Weather: Another golden day in a week of glorious weather.

At the Lake

Daniel was fine this morning, but he couldn't attend school because they have a ludicrous rule that if a kid goes home with a fever he has to stay home the next day. I knew I needed to get the boys outdoors because the three of them in this small house would be at each other's throats. So we headed out to Mercer County Park.

On the way, I took a little tour of the Hughes Drive entrance to Mercer County College. I wanted to see the Kwanzan cherry trees that line the road, and they were as stunning as I remembered. Then we drove to the park. We parked at the West End lot and set out for a walk around the lake. We walked to a bench where I sat down and watched the boys throwing stones into the water.

Sunlight shimmered off the breeze-stirred waves in countless brilliant glints. The sun was warm, but the light wind blew cool against my skin, making me glad I had worn a sweater. Despite my good night's sleep last night, I was still tired from staying up all Tuesday night. I leaned back and closed my eyes, listening to the sounds around me: The soft lapping of the water on the shore. Birds singing in the woods behind me, and geese honking on the lake. The wind rustling last fall's dry leaves. An airplane droning in the distance.

I opened one eye, and the scene in front of me became a two dimensional image of horizontal bands of color. At the bottom was the slate grey of the walking path, topped by green grass, a wider swath of blue-grey water, trees on the far shore in shades of brown, green, and pink, and the wide band of cloudless blue sky above all.

Matthew came over to sit with me on the bench, and I noticed his eyes were the exact same shade of blue as the lake. Then Stephen and Daniel lost interest in their stone-throwing game, and we headed back to the playground area of the park.

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