We've got some catching up to do...

On Friday night the stage was set for another obligatory evening of karaoke singing at Cappy's. Fewer of my library coworkers made an appearance this time out, but we were joined by Heidi's sister, as well as our two nieces and their significant others. The girls, including Heidi, all went up together to give a stirring performance of "Barbie Girl." And I had a new singing partner, Joyce, whose son is watched by Heidi before and after school. Together we offered up rousing renditions of "I Got You Babe," "Leather and Lace" and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." My solo selections included two dedications: To my wife, "I Love You" by the Climax Blues Band (the first song we danced to at our wedding nearly 20 years ago); and to George W. Bush, "Holiday" by Green Day. (Here are the lyrics if you need to understand the relevance.)

On Saturday, we took the kids to the Pumpkin Fantasyland in Ligonier, where annually they create a huge walkthrough museum of pumpkins decorated as culturally significant characters. This year the theme was "nursery rhymes":



For the kids, they also have mazes, hayrides and a refreshment stand. Also on the premises is a garden shop, and a full service restaurant where we ate dinner. The food was tasty, albeit a bit expensive and not terribly creative in the preparation.

Sunday was a bit more relaxing. Heidi worked in the morning, and most of the day was spent on sundry tasks like laundry, dishes and football-watching. My fantasy game this week was against the Grovertown Rams--the team owned by Scott, my former colleague from HomeCrest Cabinetry. Things were back and forth for awhile, but a late TD by Earnest Graham of Tampa Bay pulled me within six points, with my kicker--New England's Gostowski--still to come on Monday night.

So you can imagine that Monday night was a bit awkward, as Scott had invited me to go to the meet-n-greet preseason basketball dinner at Notre Dame for the second straight year. All expectations are for the team to have an amazing season; in fact, ESPN ranked them at #5 in a preseason poll several months ago. We watched an open practice, listened to speeches by Coach Brey and many of the players, ate food catered by Famous Dave's, and took advantage of an autograph session with all the team members. The schedule begins with an exhibition game on halloween.

And as soon as I returned home, Gostowski hit his second field goal, giving my fantasy team the win, and a 4-3 record.