Indians of All Sorts

Haven't been very good about keeping up, so I'll go back to the weekend before my birthday, July 13-15. J's plant decided that, for their summer picnic, they'd like to go see the Cleveland Indians play. We all got tickets to the game and also for a BBQ chicken and hot dog dinner beforehand. It was fun to attend the game, even for non-sports fans like me. I was very excited about the fireworks afterward, but then realized I needed to register for a church event before midnight! So, we watched the fireworks over the top of the stadium as we walked toward the Rapid. We'd chosen to ride public transportation in rather than hassling with parking and traffic after the game. I think it was a smart idea, but it really stressed J out, so we probably won't be doing that again. We made it home with 13 minutes to spare, thank goodness!

We lazed in bed quite late Saturday, watching movies, reading, dozing. When we finally roused ourselves, we made our way across town to Whole Foods, our first visit to an Ohio location. Why, oh, why can't it be on our side of town? We had a blast. As we began to head for home, we saw a bunch of Orthodox Jews walking to temple, a group of young African-American women hanging out together, a WASP-y older guy on his bike. It was really nice to see such diversity. We don't see nearly enough of it, although there are a lot of Indian and Muslim folks on our side of town, which is nice diversity, too.

We stopped in Lakewood on the way home, hoping to finally have some good Indian food. It wasn't as good as Ajanta India, but it was very good and the atmosphere was pleasant. It was also crawling with folks from the LGBT community, a group of lesbian feminists discussing politics, a group of gay men discussing real estate. It was fun.

In the morning, we went to church and then had a wonderful brunch on the patio at the Cheesecake Factory. After brunch, I went with J to the plant so she could do a little extra work. I took paper and pen and began to work on a novel. I've never thought I would write a novel, but this trio of sisters started rattling around in my head a couple of years ago, along with the bed & breakfast 2 of them run. So, I decided to let them out to play, not really trying to write a novel, just writing little vignettes. I've been having a grand time getting to know them & their town. After J was finished with her work, we went to a big juried craft show. It was really great! I ran into some blacksmiths who know my mom and bought a gorgeous silver clay pendant that says "Play" on it & has a picture of trees. I've worn it nearly every day since. Once home, we grilled our dinner, a couple of espresso-rubbed steaks (that weren't very good), at the pool.