A Moveable Feast (again)

As of Friday night, the plan was for the troops to come north to John Prince Park Saturday for a picnic and playground time for Audrey. I was shopping for picnic stuff when the slow curve came in the form of a call. A fishing trip on the boat was in the offing. So I said you can come north for a picnic or I can come south with a picnic. Audrey had a blast on the boat but 6 foot seas made fishing problematic. Afterward she was napping so I went south. Brats and Burgers and Kosher dogs on their grill, with chips and fruit and avocado, etc., Jason's bug won't leave him and he faded fast after dinner.

A Bromeliad bloom-a very delicate flower on a large cactus like plant.

Matt and his fishing buddy Juneau. Not much luck. But the fish tease by jumping three feet out of the water all around.

After a good nap a sweet-faced Audrey and Lori. She was already in the spinach artichoke dip. Later she got a time-out for being in full whine mode. I was glad to see it because Greg brought Michaela along for a beer stop today and she was in whine mode too. Grampie gets grumpy. I see no reason why this generation of children should command center stage all of the time. Wrong message for them and no fun to be around. My father could quell these behaviors with a word, a look, or a snap of his fingers. The triple whammy of all three was almost productive of a turd in us kids.

I have been taking long bike rides: I invented an exercise form that works for me. I fire up the iPod and hook it to some portable speakers and ride to the music, swerving and speeding and slowing and pumping as the music directs me. It is absorbing and very enjoyable. I am sure I look loony from a distance but my "Give-a-shit attachment" is barely functional these days. If I like something, that is enough. I really don't give a shit what anyone else thinks.

The local Canadian community was hit hard by the news that 8 kids on a basketball team were wiped out in an icy 15 passenger van versus 18 wheeler crash. New Brunswick is not unlike Wyoming in that the population is not large and relations are many. In fact one man- one of my most regular Internet users, downloads the "Necropsy Reports" daily. He and his wife recently sold their bed and breakfast and his years-long hobby is the genealogy of New Brunswick for which few records exist. He has 129,000 names in his database, mostly derived from published obituaries.