School supplies

My son and I went shopping for the items on his school supplies list yesterday at Target.

He pushed the cart around, picked out his folders, located the Elmer's School Glue when I couldn't find it and chose the skinny vs. fat markers "because you can color in smaller places with the skinny ones."

He then selected three backpacks, compared their features and thoughtfully ruled each one out until he settled on Spiderman, the one I suspect he wanted in the first place.

When we got home, he modeled his top choice, excitedly pointing out that the new Spiderman Thermos water bottle we bought in West Virginia and the Spiderman lunchbox he's had for two years now will work really well with his new backpack.

Requiem for George

Orange-red Beta
My son's nighttime companion
Silently swimming

Vacation kitsch

It isn't vacation if you haven't...

Posed for goofy photos with Grandma like this one at the SMART Centre Market Science and Dinosaur Store.


Played a round of minature golf with Dad at Grand Vue Park. Mom won, though each of us shot a hole-in-one.


Stopped by a tourist trap, like Sea Shell City. The store was closed, but we got to play on the pirate ship.

Perhaps next year we'll even get to the UP's famed Mystery Spot or Weird Wax Museum.

West Virginia traditions

Some traditions have emerged related to my family's annual trek to West Virginia.

My son gets his growing feet measured and a new pair of tennis shoes, courtesy of Grandma Edna, at Allen's Bootery in Moundsville. And we eat lunch at Coleman's Fish Market in central Wheeling.

I frequented both venues as a child. And they really haven't changed all that much.

The decor at Allen's is the same as it was 40 years ago: the same light blue leather and wooden chairs, the same two-sided display table in the center of the store, and boxes of shoes shelved neatly along the outer walls. You can still buy Stride Rite shoes and Buster Brown socks. And the clerk first measures your foot then brings you the shoes in your correct size that they have in stock.

A long lunch line still snakes up to the fish market counter where you pick up your order of fish sandwiches and coleslaw or fries. Being a predominantly Catholic community, it's always longer on Fridays and during Lent. The menu hasn't varied much, though booths have replaced wooden picnic tables and the once screened dining area has been enclosed in glass.

The midway

While I preferred the company of sheep and miniature horses, my son was enthralled by the colorful, noisy midway.

He was a bit nervous of his first ride on a ferris wheel. But after braving being chained solo into a cage and going up and around, he quickly clambered aboard motorcycles, speedboats, firetrucks and whirling spinners.

All of us, including my 80-year-old mother, enjoyed the merry-go-round, though we were in for a surprise when the low horse she had selected ended the ride in its highest position.

After winning a Spiderman frisbee and inflatable knight's sword, my son was contented to head home from the fair.