Driving Miss Lori

On Friday (5/22) we got up early and headed north, through Indiana into Michigan and toward the upper peninsula. We left Sam in charge of the house and Harley, with fingers crossed.


We stopped for breakfast at a Big Boy, as is our custom, then for lunch in Mackinaw City.


The last leg of the 9-hour trip began with the Mackinaw Bridge, shown here, (the island seen from the bridge is Mackinaw Island) and ended with the Drummond Island Ferry, also here.


Coming soon: Greg, the woodsman.

Cam's Graduation, Day 3

On the third day, we brunched. Shelley had to leave early in the morning, so Lori drove her to Midway.

Then the rest of us met Tom and Christine Daggett at the Wishbone for brunch. Several of us had crab cakes with Hollandaise sauce. Several of us had Spicy Bloody Marys, but some of us just had tea or coffee.

After we ate, Tom and Christine invited us over to look at their progress in getting their house ready to put up for sale. They've made a lot of progress, actually, but Lori and I are glad they are them and we are us. They have a lot more to do.

Jamie and Sam put some air in the tires of a neighbor's tandem the Daggetts have been keeping in their garage, and we took turns taking it for a spin.

In the late afternoon, Sam and Cam drove Neely and Jamie to Midway for their flight, then Sam drove Cam home and hung out there for awhile, before coming back home.

Meanwhile, Lori and I basked in the afterglow of a very fun weekend!

Cam's Graduation, Day 2, Part 2

Back at the house, we were joined by Marlis and Glenn, who brought snacks--deviled eggs, cheesy puffs and bacon-wrapped pineapple.

It was just warm enough to sit outside while I cooked mushroom-onion cheddar burgers and corn-on-the-cob. Add to those, cole slaw, baked beans and Mama Lori's mac and cheese, and it was quite a feast.

We did have a very tasty chocolate-chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling, but we forgot to take a picture of it before we started cutting it up. It said "Congratulations Cameron!" and IIT in red on it, and had a little black diploma and mortarboard cap, IIT's colors being red and black.

Later, most of the folks played games til late in the evening.

Coming soon: brunch with Tom and Christine Daggett.

Cam's Graduation, Day 2, Part 1

So Graduation Day came, and Cameron decided to skip the large, impersonal morning ceremony, meaning he would meet the rest of us at the Campus Center at about noon. The ceremony itself was about an hour and featured 30 graduates from the Humanities and Social Sciences departments. Greg emceed it, and got to personally hand Cameron his diploma (well, his diploma cover).

IIT provided a light lunch and desserts and a champagne toast at the ceremony's end. Then we walked over to Greg's office to put his regalia back, and took some pictures in front of the building.

Up next: let's get the party started!

Cam's Graduation Party, Day 1

Last Friday, Shelley, Neely and Jamie arrived (in that order) for Cameron's graduation and party. Lori had picked Sam up at Bradley U in Peoria on Wednesday. We stayed up fairly late talking and anticipating the big day on Saturday.

Twelfth Night on Navy Pier

We went to see Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or What You Will" on April 22nd at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and got a little lagniappe.

We drove in after work, parked and had a sandwich and a beer, then went into the theater for the show. The set was amazing, as you can see. The play begins with a shipwreck, and is filled with watery metaphors and imagery, so they built a pool on/in the stage, and the actors were in and out of the water all night long. The water was at times the ocean, at times a swimming pool in the courtyards of the two noble characters in the play, but it was never distracting or used gratuitously--it was integrated perfectly. And it was fun to see all the traditional Elizabethan costumes get soaked.

At the intermission, we went into the lobby and there was an announcement that since the next day was Shakespeare's birthday (his 445th), Mayor Daley had declared it "Talk Like Shakespeare Day," and so the theater ordered a birthday cake, and several of the actors performed a Shakespearean Rap song right in the lobby. I wish I'd gotten my camera out in time to record some of it--sorry!

I did record a little of the musical prelude to the opening of the second half though--it's below.

Separate Blogs, The Final Day

And what a big final day it was. All I can say is, it's good we were separated for these four days because we couldn't have done it all if we'd been together!


We start in Jacksonville where it's a day at the beach, flying kites, burying Cole up to his neck, building sand castles, and all that great stuff. As you can see, they had a great day.



Back up north, the Broadheads were kind enough to meet me at Wishbone so that I wouldn't have to dine alone or (Heavens to Murgatroid!) skip Sunday Brunch. While there, I was flirted with by a very lovely young lady, then had my favorite dish: North Carolina crab cakes and Hollandaise sauce, with scrambled eggs, grits and a biscuit.



Sunday night I met Glenn again at Fitzgerald's to hear the Chicago Grandstand Big Band, eat a pulled pork sandwich with some collard greens, and accidentally take the most spectacularly revealing photo ever of the inside of my nose.