Sunny Days

Sunny days last week brought only rainbows anytime anything threatened a rainy moment. Asrai and Ravenboy blessed our home with colorful stories and energies. The week was so filled with family and friends that I had no time to take many photos.

Thank you to all who came to our potluck picnic last Friday. A blending of friends from all areas of our lives made a great evening in Spring Creek Park.

Anyone that still looking for that Wad o' Gum can rest assured I went back to pick it up the next morning. Sadly, Ray Gricar has gone into hiding again. Baked potato anyone?There are some people in our lives with whom we make instant and close connections. With others it is a slow building of a appreciation over the years. Our picnic on Friday had my heart full of so many people who mean so much to my life. There were others who, because of travel distance or other commitments, could not make it. I hope they know that they were in my heart as I looked around and reveled in the moment. It was thrilling to introduce to many special people to each other, some introductions we had been looking forward to for years.

Icing on the cake was news that Nick of Mososo Kruppe had secured one of the jobs he had applied for. The whole evening felt like the dream of a huge celebration of life. A few of us sat around after unpacking the car that evening sharing stories, philosophies and colorful jello treats as others ran through the yard with sparklers. It was surreal but I was elated as my sides hurt from laughing and I bit into one last potato of the evening.

The sad part was that it ended too quickly. Witty Tracdc and Satan had to head home. Dear Asrai stayed on to fly kites with us but had to go to work out of state this week. The days where we can all connect make me look forward to when we can reconnect in smaller groups.

Wonderful Week

My family just had a very nice week of visiting. We had a picnic, put up our May Pole, and went on a rail trail bike ride.



We picked up Ravenboy last Tuesday and got to hear bits about his tour to Kansas City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It's amazing some of the things that they had to deal with. The week he was in Chicago, there were few food options left open nearby when they were done for the day. They had the choice of either room service ($68.00 for breakfast for 2) or a local 711. Ravenboy and his friend are trying to save money and opted for the 711. They don't have too many vegetarian choices so the poor guys ended up eating egg salad sandwiches for 5 - 6 nights in a row. His friend started to get a stomach ache because of it.

He also told us of cool things he saw in LA. He reunited with a very good friend on the west coast and she took him around the city sight seeing a few times. He got to see Hollywood and spent an afternoon at the beach. Ravenboy's skin never gets to see sunlight so this meant instant burn and a quick search for aloe.

While he was home, we had our annual picnic for friends at Spring Creek Park. It was chilly but we had fun playing games and eating.

We also did a stretch of Lower Trail on our bikes. There are sections that are closed due to the damage Hurricane Ivan did but we found a nice section to pedal and chat and goof around on. We passed snacks from person to person without stopping, took photos of a mysterious outdoor cafe, and discouraged Ravenboy from doing his Jet Li moves on a speeding bike.

We took Ravenboy back to NYC yesterday. We were going to go to an Indian restaurant for a meal but found we needed reservations. We decided to go to our favorite place, Zen Palate. We jumped into a cab and got to Union Square in just a few minutes. As we were going into the restaurant, we saw that a group was on a stage and we decided to check it out. They were speaking and giving some type of award and Morgan Freeman was standing up there smiling. Ravenboy's radar kicked in because Morgan Freeman's last movie was "Unleashed" with Jet Li (set to be released here in the states in about a week.) Sure enough, there on the stage was the man. Ravenboy was able to snap a couple of photos of Jet Li before he got into a car an zoomed uptown. We were lucky to have a approached the stage from the back, just at that moment.

Renovo Picnic

As mentioned in the background of my photo of Missy on My Brownie post. Forgive me that I don't remember the hosts names; JoAnne and (Tom?) someone, far left seated. Dad, photographer, is lying in the front, Mom is in the back in the sunglasses, Tracy is seated far right and I am on the other side of the dog sitting by a guy I kinda had a crush on for 10 minutes.

This seemed like a 4th of July type, summer picnic. I was nice to get to Northern PA, self proclaimed God's Country,  in the heat of the summer but those never ending back roads to Renovo (rt 144?) seemed to go on forever.

There really wasn't anyone else my age at the picnic and I think even Tracy made better friends with the dog than other kids. I think I probably got bored but a constant distraction for me were the imaginary horses I could ride, many based on characters from Walter Farley's books. My favorite horse was named Flame from The Island Stallion stories.

As the long day turned to dusk and some of the older guests took on more alcohol, I rode Flame around the vast yard. One inebriated man, second standing in from the left, suggestively slurred that he and I might frolic like wild horses together in the field. I was really confused by his attention and hated that he drew attention to me and my imaginary horse. I think someone, maybe Mom set him straight, and I pretty much hid from everyone the rest of the night.

I know the hosts stayed in contact with my parents for years and they eventually had an emotionally challenged child. I hope that things got easier for them as time progressed and society became more accepting and offered more resources.