Twilight a la Carte

The week was spent in periods of lounging around the house and taking things easy. There's no fun in recovering from allergies. I did not go out for any sailing nor a day of Kendo practice. On the upside, I got to hang out with my dad all week helping to expand the deck in the yard to accommodate for another level. In all, my voice is a tad nasal sounding but I'm generally feeling energized.

I went through the paces of a light workout and afterwards met up with Stephanie for dinner at the Ocean Grill. Having never been there before I felt the place a bit upscale but given its location on the Capitol Square the propensity for such restaurants justified the experience. Our dining scene opened with a mini oyster bar sampling from opposite coastlines and a bottle of wine that I chose by name. Not intending to fool anyone my wine choice was based merely on its namesake and not complementary by any means. Dinner was simply superb since this time there was no chance of missing out on the fine selection of Surf and Turf. Somehow we find room for a divine dessert to cap the dinner.

After dinner Steph suggests swinging by the Crave Lounge on nearby State Street. This bar was an excellent place to lounge around, chat and enjoy the wide selection of martini's. Upon a surprise encounter our server turned out to be the newly appointed HSC Vice-Commodore Michelle who was one of my first instructors in the club. We had a few drinks here but chose not stay long. The night was going great and we dare not content ourselves to just sit around drinking it all away.

A short drive down the road took us to Steph's place to pick up a few blankets, her brother Justin, some drinks and each of us a pair of jeans, though my pair were not my own. The idea was to get outside some place to view what was left of the lingering Perseid Meteor Shower. On the way toward the UW Hospital a bit of confusion curtailed the shortened drive and derailed my driving onto the sidewalk. As you might imagine, this was rather an ugly scene and I did my best to get out of the predicament.

With no easy path in front of us I parked the car in the lot at the Kronshage lake shore dorms. What lay ahead was a mile-long trek to Picnic Point. En route I find a large red cart used by dorm dwellers for moving bins and larger items. My first inclination was to just dump the blankets and push the cart toward our destination. However, sudden drunken moments entered my mine and I pick up my equally drunken companion Stephanie and load her in the cart as well. In the spirit of my blog the true way to describe this odd night, the pushing of the cart and her passenger is to say that it was faithfully Powered by Fei.

The headway I made in pushing the cart through the stillness of the lake shore path came with a bantam of efforts. The noise of the cart, as I am now quite sure, must have disturbed all sorts of creatures that wandered through the night. At the gates which guard the entrance to the park I lead us in the wrong direction and only with the help of Justin, we push the cart through a stretch of half-foot thick grass until finally reaching a rocky road which led into the pitch-dark forest. I was aware of a sandy beach area ahead on the tip of Picnic Point and it would make due as a good clearing for star gazing.

While still pushing the cart on the dirt path a light came whizzing by. It was a biker and he had called out to us to step aside as a faint music played from his perched ride. As it was completely dark I could not make out any of his facial features. Only a short while later did we find out that it was James riding out to meet us. On the beach I put out the blankets and we dump Steph out of the cart. Now there was four of us and we lay there on the ground with our eyes looking up to the heavens.

Though the sky was sparingly cloudy, a slow moving wind tore rifts in the upper atmosphere and exposed a star-lit sky. I saw a few shooting stars with one that had flared up in the distance, a roaring fireball tearing the darkness of night. There wasn't much thought involved as our small isolation from the world gave way to a twilight skinny dip in the warm lake. Dear God, foolish beings were we to brave our souls to such profoundness.

Somewhere between the late night swim, the summer interstellar activity and James Kramer's naked dancing silhouette, the four of us layered the blankets in a way to warm our bodies from the succeeding cold. Before shutting my eyes I take a moment to capture it all in. There was no pretense to burden expectations. There was no worry in which the outside world could judge us. The feeling was most like being lost in the twilight in the company of endearing friends. That's it! In no effort to think about the trivial we lose ourselves to the night.

Fei-O-Meter
Activity: 3 | Energy: 3 | Friends: 3