First Sick Day

When I picked Afton up on the second day of school, he didn't have that spark of energy he had had the day before. Once home he went right to the couch and snuggled up in a blanket. When I asked him what was wrong he said his throat was sore and he felt very tired. I pulled out the thermometer and this is what it said... 

Only the third day of school and I already had to call in a sick day. Ah, the petri-dish we call school.

Wheeeeee!

Pretty sure every kid needs to slide down a mega slip-n-slide.

Tin Toes

Rowan had been feeling yucky for a few days due to teething. Her canines really have been giving her a lot of discomfort and swelling. BUT she did break out her smile when got her pretty shoes on!

Arizona: Mt. Graham

Next stop, Mt. Graham! I can't count how many times I've made this drive. There's something about this straight road, like an arrow, that signals the change that is about happen. Leaving the hot, dusty, brown desert behind and making way to the cool, stream covered (more so when I was younger), green of the Coronado National Forest. 

We stayed at our good friends family cabin. I have many wonderful childhood memories here hiking, playing games, reading books, and sleeping on the loft.

Words can't express how much I enjoyed spending time with my family. We ate delicious food, played lots of games (Afton became a pro at Pick up Sticks), went on a little hike, had conversations packed with laughter, swung on rope swings (with a couple of missed trapezing maneuvers and tree mishaps), and just enjoyed being together. 

I threw this picture in from my Grandma's house because I love the way the sky looks. We stopped by after our sleepover on Mt. Graham. You can't see it in this picture, but she has a fabulous view of the mountain.

Arizona: The Jump

Our trip to Arizona included a trip the Pima public pool. I frequented this public pool as a kid, and it looks exactly the same! Scott, Adyson, Afton, Rowan, and I had so much fun splashing and giggling. It was a welcome relief from that Arizona summer sun.

Afton had been saying he wanted to jump off a diving board, so this pool was perfect. He really wanted to go on the high dive first but I suggested that he try out the low one first. He was so excited, and very patient waiting in line. And loved taking the plunge.

He loved it so much that he went right to the high dive next. I was certain that he would climb up, look at how high he was and then climb down. I don't think I even expected him to walk out onto the board. It wasn't that I didn't think he could do it, I just didn't think he was ready.

My heart was racing as he walked out to the edge and looked down at me, at the water. I pointed to the area he should jump to, the ladder he needed to swim to, and then I cheered him on. My heart beating out of my chest. There was a group of people watching, wide-eyed and curious as to whether or not this little five-year-old boy would have the nerve to jump.

AND HE DID!

After he jumped I was hanging out with Rowan in the kiddie pool and I overheard a girl, probably around 7, exclaim to her mom, "Did you see that little boy jump of the high dive! He was so brave!"

I can't express how crazy proud I am of my brave boy.

And the most important part was that he was proud of himself.

The Weather in San Francisco by Richard Brautigan

 

It was a cloudy afternoon with an Italian butcher selling a pound of meat to a very old woman, but who knows what such an old woman could possibly use a pound of meat for?

She was too old for that much meat. Perhaps she used it for a bee hive and she had five hundred golden bees at home waiting for the meat, their bodies stuffed with honey.

“What kind of meat would you like today?” the butcher said, “We have some good hamburger. It’s lean.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Hamburger is something else.”

“Yeah, it’s lean. I ground it myself. I put a lot of lean meat in it.”

“Hamburger doesn’t sound right,” she said.

“Yeah,” the butcher said. “It’s a good day for hamburger. Look outside. It’s cloudy. Some of those clouds have rain in them. I’d get the hamburger,” he said.

“No,” she said. “I don’t want hamburger, and I don’t think it’s going to rain. I think the sun is going to come out, and it will be a beautiful day, and I want a pound of liver.”

The butcher was stunned. He did not like to sell liver to old ladies. There was something about it that made him very nervous. He didn’t want to talk to her any more.

He reluctantly sliced a pound of liver off a huge red chunk and wrapped it up in white paper and put it into a brown bag. It was a very unpleasant experience for him.

He took her money, gave her the change, and went back to the poultry section to try and get a hold of his nerves.

By using her bones like the sails of a ship, the old woman passed outside into the street. She carried the liver as if it were a victory to the bottom of a very steep hill.

She climbed the hill and being very old, it was hard on her. She grew tired and had to stop and rest many times before she reached the top.

At the top of the hill was the old woman’s house: a tall San Francisco house with bay windows that reflected a cloudy day.

She opened her purse which was like a small autumn field and near the fallen branches of an old apple tree, she found her keys.

Then she opened the door. It was a dear and trusted friend. She nodded at the door and went into the house and walked down a long hall into a room that was filled with bees.

There were bees everywhere in the room. Bees on the chairs. Bees on the photograph of her dead parents. Bees on the curtains. Bees on an ancient radio that once listened to the 1930s. Bees on her comb and brush.

The bees came to her and gathered about her lovingly while she unwrapped the liver and placed it upon a cloudy sliver platter that soon changed into a sunny day.