Summer means
The floor is dirty. Walk barefoot from the door to the table and examine the bottom of your foot. You will find at the very least all of the following: a leaf, a blade of grass, a dry mud clod, a bb, and water balloon shrapnel. Because it takes longer to vacuum than it does for the redirtying process, that would just be an utter waste of time. There's crap on the floor. Deal with it.
Regulated screens. Oh thank goodness. The older the boys get and the more indulgences that become available, the more I resent technology. Sure, it has its perks. My employment, for one. But what it does to the minds and attitudes of my children, Lord have mercy. There is a place in me that positively aches over the innocence and creativity and active childhood life they will never know. At least summer offers a glimpse of it.
Pipe dreams aplenty. The start of summer is a lot like New Year's. We make this long mental list of everything we're going to do, both work and entertainment-wise, before school starts again. Entertainment is usually stuff like fireworks, boat ride, water park, batting cage. Work tends more toward purging the hoard zones, fixing everything that broke since last summer, getting the house and grounds in immaculate shape so come fall we have nothing at all to do. We never can quite finish that list. This season more than any other vanishes with the wind.
Sticking it to former school nights. Our fall and winter adventures are reserved for Fridays. But with no reason for, well, at least three of us to wake up early on any given morning, we love finding ways to sneak in a little fun wherever, however. And you never really know what's going to happen, kind of like last night's putt putt outing where I guess we crashed senior night. Never seen so many, er, retired people with a putter in one hand and a, um, refreshment in the other. Good times.
Veggies, and lots of them. Soup is no longer in rotation because it's just hot everywhere, but a plate full of homegrown veggies are on the menu all summer long. In my fifteen years of on-the-job training, the cooking has improved. Making my go-to meal of mashed potatoes, green beans, tomato slices, and homemade biscuits is like an elaborate dance that ends with an explosion of deliciousness on the tongue. You may think I'm tooting my own horn, but it's actually pretty shameful to admit that it took a decade and a half to get this meal right.
Outdoor TLC. Well, somewhat. My sturdy, yellow-handled hoe stands at the ready on the deck by design. Because it's highly likely that I'll be standing stress-paralyzed in the post-dinner kitchen, pots crusty with potato starch and ketchupy plates stacked high, and decide I'd so much rather be in the garden. It's not denial or running from responsibilities. Just simple chore exchange.
Cake. Three of us have summer birthdays about a month apart, and today just happens to be Aden's birthday. Yep, that post will be late. But because the boys end up with two parties each all on separate weekends, the chocolate chocolate cake is basically just on tap. I myself do not want the chocolate cake. Key lime pie, I prefer. And moose tracks ice cream. But definitely not in the same sitting.
Lush, full, scenic beauty. The leaves and grass are healthy, deep green. The mountains in the distance purple through the sometimes-sticky air. The orange daylilies waving at heaven. The brilliant sunset sky that catches your breath every time. And oh, y'all, the hay. It went everywhere. A rainy spring has multiplied the bales and I have to remind myself not to do the happy girl clap while driving down the road next to a hayfield because clapping and driving don't mix. But oh the joy.
It's good stuff. Praise, praise the Lord.
Regulated screens. Oh thank goodness. The older the boys get and the more indulgences that become available, the more I resent technology. Sure, it has its perks. My employment, for one. But what it does to the minds and attitudes of my children, Lord have mercy. There is a place in me that positively aches over the innocence and creativity and active childhood life they will never know. At least summer offers a glimpse of it.
Pipe dreams aplenty. The start of summer is a lot like New Year's. We make this long mental list of everything we're going to do, both work and entertainment-wise, before school starts again. Entertainment is usually stuff like fireworks, boat ride, water park, batting cage. Work tends more toward purging the hoard zones, fixing everything that broke since last summer, getting the house and grounds in immaculate shape so come fall we have nothing at all to do. We never can quite finish that list. This season more than any other vanishes with the wind.
Sticking it to former school nights. Our fall and winter adventures are reserved for Fridays. But with no reason for, well, at least three of us to wake up early on any given morning, we love finding ways to sneak in a little fun wherever, however. And you never really know what's going to happen, kind of like last night's putt putt outing where I guess we crashed senior night. Never seen so many, er, retired people with a putter in one hand and a, um, refreshment in the other. Good times.
Veggies, and lots of them. Soup is no longer in rotation because it's just hot everywhere, but a plate full of homegrown veggies are on the menu all summer long. In my fifteen years of on-the-job training, the cooking has improved. Making my go-to meal of mashed potatoes, green beans, tomato slices, and homemade biscuits is like an elaborate dance that ends with an explosion of deliciousness on the tongue. You may think I'm tooting my own horn, but it's actually pretty shameful to admit that it took a decade and a half to get this meal right.
Outdoor TLC. Well, somewhat. My sturdy, yellow-handled hoe stands at the ready on the deck by design. Because it's highly likely that I'll be standing stress-paralyzed in the post-dinner kitchen, pots crusty with potato starch and ketchupy plates stacked high, and decide I'd so much rather be in the garden. It's not denial or running from responsibilities. Just simple chore exchange.
Cake. Three of us have summer birthdays about a month apart, and today just happens to be Aden's birthday. Yep, that post will be late. But because the boys end up with two parties each all on separate weekends, the chocolate chocolate cake is basically just on tap. I myself do not want the chocolate cake. Key lime pie, I prefer. And moose tracks ice cream. But definitely not in the same sitting.
Lush, full, scenic beauty. The leaves and grass are healthy, deep green. The mountains in the distance purple through the sometimes-sticky air. The orange daylilies waving at heaven. The brilliant sunset sky that catches your breath every time. And oh, y'all, the hay. It went everywhere. A rainy spring has multiplied the bales and I have to remind myself not to do the happy girl clap while driving down the road next to a hayfield because clapping and driving don't mix. But oh the joy.
It's good stuff. Praise, praise the Lord.
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