matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

the boy

Family

4

Aunt D is a national treasure. She is at least a treasure to everyone who knows her. Selfless and kind, she's helped the family more than anyone I know. When her own mother-in-law was ill, she took care of her for several years. When Nana was ill, she came and spent alternate weeks taking care of Nana.

For years she hosted the family Thanksgiving gathering, cooking for the whole family. Of course, everyone brought something, but she cooked enough herself to feed everyone.

She's generous almost to a fault.

She's always buying things for people: she sees something that she thinks someone would like, she buys it and gives it to them.

Now she's taking care of her own husband, Uncle M. He's facing his own health challenges, and he's stubborn: that would be more than a challenge for most, but Aunt D is sly and caring.

Photo by the Boy

That's a combination to be reckoned with.

Photo by the Boy

She always refers to the Girl and the Boy as "my babies."

"How are my babies doing?" she'll ask when we talk on the phone.

"Where are my babies?" she asks when she arrives at our house for a visit.

Photo by the Boy

She's the kind of aunt everyone should be fortunate enough to have.

Monopoly

5

Some of E's friends came over for the day. They ended up playing Monopoly -- at last, someone to feed the Boy's addiction. I always feel a little guilty not being willing to play that game with him, but I swear we're all so sick of it that we'll be happy if we never play it again. All except for the Boy.

Dice

12

For whatever reason, the Boy has become interested in dice -- as in, the game. As in the gambling game. I'm not sure where this came from. He just came back from a trip to Target with K (or some other store) with a pack of six dice.

He learned how to play by watching a video after he bought the dice.

"How do you even play?" he'd asked.

"I've no idea," I admitted.

So he's learned and been playing betting with Monopoly money.

It's been entertaining watching him celebrate when he wins and get playfully frustrated when he loses. We're glad to see he's not really taking it too seriously -- that might be problematic for all kinds of reasons.

Today, I picked up where K left off in their game and promptly lost all my stash of $500 bills I'd inherited from K. "It's not real betting: why not just go crazy?" I thought.

And then I promptly won them all back. And then all his $100s. And his $50s. And his $20s. In short, all his money. His response: "Well, happy Father's Day!" with a smile.

The Boys in the Creek

E's best friend came over for the afternoon today. At first, they did what boys these days do: play video games. However, we have no gaming console in our house at all. No Xbox, no Play Station, no Nintendo Switch. In fact, I only know those things exist because I hear students and teachers talking about them at school. And of course, E brings them up occasionally.

And it's a little surprising, to be honest, how many adults with no children or with grown children still invest time and money into gaming systems. To each his own, I suppose, but I always thought there was a time when people outgrew video games.

Not having a gaming system has several advantages, not the least of which is the simple fact that since we don't buy games for our PC either, E's gaming options are severely curtailed. Which means he and his friend grow tired of them eventually and head outside to find other things to do.

Like catching minnows in the creek behind our house.

As for the Girl today, she was out of the house for most of the day: physical therapy, volleyball strength training, and driving instruction took almost all her day.

Berries and Corn

First, there's this -- always this. We're closing in on the two-weeks-to-go mark.

Messing and Swimming

Oh, and this

End of the 2021/22 School Year — Countdown Begins

Today was the final day of school for me. The kids didn't have school, but teachers have to go in for at least one more day to get things squared away for the summer: materials returned, documents completed, papers signed, report cards mailed. During my first year at Hughes, I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we had to do. Since then, teachers' "To Do" list has been drastically simplified. One whole task, which often took hours, has been assigned to others. I use the passive voice there because, quite honestly, I don't know who made that change, but I am grateful nonetheless.

Getting this last day out of the way is such a relief because I reach a point where I can finally stop thinking about school for a while -- I'm not even planning on doing any prep work this summer. For one thing, I have too much to do this summer:

  • Trim the Leyland cypresses (a two-day job in and of itself)
  • Clean the outside of the house
  • Pressure-wash the deck
  • Apply ample coats of water-proofing to the deck
  • Pressure-wash the concrete portion of the drive
  • Complete the furniture assembly for the remodeled basement

Then there's all the travel:

  • L's final tournament in Orlando
  • L's job
  • L's physical therapy
  • L's volleyball conditioning
  • L's individual volleyball lessons
  • E's play dates

Still, this is a fairly short list for the summer, but this is all in the next three weeks, for in just 23 days, we'll be heading to Poland as a family of four for the first time since 2017. Five years. Five years. It's the longest period of time I've not visited Poland since I first went in 1996. K and E went last summer; L went on her own in the summer of 2019. (Or was it 2018?) But it's been five long years since we all went.

That means L was E's age the last time we were there. And L has gone from being a pre-teen to an almost-licensed (driver-permitted?) employed teen with all that entails.

L on the day we arrived in 2017

The Boy has one from a little five-year-old thrilled with everything new to an increasingly cynical (but still fascinated by many things) ten-year-old.

The Boy on the day we arrived in 2017

We'll probably take the same walk we always do on the day we arrive, and we'll definitely enjoy Babcia's rosół the day we arrive, but everything will be just a little different. And that's probably good.

More Yard Work

Today we headed out for a bit more yardwork. One portion of our fence had become so overgrown with weeds and vines that it was basically invisible.

In the process of clearing everything away, we found the wreath of artificial flowers L created a couple of years ago when we made our bamboo fortress. It was an unexpected flash of bright color in an overwhelmingly monochromatic (green being the color) morning.

Once we were done, we were shocked at the difference. We'd really let things get out of hand.

Once the girls were back, E was eager to spend some time with K. Boys' weekends are fun, but the reunion afterward is better. Especially when it involves building a couch fort.

A Bit of Our Day

Last Couple of Days