Oh-ho, hey-hey, it's a National Holiday...

I hope everyone had a delightful and relaxing long weekend. Unfortunately I had to work a few hours on Saturday. No rest for the weary state worker providing new food for hungry babies. SuperWIC to the rescue!

Besides that little snag in my otherwise bucolic respite, it was quite enjoyable. Early Saturday morning I met with a few friends to hike the Turkey Creek Trail at Emma Long park. My poor sweetie was not feeling well and to add more injury to insult, got a nasty bite from her cat as she tried to corral him to come back inside after her roomie let him run out. So, imagine not feeling well and then getting a call to drive across town and crawl around through hedges, under cars and through neighbor's yards only to be rewarded by your beloved pet sinking his fangs into your thumb as you attempt rescue. A perfect morning to return to my warm and peaceful house and return to bed, hoping the second awakening will be an improvement.

Even sans lovely hike- leader we had a very nice hike. The wooded trail was shady and the prior night's rain made the trail a bit gloppy but cooler than usual and quite invigorating. The folks that did brave the humid, muddy weather were a good combination of folks and made for enjoyable conversation and good times.

After a few dreary hours at the office that afternoon I went out with my sweetie for a nice dinner then for a stroll down S. Congress. The next morning we had breakfast with BFF C, then went to church. Afterward I bought a few movies and K and I had a nice leisurely afternoon. On Labor Day we went to see Julie and Julia at Alamo Draft House. I highly recommend this movie and found myself smiling throughout. Meryl Streep is amazing and quite convincing at Julia Child and I loved the concept. Made me really crave some Bœuf Bourguignon!

In the afternoon we took the Kayaks out and met up with Dr. S to paddle around Town Lake. We paddled up to Redbud Island and then decided to paddle around it and look at the dam. Paddling against the current while the dam is releasing water is a little like paddling up a whitewater rapid. Twice I was pushed back against a concrete embankment as I made my way through an opening around the island and I owe great thanks to K and Dr. S for cheering me on as I fought the current and won on the 3rd try. I definitely admit my skinny girlfriend is better at kayaking than me. Not sure why I can bench so much more and still be swept away in a current she was able to push past. My ego was bruised but I survived, even while ending up whacking into the picnicking spot of some kids on the island. I did appreciate that they gave me a round of applause when I got through!

When we finished the adventure in the water we went to a salon put on by a friend of K's. This was a salon in the original sense of the word as described in Wikipedia: Salon (gathering), private and public, of intellectuals to meet, discuss ideas and watch artistic performances.
We had some excellent food- especially the peanut soup, and some wine and settled in to discuss our ideas of Labor Day. We watched some clips on the history of the holiday on the Internet and then discussed opinions of labor forces, class-ism, unions and then managed to meander to the topic of concealed carry handgun laws. It was an enjoyable gathering and I hope to do it again soon.

I have yammered on for quite some time now so I will stop. I hope your holiday weekend was as wonderful as mine. To my small but loyal band of readers, I wish you well.