Business first. It has been drawn to my attention that my template has been showing up in miniature on Netscape. I believe that I�ve fixed the font problem. If anyone is still having trouble, please e-mail me and I�ll try to make more repairs.

I spent most of the weekend touring various local expressways on the way to and from various family events. Not my preference given the gorgeous weather, but it was mostly entertaining.

Saturday we went to see two of our nieces in a production of Cinderella at their school (they are in 5th and 7th grade). The older was playing the wicked stepmother and the younger was one of the stepsisters. Have you ever seen a middle school play? I don�t believe I have since I was in them, and I must say that it is a distinctly different experience to watch. Due to construction at the school, the play had to be put on in a gym, the acoustics of which necessitated the use of body mikes. This was unfortunate because the play then became SOUND SYSTEM (and Cinderella). Mikes were off when they should have been on and vice versa. There were whole scenes where you could hear the whispering backstage but nothing was coming out of Cinderella�s mouth on stage. Crowns fell off; props were knocked over; costumes for fast changes were left on the wrong side of the stage, necessitating a quick sprint through the audience; curtains closed too soon, leaving hapless actors stranded to claw their way back onto the stage. But despite all this (or perhaps because of it) it was really wonderful. The kids were clearly having a great time and singing and dancing their little hearts out. And of course our nieces were the best ones there. And the final bows were an explosion of enthusiasm. AJ was particularly enchanted. He�d never seen a play before and he was shouting lines at the stage and singing and dancing along in the back.

Sunday we went to the 80th birthday party of a relative at a banquet hall in the suburbs that had the biggest buffet I�ve ever seen in my life. It was actually kind of obscene � there are probably entire nations who don�t have that much food. We ate ourselves silly before scurrying home to meet some friends who were coming over for an afternoon in the country. We stomped around in the leaves, played touch football, saw a herd of white-tailed deer springing through the woods, ate a lot of lasagna and drank a lot of red wine -- a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. AJ was completely in awe of their 8-year-old boy, who played really nicely with him all afternoon and evening. Today AJ keeps hoping he�s going to reappear and has been wandering around the yard looking bereft saying, �I want to see my friend!� Not unlike the prince in Saturday's Cinderella, come to think of it. All he needs is a glass slipper. Or in this case, perhaps a glass football would be a better choice.

0 people said it like they meant it