A Day to Remember

A powerful day, full of family and contemplation.

First, Alan took me off for some groceries, both for his life in the South and ours here in Spring-washed Upstate.



Then he drove me near the tornado's devastating path. That storm was much worse than news stories would have you think,  and it barely missed his fiance's family's farm and those of other dear friends of ours.

What we saw was pretty awful, huge trees uprooted or scrambled to splinters by the wind. Buildings damaged or utterly destroyed. A swath of devastation that stretched for miles, jumping hills and rolling down streams like a juggernaut. Horrible.

But everywhere we looked people had joined together to help and fix and reforge lives and structures. Chainsaws roared, bonfires broiled, people in gloves and hard hats hurried from place to place, tidying, rebuilding, repairing. 

 It was at once sobering and heartening.....we have plenty to be grateful for, don't we, whether it be friends and neighbors who step up in a crisis, or lives that the storm passed untouched, at least this time.

On a more cheerful note, our boy put into action an idea we had been kicking around, but not attacking. He turned the defunct gas grill into a handy-dandy charcoal cooker. Not many modifications later, he was preparing beer brats by his Aunt Lisa's recipe.

Yeah, they were a hit. I was glad not to have to junk that old grill and pay for another one. Figure if we don't want to mess with charcoal we can just dig some coals out of the wood stove...all that good maple should make a nice cooking fire.

Jade mowed some paths up into the old horse pasture. Can't wait to get out and do some birding out there.....

Then in the evening a gleeful Miss Peggy discovered that she could reach up and bat the stuffed cow that serves as a decoration on her car seat handle. Oh, my, if only you could have heard her chortle and laugh and giggle and gurgle. 

And then whack the thing again.

And again. Grinning from ear to ear.

 She can do something now and she is delighted about it. Must be boring to just lie there and yell for service.  Now, there isn't going to be any holding her back. Can you imagine what child-proofing this place is going to entail?

What with new birds, good weather, everyone in and out all day, busy and contented....it was all good.  Al made it back to DC safely, although he and I sure had a close call with a pick up truck that came careening at us, barely on two wheels on a bad corner, when we were coming home from our Odyssey. That was scary!

Today, back to business, but we enjoyed the holiday. Hope you had a good one too.