The Terrible Catsafterme

August. August. What’s there to say about August 2009? Apparently quite a bit. It’s sometimes a depressing month as we watch summer wind down before our eyes. This one was particularly bleak for me as it signalled not only the end of summer with its unseasonably cool weather, but the end of my vacations for the year. And that’s just where we pick up…on August 1. This was the day that I returned from our fun-filled trip to Myrtle Beach.

So the first day of August was spent on the road as we headed for home. Heidi had watched the cats, so she met me at the house that evening to return the key. We hung out for a bit for a drink or seven.

Having been gone the prior week, I had missed the grand opening of our new Fresh Fare store in Kettering – so I immediately stopped in to see it upon my return to work. My old friend Jamie, the smoking hot front office gal who I had worked with ten years ago at the Dorothy Lane store, is working here. I ran into her at two additional meetings during the month and it has been nice to renew my friendship with her.

My first full weekend back in town after having been away for most of the previous four saw some great summer weather and a chance to lay out in the sun over the weekend. Saturday, August 8, saw a gathering at Heidi’s house of our old friends from high school, Nicole Perez and Mark Harris. It was great to hang out with them and their kids. More details of this reunion can be found here.

Mark, me, Heidi, and Nicole, back by the creek behind her house, which I visited so often during my childhood. That’s either a ghost or Heidi’s daughter Lola peeking through the middle

Heidi’s girls Jayne, Lola, and Madeline prove that a mess really can be made from s’mores

Mark and I toast marshmallows with three-inch prongs

Sunday the 9th saw more sunny laying-out weather and a team-clean session with Ashleigh during one of her rare appearances at home. Her boyfriend Stephen even got in on the act and helped trim the bushes in front of the house.

My cousin Chris had returned from Italy this month and he stopped over on Wednesday the 12th to visit and bring me my Firenze t-shirt that he had so graciously picked up. I had no trouble pausing Lady in the Water, the crap movie that I was watching at the time. Speaking of movies and DVDs, I was able to catch up on some of my film viewing during the weeknights of August and successfully made the transition from Three’s Company to The Andy Griffith Show. That’s a lot of Don Knotts!

On Friday, August 14, Christi came over for the evening to hang out, imbibe, and watch the movie My Bodyguard, an old favorite. Then as usual, she disappeared like the wind for the rest of the month.

Saturday the 15th saw a fun night out with Heidi. Originally there was supposed to be an ‘impromptu’ gathering of some old high school classmates at the Riverscape in downtown Dayton - as announced as an event on Facebook. I thought it might be fun to check it out, but alas, we saw absolutely no one there. But the evening was more than salvaged as we kicked it off with a nice big sushi array at Sake in Beavercreek. We had lots of specialty roles, including a Philadelphia, Hawaiian, Jaguar, Dragon, Dynamite, and a Sunshine, which included caviar. Good stuff, even if nowhere as big of rolls as I’m used to on the west coast.

No matter how the evening turns out, if it started with sushi, it can’t be all that bad

Then Heidi drug me to the Southern Belle, her favorite bar from her wild and wooly days. Don’t tell her I said this, but it wasn’t that bad at all, despite the name. We played the old mechanical bowling game (which I played quite well, much to her chagrin) and a couple games of pool. After that we stopped over at her friends’ Aimee and Leon’s house, for a night of wild and unprecedented events.

Dragged to the Southern Belle. Hornsby pear cider made the experience even more palatable

Bowling with all my might

Heidi indicates a rare Bowl For Fun victory

With Heidi’s friend Aimee

Witnesses Aimee and Heidi

Aimee’s lovely cousin Katie. Good sport she was.

A few days later, we settled back down to earth for a more domestic family gathering. On Tuesday the 18th we met up with my cousin Rob and his wife Amber. They had made their return from Germany where Rob had been stationed for the last several years. We met at Marion’s in Englewood where their many friends greeted them before they departed for their next destination and adventure in life - in Colorado Springs. All of this, and pizza too!

Amber, me, Ashleigh, Stephen, Rob, and Dad enjoy the goodness that is Marion’s Piazza. Since visiting Italy, I now know what piazza means

With Rob and Amber

Amber, Rob, Dottie, and Bill – temporarily together in Ohio

On Friday, August 21, my friend Jennifer came over for a wine and cheese tasting. I contributed a couple cheeses, honey roasted nuts, and Dancing Bull that I picked up at the Fresh Fare (hey! ran into Jamie again). Jennifer however really goes all out and brought over some gouda, jarlsburg swiss, goat cheese, wine-soaked salami, veggies with garlic and cucumber dip, a Chateau Du Buisson Bordeax and a Chilean red cab, Casilleror del Diablo. Needless to say, there was enough to feed an army. And it all went down so well while watching Sideways and looking at awkward family photos on the internet.

Jennifer and me with enough food for Schenectady

Saturday the 22nd was my Dad’s actual birthday. We chose to celebrate with lunch in Columbus with Denise and Aaron and the kids. Dad and Vicki picked me up and we headed up at around 11am. Lunch was at Frank Carsonie’s, a pleasant little Italian eatery. Dad, Aaron, and I split a large Stromboli. Afterward, we went back to Denise’s place to chat and play with the little tykes.

Me, the madman, Denise, Megan, Aaron, Dad, and Vicki. The huge Stromboli was strategically placed in front of me for the picture

Adam shows Grandpa how the puzzle works

Mesmerizing Megan with a bouncing ball

Mesmerized by Megan’s cuteness

Adam looking quite suave and debonair in his Hudson shirt

After we went home, I headed out to my Mom’s house for some more great food. I like food, by the way. She was having a little impromptu cookout with Bev and Ed and Karen’s family. They were over at her place helping set up for a garage sale. I didn’t help set up, but helped myself plenty to the good eats that surrounded me. And I was wearing orange that day. This lucky color didn’t help me much in another major Farkle loss to Mom, but I was able to demolish the woman in billiards. Bob gave me a run for my money though.

But the most entertainment came when I brought over some of the leftover cheese and Jennifer’s Bordeaux. Mom, not being a big fan of red wine – especially of the dry variety – decided to spice hers up, first with ice and sugar, and then finally with some Pepsi. I was outraged.  

Oh joy. More food. Andrew is all smiles.

Another auspicious Farkle victory for Mammy

The Pepsi Challenge it ain’t

On Monday, the 24th, my cousin Chris joined me for a viewing of Miller’s Crossing. What’s the rumpus?

Denise was back in town come Thursday, August 27th, this time to assist with manning the garage sale. I scoured it after work and picked up a few DVDs from Bev, which were being sold dirt cheap. We also went to Marions for pizza. Twice in one month!

And since I hadn’t eaten enough junk in August, on Friday, August 28, we all went out to celebrate Bob’s birthday that day at the Golden Dragon, where we all enjoyed some pure Chinese muck. Bryan & Erine and Bob’s sister Cindy and her boyfriend Jeff joined us as well. But they sat at a different booth.

The Chinese blah-blahs. I do like their fish stuff though.

Erine feeds Megan the Chinese special. Some sort of duck.

I really can’t get enough of these eyes

Chinese milk

And for the final event of the month – I took Heidi out to the Paragon Club as thanks for watching my kitties while we were in Myrtle Beach. I had been given a $100 gift certificate from work, so didn’t balk much at the huge price tag of my filet mignon, wine, and ice cream sundae. Good food and good company. We stopped at Best Buy afterward as Heidi was looking for a digital camera and looking to buy me the new Cheap Trick Sgt. Pepper Live DVD.

The good eats of the Paragon Club

And thus ends another fine month. Oh, and that Ashleigh character, who has spent much more time away from home than she has in it (while scoping out apartments) acquired a puppy with her boyfriend Stephen. They named this cute husky pit bull Gnarley. Better them than me! At least they have something to keep them in on occasion. And don’t worry, it’s not staying here, although they did bring him by for a visit.

Ashleigh and Stephen and the new kid in town

Gnarley…and also the new puppy

And just one final note: August saw the inclusion of a couple of Catsafterme  pictures on a website called Tacky Tourist Photos. With permission, the owner of the site used a photo of Chris from Pisa and one of me in Vegas, that can be seen by clicking on the links.

See you in September…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 6:35 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Family Life, On the Town. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.