Memorial Day Weekend, Part 4

Lori and I caught the 11:10 ferry to Detour, and then headed up to the church to meet Mom and Dad.

On the way, we saw the "Open" sign at the bar on the corner was on, and there were already patrons sitting outside sunning themselves..

We looked at the bar sign, then the church...

...the bar sign....

...the church...

...the bar...

...and we went to....

...church, of course. But it was fun to dream.

Bastard Toadflax - An Interlude

So Dad and Lori and I were cleaning out the cabin's rain gutters when I stuck a barbecue fork into the downspout and pulled out.... a toad!

I was so surprised that I dropped him all the way to the deck--about 11 or 12 feet.

He just sat there, stunned, for most of the afternoon, until later when we found him lounging on a chair cushion.

By then, we had named him Bastard Toadflax, after a wildflower Dad was talking about.

Lori took him over to a flower pot a bit later, and he was still there the next day.

We hope li'l Bastard has found a new home!

Memorial Day Weekend, Part 3

On Friday night we went over to Detour to see a local production of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit." They did a nice job, actually.

Saturday Lori and I went over to Chuck's Place for our regular fish sandwich. Missy was our waitress, and the sandwich rocked as usual.

Later, we watched the Cards get beat by the Cubs at Wrigley, then we played Euchre.

Coming next: Bastard Toadflax!

Memorial Day Weekend, Part 2

Today (Friday) was planting day, the biggest chore day, and we had a spectacular day to do it--74 degrees, clear skies and a light breeze from the SW.

We put the XM on country stations, then on the Cards/Cubs game from Wrigley.

We got everything in, then Dad got his wind sock up, and we rested.

Tonight we're going to a play over at Detour.

Memorial Day Weekend, Part 1

Before leaving for our annual Memorial Day trip to Drummond, we put out....bunting! I've been wanting bunting for years, and we saw some when we were out the other day, so we snapped up a couple.

Then Thursday morning we were up at 5:00, and out of the house by 6:10, getting through the Eisenhower traffic after a few delays and hitting the Dan Ryan by around 6:30.

We had great weather, and got to the Mackinaw Bridge by around 3:00 ET. We caught the 4:40 ferry from Detour to the island, getting to the cabin just in time for happy hour.

More soon!

First Fish Fry...

...of 2010 was this weekend. But before we could do it, we needed to get some flowers out in the backyard, which we did last Sunday. Here we are, modeling our brand new gardening gloves.

Then we wanted to spruce up the fish fryer's windscreen that I made a couple of years ago--it's a necessity here in Chicago unless you want to keep relighting the fryer every 30 seconds. So I painted it blue, then Lori painted figures on it--a catfish, a fishcat, and a fish skeleton. Isn't it cool?

We had over our friends Nancy and Steve, and Sharon and Stacey (Nancy and Sharon work with Lori). We had catfish and hushpuppies, Nancy and Steve brought kale salad and watermelon, Sharon and Stacey brought appetizers of deviled eggs, asparagus, and cucumber sandwiches, and Lori made sweet potato fries and her famous berry cobbler. One of these pictures is blurry--sorry about that. (Think I was a little blurry when I took it.)

The night before, we met at Fitzgerald's with folks from the library's children's department to hear a Beatles tribute band, American English. Of course I forgot the camera. But if we can get some photos or videos from others, I'll post them.

I'd just like to recommend the group to you if you get the chance to hear them. Aside from the fact that most of them looked to be in their 40s, they were very convincing in the music and mannerisms.

The first set was incredible--as the early Beatles. The second set they came out in the Sgt. Pepper uniforms, and it was good, but not as good as the first set. We left before the third set, so I don't know what they did there--probably White Album, Let it Be and Abbey Road stuff.

My biggest disappointment was they didn't do anything from my favorite three albums--Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul, and Revolver, the latter of which is considered by most reviewers as their very best.

But, go see them if you get the chance--the first set alone is worth it. They were a real, performing rock band then, and the songs from that era were mostly recorded "live" (in single takes--no overdubbing) in the studio.

Mothers' Day

Lori heard from all three of her kids and got a new shirt on Mothers' Day.

Then we went shopping and found the perfect set of shelves for the bathroom.