Weekend Update...

- yeah, I've probably used that title before once or twice, or three or four times. I couldn't think of anything catchy, though, so there it is.

- Wow, was I a week off on my vacation, or what? It was cloudy, goopy, and raining the week before last, when I was off and last week was gorgeous and sunny the WHOLE WEEK. Can't predict these things, though. I'm over it.

- Indian summer was in full effect this weekend. Sunny skies and temperatures approaching 80 degrees were the rule yesterday and today. I took advantage by raking 20 bags of leaves yesterday. And that was just from my back and side yards. This will occupy my Saturdays for the rest of the month.

- After a one-year hiatus the big BSF square dance returned last night. Over sixty young adults made the trek down winding Little Antire Road in the darkness to Rocking J Ranch. I had a great time seeing old friends and square dancing up a storm.

- The Verizon Wireless How Sweet The Sound national choir competition finals were last night. My dad's choir competed but alas, did not win. A Pentecostal church choir from Atlanta, GA took home the honors. I did not see their performance, but apparently they broke out in tongues, the Pentecostal secret weapon. My dad's church choir did their thing just as well as they did in St. Louis and my mom said the Detroit crowd reacted just as wildly as the St. Louis crowd did. (She attended a Verizon-sponsored watch party at their church.) My poor dad was a real trouper, performing despite being very much under the weather. Still, he said the choir had a generally good experience, all things considered. The P-D's religion writer Tim Townsend wrote about the choir's experience before, during, and after the national finals. Read his story here.

- My cousin J. and her husband welcomed their first child, a boy, into the world last night. He was born at Barnes-Jewish Hospital late last evening. I visited them this afternoon and I must say he is a handsome little guy.