The Labors of Labor Day

This App - to learn a language

A language partner of mine in China seemed befuddled that we celebrated Labor Day this past weekend. "We celebrate Labor Day in the spring. And that's International Labor Day, so why the US does it now?"

I had no response, but I like the idea that the US just does things differently. 

I also had to define "cookout" as compared to what he basically was describing as a picnic.
"We actually cook the meat - outside!" ...I never did send a picture of the grill. Mind you, our downstairs neighbors are Chinese, and they cookout a lot. Maybe it was just a new idea for this particular dude.

Our weekend was delightful. Everyone got along, everyone had fun, the only screaming was of the occasional "don't touch that - it's hot!" variety.

Siblings and their offspring/spouses arrived between Friday evening and Saturday night, and departures began that Saturday night, but there was a reasonable overlap. It was just fun. On Saturday, some adults went out to a local winery, did some tastings, bought some wine, listened to music. That evening we cooked out, and the cousins played basketball, soccer, and made up games (courtesy of the 6yo). 

It was so retro, I used a retro filter. This was my generation of cousins, decades back.

On Sunday, church, then pizza, some general chillaxing, and then after a few group pictures, most of us parted our separate ways. It was a good weekend, and the missing brother was hardly noticed. Or at least, I'm sure we each noticed but there was no cloud hanging over the day because he was gone.

On Monday, we got rid of a bunch of stuff - small things had been distributed earlier in the weekend - Monday was larger furniture - bookcase, desk, etc. which my eldest sister took with her.

 

I really thought the apartment would look more empty. I guess all the furniture that's left will either be sold, donated, or stored, but only the fewest, most important items will be stored.