Good thoughts and prayers headed out to FairyChatDad and his spine. Good thing his doctors want to avoid surgery. That’s the mark of a good (especially) back surgeon. They avoid it and try all available alternatives first.
I haven’t been canoeing in AGES. Not since I moved to Columbus, I think, which was 22 years ago last weekend. I think I got here August 31 or so; I know it was just before Labor Day because my first Columbus experience was the Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival, which was OK (I bought some nice notecards), but not great at the time. I’ve gone most years since then (when I was in town, at least) and it’s really gotten to be excellent. Pretty much junk-free (there are always a few painters that I don’t think are especially good, but otherwise they have some very nice stuff). Didn’t buy anything this year, but I’m starting to get ideas for when I start to redo the house.
Anyhoo…when I lived in Michigan, we went canoeing a few times. Also, my uncles were in some kind of rowing club when I was little (10, 11, something in that range) and my brother and I got to go out with them and their friends and steer. That was fun except the river we were on was tres polluted, so I was always afraid of tipping over. Maybe I’ll get to canoe again sometime…I’ve always kind of liked it, although not the tippiness so much.
I would now like to publicly blame Draelin for my lack of productivity this weekend. 
She initiated a game of Doperball on Friday which turned into a self-refereed 2 out of 3. It has been rather chaotic and team 2 remained nameless until this last round.
Apparently, it was just the distraction I needed, because I kept wandering back into it between stuff. Of course, it makes the answer to the question “What did you do this weekend?” kind of problematic as I’m not about to explain Doperball to pretty much anyone who isn’t a Doper. So my official answer is “not much, except Monday, when I went to the arts festival and did a bunch of yardwork at church and at home and then started to do laundry.”
I had Oprah’s favorite chicken salad at Wild Oats for dinner. It was nummy. Also some tortilla soup, which was OK. Not bad, but not great either. Off to look for the chicken salad recipe. Oh, and maple walnut cinnamon buns would be a great dessert. I’ll take one, Lissla
GT