Marc causing waves at the pool.

Saturday we got organised to go to the pool and I also wanted to watch the US Formula grand prix qualifying so with that in mind we went early to get lunch to bring with us to the pool and be there first so that we could bag one of the umbrella's. We got there in good time and waited a few minutes until we were allowed to enter as the pool opened. We got all set up and I had a dip in the water. During this time a mother and kid came and sat really close to us, almost right on top of us and there was plenty of green area all around to sit in. In any case I went back to watch the qualifying and left Jill and Marc at the pool. When I returned about ninety minutes later Jill had filled me in about this person who was parked right beside us. Apparently Marc was being a little hyper and was walking around and being a bit loud making some noises that he makes. Obviously this had been and was getting on her nerves. Her kid was the obvious type that was seemingly a little spoiled and Jill had told me about his attitude in dealing wioth other kids around him...laying his towel on the pathway and in front of the common walkway of all pool users...and in an obvious attempt to get some sleep exclaiming loudly that it was "so hard for anyone to get some sleep around here".

When I had come back Marc was in the pool a little later and he was making some noises and this kid was impersonating those noises in an altogether not nice way. The first time I let it go and even the second time, but on the third time in the space of 15-20 seconds, this kid Kayden copied Marc again and while the mother did say each time that what the kid was saying was "not nice" and told him to stop. On the third occasion I chimed in sitting less than 3 feet away "hey little boy! thats my son over there". The mother in apparent shock that I would say this opened her eyes from laying down in the sun and said "he doesnt understand". I replied "well talk to your kid them". Kayden seemed obviously shocked that someone would intervene to check his attitude. About 5 minutes later the mother said to the kid that they would get ready to go home.

Later that day Jill was swimming and and a little girl remarked to her that she was thankful that Marc was so nice to her and that she liked him very much. For all the time that people in public dont understand Autism and his disability it is very pleasant to come across those people who are tolerant and understanding that people with disabilities can integrate with society and allow them to blend with others. Of course Marc has his quirks but he has the most happy demeanour and always has a smile on his face. It is always nice when he can have a meeting with a peer of his own age and they accept him for being just another kid.

Sunday 3rd of June, its back to Camelbeach.

Those of you who have been reading for several months will know that last August we went for the first time to Camelbeach in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. Last August we picked the perfect day as it started out cloudy and threatened showers and thunderstorms which must have discouraged many many people and as it turned out it got brighter and sunnier as the day went on and the crowd was at a very low level.
This time around it was under similar conditions, cloudy and gloomy lookin, however the big difference was that this day did not get better. There had been a big storm down in Georgia and Florida and the forecast was for the aftermath of it to come over us. It was so bad that just as we entered it seemed very likely that it would rain. I was not optimistic but when I make a plan and (try to) consider all elements involved I usually go through with it and hope for the best. This was one of those days. So without further ado we got ready and started to go on the water-rides. First was the wave pool something Marc liked last year. This year as in most years he needs to become acclimatised to things again and remember that it is actually fun. The truth is with Marc you really never do know how he is going to take to things again. He did enjoy the wave pool again as he had done last August but it took him a while to get to that point again. Jack and I went on some of the other tube rides and tried all of them. Towards the end of the day we took the ski-lift to the top of the mountain. This is a surreal experience as it moves slow and quite quickly you leave the noisy water rides in your path and trade it for the serenity of the trees and the hill and some wildlife such as deer and turkeys. We got to the top after about 10 minutes and as advertised we went to get a malt shake in the malt house. It was still cloudy and murkey but from 11am till 3pm we had survived any bad weather so far. We went back down the hill via the ski-lift and the noisy water rides came back into our earshot.
We met up with Jill and Marc again and spent soem time with them in the pool and wave pool and then Jack and I did the Triple Venom ride again. Last August this thing messed me up and this time around it was the same again as I emerged with a serious headache as I was moving really fast on the slide down a steep decline. Finally the weather did close in and about 4.30pm we packed up in the rain and went home. It had been a long and busy weekend withe the yard sale and the waterpark too.

Saturday, the first leg in a busy weekend.

Our neighbours planned to have a yard sale on Saturday and some weeks before Jill and I agreed to set up our own stall alongside theirs. The date was set at June 2nd and we had earmarked a lot of items for sale. For those who are notfamiliar with the concept of the yard sale, it is where people set up to sell personal belongings at a vastly reduced price and people come to buy it from you.
We had prepared in the days leading up to the event with signs posted in the area to attract those who go yard saling. So when we woke up around 6am as is usual for the whole work week we immediately got to work. I got up and set out all of the signs and Jill got ready loading all of our gear for sale. I had to drive the large display table down to our neighbours about a 3 minute walk away, as it was quite heavy. So we set up all of our fare and waited for people to come. It was slow at first and we wondered if we would sell anything at all. I set out with $20 dollars as the goal at which I would be happy with. By the way all of the proceeds for this sale were going to our planned trip to Disney later this year. More on that later in the year. Things started off really slow and our first sale was a Jill item one of our small trolls for 10 cents. People would come in groups and then there would be periods when it was really quiet. All of this time the morning was getting really hot and later I would find out that I had gotten close to getting sunburned and had a red colour. Our neighbours are planning to move to Florida to look after their ageing parents and have two 20-something sons and a lot of their stuff which had accumulated through their childhood was on sale. They must have done really well and their sheer volume was far greater than ours. It still proved that we did very well and as we creeped closer to our stated goal and with each sale we got to the mark I had set and went beyond it. Our final tally was at $26 dollars and that will go into the "Disney" fund.
Jill had hosted a sale many years ago but did not make any kind of money and it was largely due to the size of the combined yard sale that benefitted us as there was lots of items for any regular person to be interested in stopping and browsing through. We had started our day at 6am and decided to stop around 2pm, the day was very hot and we spent the afternoon at the pool as right now it is only open at the weekends until school closes for the summer. The day was busy with the yard sale and relaxing at the pool as the water is still cool, but very refreshing. Saturday was the first day in our busy weekend.

Life goes on...but nothing changes...apparently.

After the tragic events of Sunday and the (latest) fatal accident on I-78, it appeared to me that people should take their speed into account and become responsible for their own actions. If everybody just slowed down a bit then many accidents could be avoided. Whilst last Sundays accident was as a result of a driver falling asleep, it nevertheless bears to say that speed does kill.
It is therefore very troubling to see still that many people speed well above the set speed limit of around 65 mph and in construction zones 50 mph as if they are competing in a grand prix race. People who wont take a few extra minutes in the morning or have the patience to drive the legal speed limit. Why speed in the first place? To get to your destination a few minutes earlier? How did peoples lives get so hectic that they have to speed above the limit and seem to rush everywhere. People seem to accept that accidents will happen and everybody thinks that it wont happen to them, however if everyone took the same measures in slowing down even 5mph a lot of lives could be saved. Whilst driving people seem to feel that they are untouchable and safe. Life goes on...but nothing changes.

Major accident on the highway I travel.

Yesterday there was a major accident on the highway I travel every morning and evening for 5 days a week and the occasional time that we go to a flea market Jill likes to go to. There has been now for the best part of a week roadworks which has been ongoing and has caused traffic to slow down to a crawl for many miles back. As you can read here :-

I-78 Tragedy

. For approximately 12 minutes each morning and evening I run the gauntlet of speeding cars and large trucks navigating this stretch of the highway which varies from going up hills slowly and going down the other side fast so there is always a kind of stop-start feel to the drive. In other parts of the country trucks are by law required to stay in one lane and not be forced to try to overtake each other. All of these factors come into play in the part of the highway but yesterday the accident came about as the driver had fallen asleep and ploughed into about 5 cars ahead of him. Those cars had come to a stop as a result of the road works and had essentially no way of escaping what was to happen.