I’m sick. Many of you know that I like to be sick occasionally, and today is no exception.  It’s Labor Day, so there is nothing preventing me from wearing my pajama pants and lounging around, drinking tea and coughing. TGD is forsaking the meaning of Labor Day and is working on an onerous task–building a wardrobe from a kit.  He’s doing a bang-up job, but he’s hating every second of it.  I told him that he chose his career well.

I finally finished the painting last week. It was such a delight to finally move the porch furniture back into place and sit out and eat lunch, which is one of my summer treats. 

Yesterday, we went on a picnic to Curwensville. As usual, my mom had quite a picnic feast for us, and my great-aunt even made pumpkin pies! When it started to get dark, we headed out to stake our usual spot for watching the fireworks.  We always sit on a cliff overlooking Curwensville Lake (which used to be called Curwensville Dam, but is now much more sophisticated).  They set off the fireworks directly across from where we sit. 

Since we got there early, we had to amuser ourselves. First we played charades with highlights including a lightning bug, Mount Rushmore, the TV show House, and a mosquito.  There was a bird making a call which sounded just like “Meep!” My mom claimed the bird was actually called a meep. Gockle and Little Miss could do a dead-on imitation, so we sat there meeping for a long while. The someone on a hill behind us with a spotlight started scanning the crowd. We found this terribly amusing, and Peep (my mom) grabbed our tiny flashlight and said, “So you wanna play, huh?” and took a fighting stance and shone her light back. This must have delighted the spotlighter, because s/he shone back, and a light battle began.  Then we got bored. Libby told us ghost stories in her matter of fact way. “And then, when she was about to die, she said, ‘If I ever take off this velvet ribbon, my head will fall off.’ And she took of the ribbon and her head fell off.” 

Earlier today, I dragged my weary body out of bed, took a rejuvenating shower (which gave me enough energy to drag myself downstairs and to the van), and took Gockle to get his first cell phone. We made a deal–if he read the Bible the whole way through, he could get a cell phone. He read and read and read constantly for two months straight and finished the whole Bible.  Way to go, 13 year old boy!  He’s now the delighted and giddy owner of a Samsung Alias, and only two days into the school year.

School started last Thursday. Wit, a junior, and LibbyK, a freshman, are at the high school all day, although they are both doing my AP Language and Composition class online.  Gockle is full-time at the middle school. Little Miss is full-time homeschooled.  I’m actually excited and pleased for this year.  Summer was just long enough.