Robinson Lake

We had a picnic at Lake Robinson yesterday, Sunday. Lunch was fried chicken, Thai noodles, curry vegetables, rice, French pastries, dark chocolate, water melon and cantaloupe. We tried to fish but did not catch any, though some ‘fishermen’ nearby where able to catch some small fishes. Everyone enjoyed the picnic; but the day was cloudy and had an overcast sky although it did not rain, which may have been the best weather as we ate in a table without a roof, and therefore a sunnier day would have been hot. At the lake, the wind was breezy so I wore my fleece jacket which kept me warm.  I have been to the lake a couple of times to fish but it was the first time I came with my friends. Our Thai couple just came from Italy, arriving on Friday night so we were glad they could make it. Jean-Luc came with his wife and daughter and was happy to be with us. All in all, four families or couples came to the picnic and we had a fun time talking about food and our travels, especially since our Thai friends just came from their holiday. I had organized the picnic thinking that it would be good for everyone to be out in the lake after being indoors during winter.

The topic was travel and sometimes I wish the discussion was different because I have not had an opportunity to travel to Europe recently so I could bring my wife. But lately we have been going out a lot during the weekend, hiking in the nearby nature park on Saturday and a few weekends ago, to Atlanta. After the picnic, we went to BiLo supermarket where I bought more plants which were being sold at a huge discount. All in all, I bought two Madagascar Dragon plants, two Ginger plants and another leafy plant but I did not know the name; all stood 2 feet high and where sold at less than $ 10 each.  I will keep these plants inside the house so air can be detoxified, especially since I have been using my CPAP machine and my concern on Radon gas that I am more conscious of air quality. I turned inward again after the picnic, deep in thought, especially about the conversation on travel, perhaps started by my posting and editing of my blog entries early Sunday morning, the only time I had a chance to do so. I wrote those entries last week, after reflecting on the seminars I attended and my Toastmaster and PMP experiences, assessing my progress and thinking about the next step forward.

Yesterday I had a cold and kept sneezing when we got back home, so I drank two shots of bourbon and started the steam inhaler, hoping that my runny nose would go away. I got to bed at 11 pm, glad that I had done my weekend reading and viewing before the picnic, so all I needed to do was pack, shave and watch the Vikings series at 10pm. I was able to fall asleep right away but woke at around 3 am and could not get back to sleep, so I went down to the library to read, picking up the book ,’How to Be a Writer’, a work recommended by Ray Bradbury that I had been planning to read for some time. The first chapters say that a writer has two lives and his main challenge is to integrate these two lives in order to be a successful writer, a task best done before attending seminars on craft. The book was written in the 1930’s, a classic work although seldom mentioned by modern writers, the main premise being that most aspiring writers have a personality problem that needs to be addressed – reconciling both his creative and logical personality. This is an interesting take on the subject, despite the seemingly dated way of the prose; formal long sentences that I hope to decipher in order to learn some new way to help me.