Of Labor Day weekend~~~

Hello Darklings,

Today is after Labor Day and it  was a very lazy day for Doyle, Sis and myself, just the way it should be.

Doyle took me Friday to this out of the way place to eat, I didn't even catch its name and we meet Sis there, Sis had been in contact with our Brother, he tried to get through to me at work, but the lines were busy, the upshot of the call is that we would not have Coralline for the Weekend, they had planned to go on a mini-camping trip at the last minute, the Boys (aka "The Three Stooges") were demanding it and they wanted Coralline to come with them. 

Coralline did leave a message on the home phone for all of us "I'm going to be suffering in hell with the Brats, but I'll do my best to enjoy Mother Nature, if I don't push them off a cliff".   Coralline does love camping but not with her brothers,  when she went with another little friend and her parents it was a totally different and enjoyable experience for her, so she realized what spoils the camping experience is "The Brats".   I'm going to have to have a talk with my brother.

By dinning in San Rafael we managed to avoid the worse of the communte traffic considering that I left work late, but later Monday evening we saw that the new bridge was finally open!  We watched the ceremonies on T.V. with Gavin Newsome our Liut. Gov giving his speeches---Doyle said "Blah, Blah, Blah"  he never did like Newsom has always thought him a phony.   But we did see the last car go over the old bridge with Cal-Trans escort and the first car, a 1934 convertible with police escort go over the new bridge, followed with a parade of vintage cars,  simple and befitting.

Tuesday evening Doyle came to pick me up at work and drove my vintage 1940 Buick, as we drove back over the new bridge, I found it to be lovely, elegant even, but I looked over at the old Cantalivered Bridge, such a workhorse, doing what it was suppose to do, not elegant like its western half cousin, a blue collar bridge, to be taken apart piece by piece because it out lived its usefulness, too many cars, too many demands upon its structure.

I remember as a little girl, taking a Key System train over the lower parts of the bridges, later those lower parts were converted to be the Eastern traffic and the rail lines taken out, the light and electric towers remaining for many years, forlorn, their use forgotten.   Then either driving or taking the Bus over the old bridge with my Mother to meet Dad at his work.   And yet still seeing an occassional car ferry, then they faded from view.

Then I going to work in my later years, either driving, car pooling, taking a bus over that old structure, watching the traffic or when on the bus looking at the sights, and subconsiously taking in the bridge.
The crowding, the back up as increasingly more and more cars came to use the bridge, people becoming enamoured with the extra freedom of the private car, and yet being trapped by it.   Then the Loma Prieta Earthquake,  people discovering the Ferry system, BART the modern version of the old Red Trains becoming the way to travel.  Rising gas prices making the expense of a car and the freedom to just go anyway difficult.   Yes even I have to plan our car errands, to maximum the gas use.

And I felt as we drove back on the new bridge a nostalgic tug at my heart looking at the old, tired, hard-working friend, now in the process of being dismantled, piece by piece, section by section.   I heard that eventually they will sell pieces of the old bridge as souviner's and I want  a piece of that history.  A tangible reminder of an old and faithful friend.

Labor Day weekend was really very quiet for us, we did have a chance, Sis and I to go to the Spirit Store and I spotted several things, yes I'm afraid I spent a bit too much but its only once a year,  however Sis did point out that since Spirit has a web site, to in the future, over the year, purchase what I like,  like DUH!!!  She is so right!!  Why wait until the physical store opens to buy things, when I can buy it on line.   Espeically if its something that I am familar with and like.  Imagine the hand smacking the forehead with realization.

Sunday, a neighbor brought by a large basket of freshly picked apples, so Sis in an enterprising move decided to put up apple slices for pie or general desert,  she said she wanted to do it herself, since I was going to be doing some hand mending of clothing, like re-sewing a button or mending a hem, I had about a dozen things to take care of, so since Sunday was nice a peaceful I sat out on the back porch with my mending basket and basket of threads, needles and pins and using the sunlight to provide a good viewing of the items to sew and yet be near Sis incase she needed my help.

Belladonna enjoyed the comfort of the porch, occasionally getting up to sniff, walk around and explore the garden.  Doyle was reading the Sunday paper and eventually fell into a snooze, later he woke up and made sure the water system worked.   I have it set to water at about 3 a.m. when its cool, and the water can perk into the soil.  But the scent of cooked apple slices was heavenly, and Sis didn't cook all of them I had an apple for an afternoon break.

Later when she was done she came out to enjoy the comfort of the porch,  I asked if she wanted me to do any of the clean up and she said she felt so energetic that she did it all, I felt bad that I didn't help with that part of it but she said to not feel that way, she really enjoyed the whole process of it that it was meditative.  I thought at first she was sort of joking but she was serious.   With that Doyle announced that no one would cook and would go and get Chinese in a couple of hours.

So we sat out on the porch, listening to our Sirius Radio playing Big Band music, reading, sewing, relaxing, talking.  Suddenly Sis looked at me and said "Let put a puzzel together tonight, we've got a bunch of them up in the 'cemetery' (aka 'lumberroom') Let's do that, something old-fashion"  We liked the idea and after dinner and doing the dishes we relaxed like we did as children enjoying finding the pieces that fit and laughing and commenting on life.

And we were happy to hear that the Yosemite Rim Fire is now 70 percent contained.  

I found myself enjoying the old-fashioned things, would that more people did.

Later Darklings



Yes, Darling I think Chines for Dinner tonight would be perfect.