The Regatta (subtitled: The Cold Day at the River)

We went to Columbus yesterday to watch Daughter #1 row in her first regatta. She's a club-level novice. I've marked her here with the arrow. Not knowing quite where to sit or station ourselves, we parked our chairs by the OSU tent and hunkered down, waiting for the boat to pass by. At the next regatta, we'll know to spend more time at the dock where the activity is.

I have no idea how many schools were represented at this series of races, but there were more long boats (they have a name which escapes me at the moment), and more rowers and oars and tents and trailers than I could keep track of. There was also more mud and muck than I could step over, given the weather in Ohio over the last few days.

While I'm glad there aren't more regattas to attend this fall, I'm excited that there are more to attend next spring. It's a fascinating sport, and it's satisfying to see #1 so enthusiastic about being a part of it. OH-IO.

Now about the subtitle. It was 40ish in degrees, and the wind was gusting at 35 to 40 mph, shooting leaves like bullets into unsuspecting faces. The clouds were thick and behaved like the antithesis of a thermal blanket--blocking out any rays from the sun and causing us to huddle like bunnies in a pile of coats and scarves and mittens. I started referring to them as Bastard Clouds, but daughter #2 scolded me for my vulgarity. They were bastards just the same.

The OSU tent offered burgers and cookies and the usual picnic stuff, which was nice, but still...it was cold, and that's all I can say. After about 30 seconds of pelting sleet, #2 and I left #1 and my husband and went to the mall, where we stayed warm until it was time to meet up with the rest of the family for dinner.

Here's one more picture of the Scioto River and the fall colors, which when the sun was allowed to peak through for brief moments, glowed like gold.