the decapitation of Dmitri Young

Yesterday morning started out very strangely, with the decapitation of Detroit Tigers designated hitter Dmitri Young in our family room. Not the real guy - Steven's bobble head doll. Bill did it while Steven and I were still asleep. I got up, and there was the doll standing in his normal place, with his head on the shelf next to him!  Bill says that he just bobbled the head a little bit and off it came flying.

The experiment in home schooling is over for now. Steven says he prefers it to real school because he learns more and because food at home is better than food at school and because when he got really tired that one morning, I let him go lie down for half an hour for a nap. I think it is a heck of a lot of work. I am not a teacher by training or natural inclination. But I am willing to try it for a year if it comes to that. Nothing could ever be as important as my children! We have a week to make the final decision.

Yesterday we went on the last fun full family excursion we will be able to have for quite sometime, as Bill's departure for college comes ever closer. We headed into Detroit to eat at Greektown and go to a Tigers game.

We had planned on eating first, and got off the Lodge onto Jefferson two hours before the start of the game. But we had not known that there was going to be a huge political rally and parade in downtown Detroit yesterday afternoon. There is a huge Muslim (with Arabic roots) community in the Detroit area- supposedly the largest in North America. So there was a huge rally and parade to object to what is going on in Lebanon right now (and who could blame the people for being concerned, when so many of them have relatives who are endangered right now?) We sat right there on Jefferson near Hart Plaza for about 45 minutes in stopped traffic as thousands of people carrying Lebanese flags crossed the street to march up Woodward to the government buildings. I explained to the kids that this was democracy in action, and that the people marching are the ones that are working within the political system to use their rights to freely assemble and freely speak to try to bring about change.

An important lesson - whether you personally agree with their views or not.

But it did delay things enough that when we could finally move we found a nice free parking spot about halfway between the ball park and Greektown, parked there, and headed to the park.

The game was a lot of fun. The Tigers got way behind in the early innings, but came back and won it in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jones got his thirtieth save of the year for the Tiggies. As with every Friday (and Saturday) home game, there were fireworks following the game.

And we got Steven a Pudge (Ivan Rodriguez) bobble head to replace the one that was decapitated that morning.

After the game we walked to Greektown where we had a delicious dinner at the New Hellas Taverna. MMMMM. Flaming cheese!!!

Today Dan and Bill are off working. Now that the weather has moderated (we have the windows open and the house is deliciously cool), people are free to use their major appliances at will. During the heat wave the authorities asked people not to run their laundry or dishwashers, so as to try to not overstress the electrical grid. So I am trying to get caught up with the laundry this weekend. That is my major project - we're talking three or more loads washed, died, sorted, and put away each day. Not one of my favorite things in the world to do - but it has to be done.