Morning all:

August came, stayed a while, then September kicked her out—at least that is how the weather felt this past week. This means that this morning it’s nice and cool again, and that means that the coffee tastes that much better. It also means that when standing outside the sounds of birds dominate and not a noisy cacophony of whirring A/C fans and compressors. I like September better.

For those of you who have followed the trials and tribulations of the titling of Marcia’s pickup truck the trial is over. As the State’s Attorney General told me a few weeks back, it was now only the internal paperwork that needed to be completed—six months is all it took. Six months to get a truck so that Marcia can have a proper vehicle to get her garden mulch in the springtime, and now that the thing is street legal she isn’t even in town.

Yes that’s correct, Marcia is still playing the role of Au Pair in Vince and Kirstin’s little household. I think that the official definition of Au Pair does describe their household duties as “light” and the babysitting capped at 5 hours per day. Maybe then the Dutch word of “Oma” needs to apply because an Oma just pitches in and does whatever it takes and whatever the “does” requires to get the job done.

Kirstin crossed a major mile-marker this week. As of last Tuesday she can deliver the new baby in the birthing center rather than having a hospital event. This means that she is off bed-rest. Vince is now probably in a bit of a panic watching Kirstin emerge from a 2 month shopping hiatus; Marcia is already strapping young Derek into the car seat and is ready to join. In any case, Marcia officially cancelled her scheduled flight home (today) and it seems she’ll be a Floridian for a little while longer.

Taking full advantage of my bachelor status I had a date last night—with Cathy and Jason. We made it to the “Guest Artist Series” of Cincinnati’s Contemporary Dance Theater. Let me assure you that this was not your grandmother’s world of ‘pirouettes” or ‘tour en l’air’. This evening the music had everything from the sounds of primal drums, Patsy Cline and Sam Cooke, to a newly composed piece by my neighbor, Bonia Shur. Bonia has done movie and theater scores as well as a wealth of liturgical work. The dancing ranged from movement art performed off a rigging 15 feet above the stage, to a sultry scene in a bar. Bonia’s wife Fanchon choreographed a piece that had about 25 dancers in a setting reflecting a journey in Pre-Inquisition Spain where Islamic Moors, Hebrew, Spanish Christians, and Flamenco dancers representing Gypsy interacted in harmony. Fanchon incorporated elements of early Japanese “Noh” theater with the use of on stage “witnesses’—many of them looked remarkably like several of my neighbors. We had a great evening!

Now, Shang needs a walk and then its race day at the lake. I hope that the wind picks up so that the sailing will be memorable.

Mentioning Shang, our 8-year old pup had his annual physical this week and is in great shape, except he needs readers to perform the close-up yard inspections that dogs make. The one major issue is that while at the vet he had a panic attack. This means the he summoned all the know-how his ancient skunk relatives imparted in him. The resultant stench had me drive home with windows open and eyeballs bulging. So far, not pleasant but do-able; the problem was that the next morning I was to pick up a couple of customers flying in on their corporate jet. Suffice it to say that early in the morning I was number one in line for the full service car wash to open. The $16.00 de-luxe wash and a $5 tip bought sufficient interior cleaning and spraying to “cleanse the air”.

Make it a great week everyone; do put a little dance into your step.

Cheers,
Dirk

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