So, how was your weekend?
The inevitable question at work after a three-day weekend. Always hard to balance giving a sincere answer and giving way too much detail. What did we do? Well, what didn’t we do? We had tree fort construction (wait’ll you see the rock climbing ramp to get up there!), massive bicycle repair, a sleepover, double-feature at the drive-in, friends over for a barbecue, viewing the last stage of the Giro d’Italia, chalk drawings in the driveway, and stomp rockets on the garage roof. (God, now that I think of it, no wonder I was exhausted today.) Plus, I got in a nice 34-mile ride down to Valatie (pronounced vuh-lay-shee-ah) yesterday, even though I didn’t feel great. So, yeah, it was a good weekend, despite mostly iffy weather. Windy and cool, though there was sun.
The drive-in was not a repeat of our last experience, which was as close to American nirvana as one can come. This time, we arrived at about the same time, but then spent literally 40 minutes on the highway outside, waiting to get in. We were one of the last cars they let in . . . so when they say “arrive early” in their ads, they mean it! That meant we had a horrible location for seeing the first movie, “Shrek 2,” but most of the place cleared out after that and we got to move up considerably for “Mean Girls.” I liked “Mean Girls” quite a bit, by the way, but I’ve got that whole Tina Fey crush going on, so that may color my judgment. Hadn’t realized just how harsh the language would be, or rather, the frequency of its harshness, so had to have a little discussion with the girls (and invited friend) on how those words were really terrible things to say about anyone, that they were vicious and hurtful, etc., and that the point of the movie is that girls shouldn’t tear each other down. (“Bitch” they knew; “slut” and “whore” may have been newer to them. Oh, well, better they learn it at home, right?)
Great ride yesterday afternoon, extended my ride past the buffalo farm, further down into Schodack and on to Valatie. Lots of road kill, mostly only identifiable as “some kind of mammal,” though there was a perfectly flat box turtle. Lots of hawks, and what I couldn’t be sure weren’t eagles (I wasn’t that far in from the river, really, a few miles). Also happened to time it perfectly to sit on a lonely railroad overpass and watch a freight train speed by beneath me, which was a pleasing little moment in time.