A Monday off

Today is a day off from work because it's Memorial Day. My Mom and I normally go out to the cemetary where Dad is buried to put fresh flowers and a wreath. We have a planter there, too, which I buy tough plants (to survive over the summer) of types that Dad liked and arrange and plant them. They have a ceremony at the cemetary and a flag is place along my Dad's grave along with many others (he was a veteran). This year my brothers did this task.

So the report on yesterday: I went to SLA's shortly after noon and followed her and Houseguest's car to a spot where we sat and waited until joined by her son and his family. Then we snaked through back roads to reach a gorgeous house up in the hills overlooking the lake. The owner is a childhood friend of SLA's daughter and of their family. She's in her twenties, a single parent of three kids and is doing really well for herself in hospital work. She also looks like a model besides all of that, and is a very nice person with great hospitality.

I had fun at her house with SLA's family and friends. SLA's little grandbaby was there and what a cutie! He wore us all out though! He's almost a year old. They had dressed him and styled his hair just like her son his daddy. He was so adorable! I had the rest of the film from my shooting spree with the CPA and used it on father-son photos. We also ate well, SLA's daughter's friend SDF had a vegetable plate with fresh stuff and sub sandwiches she and the girls had made. There also were bowls of pasta, chips and regular BBQ fare. So, as the afternoon wore on, we older folks were getting sleepy while the younger ones were playing outside or smoking according to their respective ages.

Houseguest and I left SLA to continue her visit. Later in the evening we all met up again at SLA's house to go out. Again we did the following cars thing out into the country to their favorite bar. The first time we followed cars I had wanted to tie a rope with cans behind SLA's car and honk as we followed. But we followers decided that it probably would get a police ticket of some sort. I haven't seen people do that for years so it must be illegal now, too bad.

The country bar scene was pretty fun, it's where SLA and Houseguest usually go. I've gone with them twice before. They like to sing Karaoke and both are pretty good singers. Many of the singers out last night were not, however, and soon SLA's daughter was asking me if I had any Excredrin!

Well, although I seldom take it, I DID have some. SLA's daughter and I really hit it off well. I barely knew her when the kids were younger, saw her maybe a handful of times, a sullen and reclusive teenager. SLA's son and mine hung out together when young, so he was over at our house quite a lot. Turns out the SLA's daughter has almost the same birthday as (and is the same age as) favorite co-worker at my job. So that sort of explains it.

Despite the difference in age, we have the same sort of humor and way of looking at the world. She was, however, rather mean to her mother SLA, and part of the chumming up to me may have been just to hurt her mother, who was so glad to see her after two years. That made me feel bad for SLA but she seemed to have fun anyway, singing and dancing and generally goofing off at the bar.

The two younger women, SLA's daughter and her friend SDF got bored after a few hours and wanted to go back into town to hit a younger-crowd nightclub. Daughter had a headache and SDF had just gone to the emergency room the day before for a horrible tooth infection! So I drove them back into town with the jeep and we cruised up and down the mini-downtown area looking for likely bars. Neither of them are local so had no idea which were good possibilities, and I was no help with that either. There were many cops out as the hour was late. I kept watching to see if I knew any of them--and also trying to drive well enough to not get stopped! We finally found an acceptable one, I dropped them off and went home.

Getting up this morning was difficult, as I'm not that used to drinking or staying up most of the night anymore. It took two cups of coffee, a shower and a long walk outside to clear my head! Now I'm listening to the police radio as a parade is about to start. One of those little scooters, a Seque(sp?) just went by on the sidewalk honking its teeny little horn to attract attention. Another squad car just drove by too. Things are hopping here in the neighborhood! Hope your Monday Memorial Day is going well for you!