Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

I had strange dreams on Saturday night, that people were kissing me on my neck. I couldn't figure it out, but when I mentioned it the next morning, one of The Cousin's daughters suggested a theory. Maybe the cat had made her way into the room and been nuzzling my neck.

I suppose that's possible. The cat is supposedly a genius at opening doors, and I'd left mine open a crack, enough for an adventurous cat to nudge open.

When I woke up, though, I had a dehydration headache, which seemed especially unfair when you consider I hadn't had any alcohol the night before. It was just that the house was dry because it's heated with a wood stove. Therefore, I probably didn't drink nearly enough water the previous day.

I tried to fuel up with water and took some pain medication, but nothing seemed to help. The dull pain stuck with me all day long.

Everybody got up fairly early. I think we were all out of bed by about 9. We congregated in the kitchen, where the Warrior Princess made crepes for us with a variety of possible toppings, including yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cherries, peaches in sauce, blueberries, fresh apples and caramel syrup. Absolutely fabulous.

The Cousin took her daughters to Sunday School while the rest of us finished showering and waking up. By the time they came back and changed out of their church clothes, we were ready for some lunch. This was a different soup, a potato soup, along with more of my hummus with the pita bread, tomatoes and spinach.

Following this filling lunch, we went for a walk at a nearby natural area where The Cousin likes to take her family. We all hopped in various cars and drove there.

While most of the group started out together on a wide trail along a canal, the Book Lover and I got persuaded by The Cousin's two daughters to take the nature trail, which had many stations along it with different exercise activities we were supposed to do as we went along.

I was up for an adventure, so I said why not?

The first stop was push ups, and while we were doing that, a large black dog cavorted down the path, carrying a log. That is to say, it was a very long, thick branch. The dog had a huge smile on her face. I snapped a couple pictures.

We spoke to the owner briefly, who said that the dog, named Spooky, enjoys picking up sticks. We decided that with a dog like that, it would make clearing yards a breeze.

The next station was a chin-up bar, and none of us could do even one. But I should have known I couldn't do that, because I couldn't even do it before I injured my trapezius muscle years ago in a Jung Sim Do class.

Next was the balance beam, which we were supposed to walk across. The daughters loved this and zipped back and forth, showing off their skills. The Book Lover and I managed to squeeze on for a short while. As it turned out the Book Lover knew a couple tricks of her own.

I took what you might call a dancer's pose on the balance beam and had the eldest daughter snap a picture of me.

As we walked along, we didn't see much in the way of animals or other natural wonders, but we did see some old bridge piers which reminded me a bit of an old granite monument.

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When the nature trail met up again with the main trail, we found a nice wooden foot bridge. We played Pooh Sticks, dropping sticks on the upstream side of the bridge and seeing whose stick would come out first, winning the race. Mine was dead last: for awhile I thought it wouldn't come out at all.

A little bit further down the path, we ran into my College Roommate and The Paper, who were resting and chatting on the bench, enjoying the brilliant Fall day.

We continued on. The youngest daughter convinced the Book Lover to run, and they put quite a bit of distance between us. That's OK, because as we walked along, the eldest daughter told me about some stories she's writing. They were mostly fantasy based, and I encouraged her to stay with it.

Finally, we caught up with the rest of the group, who were on their way back. The wind was starting to get chilly, and it was reaching the time people had to head out. I'd told The Gryphon I'd tried to get back before he left for his gaming group that evening, but it was beginning to look like it might be tight.

On the way back, in addition to my College Roommate, I gave a ride to The Paper. It was nice, the three of us chatting about love, marriage, pregnancy. I really enjoyed talking to both of them.

We stopped in briefly at The Paper's house when we dropped her off, to use the facilities and say a quick hello to her husband, The Cheshire Cat.

As it was, I made it back about 20 minutes before The Gryphon had to leave, enough time to try the delicious meal he'd made for me of turkey sausage, vegetables and cheese ravioli. Fantastic.

He caught me up on how things had gone. Apparently my dog, Una, had decided she was a lap dog while I was away and sat on his lap for long periods of time, seeking comfort. She hadn't eaten much, he said, until he stood with her in the kitchen and urged her to eat. I assured him that she frequently goes for almost an entire day without eating until she decided it's time.

While he was at his meeting, I worked on my Reindog T-shirts and downloaded my pictures from the weekend. When he got home, we watched more Buffy and managed, this time, to stay awake for all of it.

More from Girls' Weekend:

November 16, 2004 - Girls' Weekend

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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