Hey, it's summer

I weary of politics....

You just can't beat Krannert Center's Summer Repertory Theater for great entertainment. Wife and I have been attending for years and years. It's informal, relatively inexpensive and above all extremely entertaining. I'm always amazed by the talent we have here and can attract here. I'm also amazed at the variety of the offerings they come up with every year.

And, if you're looking for other Saturday night entertainment, listening to jazz or blues while enjoying a glass of good wine outdoors at Alto Vineyards is as close to heaven as you're likely to get in the middle of a cornfield at 10 p.m. in east central Illinois.

I may be old, crusty and curmudgeonly, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna go out and get my copy of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' this weekend. Yeah, I know it's children's literature, but damn, it's entertaining. And often uplifting. That said, I read Pope Benedict v.18 has said

the Harry Potter books "erode Christianity in the soul" of young people.

Bull. Teaching friendship, loyalty and good triumphing over evil, love conquers hate and strength of character is anti-Christian? Beats the heck out of Grimms' Fairy Tales and a lot of the Mother Goose stuff I was fed as a young-'un. And it's a lot more positive, too.

If you can't make Alto Vineyards music Saturday night (The Impalas are playing), check out one or more of the wine tastings around town Saturday afternoon. You'll usually find events at Sun Singer, The Corkscrew, at two different Piccadilly Liquor locations and often at Friar Tucks. If you time it properly ... better get a designated driver.

See, a whole post without bashing a single Republican.

And so it goes.