Thursday, August 23, 2007

Thursday Thirteen--How I spent my summer


We have a summer home on Lake Erie in Lakeside, Ohio, a Chautauqua community established in 1873, which offers many activities and learning experiences. Here’s a few of the things I did this summer, but not all at Lakeside.

1. Reunions in Indiana and Illinois: Attended the 50th class reunions of Arsenal Technical High School (Indianapolis) class of 1957 and Mt. Morris High School (Illinois) class of 1957, seeing many friends and some former faculty. Had great family get-togethers with my siblings, their children, my parents’ siblings, my husband’s siblings and their children.

With 2 of my nieces

2. Science and social science: Attended several geology lectures by Charles Herdendorf (OSU) about the Great Lakes and sunken ships. They were so interesting I wished I’d taken a geology science elective instead of chemistry. Also attended lectures on Asia (Korea and Taiwan) by Eugene Swanger, always fascinating. Civil War lectures this week were detailed and informative on Lincoln and battles of the war.

3. Endured three laptop failures, losing all information when the software was reloaded. I had to blog from the hotel lobby a few mornings. I've reloaded for the 3rd time, and I'm NOT updating some of the available software, including MS thinking that may be the problem.

4. Enjoyed two ferry trips to Put-in-Bay, once to visit friends who have a cottage there and tour the island, and then with my husband’s sister Debbie and her husband John from California. New visitors' center is wonderful. Great restaurants.

5. Enjoyed lots of early morning cups of coffee at Coffee and Cream where I watch the news channel and read the papers, planning my blogs, and chat with other vacationers and residents. I see lots of daddies on early a.m. duty with kiddoes in the p.j.'s.

6. Helped some of my neighbors rescue feral kittens, finding a home for one of them. Saving the world, one kitten at a time.


7. Writing: Took a writing class with Patricia Mote at the Rhein Center for the Living Arts.

8. Art: Attended a watercolor workshop one evening, but another class I’d signed up for was cancelled. Attended two lectures with Rustin Levenson, an art preservationist and restorer. Purchased a painting by Robert Moyer from the Lakeside Art Show. My husband has sold 7 of his paintings and many prints, which will help finance the trip to Ireland in the fall. Toured the Ohio Supreme Court Building and State House to see the art (in Columbus). The Court building was a WPA project and has murals, mosaics, decorative plaster, bas-relief sculpture and bronze ornaments and a very interesting law library open to the public.

9. Food: Maintained my winter weight loss despite the constant temptations of Lakeside’s business district--delis, ice cream shops, fresh do-nuts, and Abigail’s Tea Room. Tried a delicious blueberry dessert I saw in the Plain Dealer--twice. Also yummy visits to Schmidt’s, Salvi’s and Rusty Bucket in Columbus with friends and family.

10. Movies: "Amazing Grace" and "Away from Her." Julie Christie is still beautiful. However, because it is about Alzheimer's, it's a bit of a downer. Lakeside has the only movie theater in this county.

11. Read: A book of short stories by Alice Munro, one was the story on which the movie "Away from Her" was based. Also listened to two audio books on my walks, and read numerous journals and blogs. From my own bookshelves I loaned 2 novels. Borrowed a book on Canada travel for a future trip, and brought along 2 on Ireland which I haven't opened.

12. Walked: not quite the 250 miles I want to do before September 3, but I’ve got a few days left to do some more. I think I've done about 150.

13. Attended some fabulous programs at Hoover Auditorium and other Lakeside spots, including Phil Dirt and the Dozers, Mike Albert the Big-E, Chapter Six, Verb Ballet, Banu Gibson, "Whose line is it anyway?" Gaelic Storm, Johnny Knorr (dance band with dancing), 8 performances by the Lakeside symphony, Mary Wilson, Brasilia, and The Dodworth Saxhorn Band. There will be a few more programs next week but we'll be back in Columbus.

Well, that about ties it up for the summer. Family, friends, great programming, good food, and of course, many sunsets, a lot of rain (although we haven't flooded yet in this area), church on the lakefront, and blogging.

Check out other TT-ers at the Thursday Thirteen Hub.

12 comments:

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

Except for the laptop failures, it sound like a great summer!!

Anonymous said...

sounds like a very full summer

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great Summer! Happy TT!

Lori aka A Cowboy's Wife said...

Been through 3 and need to do 12!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a busy, but fun, summer! Good luck with the laptop!

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your summer.
Your walk mileage is amazing!

WendyWings said...

It sounds like a fun summer !
Still winter here lol. Happy TT to you

JAM said...

A definite A+ on your What I Did This Summer report.

I had to uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, and reload the older IE6 version.

IE7 kept several programs such as my Minolta film/slide scanner software from working, and also Photoshop Elements. That's two of the programs I used the most.

I use Firefox almost exclusively now, but I still need Microsoft IE on my home computer to log onto our work system remotely or I would delete it altogether.

Lori's Light Extemporanea said...

Sounds like a wonderful summer! I need to read posts like this to remind myself that my life will not always consist of bowls of soup on the head and correcting math papers.

madamspud169 said...

Reading what you've accomplished this summer fills me with shame, I think my greatest accomplishment has been getting out of bed in the morning.

Daisy said...

Hooray for helping the feral kittens!

Chelle Y. said...

It sounds like you had a fun, but busy summer!

I had a high school reunion. It was a blast!

www.chelleyoung.com