Back again . . .

I remember several years ago when I decided to visit the dentist after at least a couple of years not having regular checkups. "I'll come see him again if he promises not to holler at me," I remember telling my wife.
I did go back, no one hollered at me, my twice yearly checkup routine has been restored, and I haven't lost any teeth.
I feel sort of the same way about this diary. I'll start writing it again if no one hollers at me for skipping more than a month of posting. And if anyone will read it again. (I've always said I don't care if anyone reads it, but deep down, I like it when people comment.)
The only way to start over is just to jump in, without guilt for events not recorded or pictures not posted. I may be able to do some make-up, but I'm not going to take on that burden.
I will look back at least one weekend, though, to record that Evelyn's brother and his wife, Ken and Susan Aulen, came to visit last weekend. We had a great time. The Reds were in town, and we went to the game Friday night. Got there early enough to show Aulens the new park on the riverfront before the game. Ate supper in our seats at the game, and enjoyed a beautiful evening. The Reds lost, but it was still a great evening to be there, especially with Friday night fireworks and a first—the Cincinnati Pops was there to accompany the fireworks live! The fireworks were remarkably synchronized with the music, and our cheap seats were perfect to see them. It was fun!
Saturday we had a long time of chatting and coffee drinking at breakfast. Evelyn made a favorite we haven't enjoyed for a long time, Breakfast Dutch Babies. We went shopping in the afternoon and grabbed lunch at the food court at Kenwood Mall.
We went to Raja India for supper and then on to Mason Middle School where Mason Community Players were staging The King and I. My work colleague, Elise Kaplan, had the role of Anna, and I was eager to see her perform.
She has a beautiful voice, and we enjoyed the whole performance. I'm so glad we got to see it.

The sets and costumes were beautiful too.

Sunday we went to the 9:00 service and then on to Mimi's for brunch. Ken and Susan visited awhile longer after we got home, and then we relaxed (and I did a bit of work) in the afternoon and evening.
This weekend has been very good so far. Last night we grabbed supper at Chili's and then drove across the street to shop for an automatic dishwasher at Sears. When we moved into this house more than 11 years ago, Joy Norwood, our realtor, took one look at the dishwasher in the house and said, "You'll be getting rid of that."
Well, we haven't gotten rid of it, but now it's time. It's corroded in the bottom, and we suspect some small leaks. We found an excellent mid-priced model on sale, with a promotional discount on delivery and installation. The new one will be humming along (and I do hope humming instead of the roaring of our current model) Thursday evening.
This morning Evelyn went with me to the West Chester Farmer's Market, and we enjoyed some of our purchases for supper tonight--corn on the cob, lettuce greens with vinaigrette, fresh tomato, and breaded, fried zucchini. It was great.

Soon we'll adjourn to the family room to watch a live stream of the symphony's Lumenocity performance. We weren't lucky enough to get tickets for musical laser show, but at least we're not fighting the crowds to see it in person.

Friday Night Fireworks

Every Friday night home game, the Reds have a fine fireworks show to end the evening. It lasts almost 30 minutes, and fans sitting in the stadium have front-row seats. But anyone on the riverfront, especially in Kentucky looking at downtown, can enjoy the fireworks too. And at least once each season I like to go to Newport on the Levee and see 'em for free.
Last night was our night. We picked up Terry and Shirley Wuske after 7:30 and drove to the Levee,
walked around to see the city views from beside the Newport Aquarium, and then retreated to the balcony beside the Starbucks on the second floor of the Barnes and Noble bookstore. We bought some cookies and coffee and enjoyed the view and each other's company till the game ended and the fireworks began.
It was a beautiful evening, a nice breeze but still warm. The only distraction was a festival going on down by the river, complete with at least two sound stages and competing rock bands thumping and blaring throughout the evening. They were far away enough that we could still hear each other when we talked, but it would have been nicer without them.
It was great to catch up with Terry and Shirley, though, and to renew what has become a tradition for our summers in Cincinnati. Maybe before the season's out we'll actually get to a game--inside the park!--some Friday night!

The Cleaning Clerk and the Begonias

"The price is $36.84."
The teenager at One Hour Martinizing read the tab to me.
"Well, I have this Groupon. So I'll pay what's left after you deduct this."
She punched keys on the computer/cash register. "OK, so that's $29.15."
"No, the Groupon is for $20."
"Well, it says here, the Groupon is for $10 after expiration."
"Right, but it hasn't expired yet. $20 off."
"Oh, I'm still learning how to do Groupons," she apologized. She punched more keys on the cash register. "That's $19.95," she announced.
"No the Groupon is for $20 off," I said.
She returned to the keypad. "$10.15!" she reported.
"$36 minus $20 is $16," I reminded her. She stared at the mess she'd made with all the numbers she had entered and punched a few more keys. The machine produced a receipt. "$15.50," she said.
I smiled, handed her a $20 bill, and wished I'd stopped at $10.15.
Not the most significant part of the day, but probably the most memorable. At work we had another art meeting for December, I handled a bunch of correspondence, tied up some loose ends on our December issue, had a good conversation with Matt Procter about NACC articles for Christian Standard and his idea that we offer student subscriptions of CS to Christian college students, prepared for a couple of meetings tomorrow.
This evening watched the Reds lose their second of four games to the Giants and previewed the Truth Project tape our men's group will watch tomorrow morning.
They're predicting a 32-degree overnight low, just as the begonias in front of the house look their prettiest. I decided to take a couple pictures of them before they freeze.

A Hodgepodge Day

A hodgepodge day. Finished editing the December issue. Did a second round of work on art for the December issue in preparation for our second December art meeting tomorrow. Did some correspondence related to the Stone-Campbell Dialogue that meets in Dallas in a few weeks. Did some preliminary work relating to our display at ICOM the weekend after the Stone-Campbell Dialogue. Requested an estimate for 5,000 brochures featuring the Christian Standard's NACC preview in a promotional piece the NACC will use this spring (if I get permission to print it).
Came across two Web articles today that I decided to share on Facebook.

One, about Tyndale House's lawsuit claiming exemption from the government's mandate to cover contraceptives and abortifacients in health care plans:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/2/hhs-bible-publisher-not-religious-employer/ 

The other a blog at Christianity Today proposing a different attitude toward gays and gay marriage by Christians:
http://www.outofur.com/archives/2012/10/gay_rights_reli.html?utm_source=leadership-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=879746&utm_content=138747196&utm_campaign=2012

The Reds are playing their third game against the San Francisco Giants as I write this. I started listening to it on the radio on the way home, and we decided to turn it on while we ate supper, washed dishes, prepared lunches, etc. etc. This is totally unlike us, but, hey, this is the Division championship game, and the whole town is dressed in red today.

Evelyn made spinach burritos for supper tonight. She hadn't told me to buy frozen spinach (which the recipe called for), and so I had bought fresh. She used it, since that's what she had, and it made the burritos really good. We think we'll use fresh spinach for this recipe all the time.
As I was finishing off the last bite, I realized I had eaten vegetarian today: frozen macaroni and cheese for lunch and the meatless burritos for supper. Makes me feel very virtuous.

A Night at the Ballgame

The weather was delightful. The food was fine. The company was wonderful. The seats were perfect. The occasion was historic. The game was . . . disappointing.
We went to Great American Ballpark Friday night, the kickoff to Barry Larkin weekend and the last of this summer's Friday Night Fireworks. John and Mary Jane Burgess got great seats for us from the fellow they know in the Reds organization. We were about 25-30 rows off the ground on the first base line. It had been hot all day, but a nice breeze off the river made for comfort after the sun set. We walked through the crowds spilling out of the bars and restaurants in the developing Banks project and snagged wonderful hamburgers at the new Johnny Rockets that's part of the complex.
The game started well, but the Cardinals' combination of better hitting and pitching overpowered the Reds in a game that didn't end till well after 10:30. (Lots of walks and lots of hits by the Cardinals against the Reds.)
The after-game festivities featured several of Barry Larkin's former teammates being interviewed about their years with him and then a long speech of thank-yous from Barry himself.
The fireworks finally started around 11:00. We had met Burgesses at Christ's Church at Mason at 5:30 (Evelyn drove from home, and I drove from work). We were back there about midnight, home about 12:30 and not in bed much before 1 a.m.
It was a great night. But it would have better if the Reds had won!