This has been a good summer. Not like 2009, where it rained, downpoured, misted, and rained again every weekend. This has been a hot summer, one peppered with enough scorchers to make you appreciate lazy 85-degree Sundays and not feel too disappointed when a thunderstorm hovers over your home for an hour or so.
Since it has been so nice we have been spending a lot of time outside. Last year's spring/summer ritual was to head over to the park most dry evenings; this year the park has gone largely ignored in favor of Andres' new best friends Sean and Jasmine. I wrote about their budding relationship earlier in the summer, and since then things have really taken off. Andres wants to hang out with Sean morning, noon, and night (the feeling seems to be mutual as well, as Sean has been over to visit Andres before 8 am on non-weekend days), and on occasions where Jasmine is home as well, it's like the circus has come to town. He's in heaven.
Last Sunday (the day before I caught The Grip) was one of those hot, lazy, meandering summer days that you miss so desperately in February. Natalia and I each had minimal plans--she was heading to Zumba in the morning, and I was going to tutor in the early afternoon--and our greatest concern was planning dinner. I picked up some chicken, marinated it and threw it in the fridge, and was planning to grill it later on. Problem solved, back to enjoying the weather. It was a lovely day.
The Gang had reunited for this afternoon--Sean, Jasmine, and Andres were all hanging out together among the houses where they each resided. And I really do mean "among": one moment they were all riding bikes along the sidewalk, then they appeared in our living room to use Andres' new kitchen set, then they were in Sean's house playing trucks, and finally in Jasmine's backyard causing mayhem. They flowed through the houses, screen doors swinging shut behind the last one to leave (usually my son), searching for new adventures only shortly after having arrived.
(This "playing across the neighborhood" behavior reminded me of John Cheever's story "The Swimmer," where the protagonist decides to swim across the county via backyard pools. I read this story waaaaaay back in middle/high? school and, until the other day, had probably only thought of it once or twice.)
At some point The Gang flowed back to Jasmine's house, and soon after that we were all (me, Natalia, and Irvin...Brenda was on a birthday trip in a city of some repute out West) invited over for a BBQ dinner. Luckily I had prepped the chicken already, so I brought that over as our contribution, and soon Will (Jasmine's dad) was grilling up a feast while everyone else relaxed and played in the back yard.
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| Jasmine tells Celia where to look. |
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| Sean and Andres playing a fun game of "throw the ball and fall down" |
We all ate very well--even my picky son, who managed to down almost a whole hamburger! Celia, as usual, had no difficulty finishing 110% of her meal (yogurt, cereal, veggies, cheerios, and cheese). Then it was back to playing, making smores, and hanging out some more.
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| Celia decides that she is still hungry and tries to eat Jasmine's mama |
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| Smores! |
Eventually the clock turned towards 7 and we headed home for baths and PJs, everyone happy and fed well. Another weekend in the books; more warm memories to savor as the breeze blows Autumn towards us.
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Thems are some cute kids!!! Great photos, Burt, congrats on launching your blog!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely summer world you and yours inhabit. Thanks, Burt, for posting these idyllic little gems that tell so vividly about the wonders of your life.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of "playing across the neighbourhood," which is very much a part of my childhood, although when I was a little older than Andres since we lived in the country when I was younger. I like the high-falutin' Cheever reference, too; have you seen the movie of that story? It's with Burt Lancaster.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen the movie! The story was pretty good but didn't seem to have enough meat to support a Hollywood treatment. (Or maybe that's the point...)
ReplyDeleteThe playing-through-houses thing is pretty new, really only happening the past month or so. It's so much fun though. Since we are not blessed with much land or a big home, we are blessed with close neighbors--which allows this sort of "child river" to happen. This evening Andres was over Sean's house for an hour...he even ate dinner there and then cleaned up all of the toys he was playing with! I had a hard time recognizing this child. :)
Actually, it just occurred to me that when I was Andres's age I had exactly that experience of playing-through-the-houses (we moved a lot when I was growing up so I lose track): we lived in the second-last house of a row and all of the families seemed to have children of similar ages so my parents basically just assumed we were somewhere along the row, and random other children would show up in our garden... I still remember most of the children's names 30 years later!
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