Catholics, COSI, and Pi

J came home early from work on Friday. We went & got her new social security card & driver's license taken care of , then had lunch at Nick's. Their wings are superb, vinegary & hot.

While J took a nap, I watched house porn & went through some old magazines. In the evening, we took the kids over to the local Catholic church's annual festival. There were games, rides, a dunking booth, a flea market, and a food tent. J & I lingered long over the books at the flea market & got several. Pie splurged on vases & stuffed animals. J grilled burgers for dinner that night and we had caramel apples from the festival for dessert.

In the morning, one of the boys' friends came over & we took them all up to COSI, the science museum in Columbus. We got to see the Titanic exhibit, which was really interesting & which made me cry. It was the friend's first time to COSI, so it was fun to show him everything.

Afterward, we took them to the festival again. Bought more books, of course. The kids had dinner there, but J made chicken cordon bleu for the two of us after they went to bed.

Sunday morning, we went to Sunday School (where we discussed finances from a Christian viewpoint. We talked about giving to charity & we also talked about whether there are some professions Christians should not be in, for ethical reasons...I'm not talking things like prostitution, but rather things like corporations being more interested in profit than people) & to church (we ushered & the kids sang).

We spent the afternoon getting ready for book group. We discussed Life of Pi by Yann Martell. The main character is an Indian teenager who is a devout Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. Very interesting book. Anyway, since Pi is Indian, we served a bunch of Indian food. We had chicken tikka masala, curry chickpeas, sambhar stew, saag paneer, rice, pappadams, bhatura, Indian soda (Thums Up), Indian beer (Taj Mahal), chai tea, banana fritters, and candy-coated fennel seeds. One of our friends brought brownies & Jell-o with fruit in it, too.

We had a great discussion. One of our friends had just been to The Outer Banks to visit her daughter & new grandbaby. She brought a bunch of shells from the beach & let us find ones to keep. She is one of my favorite people, a Quaker witch, a fluent speaker of Spanish, and a wise, wise woman.

Monday, J was off work. So, I got the boys off to school, then we spent the morning in bed, luxuriating in each other. We went down to Waynesville for lunch & to poke around the shops. Our favorite restaurant there isn't open on Mondays, so we tried Hammel House. We sat on the porch in the sunshine, high above the sidewalk. We each had soup, French onion & cream of mushroom. Both were too salty to eat. But, the main course, broccoli quiche & "English Grill" (English muffin with tomato, cheddar, & bacon, all broiled) were tasty. We split a slice of Ghirardelli pie, rich & almost fudge-like.

In the afternoon, we took the boys to a couple of bookstores. They chose a Star Wars novel & a Mad Magazine. J got Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller & I got Speaking My Mind by Tony Campolo. I also got the current issues of Coastal Living & Jane (gotta have a little trashy reading now & then). We had dinner at Boston Market, then spent time on the couch reading our new books.