Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

To celebrate Labor Day weekend, The Gryphon and I drove to Central Pennsylvania to spend time with my family. My mom, my dad, my sister and her fiancé, that is: my brother and his wife live in Vermont.

When we got to my dad's place on Saturday afternoon, he was out, so I was going to lie down and take a nap. But just as I got comfortable, my sister and her fiancé pulled up in the parking lot. Once my dad arrived, too, we called up my mom and made plans.

My sister's idea was to have a cookout at the local state park, the one in the middle of the river right next to the town. We'd never really done this growing up and couldn't figure out why.

We picked a grill and accompanying tables. While The Gryphon and my sister's fiancé made dinner, she and I wandered around taking pictures of each other. My mom worked on a pastel drawing.

     
Me on a rock and my sister in front of a tree

Mom drawing with pastels

I also took some nature pictures, and we even convinced my sister's fiancé to get up in a tree and pose.

We all ate, and it was really pleasant, a nice warm, sunny day. But about halfway through the dinner, we realized why we'd never made a habit of picnicking there: mosquitoes. So soon after the Weight Watchers chocolate zucchini cake which doubled as my birthday cake, we packed up and hightailed it out of there.

After dinner, we didn't do much except watch Comedy Central on Dad's new high definition television. This thing is so big that the only chair that lines up with it right is his own. The couches are off to the side and don't have a good viewing angle. I sat on the floor to watch.

My sister got a little bored while we were watching a Lewis Black DVD The Gryphon had brought. She wanted to take the dogs for a little walk, so I went with her and her fiancé and the two doggies. It was still a nice, mild day. Her fiancé had a hankering for something meaty, so the convenience store being out of hot dogs, we walked down to McDonald's. My sister and I waited with the dogs until he came back out with a burger and some ice cream.

Just then, a car went by, apparently filled with young people. There was a flash of light, as if they'd taken a picture of us. Maybe they're just not used to seeing people downtown walking

More from Labor Day weekend:

September 8, 2004 - Festival of Nations

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

Musings Index

What do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):