Fall color

Every fall, there is one day when the color peaks and it seems that the color couldn't get any better. If we're lucky, and conditions are right, it may last a couple of days. Yesterday, when this picture was taken, was the day. Even though the sun was not out, the yard was absolutely aglow in brilliant yellow. Today, about third of the leaves are down, and it's downhill from here.

Can technology cure this problem?

In a recent fit of organizing fervor, I decided to put all the kids’ baby and school pictures in chronological order, with the "someday" goal of putting them into an album, all neatly labeled. It should have been an easy job, as they were already sorted out by child. Well, most of them were. Some were buried in the bottom of the plastic bin I store miscellaneous pictures in. But that was not the problem. The problem was that none – not a one – of them were marked on the back with a name or year. I could pretty much figure out who was who, especially during the school years, but it’s not as easy as you would think to figure out which was a child's first grade versus second grade picture and even harder to tell whether a child was 18 months or 2 years. And it didn’t help that Katie and Sarah looked identical when they were babies! A couple of times I went downstairs to ask Jim: okay, which baby is this? I give him lots of credit for being able to figure out the answer more than once! The only thing that saved me from going completely nuts during this project was that the most of the grade school pictures came with a class composite complete with year and grade, and some of the high school pictures were stuffed back into the original folders the orders came in.
So, my question is: why can’t they add a little imprint with the year on each of the photos? It can be somewhere inconspicuous, like the corner. And it can be done tastefully: one of Jimmy’s baby pictures had the studio logo and year in the corner and it was barely noticeable.
In the meantime, all you parents and parent-wannabes: label your pictures now. It'll save frustration later.

Library tales

I love libraries. All those books -- so little time. And I love the fact that libraries have gone techy -- my library card is a little tag on my key chain, and I can "browse" online, reserve a book online and then pick it up on my way home. But I really miss those due date cards that used to be stuffed into that little pocket in the front of the book. They made such great bookmarks! The computer-generated "receipt" that they give out now looks like every other receipt in my purse and gets lost too easily.
I also love the library's annual book sale. When I picked up my book, we happened upon the last days of the book sale. All the books you can stuff into a plastic bag for the hefty price of one dollar! The selection is usually hit or miss, but it's a great opportunity to take a chance on a book you otherwise might not buy, if you take the time to look through the piles. Jim got a copy of a history book he used in schoool, a book on growing up Catholic (which he proceeded to guffaw his way through for the next several days) and some maps that came from old National Geographics someone had donated to the library. This last resulted in a heated, whispered discussion on book sale ethics. I picked up Ladies of Liberty, Cokie Roberts' follow up to Founding Mothers; a book by Donny Duetsch; Tom Brokaw's Boom, about the 60s; and one of Sara Paretsky's mysteries (my mother was astonished that I, a confirmed serial mystery addict, had never read any of her stuff, especially since it's set in Chicago). And for less than 20 cents each, I ended up with some pretty good reads!

Playing hooky and eating exquisitely delicious food

Jim had the day off from work, so I took the day off too. We treated ourselves to lunch at Lola, Michael Symon's downtown restaurant. A review mentioned that their lunch menu featured many of the same dishes as the dinner menu, and was more affordably priced (affordably priced being a relative term). We went the whole route: appetizer, entree, dessert. The food was, as Jim pointed out, lick-your-plate-clean good. Everything he ordered had bacon in some form or another. I ordered their take on macaroni and cheese, made with goat cheese -- definitely NOT your mother's mac and cheese! Dessert was a chocolate pudding-like dish, topped with vanilla bean cream. It was served in a glass, or I would have licked that dish clean! As I said -- exquisitely delicious! We definitely will go back.

All those people . . .

and not a Klingon in sight! Sunday we took in the Sci-Fi concert at Blossom with the Ganns. We were greeted by a phalanx of folks dressed up as various Star Wars characters, who were part of a non-profit fundraising group. But, alas, despite the presence of George Takei narrating two selections, Star Fleet was in abstenia. There were no Vulcans, Ferengi or Cardasians to be found. The music was, as always, superb.

An evening at the Fair

The Cuyahoga County Fair is in full swing this week. So these city-born-and-bred suburbanites decided to head on over and check it out. I do believe it was the first time I'd ever been to a county fair. It was kind of like Heritage Fest in Downers Grove, except there was livestock. Lots of fried foods, rides and exhibitions. We checked out sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas and some REALLY big horses. We watched the yearling heifer contest in one barn. I have a new appreciation for people who handle livestock all the time. Those animals were HUGE and the young handlers had their hands full, especially when the animals decided to go their own way. It was not quite the same as a dog show! We learned that they had all kinds of competitions, in addition to the usual baked goods, vegetables, and animals. At the booth of an Ohio apiary, I tasted a variety of honeys, and bought a jar of Texas Wildflower honey. Jim rode the Ferris wheel and took pictures and a home movie, coming soon to his blog. Oh, and we had cheese curds from a place in Eau Claire, Wisconsin -- a little trip down memory lane.

First Harvest

My little garden has yielded it's first harvest: a few cherry tomatoes (the green one fell off while I was staking the plant up) and some jalapenos. The bell pepper plants now have a lot of flowers and a couple of itty bitty peppers. I have bigger plans for next year!