The Little Flag Boy and His Multicolored Balls

When my husband and I swam at Whipple Dam on the 10th of September, I was pretty sure it would be my last swim of the season. But we discovered early this week that the swimming area at Prince Gallitzin State Park would remain open for a few more days. So Friday found us packing up our gear and heading out for a day's adventures that would include a last swim at Prince Gallitzin.

The water was not really any chillier than it was a few weeks ago when we were there last, and it was definitely warmer than the water at Whipple, where we usually swim. We had the water to ourselves; nobody else came in. And so we had a long, leisurely swim, followed by a picnic at a little pavilion in the park.

We took some back roads home, and near a little town that might have been called something like Allemansville, I spotted this odd little display, and I begged my husband to stop the car so I could take a few pictures. It was a wire cage, inside which were exhibited yard ornaments of all kinds: a little boy with a flag, with a variety of gazing balls of all colors. Behind the boy stood a Madonna (of course), a few urns, stepping stones, a few critters (a bunny, an eagle), bird bath pedestals, and a decorative stone bearing the words, "In God's garden there are no weeds."

The soundtrack: Brooks & Dunn, Only In America.