Beautiful Weekend!
Gerry was away this weekend, and we missed him – but the kids and I had a great weekend even though he wasn’t here to enjoy it with us!
We went toWaterloo Village – an historic village in western New Jersey – and although we loved the buildings, the canal, the grounds and especially the sheep and the spinning/knitting docent, we had a hard time hearing ourselves think over the rock band that was playing. They’d advertised a “Harvest Festival” on the internet – silly me, I thought that meant candle dipping, pumpkin carving and maybe corn husk doll making. Little did I know it really meant inane FM Radio “soft rock” station sponsored trivia quizzes, rock bands and competing canned music from the aforementioned soft rock station van.
Soft, but not quiet.
Both Hannah and I started to get a headache from the noise – and I hated the fact that all these guys were chugging beer and making unnecessary comments about some of the girls strolling around – not really what I’d expected when I drove the kids up there. Having said that, it’s an amazingly beautiful place – and when we were out of range of the rock music (it was impossible to get totally away from it) then it was a more peaceful visit.
I love rock – don’t get me wrong – although my tastes are probably a little dated (The Pretenders, Joan Armatrading, Elvis Costello and TMBG are my faves) But it wasn’t what we’d expected. Oh, well!
We also saw Shark Tale this weekend, which I thought was cute – the kids really loved it. We hung around together on Sunday and I knitted quite a bit over the weekend. I finished a poncho for Hannah for her birthday, and I’m making one for her best friend down the street whose mother is always dropping off boots, shoes, outgrown pants and other boy stuff for Max from her nephew. We reciprocate as we can!
POLITICAL
As a teacher I deal with a lot of different folks with different political outlooks, so I avoid being as political as I’m inclined because I don’t want to put a student (or myself) in an uncomfortable position. However, after the first prez debate I overheard a commentator calling the prez Furious George, so I worked up this little political cartoon doodle thingie. I’m not selling it, I’m not putting it on T shirts, but it is a free expression of my own twisted little form of speech.
And speaking of debates, Paul Krugman has an excellent short piece in the NYTimes today on what to watch for in the debate on Wednesday, and what facts to have checked in advanced to keep from being hoodwinked. Want some wood? Enjoy!