Lost in the corn maze

The spur-of-the moment call came from my sister-in-law: "Do you want to meet me and the twins up at Engwall's corn maze?"

I conferred with my son who had been on a field trip there with his kindergarten class four days earlier. He was excited at the prospect of going back into the maze and, especially, leading his younger cousins through it.

The weather was sunny and crisp -- a perfect fall day. We arrived, barely on time. My sister-in-law got "bridged" by two ships, one out-going, one in-going. By the time they arrived, my son had checked out the Halloween garden decorations and visited with a former preschool buddy who had moved away.

He eagerly ran to show his younger cousins how to climb up and over the lookout tower and the entrance to the maze. Once inside, total chaos reigned. His cousins wouldn't follow him, choosing to go in divergent directions. His preschool friend joined the crowd. No one, save an occasional adult, followed the paths.

Somehow, we found all the letters in the maze that solved a scramble puzzel but one. It says, "Lost in the corn maze," my son informed us. Good thing he had been there before.

A month full of firsts

Three weeks ago...

• My husband started teaching at a college again,
• My son started kindergarten,
• I opened my school and started teaching Hebrew

...all during the start of the Jewish High Holidays.

We're still recovering from the flurry of activity and stress.

The big day

He was ready 40 minutes ahead of schedule.

"Now what do I do?" he asked. "You could go play," I suggested, as his eyes registered disbelief. "Or, you could make your bed."

He went bounding upstairs, only to bound back down a couple minutes later. "OK, I made my bed. Is it time to go now?"

Our departure time finally arrived. We walked the two blocks to the bus stop, my son asking "What if" and "How will" questions all the way. My husband and I answered his questions as best we could, steering the conversation toward all the fun, new things he would experience in school. We asked the first-grader at the bus stop for the inside scoop on kindergarten.

As the bus pulled up, my son looked at me, a tear forming in one eye. Holding back my own tears, I smiled, gave him a big hug and kiss and held his hand tight all the way to the steps of the bus.

He climbed aboard.

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.