Dog Days
Yeah, its been a month since I posted -
I spent three weeks at the farm in Ohio, during the really hot part of the summer while Don was toiling away in lower Manhattan. Got there for this year's Farm n' Fun, which was the rainiest ever - it just poured all day long, but finally around dusk it quit and we did have some good
music and fireworks and of course the bonfire! About 150 people showed up despite the weather and toughed it out. Sunday dawned bright and clear, and it was just gorgeous the rest of the week. The kids and I swam every day and we ate fresh tomatoes from the garden and Sage's corn. Picked a lot of blueberries, too, from our little patch - here's a picture of nephew Jack with a big bucket of our harvest! Spent a few working days, too, at CWRU as well as a talk in Chicago at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry and some meetings in Columbus.
The second week I was there, Lake County got the largest amount of rain in recorded history - about 10 inches in 2 days. It truly was an impressive storm and I was glad to be up high. We suffered little damage but friends along the Grand River in Mentor and Painesville have 4 feet of water in their homes. Once again, after the storm, we got beautiful weather - albeit very hot.
Returned home via Pittsburgh, where I met up with Mike who flew out for his college orientation at Pitt. I think we both feel much better prepared for that moment when we drop
him off in two weeks for his first semester of college. I really liked the Pitt campus - dominated by this rather grandiose building called The Cathedral of Learning. (That's Michael standing in front of the lampost). Pitt is in an urban setting (one of Mike's requirements), but next to Schenley Park which is a large open space, with nice gardens and a great conservatory. Food is pretty much geared to student tastes - simple but lots for your money. A Pittsburgh specialty served in one local eatery is the 'Primanti Brothers sandwich'. Created for truckers who want to eat a full meal while driving, it has a large Italian bread, stuffed with meat of your choice, cheese, and then layered with french fries and cole slaw right in the sandwich. Onions are optional. If it were not for the fact that his dorm is up a very steep hill from the rest of campus, I'd say Mike might gain 30 pounds in his first semester if he's not careful! Anyway, we are now buying books and laptops and clothes and microwaves and minifridges to outfit our boy for school - hopefully after all that he'll get an education, too!
Returning home, my garden cried out for weeding after three weeks of neglect. The groundhog is back - I've seen him scurrying about - but he refuses to be caught. No more racoons, but I did manage to catch our cat Tina, who looked pretty sheepish about the whole thing. In this case, curiousity only trapped the cat, didn't kill her. Anyway, garden now looks pretty good, though a never-ending task! Pics later if I get around to it.
I spent three weeks at the farm in Ohio, during the really hot part of the summer while Don was toiling away in lower Manhattan. Got there for this year's Farm n' Fun, which was the rainiest ever - it just poured all day long, but finally around dusk it quit and we did have some good
music and fireworks and of course the bonfire! About 150 people showed up despite the weather and toughed it out. Sunday dawned bright and clear, and it was just gorgeous the rest of the week. The kids and I swam every day and we ate fresh tomatoes from the garden and Sage's corn. Picked a lot of blueberries, too, from our little patch - here's a picture of nephew Jack with a big bucket of our harvest! Spent a few working days, too, at CWRU as well as a talk in Chicago at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry and some meetings in Columbus.The second week I was there, Lake County got the largest amount of rain in recorded history - about 10 inches in 2 days. It truly was an impressive storm and I was glad to be up high. We suffered little damage but friends along the Grand River in Mentor and Painesville have 4 feet of water in their homes. Once again, after the storm, we got beautiful weather - albeit very hot.
Returned home via Pittsburgh, where I met up with Mike who flew out for his college orientation at Pitt. I think we both feel much better prepared for that moment when we drop
him off in two weeks for his first semester of college. I really liked the Pitt campus - dominated by this rather grandiose building called The Cathedral of Learning. (That's Michael standing in front of the lampost). Pitt is in an urban setting (one of Mike's requirements), but next to Schenley Park which is a large open space, with nice gardens and a great conservatory. Food is pretty much geared to student tastes - simple but lots for your money. A Pittsburgh specialty served in one local eatery is the 'Primanti Brothers sandwich'. Created for truckers who want to eat a full meal while driving, it has a large Italian bread, stuffed with meat of your choice, cheese, and then layered with french fries and cole slaw right in the sandwich. Onions are optional. If it were not for the fact that his dorm is up a very steep hill from the rest of campus, I'd say Mike might gain 30 pounds in his first semester if he's not careful! Anyway, we are now buying books and laptops and clothes and microwaves and minifridges to outfit our boy for school - hopefully after all that he'll get an education, too!
Returning home, my garden cried out for weeding after three weeks of neglect. The groundhog is back - I've seen him scurrying about - but he refuses to be caught. No more racoons, but I did manage to catch our cat Tina, who looked pretty sheepish about the whole thing. In this case, curiousity only trapped the cat, didn't kill her. Anyway, garden now looks pretty good, though a never-ending task! Pics later if I get around to it.
posted by Carol at 2:58 PM
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