English/biology teacher. She was going to take us on the ninety-minute Highlights Trail tour, which shows off a good selection of the arboretum without being too long or too difficult. We had covered most of the ground before on our own, but it was good to have someone narrating a tour and to learn things about the arboretum, such as how it has to dredge the ponds to keep them from filling in with sediment from all of the organic material. We also (sort of) encountered a five-foot-long snake in a shed on the side of a trail. I hate snakes, so I did not go in, but Mer confirmed that it was pretty big and that it had just eaten something. Ugh. We learned about the new area under construction, which is going to be an expansion of the rhododendron garden and looks as if it will be pretty spiffy.

We finished up our tour, but before we left, Mer wanted to check out the one area in the southern part of the arboretum that we had missed when we had been there a couple of weeks ago – the Conifer Collection. We wandered over to where the map said there was a trail, but we only found a large field with some fir trees in it. We wandered around the collection of fir trees, and are convinced that that was the collection, although we never actually found a trail. We headed back to the car, and went home.

Last week was a rough week at work. The first two weeks of a new school year are always rough, but this year was a doozy, with lots of odd software problems. Friday was particularly rough, and by Friday afternoon, I had more or less had my fill of people. So, for the first time in years, I told Mer I was skipping the CVCA picnic.

Every year, CVCA has a picnic for the faculty and staff and their families. It is generally a good time, and I like my colleagues. Last Friday, though, I needed some downtime. I did make a dessert to send to the picnic with Mer, who still went. I stayed home and watch an old episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I did manage to muster myself out of my self-imposed exile to continue my band-cheering tradition. As often as I can make it to a CVCA home football game, I go early and cheer like mad as the band marches to the stadium. I like it, and the kids think it is weird but seem to appreciate it. I did manage to get to CVCA in time to cheer the band, and then I (sort of) watched the football game until halftime. Several former students to whom Mer and I are close came up in the stands to visit me (and Mer, when she arrived in the second quarter), so I split my attention between them and the game. I’m afraid it was not much of a game. CVCA has been good for years, but this game we were behind 35-0 at the half. I did enjoy the band’s halftime show, which is playing music from the musical Les Mis. Mer and I left after halftime.

Saturday was a very mellow day. I was still in a slightly irritated mood from the rough week, and I also had to cut my Saturday morning run short because of back problems, so I was really put out. It was “my” day, so I decided we should stay in and watch The Dark Night, the second of the most recent Batman movies. That was pretty much it for Saturday.

Last Thursday, Mer and I headed up to eastern Cleveland to meet up with her friend Jill. Jill is a fun person, so Mer and I were both looking forward to the evening. Plus, Jill was recommending we go to the very cool Coventry neighborhood. Coventry has great restaurants and unusual shops.

We started the evening with a fantastic dinner at Tommy’s. Mer and I had been to Tommy’s a couple years ago, and were happy to be going back. The food was excellent, and Tommy’s has pretty good art on the wall. This time, it was really spiffy thread drawings that I liked quite a bit. Tommy’s also endears itself to us because one of the main entrances into the restaurant is to and from a book store, where we spent a few minutes browsing.

Jill then encouraged us to check out the local toy store, saying we would like it. She was quite right. The store has lots of original fifties-through-eighties toys in stock for sale, and has lots of currently produced, but retro in style, merchandise. There were Star Wars action figures and comic book heroes and cartoon characters from the eighties and gag gifts and old video games and more. The place was crammed with interesting things, and we spent about an hour in there. It is a great place.

We dropped Jill off at her place and headed home, as we had to work on Friday. A great meal and reliving my youth are hard to beat for a way to spend an evening.

Saturday was Mer’s day, and she started us out by heading north to the Holden Arboretum. We are members there, so we get in free, and Mer wanted to see if we could make a good attempt at walking all the trails there before our membership runs out in October.

It was a sunny and slightly hot day, but pretty in the shade. Happily, most of the trails were in the shade. We got a trail map, and Mer took us on the 1.5-mile-long Bole Woods Trail. The woods trail was pretty, but I was surprised at how quickly the trail looped back on itself. I guess I am used to the longer trails in the park system around our house. We followed that walk by about two miles through the fenced-in Rhododendron Garden (it is fenced to keep deer out). The rhododendrons were mostly past bloom, but it is a serene and beautiful garden to walk in, with small ponds and lots of bushes and trees. We spent quite a lot of time wandering the maze of trails in the garden.

We headed back to the parking lot using a circuitous route of trails, stopping off at an observation tower meant for kids. It overlooked a marshy area that was fairly dry, as we have had little rain of late. We had the tower and environs to ourselves, and although not jaw-dropping scenery, it was pleasant. We finished off our trail walk and got back to the car, where we headed southwest, where we eventually stopped off at a Panera for supper. Panera is not the most romantic of places, but we had a gift card, and the food is very good.

The ultimate destination of the evening, though, was Chagrin Falls. Chagrin Falls is a very cute town with a walking path, a river, a dramatic set of falls, cute shops and good restaurants, and a small but very good community theater. We found a parking spot in a lot on the far side of the falls, which forced us to walk past them. As such, we discovered that there were stairs down to the foot of the falls, which we checked out. I was mad that I had forgotten my camera; it was quite lovely in the evening light.

We wandered over to the theater, where Mer picked up tickets to the sold-out evening’s performance of the musical Hairspray. We still had time before we had to be in our seats, so we used it to wander along the river above the falls along a beautiful walking path. We swung through a couple of blocks of the town on the way back to the theater, just to check out the town. Since the two main ice cream places are right around the falls, the area was pretty busy.

We got back to the theater in time and found our seats. Mer had found out about the show through one of her students. The student, Abby, had a part in the chorus. Normally, the chorus seems like a minor role, but they were on stage a lot of the time. Hairspray has lots of big song-and-dance numbers, so there were lots of times where ten or more people were on stage at the same time.

Briefly, Hairspray is a musical that takes place in Baltimore in the early 1960s and is about a chunky girl with big hair who loves the pop music of the day. She follows her music and her dreams and lands a spot on a whites-only TV music show, and she shows off dance moves she learned from black friends. The musical manages to stay fluffy and tongue-in-cheek while having a plot line of integrating the TV program. There is a lot of humor and the music is catchy.

The Chagrin Valley Little Theater did a marvelous job with the show. They had a ten-piece (or so) orchestra on the stage at the back of the stage, and they really did have a huge cast. All of the main players were excellent, and there were only one or two bit roles where the acting seemed a bit forced at times. The music was top-notch. I was really impressed that a small community theater could put on such a large musical. The only issue they had was with the sound system – the microphone on the lead was acting up and buzzing at times. Happily, it only happened a few times, so it did not take away from the overall show.

Mer and I had been to the Chagrin Valley Little Theater last winter, and it was nice to come back when it was not snowing and when we could wander around the town some. I’m looking forward to going back this upcoming season.