Class Reunion

Susan, a dear friend who now lives in western Pennsylvania, asked if she could borrow me to be her date to her 30th high school class reunion back here in the east. It was last night, Friday the 28th, in the Poconos and I was thrilled to accompany her because I never went to any of my own reunions and always wondered what they were like. It was a magical evening. The Sycamore Grill in Delaware Water Gap provided a lovely setting and a delicious meal. I haven't heard a live band since dee-jays took over at providing music at parties and the guys in the Who Knows Band who were cranking out the tunes for the evening gave us many of the songs with which we grew up. Though I was a stranger to all but Susan, I felt like one of the class. Everybody she introduced me to was super friendly and graciously welcoming. I even took to the dance floor with Susan a few times though I dance like I have two left feet.

Marty, one of the classmates, made this banner of all the folks who sent in their pictures. That's Susan, two heads down from the leftmost part of the "W" in the black V-neck.

I got back this afternoon, having spent the night at Susan's mom's house, and headed out on the scooter to the new Price Chopper to get some shrimp and scallops for supper.

We needed a new Price Chopper like we need another flood. The old one was friendly and small. We knew where everything was and it made for a quick shopping trip. The new one's in an inconvenient area with more traffic and it's so close to the Wegman's that it's practically copied from that it simply wasn't built to accommodate us, but rather to make the store more competitive. No doubt P.C.'s going to hang onto its lease at the old location to prevent another supermarket from moving in and make the whole plaza into another dry gulch like it did across the river when it closed its old location and built a new store not far away. I detest businesses that are all about themselves with little regard for the folks they pretend to "serve."

Tomorrow's forecast calls for a wintry mix of precipitation so the scooter will stay under the deck. We'll be taking our baby back to school anyway, though, so there wouldn't have been much opportunity to ride even if it were to be warm and sunny. She brought a girl home with her for Thanksgiving who lives too far away to have flown home just for the long weekend. She's a wonderful kid and I love being her daddy.

Thanksgiving 2008

Last Saturday I got a call from our elder daughter's boyfriend of four years, asking my blessing for him to marry her. I assented happily; he's a good man (for having put up with her for her entire college career, among other things). I didn't know he was a romantic. He proposed by serving her breakfast, her favorite meal of the day. The scene even featured a squirrel, her favorite animal. They drove up earlier to show off the ring even though they weren't supposed to visit today because they're going to the Eagles' game tonight. We're all very happy and excited.

I took my second annual Thanksgiving ride this morning. The temperature was a few degrees shy of 40 so I suited up with long underwear and my new ski mask face saver and headed out at around 8:30. As I did last year, I went to the parish church cemetery where all four of my grandparents are buried along with many of our distant and close relatives and so many of the people whom I remember from church and the neighborhood from when I was growing up. On this day of giving thanks, especially, I'm mindful of the gratitude I feel for their having given me a childhood worth remembering. I don't "visit" them as my parents are wont to describing what they do at the cemetery. Rather, I simply remember and quietly whisper my thanks, confident that somehow the Lord communicates to each of them my sentiments.

My cousin and her husband left this Thanksgiving card for her daddy - my mom's brother Joe and my godfather. He left us when my kid who got engaged today was still in utero and I miss him still, along with all the others who gave my life a richer color once upon a time ago.

I rode to the nearby state park which is one of my favorites for fall photos, but this late in the season with the deciduous trees barren, it's just a place at which to pause and to ponder. Our baby, home from college, worked at the nursing home this morning, and if she hadn't been at work I'd have taken her with me for the ride. I miss having somebody behind me enjoying the ride as much as I do.

I did two things on the bike today that I'd not done before. Having no idea what possessed me to try the first stunt, 'cause I'd never even thought of it before, I stood up while riding down a flat, easy section of road. Though I didn't dare to stay on my feet more than a few seconds at a time, it felt fairly awesome to do it. I don't know that it's illegal. The drivers of local delivery trucks (The milk man, the rag man, the huckster, and Pauly Wender, the baker, to name a few.) when I was a kid often drove from stop to stop while standing.

Riding into a parking lot to turn myself around inspired my second novel maneuver. As I rode in a circle to bring myself back to where I'd entered the lot I found myself exhilarating in the lean which was steeper than my usual easy turn around a corner. I kept the turn going through a number of tight circles and practically laughed aloud because it felt so neat.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Bit and Piece Riding

Yes, I've been riding, but not the sort that one blogs about. I've been zipping here and there on short trips when I can, avoiding the freezing temperatures and the dangers of black ice at night and more or less using the bike to get around than to joy ride. I did make it out over the past weekend for a while just for the sake of riding, but not on as long a trip as I'd have made if the weather had been nicer, and not on the sort of ride that I'd take off the gloves for in order to snap pictures of where I'd been 'cause I'd not been anywhere particularly nice in terms of scenery.

I do wonder about riding on snow. I know there are some guys who do it, but isn't it horribly slippery? I don't even like driving on snow with the car so I don't see myself giving the white stuff a whirl with the scooter just to say that I did it.