Month: September 2012

Quicky end of month post

Can I get this posted before midnight? Let’s try!

Today the parental units and I went to the Tipp City Mum Festival. Lots of stalls selling things, mostly autumn-themed items. Several stalls with mums and pumpkins too. And of course, the most important stalls, the food vendors!

Dad and I each got gyros (mine lamb, his chicken), mom got a corn dog, and we split an order of spiral fried potatoes (basically, home made potato chips). Good eats. Then for dessert, the folks got a peach cobbler a la mode which was tasty, and I got the deep fried sampler: cheesecake bites, Nutterbutters, and Oreos. Almost too sweet for me (almost). Thankfully, the folks ate almost half of the sampler.

This evening was cards at Aunt Becky’s – probably the last time we’ll play cards at her house as she’ll be moving to a two bedroom apartment in two weeks. And we’ll probably play cards there (as she’s moving into the same complex as another of our regular card players). I came in second during the first game, and came in first during the second – woo!

Oh, and I think Sophie Aldred spoiled tonight’s Doctor Who episode for me. Reading Twitter before you’ve watched the episode can be a bad idea…

Oooh – I think I made the time – woo!

It’s Autumn!

Ah, the Autumnal Equinox! And the promise of autumnal weather (which we’ve been having) and autumnal sights (trees are looking like the trees in model train sets) and autumnal smells (love the smell of decaying leaves). 🙂

Our Grand Adventure today was for the folks and I to go to the Aullwood Apple Festival. Unlike the Troy Strawberry Festival, the featured fruit wasn’t present in most of the booths, which was a bit of a surprise. But the various booths had interesting items and lots of food choices.

Dad and I decided to try the “fish boats” that one tent was selling. And while we waited for our food, mom held up the tent for the folks making our lunch – it was so blustery the tent kept threatening to fall over. The fish was excellent. Mom opted to try the lamb chili that another place was selling – that was tasty too. I also had a lemon shake-up, which was mighty tasty. And just because I could, I had the “hot waffle ice cream sandwich” which is just as described. Interesting.

As we were finishing our lunch, big black storm clouds crept over the festival, so we (and half of the folks there) headed to the inside bits. Thankfully, the clouds blew over without raining, so we returned outside to share an apple dumpling a la mode before heading back.

The rest of my day was spent cleaning house and listening to the latest Big Finish Sylv audio, Gods and Monsters. And halfway through that story, I got to watch the latest TV episode, “The Power of Three.” Quite enjoyable. I’m gonna miss the Ponds!

Tomorrow is laundry day. And hopefully I get a nice walk in to enjoy our lovely weather.

Last Weekend of Summer

The weather feels like autumn (finally into the mid-70s (°F) during the day) and the trees are just starting to turn, but it isn’t actually autumn until late next week. So this is our last weekend of summer for 2012. Woo!

Festival season is ramping up with the Lake Festival tonight (and the rest of the weekend). The folks and I met up at their cottage, then drove separately to the Lake Festival since we were all bringing mums home (and they had the truck which doesn’t really seat 3 people). No white mums this year, so I bought yellow mums. Mom bought some red mums and some yellow mums.

Once we had our mums purchased and returned to our vehicles, we headed to the food area. I had a brat with kraut, Sierra Mist Natural, brownie, and fries (which I split with the folks). Then I succumbed to the fried food vendors (as if the fries weren’t enough) and got a funnel cake. The folks helped a bit with that too, but I still wound up eating most of it. It was very yummy.

We finished off the Festival by walking around the vendor tents. We didn’t really find anything else to buy (except mom bought some pussy willows, which made her easier to spot in a crowd) and were back in our vehicles before it had gotten too dark.

Tomorrow is Taste of Troy, so I’ll be heading to the folks’ place in the morning. We’ll start with the farmer’s markets, then eat our way through that festival. Yum! Sunday I hope to stay home and nurse the cold I’ve developed (though I will need to get into the school at some point this weekend to get caught up on work. Whoops!)

Hope y’all have a nice final week of summer (or for you antipodeans, a nice final week of winter)!

Stress-Free? Could it be?

Perhaps I’m doing something wrong this school year (or perhaps I’m finally doing it right), but these first two weeks of school have been, to the best of my memory, the most stress-free first two weeks I’ve ever had. There’s a small part of me waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the larger part of me has decided that the shoe is a myth. 😉

Apart from my usual “ugh, it’s morning, why doesn’t it go away until after noon!” morning routine, I’m quite pleased to be up & off to teach. I’m hoping the students are having at least half as much fun as I am. Tests/quizzes next week, so that will probably let me know if I’m actually teaching them anything. Heh.

Last weekend was a pleasant Labor Day weekend with a wedding reception & card gaming (different venues to each other) on Saturday, Heritage Festival on Sunday, and just mooching about & relaxing on Monday.

We were at the Heritage Festival for longer than we’ve been in years because we sat & enjoyed the music. Blue Celtic Grass played for awhile (though only half of the guys were from that band – they had 3 others playing with them from another band whose name I don’t recall). The bluegrass got us started, then we munched on foodstuff (with very few folks in line – great for us, not as great for the vendors). I had, throughout the time there, French fries, corn on the cob, strawberry lemon shake-up, bite of sirloin sammich, chicken noodles, and deep fried peaches. I also bought my obligatory saltwater taffy (mostly vanilla with a few mint too) and giant bag o’ kettle corn.

After we’d eaten (but before we bought the kettle corn), we sat and watched Dulahan perform. We’d seen them for the first time this summer at one of the Troy Main Street concerts. It was the best concert this summer, IMO. I immediately purchased five of their albums. Heh. So it was great to hear them live again. They were as fun as they’d been in Troy.

This weekend’s plans are a bit up in the air, though I have decided the theme is “local food.” I had pizza from Indian’s Pizza tonight. Tomorrow morning is pancakes & snausage (& eggs) at the UCC just 2 blocks away. And Sunday, the firehouse is selling barbecue chicken (the folks are coming to join me for that). Yum!