Late Summer-Early Fall Sampler - Part Two

The weekend of September 17-18 brought unusually cool and grey weather, but that did not keep us completely inside. On Saturday I wandered into Center City for the Bi-Annual Rittenhouse Square Art Festival. This event brings artists from all over the country to the Square where they set up their works in tents all around the perimeter of the park. I spent several hours wandering about and enjoying the work. I bought a small etching of a bird done by a North Carolina artist, John Furches, and I coveted a painting of an Italian portico that so evoked Bologna, but alas, it was way out of my price range.

For those of you who know, doesn't this look just like the portico up the left side of Piazza Maggiore heading toward Via Farini?

The new Penn Park just outside the University of Pennsylvania stadium with the stadium visible in the distance. Saturday, Sept. 17, was grand opening day for the park.

That evening I met Dale at Tria Wine Bar just off the Penn campus for a little pre-game before the Penn-Lafayette football game. It was opening night for Penn, and I had found an excellent group-on deal for tickets. We really enjoyed the evening, but unfortunately Penn did not come out of this one with a win. Franklin Field is the oldest college football stadium still in continuous use in the USA, and it definitely looks its age! The field is in perfect 21st century shape, however, and the fans were loud and boisterous, complete with the traditional toast toss after the 3rd quarter!

The toast litters the track around the field until picked up by a special Zamboni engineered just to retrieve slices of toast! Crazy!

I took the train down to Richmond for a short visit with my mother, Annie, on September 20, and I spent a nice evening with her celebrating Cedarfield's 15th Anniversary at a special and quite tasty Family Night dinner. The following day I helped her reorganize everything in her Health Care room, took her to a special Holy Communion service officiated by Rev. John Miller, a high school friend of mine whom I had not seen in 44 years, had lunch with her in the dining room, and took her for a long walk around Cedarfield. It was a quality visit, and I think she really enjoyed it. That evening Courtney and Jeff took me out to dinner at Stella's for my 62nd birthday, which was to follow in just a couple of days. I had an absolutely delicious whole grilled Red Snapper and yummy Greek appetizers washed down with a crisp white wine. It was such a fun evening, and I thank Courtney and Jeff as always for all they do for me and the rest of the family.

A Mother-Daughter Birthday Toast!