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.