fun in threes, sometimes fours
g
The Girl uses K's Instagram account as a work-around for our reluctance to let her have one of her own. It works out the same, but we have a little sense of added security. Today, she asked me to take some pictures for her Instagram feed.
I don't think I'll ever understand that obsession kids these days have with posting photographs of themselves...
I started the title for this and typed "Easter 2016." Not sure where that came from -- a typo or a slip of the memory. Easter in 2016 looked like this:
It was rainy, cold. The Easter egg hunt was amusing, to say the least. Still, there was continuity with every other Easter: the same friends were there, probably the same food was there, and I had drinks and cigars with one of the fellows in the carport.
This year, the carport is gone -- still in the midst of its transformation, it's really nothing. Not a carport; not a bedroom.
The same friends are in the area, but new family obligations made it impossible to have our traditional Easter party. We had a little egg hunt yesterday,
and had a little mini-pre-Easter party:
Things change, and sometimes so unexpectedly and suddenly that it's not until days, weeks, or even months have passed that the contours of that change, the depth of the the change, is clear. A moment lacking in lucidity, a trip to the hospital, and almost five months later, the magnitude of the change -- for everyone, for some more than others -- becomes clear.
Who knew how much things would change over this winter? Looking back, as we near the end of this first stage, it seems like it was only a couple of weeks ago when it all started; looking back, as the end of this first stage seems eternally out of our grasp, it seems like it was a couple of years ago.
Today, we went to the park. The depth of that change -- a walk in the park Easter afternoon compared to what Easter has always been for us -- is a metaphor for the change itself. Was it better than what we usually do? Not really. Was it worse? Not really. Just different.
The first day of spring break, and I spent the morning in the attic, putting additional insulation to compensate for the fact that the insulation we blew in eleven years ago has settled significantly: all the rafters, once hidden beneath several inches of insulation were once again visible.
This time, though, I decided simply to buy some R19 batts and hope for a little longer break than eleven years before I need to do it again. Part of this is due to the fact that to get to the attic above the upper part of the house, we have to take everything — absolutely everything — out of L’s closet. That in itself will be a task. Today, though, I just focused on the lower part of the house.
While all that went on, our regular construction guys worked on our new windows in the basement and the siding for the closed-in bedroom/bathroom we’re building for Nana and Papa.
Additionally, two other fellows came in to start putting up the drywall and eventually finish the bathroom.
During all of this, the kids took care of themselves. The Boy spent the day playing with neighborhood kids, an activity that included me at least once saying, “Where’s E?” and having to go look for him. He was right where I thought he would be, but we’ll to establish some new protocols with him now that his independence is steadily increasing.
The day started with Mass -- sort of. I went to Mass at our usual church in order to photograph the Palm Sunday liturgy, the procession and all that. It's a lovely liturgy, and to be honest, I just enjoy photographing the Mass more than simply sitting through it.
I was alone because the rest of the family was planning on going to Polish Mass in the afternoon. Palm Sunday is always a Polish Mass day, and there's always a potluck and small get-together afterward. There's always a contests for the best babka, a contest for the most beautifully-decorated palm, and some performance or another.
Then again, get more than a couple of Poles together and you'll end up having one of two things: speeches or songs. Or perhaps you'll have both.
When the call went out for anyone who wanted to perform, it didn't take too much asking to get the Girl up to sing. She sang a verse from "Stabat Mater" -- in Latin. From memory.
Back at home, we had some fun with Clover and bubbles.