First of all, I'm glad I got the tooth fairy pillow repaired, because it was needed last night.
It rained yesterday and during the night, so with my windows open, it was nice and cool. So refreshing after an almost warm day. I found the light on the balcony and sat out there and knitted and listened to House of Mirth by Edith Wharton until around 10:00. Children were all asleep, and so many dogs were being taken for their bedtime walk. I'm familiar with a lot of them, but there is a new yappy dog that moved in close by, and it has the craziest bark. It's a little fuzzy white dog with a high-pitched bark, but at the end of every bark, she/he gives a little anemic scream. I'm afraid there's a problem, or maybe it's just old, but it's one that I don't like to hear.
Our crazy cats just sit out there with me and pretend to be scared of all the dogs and the occasional car that drives by, but they're not really. They just want to be with us.
I sewed the last triangle on the second quilt this morning, so I've officially pieced both twin-sized quilts. Now to measure and get those borders on. I think I have them already cut out. It's been so long I can't remember.
I went by the grocery store for a few items I'd forgotten and picked up some snacks for the girls, because today was the day they chose to go get a Slushie.
It's funny how just one time of getting that drink made such an impression that now it's a "tradition." We make sure we have our masks on and wave at ourselves on the mirror as we go in. Katherine especially loves that and can't stop staring at us. Now we know where to go and just how to pull down the lever to fill up the cup. Today it was mango favor, and I like the idea of that better than that blue stuff they got last week. They're so sweet and polite and thank the nice clerk and wave good-bye to him.
We had walked by the garden, and it's so lush and green. Most of them are. We saw beans and corn and sunflowers and lots and lots of tomatoes. I hear they don't grow well with the short growing season, so I'll be watching them.
I sat on the porch and waited for the girls to finish cleaning their rooms. Emily said they were up in their window watching me swing. I love this peaceful spot.
They started out with a sweater and jacket and me a flannel shirt, but we all were down to a T-shirt before we got home. We wore our masks faithfully except when we were drinking or eating.
I can't believe how big this baby is.
We walked over to a little park that we call the Water Park because it used to have water coming out of a hole in the big rock - but no longer. We don't know what happened, but it's still a fun place to play.
I get away with Mimi treats and had bought them little packets of Nutella and pretzels along with some mini orange cupcakes, and they were so thrilled over it all, even though they didn't really eat much of it. It's just the idea of having treats or maybe it was those mango slushies that they drank on the way. They got a Happy Dance of Approval anyway.
Graysen was happy to find this roly-poly (she thought) and let him run around on her hands a long time. Katherine said, "I don't like to see his eyes" and refused to hold him. Then Graysen tried making it roll up and it refused, so she thought maybe it was a different kind of bug and threw it away and screamed.
They then played house in the little clearing, claiming all their rooms and beds and fireplaces, etc., and I just sat there and thought about what a beautiful day it was and how happy I was. The day couldn't have been any more perfect.
And then this happened. Graysen fell out of a tree. They were behind me, and the tree was pretty small. I had told them not to go on the smaller limbs because the limbs might break, but somehow she just fell and probably handed on a branch before she hit the ground. I was afraid she was going to have a big bruise, but when we got home, you could hardly see any redness. I made sure she could move her arm and shoulder and told her again the story of her mother falling out of a tree and breaking her nose when she was 6.
So we moved on. We had been gone an hour-and-a-half by then and had 30 more minutes, but I thought we would never make it home. The school looked lonely, so they needed to go up and look for "crystals" in the school yard and pick bunches of flowers (weeds) for Mama. Then we saw Ellie and her dad and little brother and had to stop and talk to them.
It was soooo hard to get them to walk and follow me home, and I was feeling like I had been out a couple of hours. They stopped to examine everything, which I love, but so many stops! We did get to stop and watch two middle-school-age boys bully another one, and we stared and judged while the boys made the third one cry. We may as well have been invisible. Little brats! The girls were very impressed and sad and hopefully got a little free lesson on being kind.
Just pretty things they wanted to take pictures of.
When we got home, I talked to Emily briefly about the latest news on school openings - probably going for remote learning this fall. We really wanted them to get back to school and all the experiences, but this would take most of the worry away. We won't know until August 12th, I think. Emily and a couple of other mothers are looking at "buying a teacher" to work with a small group several days a week. I'm not sure how that would work, and it makes me sad to think of how hard that's going to be on most everybody. I hope I'll be able to help in some way.
It was nice to get home and have a glass of tea and catch up with the day's news, the majority of which I can't stomach and just tune out before I get angry.
Just breathe slowly, be thankful for what we have, and pray for some good changes soon.
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