I hauled Delia and our neighbor kid Xander out on a long walk this evening. We walked to Marilla

Park, through the lower Brockway neighborhood. There aren't many sidewalks, and Xander was riding his Razor Scooter on ahead and it was annoying me (I am trying to cut back on cigarettes and I have PMS, that was helping me to be annoyed). I decided before we even got to the park that we'd take the Rail Trail back because it's way safer than a kid on a scooter on a street with no sidewalks! So we stopped at the playground for a while, and I took some pictures of Delia, before she bade me put the camera away as I was SO Embarassing.

I hate taking my kid to the playground, because I hate being around strangers. There is some kind of social expectation hanging over me (of my own manufacture?), that I be friendly and talk to the other parents. I try, but I fail, every time. I hate the anonymous small talk and I hate not having something constructive to do and I hate feeling like I should be policing my child's behavior - or worse, protecting her from other children's behaviors. I was chiding Delia on the way home for being so negative and chanting "I Hate This Walking" over and over, but here I am with the same mantra. Must just have been that kind of day. We survived it, at any rate, and hopefully I'll be able to convince her to walk with me more often and we can build up her endurance.

We went to Tygart Lake yesterday to go swimming, only to find that they've closed their swimming area! We walked the Lake Trail and considered getting wet there but decided against it (there was a lot of trash, "and Bugs" Delia said). She looked for salamanders but we couldn't find any. She did see a pretty big frog, but it wasn't enough to convince her that hiking was fun. "It just isn't my thing, Mom, sorry." she told me.