Hi Gram,
I had a slow day on Friday, didn’t do much. I was sore and exhausted, so I took it as a day to recover. Saturday, I got up and got my morning routine done then headed down to their rental to give John and Amberly some moral support and used my scope to see behind a wall.

I put away my tools and headed over to City Park for my daily walk. City park is a great name for it. It’s a big park in the middle of the city with the zoo, tennis courts, monuments, lakes, ponds, and walking paths winding throughout. I parked my car under a shade tree, put in my headphones, and just picked a path to walk down. The path first took me past some tennis courts where I later found out a local organization was having a tournament. All of the courts had players working the ball and spectators lounging on the grass outside the fences, cheering them on. It was a sight to behold, as I usually will only find one or two courts being used at a time.

I quickly passed the tennis courts and followed the path through green grass with mature shade trees scattered about. Families and lovers dotted the lawns with their picnics or games, all enjoying the beautiful weather and shade of the trees. The park is set up with a number of roundabouts or circles with a statue in the center and trees lining the road circling the monument. I passed one of those, then found a set of stairs that I thought led to another. I was pleased when I learned that the stairs led to a terrace overlooking a lake. A paved path led off in either direction around the lake, so I headed left intent on circling this small lake. There were more lounging families enjoying their picnics in the shade, kids learning how to cast a fishing rod with their mom or dad coaching them along, and a few canoes and kayaks pulled up onto the shore so their occupants could rest and have a snack. I saw a fountain in the center, shooting water into the sky, with teams of friends powering a swan boat with their peddle power and laughter.

There were two men with their fishing gear and a baby in a stroller, both paying more attention to the baby than the tackle and rods. A family rode by in one of those team-effort bicycles where everyone peddles and nobody steers but somehow the thing glides forward and keeps the occupants laughing and conversing along their journey.

I saw a few photographers framing the perfect shot and a few influencers posing in front of a monument or building, or shooting some B-roll video footage as they walked around a statue or panned the scenery around them. The path circled back around the lake and led off past it, through more greenery and past more statues until I passed the other side of the tennis courts and saw the tournament tent set up with sign-in sheets, a basket of tennis balls, and signs advertising the name of the tournament.

Past the courts, I headed off past what looked like a historic building and found myself at another traffic circle, this time celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr as well as Frederick Douglass, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and Sojourner Truth who all preached peace and love.

A little further along, I saw the Joseph Addison Thatcher Memorial, a very tall statue of a woman, surrounded by three smaller carvings professing love, learning, and loyalty with a fountain accentuating this beautiful monument.

Tired and hungry, I headed back to the car and completed my walk. I swung by to see how Amberly and John were doing with their maintenance chores, then decided to head back to the house.
I wasn’t sure what food I had at the house, so I decided to treat myself to lunch at a restaurant, then decided to catch a movie to make it a fun afternoon. I found an AMC theater, saw that they had a bunch of movies that interested me, and set my GPS to head north. I found a pizza place next door to the theater and decided on some chicken bites instead of waiting for a pizza or calzone. The food was alright, but I kind of wished I had kept looking and found a different restaurant nearby. I felt rushed to eat quickly so I could get to the movie, and compromised on my goal of treating myself to a good lunch. Emphasizing the flaw in my decision making, I got to the theater about 20 minutes before the show started. That’s never great because, unlike in my high school days when I went to see movies all the time, theaters now bombard the audience with pop culture news advertising a band or tv show, quizzes advertising a fad snack or car, and outright advertisements for the theater, drink brands, snacks and cars. Once the ads are done, the previews start, which are often fun to see what movies are in the pipeline but take another 10-15 minutes. The result is that if you show up just as the movie is scheduled to start, you’ll see fewer ads and get started with the previews. If you show up 5-10 minutes late, you’ll still find your seat in plenty of time before the movie starts. Having arrived 20 minutes early, I got to see it all but I digress. My belly was full, I silenced my phone, and I set in to enjoy “The Flash” on the big screen. I’m not going to review the movie, just tell you that I enjoyed it. It was the right blend, in my eyes, of a little bit campy, a little bit action, and a little humor all wound around a fun story. I sat through the credits for the post-credit scene, then exited the theater. Realizing that I was near Sierra, a TJ Maxx owned outdoor gear store, I decided to go see if they had any clothes or travel gear for my upcoming trip. I walked out mostly unscathed in the wallet with a couple things that I’ve been meaning to get to make packing a little neater. I headed back to the house to hear how Amberly and John had done with their painting the garage and what they found at Ikea. They’re going to be redoing their kitchen, so the past couple weeks have been a dance of drawing it online, meeting with a consultant at the store, going in to see the cabinets and counters in person, moving things around in their sketch, measuring again, drawing the outline on the floor with masking tape, and making sure they’re confident in their plan. It was fun to hear what they’d learned and decided at the store, and I look forward to seeing the plan come to reality.