Our Spring certainly was short and sweet. We had one week of nice Spring weather, then the rains and storms and tornados came and brought with it the sweltering heat. Our last night of semi-pleasing but very warm weather came on Friday night June 6. This was the night that Jackie and I took Grace to the annual Summer St. Helen’s festival - the kickoff to an exceptionally busy weekend. My favorite activity at functions such as this is people watching, noting the various tatoos, the succession of people who cannot have a good time without a cell phone in their ear, the wild hair, and the skin tight clothing. This is my idea of a good time.
Grace was oblivious to the follies of other people and just enjoyed her rides in the kiddie helicopter, the merry-go-round (although she burst into tears after the first revolution), and her two trips into the mammoth jungle-gym / obstacle course complete with a slide, a rope ladder, a ball bin, swinging bridge, and slide. Jackie just enjoyed watching Grace and listening to my varous jabs at silly people…and taking the photo of me with the green-headed lass seen below. Of course at the end of the night she played a little Bars and Bells pull-offs.
Grace calms down near the end of this thrill ride
Wait! Who’s steering this thing?
I weep for the future
The seductive removal of the little paper slats of Bars and Bells
I also had a fortuitous reunion of sorts with my old friend Karen West, whom I worked and hung out with for a brief time in 1993. It had been almost fifteen years since we had crossed paths. Meet more about her and our reunion here.
On Saturday the 7th, my intention was to get some walking in, catch some rays, and get caught up on this thar site. I got the site updated, but the rains and crummy, crummy weather insured that I remained in doors where I parked myself in front of the computer for about eight hours solid. What a time sucker! Fortunately, I had no choice but to give it a rest that afternoon and head out to my cousin Nikki’s graduation party in Bellbrook.
There was a pretty good showing from the Murphy clan and Diana brought along a CD copy of the book that she wrote. There was plenty of food and comraderie as Karen and I were victorious agains the Chris and Bev/Ed team. Chris and I also played some ping pong in which I took my paddle and gave him a royal spanking. As the victor, I coached him on the proper way to handle these white hollow balls.
The Three Musketeers: Me, Jackie, and Ed
Diana, Tom, and Mom enjoy sanwiches and intense mugginess
Soon-to-be married Debby and Mike along with her charming sister Cathy
Bryan, Erine, and Bob. Hey, is Erine really wearing a coat?
The tomato curse. Just ONE day after taking this photo, there was a statewide recall on all tomatoes. Is it possible that I am some sort of rotten tomato god?
The pink-eye that we discovered in Grace the night before worsened that afternoon and made us all want to rub our eyes in fear. Jackie had a nice time socializing with Karen and even though Nikki was mostly giving her attention to her fellow graduate friends, I made sure I didn’t miss my chance to be photographed with the graduate of honor.
The Grad and the Brad, both pretty as a picture (of what in my case?)
That night I took a brief walk in the muggy weather after we got home and Chris came over to spend the night. Even though we had a huge day planned for Sunday, that didn’t stop us from staying up past midnight watching George W. Bush and people fall down and injure themselves on You Tube.
The weekend will continue in another state…
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