Grillin' for Food Gatherers

It's an amazing charity program here in our area. Food Gatherers collects all manner of unwanted, unsold, and uneaten food from stores, bakeries, restaurants, etc., sorts it for edibility (my spell checker is going to yell at me for that one), and redistributes it to people in need. You know that mound of carrots at the grocery store that you've always wondered "how can they possibly sell all those?" or maybe, like me, you've often lamented "why do they stock so much of XXXX? There's no way they sell it all. What a waste!" Well, this program does the amazing thing of connecting people in need, with food in need of homes.

My dad volunteers there. He's done this since he retired and needed something else to do with his time (other than all the other fun things in the world, that is). He has ridden in the trucks to pick up or deliver pallets of food, and he's stood in the warehouse sorting. He's met many interesting people, and helped many more that he has never met.

Once a year Food Gatherers hosts a grilling pow-wow at the fairgrounds in Saline. Many delicious local restaurants and catering services donate their food, many more people donate their time or other expertise, and others of us go to enjoy all those donations and all that hard work. Food Gatherers makes their money in the fundraiser on tickets sold to event and on raffles and auctions that takes place within. My dad has worked the beer pouring station for a couple of years now. It's a good place for him, and we take him "out for dinner" on his break.

Our community is pretty supportive of the group, and even this year's stormy weather couldn't bring it down.

Hallowe'en Nights (Greenfield Village)

We've been to the Christmas event at Greenfield Village, but not to Hallowe'en Nights, and never to the special dinner before one of their period events. What a fantastic night! Dinner was delicious, and shared with many in the warm, inviting setting of the town tavern. It was served by reenactors who really seem to enjoy what they are doing, which held true not just for the period people in the tavern, but for everyone staging the event outside as well.

After dinner we walked along a jack-o-lantern lined path on a magical evening that thankfully held it's rain and wind until the night was over. We were stopped here and there at treat stations, but more exciting were the various story-telling spots and staged scenes: Hansel and Gretel, The Tell-Tale Heart, and, of course, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The story tellers were so powerful it would be hard to express their talent in my own words, and the staged scenes (the headless horseman chasing Ichabod Crane, the mob hunting down Frankenstein's monster, the pirate ghost ship) were just just the right balance of humorous and spooky.

Costumes were highly encouraged, and we brought the train out of retirement for this one because he could easily slip it off for dinner. With Calvin chugging around dressed in the era of steam travel, Jon went as a conductor and I as a Victorian traveler. Very appropriate for Greenfield's own target time period, and I like to think that the costumes got us into just the right mood for the event.

We were spooked, but not scared out of our wits, by the spectre in the carousel, the man hiding among the trees, the suddenly living scarecrow, and the portal of the covered bridge. There was a barber shop quartet of jack-o-lanterns, death standing out in a field (watch out, he'll point at you!), and ghostly brides and witches, all followed by hot cider. We ended our evening with a telling of The Tell-Tale Heart just as the wind was picking up, and Calvin fell asleep on the way home as the rain drops just started to spatter down. Timing was our friend this night.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy

This weekend was the annual Ragtime Street Fair at Greenfield Village—good music, fun eats and drinks, and delightful entertainers—so yesterday we headed over late in the afternoon, wearing our summer fair finest, to take part in the music and festivities over dinner. The village, of course, was working as usual, so we watched them blowing glass, printing papers (where the printer took Calvin on as an apprentice for one run), and bringing in the chickens and other farm fauna for the evening. In addition to the usual stuff, though, there was a good old fashioned street fair, with homemade goodies and wholesome entertainment, like suspendered men riding crazy bicycles. We ate sausage and drank minted tea while sitting on benches, in the shade and watching the townsfolk (period actors) take part. We took in a ragtime piano contest, and a Gershwin comedy and dance review (my favorite), and we even got to see Teddy Roosevelt speak on his campaign trail ("Vote Roosevelt in '12!"). We watched the train, we ate blueberry pie. It was hot, but the evening, and the music, were delightful.

Calvin was invited to help make a print with the press.

I had no idea they had cell phones in the early twentieth century.

Teddy Roosevelt!

Rolling Sculptures

It's a tradition. This year we started with a family dinner at Jolly Pumpkin (of course), and enjoyed the cars in the cooler hours of the evening, closing down the show at nine. Calvin's focus this year was on hood ornaments, and he was drawn to every open hood, looking to see how clean the engine was, and sometimes trying to identify the type of engine. He's very good at identifying V engines, and even once found an in-line engine. He got to sit in one car, and check out the crank and the woodwork on a really old one.

Jolly Pumpkin

Obligatory happy car shot

Airplane hood ornament

A not so cowardly lion hood ornament

Calvin's favorite car of the night

Classic

Winged helmet hood ornament

Flying lady hood ornament

Sitting

Knight of the round table trunk ornament

Attacked by the ice in his glass

Off Broadway

The Off Broadway production of Mary Poppins made a stop in Grand Rapids this weekend, and we met it there. Months ago our friends asked us if we wanted to get tickets and we've been counting the days since then. We have great friends in that city that we don't get to see very often, so we got tickets, and made plans to stay with them one night while we were in town. Seeing them alone was worth the trip.

Then...I had forgotten the wonder and magic of a Broadway musical—or perhaps I'd attended so many children's plays with Calvin prior that my expectations had become skewed. The voices, the dancing, and ooooh the set. The set was like a fantastical pop-up book.

Calvin loved very minute of it, and my joy was enhanced by his as he tapped out the rhythms and laughed at the comedy and gasped at the magic, sitting on my lap to better be able to see.

A stop for dinner at the local brewery (a big favorite of ours)—one more chance to see good friends—and we were headed back home with good memories in tow. We'd bought a CD of the live production so we listened to it all the way home, the timing so perfect that we were just finishing the curtain call as we pulled into the driveway, shortly after a usual bedtime. And that was a perfect day.

Journal to follow shortly.