Tag: festivals

Flowers And More!

As promised, photos from today. We started out in the Conservatory at the Windmill Island and there were quite a few exotic (well, to me at least!) flowers present.

amaryllis
Amaryllis

bad hair day
Bad Hair Day

succulent with water pool
Succulent with water pool in the center

orchid
Evil Orchid wants to eat your face!

bird of paradise
Bird of Paradise

The Windmill on Windmill Island is named De Zwaan (the swan) and is indeed graceful, if not really a bird.

dezwaan
De Zwaan

I took a photo from the observation deck. The day was still a bit dreary as the photo shows:

view
The view from De Zwaan

The tulips were reluctant to show themselves, but before we left Windmill Island, we had spotted a handful. Downtown Holland had quite a few more.

tulips1
Tulips on Windmill Island

tulips2
Tulips in downtown Holland

Tonight we went to Saugatuck Brewing Company for supper. I ordered a flight of beers, the cashews encrusted brie (appetizer) and fish & chips (with a side salad). Ate far too much, used up many of my weekly WW points, but it was worth it. Liked their cider, but the other five beers in the flight weren’t for me. So, if you total up all of the beers I’ve tried so far in my life (which is a fair number now), I’ve discovered, um, 0 that I like. However, have found several hard ciders that I like.

flight
My flight from Saugatuck Brewing Co.
From left to right: True Scot, ESB Amber, Bonfire Brown, Oatmeal Stout, Darker than Your Soul, and Hard Cider. The Amber and the Stout were more drinkable, but I wound up only drinking half of the beers and all of the cider.

It’s Tulip Time!

Lillian (my new car, if you recall) and I have had our first Road Trip! One month after I bought her, I drove her to Holland, Michigan for the Tulip Time Festival.

Yesterday, after school, I loaded her up and drove north and west to Douglas, MI, where our hotel, the AmericInn was awaiting me. By “our” I mean mine and judiang and elsaf‘s hotel. I got there around 10pm and they hadn’t been there long either. In fact, they were just about to head out for a late (late!) supper. Since I had the new car, they let me drive and we attempted the road house “next door” but they stopped serving food at 10pm. The waitress there described where to find a Burger King, which we figured would still be open.

They were, the girls got some food in ’em (I’d stopped at a McDonald’s on my way up) and we returned to the hotel for bed. Whereupon none of us could sleep. Ah well!

This morning, we ate at the hotel and eventually got on the road to Holland. By following the signs to the Windmill Island, we eventually reached the place (using the concept of Limits to guide us to our destination. Let’s hear it for calculus!) It was still fairly early and the temperature was a bit chilly. The tulip flowers didn’t get the memo re: Tulip Time and most were no-shows. However, the highlight of the island was the windmill.

In 1964, the city of Holland bought a windmill from the Netherlands and installed it on what became called Windmill Island. It is a working flour mill and the miller is one of the few females in the biz. (Elsa and I walked past her while on our tour of the joint.) Though they didn’t have the mill attached while we were there, they did have the sails turning, which was nifty.

I picked up a sack of flour, a postcard of the windmill WITH tulips in shot, and 3 tiny bars of chocolate from the Netherlands. It wasn’t till after we’d left the island that I even saw any bloomed tulips. But downtown Holland fared better – they had some early risers in places. I suspect in another week or two, the place will be gorgeous.

We decided to try the Alpen Rose restaurant for lunch, and we chose well. Judi and I got the buffet and Elsa had a soup, sandwich, and potato salad. The food was all yummy (brat with kraut & mashed taters – very yummy kraut indeed) and the desserts were heavenly. Cream puffs & fruit tart for the win! We headed on to Centennial Park where the arts & crafts part of the festival was housed and wandered there for a bit. Now we’re back at the hotel resting and recuperating.

Oh, while at the arts & crafts area, I so wanted to purchase a t-shirt that someone had made. It had a cute applique cat on it, was only $13, and had the caption “My outfits not complete unless covered in cat fur” or something. But I couldn’t spend money on a t-shirt that didn’t have proper grammar. “Outfit’s” as in “my outfit is” not as plural to “outfit.” I sadly walked away regretting their lack of proof-reader. (This paragraph probably has an ironically appropriate grammatical error in it, just ’cause.)

I’d add some photos to this post, but the wifi is slow here & my images & videos from today are taking their time getting onto my laptop. Guess I’ll have to make a SECOND post for the images. Wow!

Happy Autumn!

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Although I’ve not been posting anything, life has been good for me lately. The fall festivals are popping up (yesterday was Taste of Troy, which was very yummy) and the weather has been gorgeous. Mom and I took a lovely bike ride today. The leaves are still mostly green, but there are some trees that are starting to turn and leaves are starting to drop.

The weight loss is slow but still trending down. Doing Taste of Troy *and* attending a steak party with friends last night haven’t done anything to help it, but when I ask myself the all-important question “Was it worth the points?” the answer was a definite “yes!” Plus I managed to avoid eating so much that I felt ill in the evening. I did manage to use up most of my extra weekly points yesterday and today, but I should be able to cope for the rest of the week just fine.

Next weekend is the Tipp City Mum Festival, I believe, and Oktoberfest is just around the corner as well. I’m already behind in grading at work (no surprise there) but was impressed with myself when, after the first two weeks of school, I was NOT already 2 weeks behind. Go me!

Summer Vacation thus far

Although midsummer eve isn’t even here yet, I’m well in the thrall of summer. Mom and I have gone on a number of bike rides in the Troy area, the latest one was 12.8 miles. I spent time at the Lake with and . I went to the Troy Strawberry Festival, the Lost Creek Antique & Garden Show, and the Yellow Springs Street Fair. I’ve read several books. And I’ve vegged out on World of Warcrack. So it’s been a great start to the summer!

My last day of school was nearly two weeks ago. It was a teacher work day and I was allowed to zip off during the work day to pick up Judi from the airport. We stopped at The Brick House in West Milton for lunch and then I returned to the school. I gave Judi a tour of the new school building and then finished getting my room ready for summer. Of course, as soon as I was done, the heavens let loose with a frog strangler to strangle all frogs. During one of the points of less rain, I ran out (OK, walked quickly) to the car to pick Judi up. After a stop at home, we headed off to the Lake.

We’d been at the Lake for an hour or so when Judi needed to use the toilet, whereupon we discovered that there was water on the floor in the bathroom. Eep! I couldn’t see where the water was coming from (apparently, I’m blind because it was obvious the next day, according to Papa, that it was coming from the water softener) but I called the parental units and let them know. I cleaned up the mess as well as possible and it looked like we had the leak under control for now.

Elsa arrived later that evening, so after hugs and a bit of gossip, we headed to Brucken’s bar for supper. Having tried their “sex with the captain” cocktail before, I ordered it again. It’s basically a “sex on the beach” but with Captain Morgan’s spiced rum instead of vodka. I also got one of their Brucken burgers and ate Elsa’s fries. (She said I could!) Dessert was at the Dairy King around the corner.

The next day, I tried to start my “new summer regimen” of getting up early and talking a walk. (It’s been working sort of well so far. Some days are better than others!) The main plan for the day was for our Elsa dinner. She’s prepared some pork ribs before she drove down and I grilled them to her specifications. We also had grilled onions with a mustard sauce that she’d made, and her sour cream potato salad. The folks joined us for lunch (dad brought his World Famous Slaw) and we ate well.

While dad was there, he surveyed the leak, which seemed to be getting bigger, and saw its origins. He contacted the plumber who installed the softener and made arrangements for calling on Monday. Meanwhile, the girls and I would sleep in my house a couple of nights while the water was shut off at the Lake.

The original plan was for the three of us to go to my Aunt Becky’s for cards, but Elsa wasn’t have much luck with the task she was working on that evening, so she stayed behind while Judi and I went. So Judi got to meet Dona and Jill and see my Aunt’s new place. Sadly, Judy wasn’t there – I was hoping to introduce Judi to Judy. When we returned home, Elsa and Judi and I played the youth Trivial Pursuit that I’ve had since the ’80s and I wound up winning cuz I kept getting the easy questions. Heh. The next morning, we tried to have pancakes and sausage, but for a few issues: we’d forgotten to pack the sausage and Elsa’s grill. We improvised with mini scones and cereal and some OJ I bought at the local gas station. Then we were off to the Troy Strawberry Festival.

I’d taken Judi to the Strawberry festival before, but this was Elsa’s first time there. We parked at Meijer and took the shuttle (a school bus) to the festival. We found several things we wanted to purchase at the first few booths. I tried a very yummy strawberry sushi dish, had my usual strawberry lemon shake-up, had a strawberry empanada, and stood in line with Judi for ages for a pork chop sandwich. Elsa and I picked up the yard decorations we’d spotted at the start of the show and then returned to the shuttle.

After shopping a little at Meijer, we returned home to veg before we headed out later for dinner and a movie. IIRC, the dinner was Panera (yay for the strawberry poppyseed salad!) and the movie was Now You See Me. We all enjoyed the movie. Back at my house, Judi and I played Muppet Monopoly, which she eventually conceded to me. Go me!

Monday morning, we pack up the car again and headed to Bob Evans on our way back to the Lake. We got there late enough that we had brunch for breakfast. Heh. Dad was already at the Lake (as was the plumber) and when we arrived, he zipped off to lunch. We all just vegged at the Lake and eventually the bathroom was free for use of public (or whatever). For supper, I grilled a flank steak, which Elsa had prepared and later sliced. I also grilled some zucchini and baked a potato for Judi and I in the coals. Supper was very tasty. We then spent the evening by the fire.

Tuesday was Elsa’s last day with us. She made us blueberry pancakes and sausage (finally, success!). Then she packed up and headed back home. Judi was starting to get twitchy due to lack of Internet, so we went to the book store & coffee shop in New Breman for lunch. Then to Wagner’s grocery (which had better wifi than the coffee shop) for a few more odds and ends. That evening, we grilled hotdogs and had leftover potato salad and slaw.

Wednesday was a shopping day. We met the parental units at Kohl’s and both Judi and I found stuff (I got 5 pairs of shorts, all size 16, and a new swimsuit, size 18 – whee!) which we could then use my 30% off card. Then the folks drove us to Tipp City for lunch at Coldwater Cafe. I had their lobster and crabcake salad, which I love. I think Judi liked hers too. The folks returned us to the Kohl’s parking lot and Judi and I stopped in at the new cake shop, the Cakery, and bought a cupcake each. Mine was cookies and cream, Judi’s was key lime. Mine was good, I can say. We had leftover ribs for supper. And I think we got something ice creamy at The Dairy King.

Thursday was Winging It day. We had no real plans, other than a vague idea to go see Star Trek. We decided to have breakfast at Waffle House. On our way south to Sydney to the Waffle House, I had Judi check on her cell phone when Star Trek played at the Evil Puppy Mall. She also saw listings for the Greene, and I thought – well I’d never taken Judi there… There was an 11:10 IMAX showing according to her phone, so we headed on down after our WH breakfast and arrived at the theatre at 11:05. Which, apparently, was when the movie (not in IMAX mode) was showing. Tickets were only $4 each, so we went.

After the movie, which we both enjoyed (what can I say, I was expecting a popcorn movie and I got one!), we left the Greene (it was raining, so outdoor shopping was out) and headed for the Evil Puppy Mall. Sadly, Judi wasn’t allowed to hold any of the evil puppies (and thankfully they had no Pomeranians to tempt her). We then went to Red Slobster for lunch and then Best Buy. By then it had stopped raining, so we had time at the Lake to veg. But then we wanted just a bit of food to eat and decided to go to Dairy Queen. I had a burger and a blizzard (mint Oreo).

Friday morning we vegged some more and then eventually got the car loaded up. It was the day to return Judi to Chicago. We had lunch at the Friendly’s near the airport, then I dropped her off. I headed on to Troy where mom and I then took a bike ride. We finally got on the path north of Eldean road and it was lovely. It’ll be even nicer when they get that connected to the Piqua bike path. The folks and I then went to the Lost Creek Antique & Garden Show. We waited at the entrance for about 20 minutes waiting for them to open, then we made a bee-line for the flower vendor mom loves. She bought 4 plants which were all lovely (as every who later saw us carrying them said), and then we were able to look around the show. That night I got to sleep in my bed again with the kitties!

Saturday morning, I headed off to Troy again. This time the folks and I headed on to Yellow Springs for their Street Fair. We had lunch at Ha Ha Pizza (sadly, their calzones weren’t available due to the large crowds they always get at the Street Fair). I found a lovely wooden bowl at one of the vendors at the fair and it was still available when we were leaving, so I purchased it. Now I have a gorgeous bowl for my fruit.

Sunday was just going to be Clean Trina’s House and Do Tons of Laundry day, but that was changed slightly when mom called to say she had 2 tickets to see Dreamgirls and she’d buy my dinner if I joined her. What can I say? I’m a sucker for dinner and a Broadway show. We ate at The Spaghetti Warehouse (I had pesto on spaghetti with zucchini and grape tomatoes and a Mango Tango bellini) and then walked from there to the Schuster Center. The show was excellent – I’m glad we were able to see it.

Monday was Clean the Lake Day, which I did. I even had some time to see and relax while I was there. Tuesday, mom and I took our longest bike ride of the season so far (which was the aforementioned 12.8 mile ride). Today, I’ll be returning to the folks to spend a couple of nights. Tomorrow is water aerobics and WeightWatchers in the morning followed by Supper Club in the evening. And I’m sure we’ll do something fun on Saturday.

So this has been a great start to my vacation. Next week my two college courses start (one on stoichiometry demos, one on lab safety), so I hope to get those going well. Once I complete these, I’ll be at my Masters +15 and able to scoot up a little on the pay scale at work. Whee!

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!

The End of Summer

I know that summer doesn’t really end until September something-or-other, but Labor Day (coming on Monday) is the symbolic end of summer in our neck of the woods. So here we are at the end of summer.

We’ve now been in school a week (well, a 4 day week for the students) and I think it was a good week. Thanks to some diligent work by our new guidance counselor, most of the kids eligible to take the chemistry course for college credit are doing so. (She was still chasing kids and their parents down today – applications had to be faxed by noon.)

This is the start of my 20th year of teaching and the start of my 14th year at Newton. Woo! And I feel like this might be the most stress-free starting week in memory. (Well, I do have a crappy memory, and I know last year had mucho stress with the new chemistry curriculum.) So perhaps I’m getting the hang of this teaching lark!

I was working late today, but I really wanted to get a number of things done before the weekend so I can just enjoy the 3 days without thinking of school. And then the folks and I headed off to Troy Streets Alive to check out the Downtown. We sampled bourbon chicken from LeDoux, looked at the wares of the various artists stationed around the square, bought some olive oil from Olive Oasis, and then headed off to Kuzzinz, a bar & grill I’d not been to before. In honor of my successful first week, I had a woo woo with supper and a brownie sundae for dessert. Very yummy!

This weekend is one of my favorite festivals – the Heritage Festival in Piqua. Dunno when we’ll go other than “not tomorrow.” We’ve got a wedding reception to go to tomorrow. (The wedding was held in another state, so they’re holding a second reception here for family that couldn’t get to it.) That works for me. Wedding receptions are usually much more interesting than weddings. 🙂

Puny Poultry Days

After the lovely flowers of the Lost Creek show and the enormity of the Yellow Springs Street Fair, the Versailles Poultry Days was a bit of a wash. 🙂

It was hotter’n hell today (and summer’s not even here yet!) so that might have reflected a little on our attitude. We were mostly there for the food (like you do).

They really have the food lines down pat. We purchased a ticket for the chicken meal at one booth, then stood in line for the chicken meal. It was a very short wait. You get 1/2 a chicken barbecued with the Miss Chick marinade, a small bag of Mike-sells Potato Chips, a single serve apple sauce, and orange drink (so-named for the color, not the fruit, I suspect. Contained 0% fruit juice. It said so on the label!)

After the yummy lunch, I bought a lemonade shake-up that was inexpensive, large, but not sweet enough. It was refreshing, however, and did contain actual lemon! We cruised the craft tents, but nothing really appealed (except the booth selling kettle corn – mom and I each bought a large bag). I think we were probably there just over an hour. Quite a contrast from the other festivals of the weekend. Dad figures we need to get to at least 2 more festivals to make up for the non-event that this one was. Still, the chicken was very tasty.

Before the fun and excitement of the Poultry Days, I took my bike for a ride this morning to buy donuts for the folks and I. It was only about 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back and I didn’t squish the donuts – woo!

I was riding my new Cannondale Adventure 4. My original plan was to buy one of Trek’s women specific design comfort bikes, but while at the Family Bike Shop of Troy, I tried out a nifty green bike by Cannondale. I did some research and read good stuff about Cannondale and the Adventure 4 (a 2010 model), returned to the shop for another test ride, and wound up buying the bike. They had it built for me the next day (Friday) and I’ve been riding it ever since. Did I mention it was GREEN? 🙂

This bike will remain at my folks’ place since they are near the bike trails that go all over the place. I’ll keep my old bike at my place for P. Hill rides. My first big ride will be on Wednesday with friends – woo!