As I was leaving work last night, my boss said to me, “For most people, their weekend is already half over, but yours is just beginning.”  At least I get paid for working Saturday.  By the time I pulled up to the house, Anne was prepared to go biking in the Park.  In fact she was already rolling out the driveway.  She agreed to wait for me to get ready and we eventually rode out together.  Only this time our destination was the Taste of Maplewood.

We only had to ride two miles, so four miles wasn’t much of a bike trip, but it beat looking for parking once we got there.  The Taste was on Sutton, not far from Dan’s apartment.  The street was blocked off and was full of tents and people.  There were all sorts of eateries featured, many of which were new to us.  Today’s header features the Deluxe, one of Dan’s favorite watering holes.  The last that I remember, the building was being used as a laundromat.

The city of Maplewood is celebrating its one hundredth anniversary, this year.  To help commemorate it they are looking at creating a park on Sutton.  The site would be the bus turn around, the so called Sutton Loop.  One of the booths at the Taste featured architectural drawings.  There were about half a dozen to choose from.

They had a stage set up in a parking lot, next to the Deluxe and bands were performing on it.  The two pictures with this post feature the red haired lead of one of the groups.  This group was the most popular of the ones that we saw performing.  Their popularity extended to the younger set too.

I heard on the news that Barack had taken Michelle to New York City for a date.  Apparently, it was to fulfill a campaign promise to her, dinner and a show.  Now critics are complaining about the extravagance and cost of this night out on the town.  With the economy so down and so many people out of work, does it send the right message?  I mean really, flying up to New York, going to a nice restaurant and then a Broadway show. 

At the beginning of this month, I had the opportunity to go on a similar date, with Anne.  For us, the experience was certainly both extravagant and costly, but I do not begrudge our expenses.  Nor do I think that Barack and Michelle should have to put their personal lives on a shelf for four years.  Past presidents that have done this ended up isolated and out of touch with the American people.  Here are the paparazzi’s put on their date.