Over the River and Through the Woods

We had a pretty good weekend, the family and I. Saturday afternoon my wife worked, so my daughter and I took a little trip to the park. We fed bread to the ducks and trout (huge, huge, trout there, mostly because fishing is prohibited), swung on the swings (she liked swinging on the “big girl swing”), and stepped in some mud (which she talked about for a while). It was a good day.

Saturday evening we had a message from my little sister, and when I called her back she told us her boyfriend proposed. Great news! They have been dating for some time, and we have long considered her boyfriend part of the family. This will just make it official. Congrats Ta-Ta.

Sunday we took the two hour drive to my Grandfather’s house to eat Sunday lunch and to see my Aunt and Uncle who were visiting from South Carolina. Near the end of the ride my daughter got a bit antsy, so I sang her a few rounds of “Over the river and through the woods, to Great-Pappy’s house we go). She enjoyed that. Be glad you didn’t have to hear it, though. 🙂

My grandfather lives in a little town called Cherry Tree, which influenced my picture above (the picture is from wikimedia commons – not from me). From wikipedia:

Cherry Tree was named for a large cherry tree that stood at the confluence of Cush Cushion Creek and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.

Interesting. If I didn’t have this blog, I would never have looked that up and would never have known the origins of the town’s name.

I always enjoy going to my Grandfather’s house.  So many nice memories there.  It just so happens that Cherry Tree is situated half-way between my parent’s house and the town where I attended college (an hour and a half car ride total).  When I visited home on weekends during college, I always stopped at my grandparent’s house on my way, partly because they wanted me to, partly because I wanted to, and partly because my VW Beetle was so drafty and lacked a heater, that I needed to stop just to regain feeling in my near-frost bitten hands!  No matter how much of a hurry I was in, I wasn’t allowed to leave without eating something and having at least one Pepsi.

We took a bit of time to walk across the street to the little Methodist Church.  My grandmother used to play the organ at this church, as well as teach Sunday school and make crafts for their annual craft show.  The church had a little stone in front in honor of my Grandmother (she passed away three years ago due to ALS aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease).  It was a modest stone, with her name and such, but it was a really nice touch.  She is the only one such honored, and I get a real sense that little church greatly misses her, as we all do.

Anyhow, it was a great time Sunday as well.  We ate a ton of food and watched the hockey game on TV.  A good end to a good weekend.  Next weekend, my daughter’s turns two!