Memorial Day Weekend

I'm happy to report that our committment to getting in shape is intact. We have been riding our bikes at least three times a week. Yesterday (Memorial Day) we went to Reber's Bridge and rode the trail into Reading. That is about 8 miles round trip. It is a nice ride, do it sometime. It is the old Union Canal tow path along the Schuylkill River. There's a bunch of old museum-type buildings you can go in, including the Gruber wagon works.

Perhaps I should start at the beginning of the weekend. Friday was Amy's b-day (she's 24, and feeling old) so I took her to Shady Maple, where she had never been. Saturday morning I traded cars with a friend of mine, his needs some work done. Did the recycling, then mowed the yard.

In the evening we went to the parents of Amy's friend's fiance for a rehearsal dinner. They had some of the best ribs there I ever tasted. Sunday I skedaddled from the house ASAP, cuz all the bridesmaids for the wedding were preparing themselves for presentation at our house. I went to first service to hide from them. There were two more that are not in the pic, plus a couple of the cutest little flower girls.

After the ladies left for pix, Amy and I bummed around the house until it was time for the wedding. It was a wonderful wedding. The bride comes from a situation that was not so good, and it made her into a very strong, committed, honorable person. You can really see Christ in her life. She's 21, and the groom turned 19 yesterday. He is the most mature 18 year old I have ever met. They are made for each other, and the wedding was one of the happiest things I have ever experienced. After the sniffling and giggling stopped, we came home to relax. Monday I worked on my friend's car, then we went to the bike trail, then went to another friend's house for a Memorial Day party. There was smoke from the grill and smoke from the tires of said friend's Camaro. A good time was had by all.

Took Pop & Mom and Marvin's to Newark today to catch their flight to Israel. Back to work tomorrow.

Commuting

Now that we have bikes, we will be in shape soon. There has been some talk of riding them to work, since the new job is only 3 miles away. Of course, this evening it is too cold and wet to go out riding, so here we sit at home as always. It supposed to be nicer weather tomorrow... we'll get in shape then.

They had me singing at church again on Sunday. It really is quite enjoyable. Something about Thursday night practices makes me full of energy and ready to go. Sunday mornings are that way too, but not as much.

We are getting busier at work again. It is quite welcome, as there was a bit of worry around the shop as to how slow things had been. It seems the housing market in our area is not hit as hard as some places. We have been doing a lot of commercial jobs, and we also are selling a tremendous amount of replacement doors. It used to be that our sales were 95% or greater new construction; now, more than 50% is replacement doors. Many people are simply getting nicer looking doors, so if you want a good used door now is the time to call Pop.

Our grass is growing nicely. Our soil is very poor, and in some areas we have almost no topsoil. With all the rain we have been blessed with lately, the grass is really shooting up, albeit some places much better than others. I mowed on Saturday for the first time this year, while Amy went to Longwood Gardens with her sister.

New York again

Friday night our young married group was together again. We had a campfire and got all smoky under the trees.

Saturday morning we drove up to Manhattan to my cousin's apartment. We met them for lunch, then took the train over to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden for Sakura Matsuri, the cherry blossom festival. It was very nice. They have Kwanzan cherry trees in a couple of rows that make a pink tunnel/arbor kind of thing under the trees. There were Japanese artists there making music and other demonstrations. We got there late for most of the events, but we did take in some absolutely beautiful Japanese flutes. We also briefly strolled around the Brooklyn art museum after eating some Jamaican grub, but we were all a bit weary and went back to the apartment.

Sunday Jen took us through a local park, and we stood at the place where legend has it the Europeans purchased Manhattan island from the native Americans for trinkets worth abut $24. What a ripoff. It reminded me again of how unfair some of the European politics were. For the afternoon we went down to 32nd St to a Korean restaurant. Amy had some kind of fish dish, and I had a taste of octupus. Very interesting. We got home about 7:00, in time to watch part of Amazing Grace, which as a movie I highly recommend. Its about William Wilberforce's efforts in England in 1780-1800 or so to abolish slavery.