Butterfly and Bees: River Dance / Fish Dinner

Rain was in the forecast, but somehow it never arrived. Which was good news for us, the travelers, as we set out for hearth and home. Or rather, to my parents' house, where they don't live anymore. Because my sweet mom and dad vacated that place and call it home no more; they've moved on to greener pastures on Heaven's sunny shores.

But they've left behind a bunch of stuff, which my little sister is still sorting through. I'm not much help to her, I'll admit it right off the bat. I'm not really close enough to be there often. But every once in a while, we pack up the car and go down to Juniata County for the afternoon; sort through stuff; bring back as much as we can fit in the car.

We had my husband's Chevy Impala, our biggest car, which was necessary to fit it all in. This day's trip yielded three small end tables, five tote bags, and six clear plastic containers of STUFF. Every time we go down, my husband says, "We can't take any more stuff; it won't fit into our house." But then we go, and we do. And we bring it all back. Unload it. Carry it to the top of the front steps. Let it sit there till I get it all sorted out.

But I've somehow gotten ahead of myself. Let me tell you first about the journey, and the visiting, and the food. I live in Centre County and my parents lived in Juniata County. The drive from our house to theirs is around an hour and a half. Routes 322 and I-99 are famous for their road construction, and this day was no exception. Orange traffic cones are everywhere; they're practically our state bird. Some parts of the drive are one lane; it's tedious.

We stopped for just five minutes or so along the Juniata River, which I sort of consider my family river. And there, we were entertained by an immensely active tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus), which you may see in the photo above. "Hello, Barb!" I said. There was something sticky on the ground, and the butterfly and a whole host of bees seemed to be dancing on it, or eating it, or something. So here they are, all together, river dancing.

We enjoy the food from Sal's Italian restaurant in McAlisterville, and we planned to stop there at least once. We actually ended up stopping TWICE, both for lunch and for dinner. My husband and I split a VERY nice chef salad and bread for lunch; had a lot left over; tucked it into a container which went into the cooler.

We are usually there on a Thursday, which is a day my sister has off work. Sal's has a fish special on Fridays that includes crispy French fries and a side salad with house dressing. My husband loves their fish dinner, but we hardly ever get it because we're almost never there on a Friday. 

Once, he talked them into serving it to us on a Thursday. He did that again on this day! While we were there for lunch, he asked the lady about it. I heard them talking together; I heard her saying, "I can do that for you"; and then he came back with a great big smile on his face. All we had to do was phone in our order for pick-up on the way back up to our house, after our afternoon's work of sorting was done.

After lunch, we went to the personal care facility where my sister Pat is. "I didn't recognize you," were the first words out of her mouth, just like last time. I don't get to see her often and so I had lots of stories to tell her: all about the tree that fell, and the shed it fell on, and our new handyman, and the tooth I broke, and the lady in the red truck. 

Like me, she misses big sister Barb and our parents a lot. It's hard to say what you're supposed to do about these things, when those you love best move on. I can hear my father's voice saying, as he so often did, "These are things we must learn to ACCEPT." And so we try, and maybe we fail more often than we succeed, but Dad, we are WORKING on it.

I meant to get out and walk around my parents' property, and look at all of the plants and things in bloom in their yard, and take pictures. But by the time we were done loading all of the things into the car, I was sort of exhausted, and hot, and cranky, and tired. 

And so I forgot to cut myself some of the peonies that are just opening; my parents' wedding anniversary flower (and this is their month). Forgot to walk along the creek (though I don't feel so bad about that, as my sister says the pink lady's slippers that bloom there every year were mostly done two weeks ago).

My husband used my sister's phone to call in our fish dinner order just before we left. I placed the last full tote bag into the last empty space in the car, and sat in the passenger seat. My husband tucked the cooler on the floor between my feet. We bid farewell to my little sister and her daughter, and to my brother and his friend who had come to meet us there. 

As we prepared to pull out, Julie said, "I see air above the stuff in your back seat. Come on: YOU CAN FIT MORE STUFF IN THERE!!" "No, Julie, NO!" I heard myself saying. And we put the car in gear and took our leave before she could sneak more stuff into the back seat!

We got to Sal's and my husband hopped out and got our fish dinner, which you may see a photo of in the extras. It came with a side salad, which I placed into the cooler for later. The lady gave us a little loaf of bread to go with it too, not pictured. 

We each ate a fish plank before we left there, and a couple of hot French fries, and then we put the dinner back into the bag, and I placed the bag on top of the cooler in front of me, which turned out NOT to be a very safe spot; it wanted to tilt and slide.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I moved that lovely fish dinner - which some of you might even call fish and chips - onto my seat, between my legs. It was the only spot left in the car, if you can believe that! It was really strange, and my first time making that hour-and-a-half journey with a hot fish dinner tucked between my thighs! (Somewhere, Shakespeare is laughing.)

Somehow, the rain that was expected, and forecast, never arrived, which suited us just fine. For traveling is easier, and loading and unloading cars is easier, without the rain. When we got home, we ate the rest of the fish dinner and part of the salad, then finished unloading the car. That was a long day, but everything went as well as could be expected. It was a good day!

I have two pictures so here are two soundtrack songs. First, for the butterflies and bees doing the river dance, I've got Michael Flatley, with Lord of the Dance: Riverdance. And for our fish dinner in the extras, which arrived home safe and sound due to my own actions, I've got Sheryl Crow, with Safe and Sound.