It feels like nature is switching gears now. The days are still warm enough but the nights are starting to get a little cool. We are hearing the cicadas less and crickets more. Bill Chatman has been cutting his tobacco this week while other farmers are getting a head start on harvesting their corn. We are moving into one of my favorite times of year.
SLEEP WALKING. One morning this week I got up and as normal went to the bathroom to take a shower. Still half asleep I felt my way as I wasn't really ready to see light yet. That's when I stubbed my toe on a strange mass on the floor in front of the toilet. Squatting down to take a closer look I found Nate curled up in a little ball there, dead to the world. I carried him to his bed, put his bear in his arms and didn't hear from him again for an hour and a half. I have no idea why he was there but I vaguely remember him coming to my side of the bed and looking at me during the night.
GOOD IMPRESSIONS. Nate has a good friend at church and Mom's Day Out. His name is Ian. They play together really well. Ian, at this point, is more of a talker than Nate. His mom recently told us that Ian never stops talking about his buddy Nate. He even prays for him when they bless their food and at his bedtime prayers. It is neat to see little friendships develop between kids at this age.
SMOOTHEST EVER. I mentioned before that Vicki is in charge of organizing PTO volunteers whenever East Robertson has major events. Grandparents' Day on Friday was the first event of the school year. They sold around 450 tickets to grandparents who came to eat lunch with their grandchildren. Vicki had to organize people to handle guest check-in, serving and various other duties. Later that day I had to call the school regarding some data we had received. One of the first things that was said to me on the phone was that Vicki's organization made this the smoothest Grandparent's Day ever. That's my wife! Vicki said she wished she had worn a pedometer and comfortable shoes.
LABOR DAY COOK OUT. Before you decide I am reporting this a bit late we had to postpone our cookout to Friday night because Ben was a little sick on Monday. This year we expanded our guest list to include Jimmie and Suzanne Pitt, Ed and Connie Coleman and Scott and Elizabeth Budd and their daughter Alyssa (it turned out that Scott was unable to come). We had a blast. After supper the kids and several of the adults got in the floor and built a train layout that went around Pauline's couch. It was very sad when we had to put the train tracks away and everyone had to go.
REMINISCING. Last week's train ride reminded me and Vicki of another train ride we took several years ago. It was our third anniversary and we were vacationing in Ft. Meyers, Florida. Overall we enjoyed that trip. Two of my favorite memories were touring the homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and picking up sea shells on Captiva Island. Our anniversary was a disaster.
We had planned all kinds of fun, touristy things for our special day. Our activities started with lunch which actually went pretty well (I assume it did because I don't remember it). After lunch we took a train ride to see some of the local scenery. The sights next to the railroad tracks in Ft. Meyers is no better than it is in Nashville. On top of all of that the passenger car we were riding in rocked badly. I asked the lady about it and learned that the suspension on the car was not designed for low speeds. Unfortunately, the speed limit for the tracks we were on was low because it was an urban area. We were seasick by the time we returned to the station.
After our train ride we drove down to a marina where we had planned to have a nice dinner and take an evening cruise on a sailboat. We were rear-ended on the way there. At least the damage to our car was hardly noticeable.
I cannot remember how we heard about the restaurant but it was right on the water and the boat we were to sail on was within view. Their air conditioning was broken. I'm sure our queasiness from the train ride, the accident and the lack of A/C had something to do with it but the food was terrible.
Once we choked supper down we boarded our boat. The brochure told of a cruise around Sanibel and Captiva Islands with dolphins jumping around the boat, capped off with a beautiful sunset. We got everything but that. The crew tried raising the sails but the wind was too light to be of any use and they eventually switched to the engine. This was a relief to us because the waves, small as they were did nothing to help two people already feeling ill from the train and bad food. While "at sea" Vicki thought she saw the dorsal fin of one dolphin. The sunset, obscured by a thick haze, was far from spectacular. We found out the next day that a sandstorm in the Sahara Desert had lifted a lot of sand into the upper atmosphere which had blown across the ocean over the skies of southern Florida. Not even Jimmy Buffett could soothe us because their stereo was broken. We were very glad to get to the condo that night, take some Pepto-Bismol and lie on a bed that was not moving.
Joe
