a collection of tried and true
The new drama teacher at a high school puts on the play Lysistrata, a Greek drama where all the women stop having sex with the men until they stop the war they are in. During the time of the rehearsals of the play all different couples in the town stop having sex as a result of women losing interest, unknown to them that this is also the plot of the play. An interesting read. I liked it and liked the author.
PJH rating: ****
A ten year old girl is growing up with a dysfunctional mother and big sister in California. The Mom starts to lose it and the two girls go stay with their dysfunctional Uncle in Richmond, Virginia in stereotypical southern fashion. Jeanette Walls first pure fictional novel is unfortunately disappointing.
PJH Rating: ***
Saturday was my parent’s annual clambake. We have had a beautiful fall this year. Every weekend has been picture perfect. Of course on Saturday it rained all day. ALL DAY. A lit bit of rain (well actually a lot) certainly did not dampen the festivities. The bake was perfection, the company was festive and all had a great time. I didn’t take too many pictures unfortunately. To see more pictures visit my Uncle Tom’s blog.
Memoir of author’s grandmother’s life growing up and living in the early 20th century in the southwest. A remarkable woman who grew up dirt poor, was a teacher and a very independent woman for the times. An enjoyable read from the author of The Glass Castle.
PJH Rating: ****
Story of a physician who grew up in Ethiopia along with his identical twin. Amazing storytelling of his very dramatic birth, growing up, politics, medicine, and family dynamics. A great story and well written.
PJH rating ****1/2
A retired British major lives in a scenic country village in England and tires of the pace of modernity…or jumps on board?, dealing with his London based son, the death of his brother, a new lady friend and the possible destruction of his beloved village. A fun novel.
PJH Rating: ****
We went to Johnny Mango for an early Sunday Brunch this past Sunday. Johnny Mango is a small place in Ohio City that we have been wanting to go to forever. It has a nice casual vibe with not many people there as we were there by 9:30 AM. I had their whole wheat waffles with a plum/lemon sauce. They were excellent. Courtney had a chorizo, potato and cheese omelet and Sophia and Grace each had a breakfast quesadilla. They are known for their fresh made juices. Sophia and Grace each had a huge orange juice that they gulped down and I tried the apple, cranberry and ginger that was great as well. We will definitely try to go again when we are in the neighborhood… hopefully for their Taco Tuesday and margaritas.
After breakfast we sent for a quick walk through the zoo as we were down the street and it was a beautiful fall morning. Other than the hundreds of people walking around for a diabetes walk, it was a nice to be out and about.
Friday, August 30th 2013
Courtney and I traveled to Troy, Ohio to attend the Gentleman of the Road Music Festival. This is the second year of GOTR that is put on by Mumford and Sons. They go to small towns around the world and basically take over the town and have a great music festival. We were lucky that one of their stops this year was in Troy that is a small town 1/2 hour north of Dayton – about a 2 1/2 hour drive for us. We took off Friday morning and arrived in Troy around 1:00. We were camping with the hordes so parking was about 1/2 mile away and we brought our wagon and walked to the camping spot. 
The camping area where we were assigned was already pretty packed but we were able to find a spot and get everything set up with no problems. It was HOT HOT HOT out. We were happy we brought our sport umbrella that we just bought so we had some shade. We walked around the venue and then walked into town whose main square was all blocked off and had two stages playing music. Troy was totally into it and it was a great place to be. The concerts started at 5:00. We hung out in the shade for most of the early acts, people watching, drinking beer and taking in the scene. They had great beer and great food in the grounds. The headliner was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros who were great. Kind of trippy, happy music. We went on the field for their whole show which was fun to be with the masses. We were pretty exhausted after the concert and crawled into our tent.
Saturday, August 31st
Somehow we managed to sleep – a little bit. People were up all night but we expected that so no worries. We scoped out the shower trailers right away as we were feeling mighty nasty. Happily they were just opening up, not crowded at all and there is nothing like a hot shower to get you moving. We walked over to town to find something to eat. We ended up at The Caroline, a nice little place right off the square and they had a really good 
brunch buffet going on. It was nice to hang out in the air conditioning. We walked around some more, walked to the car to get some more water and hung out around the campground until the concert started back up at noon. We hung out for the first couple of acts and then walked into town again which was getting packed. Their were hordes of people crossing the bridge the other way and lots of people in town also. We had some more beer, watched a couple more bands and then headed back. It rained for about 30 minutes when the Vaccines were playing, but we were lucky in that is all that it rained as the skies were threatening the entire day. The stadium was getting packed. We headed onto the field to watch Old Crowed Medicine Show who were great and everybody loved. We then scopes out are spot for Mumford and Sons. Their show was really great. The entire place was jam packed, rocking, on their feet the whole time. Great stuff.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
After a great nights sleep (yeah right) we were up at 8:00, packed up by 9:00 and on the road. A fun weekend that we would (and hopefully will) do again.
Set during the onset of WW1, a young woman recently married is on her way to NYC but the ship sinks and she finds herself in an overcrowded lifeboat. The dynamics of the group constantly shift as the situation shifts in tragic ways. A terrific first novel that is hard to put down.
PJH ****
Eat On Edgecliff 