After many years away Ross, bearing wiffle balls and bats, made a much anticipated visit to OWR. He found himself involved in a variety of activities that are unique to the local environment. On day 1 Ross and I floated down the Santa Fe and paddled up it, in that order. I take full responsibility for the sequence. The float down was placid and lovely; the return, athletic and sunburnt. Turtles basked, hawks soared, night herons hid, fishermen cast, Ross and I paddled. We spent the remainder of the day pleasantly wandering the field, eating and imbibing.
We woke early the next day to get Charlie who has been several months in South Carolina. His train was late and we had hearty breakfast at The Fox in Avondale. We travelled from the train station to St. Augustine. Food, drink and ice cream was consumed yet again. Ross spent a considerable time disputing the age of St. Augustine. He feels it is not the the oldest city in America and steadfastly denies its importance. It is still unclear why he feels this way.
We returned home to prepare for the night's activities, a night of burning rubber, motor oil, filth, noise, pollution and testosterone at the North Florida Speedway. Ross seemed impressed by the carefree attitude of children (and their parents) playing four feet away from speeding deathtraps. He seemed less impressed by the cheese fries. Charlie seemed impressed and took to banging his coke bottle on the bleachers while screaming the name of his favorite car, "OOOOZE..."
The next day was a sporting day of wiffleball, tim-e basketball, tim-e soccer and lawn bowling. There was a brief episode of a sport best described as wrestle ball, luckily everything ended peacefully. On the last day Ross and Charlie began with the axe and timber fell. It then progressed to a trip to the feed store and finally to the discovery of 12 new chicks in the coop. Sadly we dropped Ross off at the airport only a few hours ago...a brief visit. We all look forward to the next time. Cymande's in recovery from testosterone overexposure...as for Charlie he is still screaming "OOOOZE!".
