Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts
By Alyce Wilson
May 30, 2007 - Parents Day
A self-portrait in the state park
Saturday I spent the entire day with my parents, first my Mom and later both of them.
I got up fairly early and had breakfast with Dad. Then, he was off to run his rounds, and I took my doggie, Una, for a morning walk.
We went to the local state park, which is known for about four things: one, that it floods frequently, because it's an island in the middle of the river. Two, it is home to thousands of crows, who fly at home each evening like a scene from a Hitchcock movie.
The police once tried to chase them away with sirens, which I believe only made them curious.
The third thing the park is known for are the unsavory activities, as people meet up for various illegal things. This is why I avoid any car with someone parked in it.
And fourth, it's known for youth soccer, since they have big green fields where the local AYSO has matches every Saturday. The season must not have started yet, because there was no one on the island except Una and me, a couple shady looking guys sitting in cars, another woman walking her dog and someone doing maintenance.
Since I had my camera with me, I took a few shots of a tree-lined road that I find particularly photogenic, along with a twisted tree and a smiling Una.
I noticed that they've removed the wooden playground we used to play on when I was a child, along with the cement sitting area with planters that had fallen into disuse. Local teens had taken to using it for skateboarding, and I'm certain they miss it.
After our very nice walk, I changed into some fresh clothes and drove over to my mom's place to spend some time with her. She had a busy day ahead of her, so I joined in, driving her to the garden store where she needed to pick up a bag of peat moss. Naturally, once we got there she browsed for a while, and we came home with two containers of tomato plants, one of grape tomatoes, an herb that's a natural sweetener, some bean seeds and a few flowers to plant under her grape arbor and in a hanging planter.
My mom has a green thumb, and she was a botany major in college. She works on her garden any time she has spare time. Fortunately, the black shirt I was wearing didn't show much dirt after I'd carried the peat moss to the car for her.
For lunch, Mom offered me a frozen portion of Chicken Vermicelli which she heated up in the microwave. It was tasty and filling and wasn't bad, as far as Weight Watchers is concerned.
Then I followed her outside and watched her garden while petting her cats, who were surprisingly friendly even though it was a hot day. It was actually pleasant, enjoying the sun and the occasional breeze, as Mom planted the plants she'd brought home. We talked about the wedding, about other family members and about what was new with both of us.
Mom had to go inside to work on a cake for a special event in church the next day, so I told her I'd see her at dinner. I drove back to Dad's to give Una her afternoon walk. Dad was just getting back from his rounds, so he came along.
This time, we took the usual downtown route. I'm always a little self-conscious, because Dad is an architecture buff. He'll be talking loudly about the buildings that we pass, sometimes noting areas that needed to be improved. I'm always worried one of the occupants will hear him and be offended. But I didn't say anything, because I don't like Dad to think I'm always criticizing him.
There are, for sure, a lot of positive things about Dad. He's always optimistic, and he sees the best in people. He's always been very supportive of me and my siblings, as well.
After our walk, we changed and met up with Mom for dinner at an Italian place. We were celebrating Father's Day early, so I gave Dad his gift, which was the Gnarls Barkley CD. He knew one of the songs on it and said he'd been thinking about buying it! I guess I know Dad pretty well.
The meal was good. It was funny; I paid for Dad's dinner but he paid for Mom's because she'd treated him to dinner a couple of times lately. My parents are divorced and have been for many years, but they're still friends and do spend time together. I'm glad that's the case, because it means there won't be awkward moments at the wedding.
After dinner, Dad and I drove to a local mall to see Spider-Man 3. We had about an hour before the movie started, so we went over to the mall and did some window shopping. Strangely enough, we'd been talking on the way there about a friend of mine from high school, and I was saying I ought to write her. So imagine my surprise when we ran into her and her teenage daughter, who is really tall now, taller than her 5'9" mom.
The first thing out of my mouth was, "Wow, you're so tall," which I immediately regretted, since she's at the age when she's sensitive about things like her height.
It was nice to catch up a little bit. She told me about her frustrations with her job and the fact that she's looking for a new job. She also talked about some craft projects she's working on, such as a needlepoint portrait of her dog. To make it, she uses a computer program to convert a photograph into a needlepoint pattern. She's done it before with good results.
She said it wasn't all my fault that I hadn't e-mailed her; she'd been lax with her correspondence lately, too. But it was nice to run into her randomly like that. Almost uncanny.
A couple of stores were having a sale. Dad found a couple short-sleeved dress shirts at JCPenney's which were on sale.
The movie was a little sappy, but I liked it. I thought it was really interesting how they dealt with concepts of forgiveness and vengeance. The Spider-Man movies often have a distinct message behind them, I've noticed. Some people might say it's not the strongest of the three in the series, but I enjoyed it.
When Dad and I got back to his place, I looked through some materials The Pastor had given me on planning the wedding ceremony. I wrote down possible options for different parts of the services. One of the books she gave me had invocations, prayers, and from various Christian denominations. I found that the ones I really liked were from the church I was raised in, The United Church of Christ, which is also the church for which The Pastor is ordained.
Of course, I'll run them by The Gryphon to see if he agrees. Hopefully, he will. Then we've only got to work out what we want to do with our vows and what sort of readings we might want to have worked into the service. Only the most important things! But I have faith we'll think of something we can both agree on.
More from my trip to Central Pennsylvania:
Moral:
Summer blockbusters can also be message movies.
Copyright
2006 by Alyce Wilson
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