An August Month

We spent all of August visiting with our son. We took some road trips, ate out at Korean restaurants, and laughed together a lot. Picnicking at Alan Seeger Natural Area with Maga11 and Toolman Luke is an annual highlight. We joked around, cleaned up the stream and cooked over the fire. While Ravenboy went on a solo hike I got the stupid idea of moving all of our stuff to another picnic site. This included carrying the burning logs and coals to a new fire ring. Upon his return, Ravenboy's reaction was anticlimactic. "Why did you move?" and Toolman kept up a constant whine that the chipmunks were cuter at the old site. It was a lot of energy expended for a very little laugh.

Thinking of energy, it sure was nice to have some extra muscle around the house. Mowing the lawn can be drudgery in the middle of summer but it was a fun way to work out for Ravenboy. He was not happy that I took his picture but I did it anyway.




I had already blogged about a couple of outings with Dabralady but didn't mention that we went over to her camp in Poe Valley. Visiting with her mom, Marge, and Amish Punk was just like old times. A rustic theme again with the sitting around an open fire yet Marge offered us something we do not have at home. She had television and we watched the final "So You Think You Can Dance." We had never seen the show before but had heard that one of Ravenboy's former coworkers had a good chance of winning. We watched the lame dances and Danny Tidwell came in second. Danny had the best training but Ravenboy pointed out, "America loves an underdog." The winner had only been dancing for 4 years.

A trip over the mountain to play some badminton and croquet at Toolman Luke and Maga11's was a must. Badminton may seem like a cakewalk; playing a game where you bat a little birdie lightly over a net while the sun is kept off of the players with the parasols they hold in their non-racket hands. WRONG! We play killer olympic style badminton, regulation court dimensions with blistering fast volleys and carefully timed sleeping lobs that send the players diving head first into the lawn to try to keep from losing a point or their serve. I am still slowly recovering from a pulled muscle from my first ever badminton victory over Toolman Luke who had once beaten an olympic badminton champion.

One final indulgence was a trip to the local Grange Fair. As a family, we have enjoyed taking time to visit the live stock pens. Sometimes we would take sketch books with us since the animals there have to hold pretty still the way they are kept. It is bittersweet seeing the beautiful animals so close yet knowing they are there being sold for slaughter. We bought a pet rabbit once at the fair, she was a lovely rex named Hyznthlay.

Food is another theme of the Grange Fair. It is fun to walk through the displays of harvested produce, pies and canned items that are being judged. It is also hard to avoid grabbing a snack at some of the food venders. Fair food is not some of the healthiest stuff out there but splitting an order of fries 3 ways made me feel a little less lead filled. Carnival games flashed everywhere and I was able to talk Ravenboy into one game of Dance Dance Revolution. I almost did ok but my pulled muscle held me back, I think.

The month came to an end all too soon. We drove Ravenboy back to NYC on the first of September. We stopped near our typical halfway point to enjoy one last walk in nature and find a pleasant letterbox. My muscle was still hurting so I hobbled behind my two fellows and snapped some candid photos. The one I liked best though was our posed shot with the view behind us. It was a gorgeous view that reflected the great month I had.