Mother's Day weekend

Mother's Day weekend 2009 started out with a walk with Stephanie, Frisco, and me. Frisco is not as tough on small dogs as he is on big dogs, and this little dog is one he had met before, Munchkin. They got along pretty well.

Friso was then off with me for a regular doctor's visit. I felt a little bit bad after Dr. Kaur (below) and her colleague poked and prodded him (two shots, one blood sample, a rectal thermometer reading, and two nose drops!).

The animal theme continued as we stopped - on our way out of town - at the local government animal shelter to renew Frisco's license (now armed with new shot records). The licensing part was easy. But Stephanie insisted on looking at the dogs at the shelter (we had left Frisco home). Sure enough she found some dogs - including a poor, sight-impaired Yorkie who will probally never get adopted. I steered clear of this, figuring emotional attachment and raising the hopes of dogs and shelter staff. We can't afford another dog, and Frisco wouldn't tolerate it.

A couple of weeks later investigators were there too, checking out allegations of fraud and mismanagement against the shelter.

The shelter is south of town and stopped there not just because Frisco was due for annual license renewal (made necessary partly because of a animal control issue we faced a couple of years ago) but also because we were headed south of town anyway. On the way to our destination we somewhat inadvertantly drove around the first of the small towns we checked out on Saturday: Shepherdsville, KY - an almost incongruous combination of a giant flea market, an old-timey Main Street downtown, and a slew of fast food joints and big box retailers just a block away, next to the interstate. Once we crossed to the correct side of the highway, we were soon at our destination. Stephanie has long been a shoe afficianado, and about 10 years ago Stephanie began to discover that one of the reasons why her feet hurt so bad was that she wore lots of bad shoes(not enough arch support). So she began experimenting with more expensive shoes - finding stores in Tallahassee, St. Paul, Sarasota, and now Louisville that carry shoes by Dansko, Birkenstock, and the like. A major on-line shoe retailer - from whom she bought me also not cheap shoes a couple of years ago for my birthday - it turns out - although it's officially headquartered in Nevada - has their warehouse south of Louisville - near Shepherdsvile - and also near the United Parcel Service hub at the airport, south of town. Zappos.com, Stephanie learned earlier this spring, has an outlet store in that warehouse. The warehouse - pictured below from the road - is, as you can see, very big.

Below is Stephanie standing outside the outlet store door.

Once we got into the store, given the size of the warehouse, it was small and a tad disappointing.

Once Michael (below) helped us, we found some Dansko shoes, and we picked up that you really have to go there pretty regularly to find stuff if you're looking for something in particular. Stephanie was (looking for something in particular), which she didn't find. She did get a good-price pair of shoes (Vincent and I usually object is she doesn't spend at least $90), but we could relax that here. She got a pair of Danskos for 1/3 the regular price.

I also looked a little, but may have to come back when my current Zappos shoes wear out even more. From Zappos we drove an exit south, instead of north (towards home), on Interstate 65, to the Bardstown exit Soni and I had missed in January. Bardstown is a town south of Louisville - the cradle of Catholicism in KY (even before Covington) - home of several nearby distilleries and Catholic institutions, including the monastery Penny, Mom, and I visited John at in summer 1987 - when he was staying there (where the Catholic theologian Thomas Merton once lived) - and a town I believe the FL summer Latin tour went through in 1979 - on the way to Lansing, Michigan. I've driven through here twice now in January on the way to and from our church officer retreat at a nunnery. On Mother's Day weekend Sunday, Stephanie and I drove through it - past the restaurant where Soni and I ate in January, past the state park where the "Stephen Foster" musical is performed (Stephen Foster apparently wrote "My Old KY Home" after a visit to Bardstown), past the Chinese buffet where I ate 1 1/2 years ago on the way to the retreat, past the old courthouse square, past the dinner train the runs out of Bardstown, and past several old distilleries (and some kind of exhibit area near one). Some of these distilleries feature huge warehouse-looking - probably vats where the whisky ages - including the last ones we visited (pictured below) - I think for the Heaven Hill liquor company - that are really kind of peculiar looking, almost prision-like.

On the way home we also drove through Mt. Washington, in northern Bullitt County, and then in on Bardstown Road. We stopped at an Indian restaurant we had noticed months ago, that the proprietor of another favorite restaurant of ours had recommended, and spent a while there (it was good but service was slow). During our time there we got a fateful call from Vincent, who told us he had left the dog in the backyard (which he is not supposed to do - thanks to Frisco's separation anxiety, the dog wines which annoys the neighbors if any of them are home - all the more so because he didn't have any idea when we were coming home). As it is, he wanted us to pick him up at his girlfriend's - which we said we couldn't do, since we were still waiting for our food and - as soon as we were done eating - we'd need to rush home to rescue the dog - since it was almost dark and with a barking dog in the dark our neighbors might eventually call the dog shelter people we'd visited earlier in the day. (Vincent got mad and siad he'd stay at his girlfriend's. I eventually picked him up after church - on Mother's Day Sunday - and by then he had finally overstayed his welcome - and that helped produce a you can only see Vincent twice a week rule for Vincent's girlfriend - which is good as far as we're concerned - but marked a big change - since he used to go over there for hours EVERY DAY. A sign of a good "ethnic" restaurant - lots of the customers there were South Asian Indian Americans (but it's hard to pick out since it's in a rather run-down old shopping center).

So we'd already had our big meal for Mother's Day weekend. On Mother's Day Sunday after church Stephanie walked to a plant store in our neighborhood and then I drove to pick her up with a bunch of plants she'd bought. After this, she spent a couple of hours working with them, mainly in our front yard. Frisco helped a little. (Mostly) fun weekend!

-- Perry

Kudos to Vincent

Listening to Jodi Klein, Vincent’s counselor, Monday reminded me that Vincent has been doing two things – both of which take time and/or energy – two things I’d never thought he’d do: go to counseling every week without complaining and – except for the bad days when he stays overnights at the Davises' – take his medication daily, even though it was making him sleepy.

Almost as if he’d been listening to Ms. Klein and us, Vincent shocked me Tuesday – on a day when we really needed him to stay home with Frisco – he did indeed – without us really requesting it – for the first time in weeks, stayed home and didn’t go over to the Davises' after school. He bought Frisco some birthday treats and apparently worked some on his class.

By Wednesday he was also scheming how to fill in some personal references in the Apex movie theaters job application – thinking of a good idea – Ian, from church – although it turns out Ian is very ill and we hope you’ll join us in praying for healing for him. With Kate taking Ian to the hospital and me here in South Florida, Stephanie may have been stuck leading Children’s Fellowship by herself. Perhaps Vincent wowed us again by going with her. They may have taken Frisco and asked the kids to help celebrate today, his ninth birthday.

Sorry I missed it, Frisco. Remember when I essentially drove back to Sarasota in the middle of the weekend to get you a doggie birthday cake? I helped get Vincent to get your treats, but wasn’t there for the celebration. May we celebrate many more happy, healthy birthdays with you (and may I be there from here on out)! Stephanie will now be getting ready for book club Thursday evening at our house (first time we’ve had guests over – except for Emily as a surprise guest – for ages) and we and Mom are mulling over whether to get the fuel injection and tires fixed.

Eventually, instead of going to Samantha’s, Tuesday Vincent went with Stephanie to an old theater in downtown New Albany (Grand Theater – pictured above) to get her hair cut for wigs for cancer patients (Cuts for a Cure). She just barely had enough – eight inches – Two of her colleagues – one woman and one man – were also there doing it. Mrs. Hooks and students from Fairmont had raised over $700 for cancer research. Vincent mainly talked on the phone with Sam and ate with Stephanie at Taco Bell afterwards. But he was there.

(Stephanie has only got her hair trimmed slightly in the past year, and so she’s been growing it out for more than a year. Stephanie said she doesn’t think her hair has been this long (before Tuesday night) since before she and I met – when she was going out with Joey Puluso and Vincent was a toddler.)

More on Florida and – hopefully – on haircuts, Children’s Fellowship, book club, and doggie birthdays – later.

-- Perry

Extra signs

More signs of spring: Stephanie brought home from Day 2 of Crescent Hill church's up-scale plant sale, tea, and art sale (UPSTARTS) Sunday some more plants, adding to a bevy of plants she has installed. By Tuesday, flowers we'd been watching around the tree in the front yard of our rented St. Matthews home had bloomed (below).

Stephanie also got to fulfill her outdoor grillling dreams from the weekend, on a day when rain started to threaten for much of the rest of Derby week. On the menu were smoked turkey sausage and vegetable kabobs (Frisco got much of the veggie kabobs!), grilled half cabbages (!), and rice. It was the first time we've grilled this year.

Two danger signs for spring/Derby week. Good for alleviating my allergies, but bad for enjoying Derby week outdoors - Rain expected to continue this week, possibly on the Pegasus Parade tomorrow and on the races Friday and Saturday. Surprisingly, the rain let up today helping the local favorite "Belle of Louisville" "beat" a new Cincinnati-based rival boat in the Great Steamboat Race on the Ohio River. Also: Last year we went to Derby-related parties on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and - as of yet - we've received no party invitations (including for the annual Friday night party we usually go to). Trouble in the Chang/Mathews/Gregory family's Derby party land?

-- Perry

Yut!

In my absence last week, Stephanie’s late Monday afternoon Culture Club turned to my father’s home country, Korea. Stephanie taught them a few facts about Korea (including its division and its location on the globe) and shared with them some Korean food: Korean pears from the Korean grocery store (Vincent’s favorite), kim chi (with no rice, not many liked it), and some Korean candy (mixed reviews). No herculean effort to make mondoo.

After my return from Guatemala, over the weekend Stephanie wondered about a Korean game her students – half English as a new language students, half other students – rotating through different after-school programs every eight weeks or so – could play. Although I had to check the Web, I immediately thought of a Korean board game national game named – it turns out – Yut! (pronounced somewhere between YOOT and YUHT). Some 20 years ago I had gone to a church party, at someone’s house, with my father and then stepmother (June). There were lots of yut sets, but I turned out to be paired with one of the best players in the church, and we won the tournament (and I won a set of now banned as too dangerous cookware).

Yut – I was reminded on the Web – is a Korean board game (not unlike Sorry, Stephanie eventually told me). But instead of Western dice one rolls four “sticks.” How many moves you proceed depends on the combination of sticks landing on the “round” side (with writing) and the “flat” side (with no writing). If all sticks land on the round side, you’ve got a “yut” and you get to go four spaces and “roll” gain. As in Sorry, if your piece lands on an opponent’s piece, the opponent’s piece must go back to the start.

Koreans have all kinds of styles of throwing the sticks. As in many activities, Koreans can be very demonstrative (and loud) at particular critical times of the game.

Sunday afternoon I headed off to the closet Korean grocery store. To my surprise, I found – with no help – two Yut sets (as well as two Korean masks).

As luck would have it, I was also slated to have lunch Monday with a Korean man who filled in some Yut details that the Web had left out (including what to call each of the five possible stick combinations).

I arrived at Stephanie’s classroom Monday just in time to help out. Stephanie introduced me, showed the students the masks, and then together we tried to explain the game. We broke the kids into two groups, and then each group into two teams of three (this worked out perfectly), and then each of us supervised one of the groups. We explained that – on a team – each player could take turns throwing the sticks and the team could debate, together, in which direction to go when their pieces faced forks in the road.

The kids got the hang of it pretty fast – though we had shift the word for two sticks up from Gay to Kay. Some of the are pretty rambunctious – somewhat a la Children’s Fellowships – though Stephanie’s ENL students were generally better behaved. After three games, we had the best of three winning teams switch and play each other. And one more time.

(I eventually supervised the kids a little more closely than she did – she let them play the game on their own and took time out to generate the materials I describe below – but on the other hand I sometimes had the most difficult student. Getting the kids to take turns and play fair – with or better yet without adult supervision – is as important as anything. From the start I was a little more directional than when I started out teaching, and this was helpful.)

Curriculum planning genius that she is, Stephanie had found sample Yut boards on the Web. She printed these out, and I doctored them a little. Then she passed out four popsicle sticks each and had the kids use magic marker to decorate one side of each stick (copying what was on the existing sticks or not), so that this side could be the “round” side. So, not only did the kids review Korea facts, learn some Korean words and get exposed to a national Korean game – they also got to take a copy of the game home – that they’d made themselves – and possibly play it with their brothers and sisters. Everyone seemed to leave happier and better educated.

No wonder Stephanie loves her job.

-- Perry

Stephanie and Frisco at Heine Brothers

Saturday night Stephanie, Vincent, and I stopped at Burger King in St. Matthews, then picked up Frisco and walked to Graeter's Ice Cream and back. Sunday night, before Vincent went at Golden Corral with his father and grandparents, Stephanie, Frisco, and I went for a walk in St. Matthews (yielding some "More signs of spring" pictures) and stopped at our closest neighborhood cafe, part of the local Guatemala-connected coffee chain Heine Brothers, which battles Starbucks locally. Stephanie and I had Italian sodas and sat outside at a table with Frisco, who sat on the table and sipped from a water.

-- Perry

Frisco at Chick Filet