And so it began...

I arrived yesterday after two flights with very boring single serving friends: two likely businessmen who didn't talk and had nothing to do since they obviously hadn't brought anything fun with them. Sometimes to calm myself i do the lotus pose from yoga (it actually works) but accursed airplane seats weren't made to be sat in, let alone have funny indian things like yoga attempted on them, they resisted. Oh well., my hopes lie in the return flight.

The trip rapid improved on arrival in Pennsylvania.

My uncle Buster picked us up at the airport. Now i haven't gotten a chance to see most of my mother's side of the family since a similar trip about five years ago, so it was awkward at first. I didn't know what to think. First stop we made was at a Whole Foods. Talk about wacky coincidences, it looked just like the ones in Austin. The Bresnans (my mother's family) are crazy, but i'll get to that later. First thing when we walk in the store my uncle pickes up this huge package of strawberries "you like strawberries? Here, we'll get some." and on it went. we stopped by this stand of bags of pretzels, he looks at Julia (little sister) with this little grin and then without looking just starts pulling bags off the stand and after getting six or seven remark "I guess that'll be enough." We tried every sample in the store. It was great.

Next we went to the bank. I thought he was just doing some business but he gave us spending money! I mean schwiggity schwow. We proceded next door to a grocery store where we selected no less than five things of ice cream from the biggest section of said tastiness i have ever seen, two back to back freezer cases about 15 ft. long filled with ice cream!

The drive to his house was beautiful. We took the highway. All manner of trees lined the sides of the interstate and they were so green! When we got closer to his house the roads were fairly empty so my uncle drove all over it, on the stripe, in the middle, like an Englander, it was just something you don't see in austin, and a good bit of fun. We relaxed at the house a little while, a beautiful two story creation with a more than generous back yard. It was calm for a while. Then my cousin Pat got home.

Now I said the Bresnans are crazy and they are, but they're smart too. They're all crazy in different ways, some just a little silly and others are wild, but they are all of them very well educated.

Which brings me to Patrick. Pat is a limited edition model, there are very few with his unique enery and spontaneous flare. After he walks in the door we greet each other and then he asks me if we have any plans and of course after being in the state a matter of hours the answer is no, thusly: "Hey, you like swimming? Wat to go swim in my friend's pond? Yeah he made it, it's great! They're having a wedding there in two days but i'm sure they wouldn't mind if we stopped by for a swim." It seemed like a good little story.

He wasn't joking.

This friends house (yard really) was absolutely Amazing it was huge too, i'll post pictures later. I imagined this pond as, well, a duck pond or something. This almost defies description. It was like an enclosed section of creek, cleaned up with a bridge over it and a huge rope swing with rock to jump off of. It was glorious, i wish i could have taken it with me. Again, i'll post pictures of it. Oh,and i jumped of this twenty or more foot jump, much to my surprise, i wish i'd told me before i went and did that.

We topped the evening off with an italian restaurant were the prices scared me. It was a good dinner and i began to feel more comfortable talking with my uncle. I asked for my meal by it's italian name and felt like a badass for a little while, since everyone else had to point to the menu, that and my family plus the waiter were impressed. It was molto buono, so was the food. We got home, ate Ice cream and passed out. vacation is wonderful.

That was yesterday, i'll have to get to today some other time. for now i'll say it had a lot of american history i wasn't sure i wanted or needed to know, but still enjoyable overall. goodnight! I miss you all a lot, and Bonnie a great deal more, I think you'd like all the toile-style wallpaper in my uncles house and it constantly reminds me of you and makes me wish you were here as does everything. I wonder what tomorrow brings!