Tag: dad

JSOR & eating

Mom, dad and I went to another Jesus Seminar on the Road this weekend. The hyperbolic paraboloid UU church that we’ve been to before was hosting another JSOR. Hal Taussig and Kathleen Corley were the guest speakers. Kathleen is the first female Fellow of the Jesus Seminar that I’ve met. They spent a lot of time on the session focusing on 1st century eating & burial habits. That sounds rather uninteresting, but it turned out to be quite fascinating. The biggest thing to get your mind around is that everyone at the “supper clubs” were reclining. Oddly enough, you never see depictions of the Last Supper with everyone reclining.

After the Friday evening session, the folks and I went out for “second supper” with Richard, the pastor at the UU church my folks and I sometimes attend. Dad ordered Nachos Nuevos thinking “huevos” and wondering what nachoes with eggs on would be like. (Actually, he knew it wasn’t eggs, he just couldn’t remember what nuevo meant.) We’d had supper at Applebees before the session and second supper at Applebees was a nice idea. I was able to order the dessert shooter I’d been eying at supper time. Plus we got 10% off thanks to our hotel room cards.

We attended most of the Saturday workshops, and dad did a “Come to Jesus (Seminar)” speech after lunch. But then we had to leave early in order to reach Englewood by 5pm. My uncle Bob (mom’s second older brother) is turning 70 on Halloween, so his wife decided we should have a surprise birthday party for him at Tumbleweed’s (a steak restaurant). Both of Bob’s kids were able to come – Rob (and his wife Mele) from Virginia, and Shelly (and her girls, Mallory & Brooke) from Indiana. Bob & mom’s other brother, Doug, and his wife & kids were also able to attend.

Despite the long drive, we managed to arrive at the restaurant first. Rob & Mele arrived next, followed shortly by Doug, Charlene & Patty. We got ourselves seated & drinks ordered and waited for the birthday boy to arrive. We had also informed the waiter & waitress taking our orders that we had a birthday celebration taking place. Eventually Madeline & Bob arrived and we all shouted “Surprise!” much to the amusement of other eaters.

I sat at the end of the table with Shelly and her girls and Patty. I remembered the days when we cousins, along with my sister, would stay at Grandma & Grandpa’s for weekends. We didn’t get to spend as much time with Shelly since she was a bit older (Patty’s only 6 months my senior) and lived further away. But we did have some times together.

The food was good and Madeline brought a cream puff cake for the dessert. She even had enough slices for our waiter & waitress. Mele took loads of photos (she’s the only one who remembered to bring a camera in to the restaurant) and there were many cell phones snapping shots as well. It was a fun family gathering and I’m sure Bob won’t be forgetting his 70th birthday celebration. 🙂

(Of course, after all the family hugging & sharing, I realized on the ride home that my throat was starting to get sore. I hope I didn’t infect anyone! Today I’ve mostly been sleeping and/or medicated. And it’s time for me to take more Nyquil & head for bed. Here’s hoping today’s recovery day has helped to kick the cold to the curb.)

Yellow Springs – a Day Out

Autumn has finally kicked summer to the curb. Not only are the trees starting to turn, but the weather has been very autumny lately. Today was a beautiful sunny day in the high 60s, low 70s F. I got to wear a sweatshirt!

Mom called this morning (well, shortly before noon) asking if I wanted to go to Yellow Springs with her and dad. I can’t say “no” to a trip to Yellow Springs, hippie capital of Ohio. Supposedly they were having an art fair or something with artists showing off their wares. Only when we got there, we never did find any artists hocking their stuff. No matter, we enjoy Yellow Springs for just wandering around & shopping.

Lunch was our first priority, so we ate at the tavern there. And we partook of the outside seating. I had a fish sammich and shared onion rings with the folks. The lettuce was wilted, the bun a little stale, and the fish tasty – all in all, an excellent sandwich. (What, don’t you like wilted lettuce & stale buns? Silly people!)

After lunch, we wandered around the town looking in all of the little shops. I saw lots of neat stuff, but didn’t buy anything until we got to the used bookstore. They had a very new looking copy of the latest Thursday Next book by Jasper Fforde, so I picked it up for $10 less than a new hardback would be.

While we were wandering the town, we saw someone we knew – Amy’s ex-girlfriend Danielle! She spotted us first and we all hugged her. She introduced us to her boyfriend (whose name I don’t recall now – Rob? John? Something like that) and said she was doing well. They live in Columbus, but they came to Yellow Springs for lunch and to hike. She didn’t look any different and claimed we didn’t either. It was lovely seeing her again and I hope she & her bf had a nice time in Yellow Springs.

We left at 4pm and took the long way home. It was a very nice drive. A nice contrast between still green trees, half & half, and fully orange trees. I love autumn!

And more Festivals…

Mom works this weekend, so yesterday it was just Dad and I checking out Fort Loramie’s German Heritage Festival. The festival takes place in the park in the middle of town. Which is really more of a boulevard than a park, in my opinion. So there’s not a lot of room for a big festival. No matter, this was by no means a big festival.

The festival didn’t start until noon – which was a relief to us because when we drove by at 11:30am on our way to the cottage, they really didn’t look like they were ready yet. But at noon, when we returned, we found a parking place with ease and got in the line for food. There was only one food area – indeed, there was only one giant tent housing the festival. Food at one end, stage at the other, 2 beer trucks on one side. (Miller Light and some German beer I’d never heard of before. Their motto is “Life’s too short to drink cheap beer.” Heh heh.)

Despite only being on area for food, they had quite an assortment of “traditional” German food. Dad and I got the combo plate – brat with kraut, German potato salad, cabbage roll. We also picked up an order of reuben bites – a fried cheese thing with corned beef & sauerkraut and a Thousand Island dipping sauce. And for dessert, a cream puff. (Which, alas, was filled with vanilla pudding not Bavarian cream. I like vanilla pudding & all, but I like a REAL puff with Bavarian cream.) We both had pop for beverage, not beer.

The DJ was playing polka music & the like in a rather loud volume, so dad and I didn’t chat a lot. Still, despite the bland brat and the fact that I’m not a big fan of German potato salad, I enjoyed the meal. We walked to the small second tent in the “park” which was where the local museum had a display of photos and antiques. But after that, we were pretty much done with the festival. We’re not big on the side activities, which this festival was known for. Beer tray races, barrel roll, etc.

Definitely the smallest festival I’ve ever been to. And I’m hoping that Minster’s Oktoberfest will have better brats than what this festival had. (I’ve had 2 duds in a row so far!) It usually does – I think they’ve spoiled me for good brats. 🙂

Next weekend, I don’t think there’s any festivals going, so I think I’ll head off for Indian Fud. Mmmmm, Indian Fud!

The Lake Festival

Ah, the start of the autumn season of festivals. Labor Day weekend was the Piqua Heritage Festival. This weekend was the Lake Festival at Lake Loramie. Next week, the town of Fort Loramie has a German Heritage Festival. And of course the first weekend in October will be Minster’s Oktoberfest.

The folks and I headed to the Lake Festival and Antique Power Show today. They have antique & vintage tractors and other farm implements, including a working steam-driven thresher which we saw in action. Some amazing technology, even though it’s now rather obsolete. Mom bought a couple of nice BIG pots of mums at the first vendor we stopped at. Only $5 a pot and, as I said, BIG. She got the dark red ones – I liked those best. We didn’t buy much in the little vendor booths, though I did find a neat wind ornament to replace the one I had bought years ago at the Arts & Eats festival in Plymouth, MI that I attended with elsaf and judiang. (The major difference being the ornament I bought today was $10, the one from that festival was at least $50, IIRC. Heh. Alas, it’s almost rusted away to nothing, hence the need for a replacement.)

Food was next on our agenda. No festival visit is complete without munching on the goodies. The Lake Festival doesn’t have quite as much selection as the ones in Piqua or Minster, but we all found something to eat. I had a brat (the world’s smallest one, I think – dad’s was much bigger!) with kraut, onions & mustard on it. In preparation for Oktoberfest. Mom got us all an ear of roasted corn – it was very yummy. Then I followed the meal with a funnel cake. As we were leaving the festival, I saw the Old Fashioned Ice Cream booth (powered by one of the antique power machines) and decided to get a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream. Yummy – although the stuff I make is better. Heh heh.

After the festival, we returned to the cottage where I read some of my school work (college) and then fell asleep. Darn that Lake Effect Sleep. When I woke later, mom dragged me into a game of gin rummy. We broke for supper at a nearby Mexican restaurant we’d not tried before (dad and I agreed that it was OK, but it won’t make our top pick for Mexican joints). There’s also a new toy store near it which we checked out. It was quite a cute place – lots of neat stuff.

We finished the game when we got back (mom won) and by then it was going home time. So I packed up my college stuff and drove on home. Tomorrow, there’s a family reunion, and then I must work in earnest on my college stuff.

Oktoberfest

Happy October, everyone!

Yesterday, dad and I received permission from mom (who had to work) to go have fun at Oktoberfest in Minster. Minster is near mom & dad’s cottage at the Lake, so we first headed there to drop off my old TV for use in the cottage. It was practically lunchtime then, so we headed to Minster for good eats.

The weather had claimed 80% chance of showers that day, but it only spat on us a little as we walked towards the park where the festival was held. We both knew what we wanted – brats with kraut. Yum! I added some onion & spicy mustard to mine. I had a Pepsi for drink and shared some spiral-cut fried potatoes with dad. We sat across from two ladies who had to youngin’s with ’em. I imagined they were a lesbian couple. And you know, they could have been. (OK, so probably less likely in Minster than in some other places.)

We wandered around the craft booths there, but neither of us found anything that we wanted. The lady who always has nice sweatshirts didn’t have any my size this time. (Her selection was down from previous years – maybe she’d had a productive sale at another festival.) The beer stein guy was there again. I looked (as always) but still didn’t buy any. They sure are pretty!

As we continued walking around the festival site, we passed through the gambling tent. That’s just so foreign to me. There was, at the dice rolling table, a bunch of high school aged boys with handfuls of dollar bills in their hands cheering and shouting as the game progressed. Just not something you see much in my home county.

For dessert, I got a funnel cake with powered sugar on it and dad went with the apple strudel and a coffee. Both desserts were yummy! And just before we left the site, I bought my Oktoberfest mug. I’ve got quite a collection now from the other times I’ve gone to the festival. And I don’t think they’ve changed the price in ages. Still $8 for a mug.

Oh, turns out it was good that I brought our note from mom telling us to have a good time. At one booth was the lady who works at our post office. She wondered where mom was and dad told her working. “Are you allowed to be here?” she asked, jokingly. So I showed her the note and she just laughed. Yup, we had permission! 🙂