Giant foot piano!

Friday
Doing a few jobs around the house, and grocery shopping for our weekend away, then headed down to the airport about lunchtime to meet Jen flying in from Salt Lake City to celebrate my birthday weekend with us. They seemed to be rather slow getting the luggage onto the carousel, so by the time we got away from the airport and found somewhere for lunch, it was almost mid-afternoon. As you can see from my blip, it was a gorgeous day, and after lunch, we drove to International Friendship Park and walked along the river to Smale Riverfront Park. This was partly built before we left for France, but completed during our absence, so some of it was new to Jen. It’s a wonderful park, including beautiful plantings, a stage and event lawn, fountains for kids to run about in, a carousel, and all sorts of other attractions for kids of all ages - including big “kids” like us - including this giant set of chimes, operated by a foot keyboard pad. We sat for a while in the big swings overlooking the river, then it was time to get home and cook a quick dinner before returning downtown in the evening to go to Playhouse in the Park. The play, in the small and intimate Shelterhouse Theater, was called Mr Joy, by African American and Dayton Ohio native Daniel Beaty.
“A Harlem community is shaken when Mr. Joy, a Chinese immigrant whose shoe repair shop has been a neighborhood pillar for decades, is the victim of a sudden and violent attack. Through the lens of nine of Mr. Joy’s customers - all brought to life by one actress - we learn the subtly profound and unassuming impact the shop owner has had on each of their lives.” We each thought it was brilliant, and superbly portrayed by the one actress, who played parts ranging from an 11 yr old girl and her grandmother, to a real estate developer and a homeless man. She would occasionally go off stage briefly to pick up a new prop for a new character, but otherwise was on stage for 90 minutes without an interval!