Dazed in Dexter

Our adorable little village, population a bit over 3K, hosts a somewhat rowdy and completely underdone little festival every August.  They call this little festival Dexter Daze, and before you let your mind wander into the various meanings of that second word, let me just say that it is not a rehash of the cannabis festivus that takes place every spring in Ann Arbor.  Activities at Dexter Daze, actually, range from shopping at the "artist" tents (including everything from woodworking to Pampered Chef), entering one of several raffles (with prizes from gift cards to playhouses), enjoying live music (from Elvis outside the bakery to RFD Boys on the stage), and eating, eating, eating.  The Daze takes place over two, well, days, and we had every intention of walking down Friday night, then spending Saturday hiding from the heat in the shade of our own home, but it turned out that we just couldn't stay away.  We did walk down Friday night and enjoyed great shopping at the library's book sale, followed by brats and ice cream from the food vendors and a beautiful sunset set to the tunes of a really great blues band on stage.  It was so much fun that when boredom started to set in on Saturday morning we decided to walk back into town to eat at the BBQ chicken dinner, served at 11am at a downtown church and peruse the sales tents on the park lawn.  Strangely enough we found that several people in town recognized and "knew" us already, either me, since I run through town four mornings a week, or Calvin, since he is, apparently, a celebrity at the downtown bakery.  That feeling of small town camaraderie is one of the things we really love about our new home, and it is the reason we felt compelled to walk back downtown after naptime to enjoy the final evening of the Daze.  The music, thanks to the RFD Boys, was just as good the second night, and we were joined by my parents for pizza and drinks in the beer tent, followed by another round of ice cream (did I just admit to that?).  My only complaint was the lack of beverage selection–next year they need something other than Miller Light.

Death, taxes, and rain during Art Fair

Art Fair opening day.  It's been a tradition in Jon's family for many years, and has been part of my life as well for all of the eight years that I've known him.  Sure, lots of locals avoid the Art Fair like the plague, but we run straight for it the day it arrives.  For us it's a chance to spend time with family that we see, well, once every July.  It's also an excuse to gorge ourselves on pizza (during the annual Cottage Inn lunch) and to window (or tent) shop our way through art we can appreciate but can't afford.  This year we were fortunate enough to snag the entire day to spend traversing the many corridors of varying artistic abilities, tactile, visual, and auditory.  It's always fun to look for artists you've seen in years past, and also to recognize new booths and new talents.  Strangely enough it wasn't ninety degrees this year, and it didn't rain buckets, either.  Instead we enjoyed coolish temperatures, a mostly cloud covered sun, and, except for a five minute downpour in the afternoon, an incredibly dry day.  Unfortunately, a combination of the economy and the forecast of scattered thunderstorms kept the crowds to a relatively minimum–good for us, not so much for the artists–and there were far fewer people wading their way through the crowds carrying unwieldy bundles of unique purchases (the upside of which is the lessened risk of having your eye poked out by someone's art on a stick).  But even if there were fewer eye catching (or eye threatening) moments in the crowd, there were certainly several stand outs punctuating our enjoyment of the day:  the Michael Jackson impersonator was a particular favorite of Calvin's (and maybe all of ours); Calvin and Auntie Rite's performance of an MJ rain dance for the fifty or so people gathered under the LS&A overhang during the short downpour; the ludicrous, but enjoyable, entertainment at the corner of William and State in the form of dancing pizza, water, banana, and carrot.  There were some more serious stand outs, too, like the beautiful 8 car wooden train that Calvin came home with (thanks to his doting grandparents), our group's gorgeous jewelry purchases (also a yearly tradition), the bronzed rabbit with the huge ears (that we did not purchase), and the magnificent purple wood we kept seeing everywhere (made from the purple heart tree–we learn something new every year).  And that about sums up our 2009 Art Fair experience.

Drum circling

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'll just have to say it again:  we love our library.  We have wonderful childrens' librarians and really inviting youth reading programs.  Every summer our library, like many others, hosts a season filled with fun activities aimed at encouraging kids to read throughout the summer months.  That, of course, is no problem in our house (if we have any problem at all it's in getting him to leave some books at the library for other kids to enjoy), but we like to take part in the myriad of summer diversions offered by our youth program anyhow.  Already this summer we've enjoyed meeting John the farmer and his many farm animals on the lower level of our new library (ever seen a cow checking out "The Big Red Barn"?), as well as additional story and craft times, and today we took part in the library drum circle, again on the lower floor.  I found more than a bit of comic relief in watching the librarians and drum circle leader trying to keep the kids, and their instruments, quiet until the allotted hour (it was a wasted effort in any case), and Calvin found great joy in trying out every instrument he could lay his hands on.  One might think that an hour of percussive instruments in plenty, but I think we could have gone on all day (maybe not the people on the upper floors of the library, though).  We'll just have to watch for our next local drum circle opportunity...

A cow in an elevator

I don't know about the rest of you, but I distinctly remember that old high school legend about the senior pranksters who walked a cow up the school stairs and stranded her on the second floor, since cows, as everyone knows, can walk up stairs but not down.  That school must not have had an elevator. 

Our fantastic library has a fantastic summer program every year that brings in events of all kinds to amuse and enrich the kiddos during their summer hiatus from school.  Last year we did everything from enjoy bedtime stories to meet cockroaches (the enormous hissing kind).  This year the library is in a new location with a grand indoor presentation room complete with a stage, and many of the events that took place, regardless of heat or rain, under a tent in their old front yard last summer will now be brought indoors into the relative consistency of air conditioned comfort.  I should not have been surprised, then, to attend today's "Farmyard at the library" activity and find it inside in that grand presentation room.  Besides, that is, the fact that farmyard implies to me an outdoor space complete with grass and mud and any of the various weather elements that see fit to arrive.  This farmyard, however, referred to large (and I do mean large, thankfully) mats covered in hay and a large backdrop painted to look like, well, a farm yard.  While it rained outside we sat comfortably inside and enjoyed, if not the actual sights, the wonderful sounds and smells of a real farm:  The mooing calf, the grunting piglet, the quiet lamb, and the goat that kept trying to eat the large mats.  Farmer John was a really talented presenter and had most of the adults in stitches and most of the kids in awe.  And, since the great indoor presentation room is down a flight of stairs, I just couldn't help thinking of that old high school legend as I watched Farmer John coax his calf into the elevator.  Twice.

Running Ann Arbor

Yesterday was the day of the annual Dexter Ann Arbor run. This was my first year of running in our local race, and it was also my very first time competing in a 10K (6.2 miles). I spent most of the past two months being absolutely certain that it would at least be cold and rainy, since my first go at the Shamrock Shuffle was such a weather disaster, but as it turned out it was a beautiful day for it, with temperatures in the low 50s at the start, and a warming, but not scorching, sun overhead.  My goal, since I was well aware of the hills involved, especially the half mile long torturer leading up to the finish line, was to finish with a 10 minute mile average, and since I was only aiming to compete with myself in this race, I can confidently say that I won, finishing with a time of 55:28 (according to my stop watch), making my mile average just below 9 minutes.  That is by far a personal best, and in my longest race yet to boot.

But I realize that this blog isn't about me, so let me get back to the most important character involved and say that Calvin also had a great weekend.  Saturday night he had a dinner party with his Grandparents O and Aunt Ann (when we arrived to pick him up the house was completely dark and they were all playing with flashlights - you can only imagine the fun he had and how often we've heard about it since).  He also got to see his uncle Curtis and friend Julie who came for the weekend to run in Sunday's race and to share the stories of their trip to Japan (from which they returned last weekend, and if I thought I did a great job running yesterday, you should know that they both beat me, even with only a week to recover from jet lag).  And yesterday we closed out our race morning with an afternoon spent at the Taste of Ann Arbor.  I can't really say that the crowds were worth it - it seemed like one of the most poorly organized of Ann Arbor events we've attended - but the food was good and Calvin, at least, enjoyed the live entertainment while we enjoyed great beer.  Grandparents, visiting uncles, and live entertainment, oh my.  Visit the May 2009 album one last time for pictures from this weekend and last.