Saturday, September 17, 2005

Saturday: Time with Family

I love the institution of the Day Trip. Highly efficient for making family memories; no packing of suitcases; and often the occasion for a picnic, the Day Trip offers something for everyone. It's great to daydream (for example) about taking expensive, exotic trips to far-off places to let Felix bird-watch, but much better to plan to visit the excellent bird and wildlife sanctuary 20 miles away.

We got up early and left at the crack of the Composer's dawn (8:30) fortified with biscuits and bacon. We spent a couple of cool morning hours walking and driving slowly around the river bottoms in the sanctuary. Herons, an owl, egrets, mallards, mourning doves, gulls. Then on to a tiny town for a hamburger stop, and another little drive up into the mountains (these are Southern mountains, nothing major), to see the very first signs of fall--some scarlet on the sumac, sweet gums turning purple, the first monarch.

Home in time to swim, work in the garden, and grill a pork loin!

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