Thursdays in Chelsea

Though unfortunately it signifies the coming of the end (of summer, that is), the Chelsea Community Fair has been one of our favorite August destinations since our introduction to the festivities four years ago.  Of course four years ago the purpose of our visit was to take in the Figure Eight (Demolition) Derby, while this year it was to visit the cows.  And the pigs, and the sheep, and the chickens, and the goats, and all the other 4-H animals Calvin's heart could desire.  The sheep are always some of our favorites - they are usually the  noisiest of the barn animals and that makes them more interesting - but this year we also got the chance to pet a day old chick, and to watch an egg actually in the process of hatching (I say in the process because, unlike in the books we read, a real live egg hatching can take quite some time and this one made no real progress in the 10 minutes we watched it).  Calvin also eyed such rides as the Merry-Go-Round and the Ferris Wheel with a reserved interest, but we left before he could get any real ideas and  headed for downtown Chelsea where dinner would be less expensie and less dusty.  That's when we really lucked out, since apparently summer Thursday nights are music nights in downtown Chelsea and there were performers of every kind on nearly every corner.  We enjoyed some fiddling, some rocking, some barbershop, and some zydeko all within a block or so.  Calvin also enjoyed crossing and recrossing the train tracks, and we stopped for some dinner at the new Mexican restaruant, Las Fuentes (which we can't really recommend unless it's for the impeccable service, but the food and  margaritas left much to be desired and nobody goes to a Mexican restaurant for the service.  The next time we want Mexican we'll head back to Ypsi Township to La Fuente, which we highly recommend.  Apparently one fountain is better than many any day).  As with Independence Lake, our only sadness is that we did not discover Thursday Nights in Chelsea earlier in the season.

More pictures in the August 2008 album. 

Raining irony, and not much else.

Isn't that just the way it goes.  This morning we set out to tackle five errands, all at local vendors, on one round trip in the car, expecting thunderstorms and rain in the late afternoon and evening.  Our first stop, to the Dexter Farmers' Market, was fun and successful.  Our second stop, to the Dexter bike shop, produced only bad service (and no tire pump, since we finally got frustrated and walked out).  The early arrival of rain on our way to Turner's Garden Center to buy a rain barrel rendered that stop a bit disappointing, but at least the service was friendly and prompt.  The rain slowed in time for stops number four, to my parents' for transplant plants, and five, to the pumpkin field at Wing Farms to load our car up with free rocks (we can't wait to show you what we've been doing with those), and had stopped by the time we reached home at noon.  Still expecting storms and showers all evening I immediately set to the job of installing the new rain barrel, working straight through lunch, lest the threatening storm clouds should decide to produce a deluge with the downspout in pieces.  The installation was more involved than we had envisioned (meaning it required more tools) but was not difficult at all, the hardest part being the leveling of the the blocks we put the barrel on, and as I stepped back to take in my hard work, the sky cleared to a brilliant blue and the sun came out of hiding to reward us for our hard work and conservationism.  Not another cloud dotted the sky all day, let alone a drop of rain fall to test our new barrel, and ten days of forcasting don't predict any, either.  Mother Nature is truly a scornful omniscient.

All our frustrations aside, we are very excited about our new rain barrel.  Want to know more about them?  Try here.

Friday means music. And ice cream.

Friday's in Dexter mean live music in the park downtown, so that's where we headed tonight, on foot, with our picnic packed and stowed on the bottom of the stroller.  The music was rockabilly and enjoyable, and there was a pig to boot.  Really, a pig.  You can see for yourself.  We had a great picnic in the shade, then danced for a while, then chased the pig for a while, and lastly we headed for the Dairy Queen for the quintessential ice cream cones.  And, of course, the quintessential mess.  You can see that for yourselves, too.  We can't say that it's the same as The Top of the Park, but in many ways we can say we enjoyed it more - far fewer people, the band wasn't as loud, the park was far more comfortable, and the ice cream more reasonably priced - and we wonder if that's a sign that we are starting to become Dexterites.  That would really be fine with us.

More pictures in the July 2008 abum.

Summer entertainment

We mentioned recently that our calendar had been briefly taken over by Calvin's various "end of the year" events, and today marked the conclusion of that situation with a picnic and drum circle for his music class participants.  This was our first time taking part in a real honest to goodness drum circle, and it really was delightful for all three of us.  If you are wondering what a real honest to goodness drum circle is, we couldn't really tell you, but we can tell you that this one involved all the kids and their family members sitting in a circle around a big pile of rhythm instruments, and a rhythm leader who kept a steady and interesting beat for us as we made our way through such child and rhythm friendly songs as Funga Alafia and the ABCs (which can, yes, be quite rhythmic if done right way).  We all got the chance to use many different rhythm instruments from around the world and to pick songs to sing and perform.  It was truly impossible not to get swept into the movement, singing, and rhythm of the circle, and, after a wonderful potluck lunch, we all went home and collapsed at nap time.

Our evening entertainment wasn't nearly as coo, but it did involved some rhythm and dancing (at least on Calvin's part).  With so much to do in our own little village we hadn't ventured into Ann Arbor town for its many activities yet this summer, but after reading about tonight's entertainment at Top of the Park, we figured we'd better check it out.  As it turned out, Heliosphere, performed by a group called Dream Engine, was too loud, too short, and too repetitive and not nearly as much as the band that came after.  And, actually, it wasn't so much the band itself as watching Calvin dance that made that part of the evening riotous.  He enjoyed Heliosphere just fine, but when the music came on he got up and started shaking it right in the middle of the crowd.  He had quite the audience, too.  It's amazing what self-assurance we are born with that is ultimately replaced by a sense of propriety, but at Calvin's age all the world is his stage for sure.

More pictures:  June 2008, too album. 

Jammies at the Library

It's not every day that you get to wear your jammies to the library, but Calvin learned something about special exceptions today.  The children's program at our little tiny library has been one of our greatest enjoyments in our new tiny town - Calvin absolutely loves weekly story time, and throughout the summer they have at least one activity every week to get kids into the library for fun - and the activity this week was Bedtime Stories night.  For about thirty minutes pajama clad kids of all ages crammed themselves into the main room of the library to listen to our phenomenal and well loved children's librarian read bedtime stories and lead bedtime songs and dances (yes dances).  From "No Jumping on the Bed" to "I'm Not Afraid of Monsters" Calvin was absolutely captivated, plus he seemed to greatly enjoy the fact that he was wearing his pajamas out of the house.  And since, if we're making some exceptions, we might as well make a few, yes that is a lion hanging out with those farm animals on the felt board (for more information on lions as farm animals, please refer to Pete Seeger's recording of "I Had a Rooster").