Piao and Deng Shu (con't)

Since that last post I've returned to Presque Isle from Cleveland, and then made a trip to Lansing to officiate at the interment of the mother of a long-time friend.  Now I'm back home, with no further out-of-town engagements for a few weeks.

Last Wednesday Piao, Deng Shu, and I drove to Medina, OH, to visit the Medina Antique Mall.  Deng Shu wanted to prowl a flea market, but those are normally weekend events.  This Mall is truly a mall — a recycled grocery store filled with small vendors who specialize in almost everything under the sun.  But unlike a flea market, the goods were not very cheap!

Piao found a couple things to buy.  Deng Shu found a floor lamp she very much wanted, but we could see no way to disassemble it for shipping.  I will continue to look for an antique floor lamp which can be UPSed to China.

Brother Brad arrived Wednesday afternoon, and I prepared to leave on Thursday.  We celebrated with a festive dinner at Buca di Beppo in Westlake.  This is a small Italian chain, but the food was quite good.  Attending were Piao and Deng Shu, Brad, Bob and David, newlyweds Justin and Jen, and myself.  A good time was had by all!

The group gathered for dinner in Westlake, OH.

David and Deng Shu chat about her honeymoon.

Piao and Bob at dinner.

We ordered dessert, which turned out to be a gigantic
assemblage of ice cream, brownie chunks, whipped cream, etc.

After dinner we went back to Bob and David's house where the Brothers Laycock and David presented the couple with a wedding gift — a Snowdrop Vase from Pewabic Pottery in Detroit.  Then Piao showed us a number of photos taken by my grandfather while traveling in China.  These had been purchased in 1959 by a woman in Doylestown, PA, after my grandmother's death, and eventually were sold to a man who specializes in old photos.  Piao bought several of these and donated them to the Doylestown Historical Society.

The pottery vase from Pewabic.

Piao shows the photos to Bob and Brad.

On Thursday Brad took Piao and Deng Shu to the park where Jen and Justin were married, and the couple were able to take off their shoes and wander in the sand along the shore of Lake Erie.  Then they had lunch with Bob downtown, and posed by the "Free" Stamp sculpture at City Hall.  They flew back to Pennsylvania on Friday, and three days later flew home to China.

Now we have to get busy and plan that trip to China! •••