Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The Gryphon and me

Day Five: Intermittent Fun (Wednesday, July 28)

Wednesday at Stone Harbor was another gray day with intermittent rain. My mom had heard from the garage, and the prognosis was not good. Apparently, the problem had something to do with the air conditioning, which she rarely uses but which she had used on the way down. Something had apparently burned out.

According to the garage, it would have cost her $1,200 to get it repaired. But the garage suggested she could drive it with the air conditioner disabled for a lot less. She didn't like the way the car was sounding now, so she brought it over and had my brother and my sister's fiancé take a look under the hood and drive it around the block.

As a precaution, she had mailed some of her stuff home and was distributing other things among other cars to take home for her. She figured that, in case there was a problem, this would limit the amount of stuff she had to deal with.

Dad agreed to follow her back home in his car so that if there was a problem he could help her out.

Meanwhile, The Gryphon and I went to the drug store to pick up a few things. At this point, the weather didn't seem too bad. When we got back to the house, we talked about what we might do that day.

Since it was a rainy day, we knew we couldn't go down to the beach until it cleared up. We decided to go see the lighthouse at the end of the island. Before we left, we looked at maps and talked about the best way to go. We split up between Dad's car and my brother's car.

We couldn't understand why Dad's car, which had gone first, had diverted from the route we had chosen. The Gryphon looked at the map and asked, "Why are they going that way?"

Finally, we hit a dead end and The Gryphon joked that we had "run out of New Jersey." At this point, the car was getting hot and steamy with five people crammed into it and no way to open the windows, since the rain had increased in intensity. So our car returned, while Dad's car continued to the lighthouse.

Back at the beach house, The Gryphon and I played Mancala, an ancient African strategy game. I only beat him once, when he was learning the rules. Three out of four times, he beat me.

On television, Michael Moore was giving a speech about the elections. We all listened to it. I thought it was very interesting. He had some insightful things to say, including the fact that, if John Kerry wants to win, he has to give the Nader voters a reason to vote for him.

Since the weather was clearing up, my sister's fiancé went down to the beach to do some swimming. I joined him a short while later. Hardly anybody was on the beach this time. At first, the waves seemed pretty mild but then it seemed as if the tide was coming in. The waves got more severe. Once more, the lifeguards wouldn't let us out past waist height, so that the waves would break before they hit us and smash us in the face or the back.

It wasn't long before I got out and watched people on the beach. There were two little girls dressed in identical orange bathing suits but who looked different from each other. I figured they were either sisters or best friends.

There was a family with a little boy in baby jeans, rolled up. They had him down at the edge of the water, lifting up his feet whenever a wave came in. He seemed to enjoy it.

A father and son played Ping-Pong, with no net, hitting it back and forth. Both could get several volleys in before it fell to the beach.

Eventually, my sister came down. She told us the lighthouse had been a lot of fun and that they'd climbed up the stairs to the top, something you can't usually do with lighthouses. We walked with me down to the public restrooms, and we discovered that they were closed. So we walked back to where her fiancé was still dodging waves and told him we were heading back to the beach house. He decided to come back with us.

Back at home, Mom was cooking dinner. She made turkey chili. It was filling, if mild.

After dinner, at my sister's suggestion, we took some group photos. She also took some nice ones of me and The Gryphon, on the deck under an awning (see above). And I returned the favor by taking some of her and her fiancé.

The rain had actually eased up a bit, so we decided to go see Spider-Man 2 in the little movie theater downtown. The Gryphon and I drove down there to get tickets for everybody so the only thing we would have to do was show up.

But by the time of the movie, the rain was torrential. We had to wade through water almost up to our knees in parts, where it had flooded the sidewalks and the streets. I had made the mistake of changing into jeans, under the assumption the movie theater would be air conditioned. Although I rolled them up the best that I could, they still got soaked.

When we got there, from the crowds out front, it was clear that everyone else had had the same idea. So it was good we'd gotten our tickets ahead of time and arrived early enough to get good seats.

This was the first time for many of my family to see the movie, and the second time for me and The Gryphon. We all enjoyed it and talked about it as we walked home, especially the things we liked best about it. My brother, a Spider-Man fan from way back, definitely approved.

Back at the beach house, I threw my wet clothes in the dryer, which no one had used all week, expecting my clothes would get dry. They didn't. I don't know what the dryer was doing while it was making all that noise, but it certainly wasn't blowing hot air on the clothes. I tried it for a longer setting and for a longer time, thinking I'd set something wrong. Still, nothing happened.

So The Gryphon and I hung our wet clothes and towels over the second floor bannister, knowing we'd need to take them with us when we left the next morning. We wanted them to be as dry as possible before stuffing them into plastic bags.

More from my Summer Vacation:

August 3, 2004 - Rainy Arrival

August 4, 2004 - The Poopdeck

August 5, 2004 - The Beach at Last

August 6, 2004 - Wetlands Hippie

August 10, 2004 - Overture to Otakon

August 11, 2004 - Delicious and Good Day

August 12, 2004 - Costumes and Tuxedos

August 13, 2004 - Grand Finale

August 16, 2004 - Denouement

August 20, 2004 - More Vacation Pics

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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