the boy

Volleyball Tuesday

Tuesday 22 September 2020 | 0 Comments

The girls had another game today. It was the same as previous games: complete slaughter. At one point, the girls were up in the first set something like 18-3. The coach, being an individual of character, always starts pulling out his big hitters when it's obvious where the game is going, but at the same time, he wants to give them court time. (Still, when the poor opponents can't even return an underhand serve after the coach pulled our best server while she was serving, what's the quality of play they get?)

This was a private school, the private school in the area. Eighth-grade tuition is $21,510. The team in Spartanburg we beat mercilessly was also from a private school, but its tuition was only something like $17k a year. For whatever reason, one would think they would have better teams. And they probably do: it turns out that in most of these private schools that also include a high school, the eighth graders get shuttled up to the high school JV or even varsity team, so our girls are playing sixth and seventh graders.

Today was only a scrimmage game, though. It doesn't count toward anyone's record. Still, if it was only a scrimmage, why couldn't we scrimmage with the JV or even varsity team?

Neighbors’ Signs and Our Swings

Monday 21 September 2020 | 0 Comments

We went for our typical walk this evening -- a route that wanders primarily through the neighborhood on the other side of the main-ish street off of which several neighborhoods spiral. As we walked by a house, a man came up to us saying that he'd been meaning to meet us several times he's seen us go by. It seems he's quite the border collie fan and has noticed our cute pup as we walk by. We got to talking and talk turned to corona. He pointed to a sign in his yard -- not quite like the sign at right but the same general idea -- and said, "I guess it's obvious where I stand."

I glanced over at the sign in his neighbor's yard. I found myself wondering how they get along. I know for a fact that my views are more liberal than our neighbors' views, but I tend not to talk about politics with them. When the topic does come up, I might make a non-committal comment every now and then, but by and large, I keep my views to myself.

It's not that I think they'll be angered that I have different views than they hold. It's not that I fear damaging the relationship we have (though I wonder if they might not think less of me were they to know what I think of our president). I just don't see the point in adding politics into a relationship like that.

It reminds me of Frost's line, "Good fences make good neighbors," and while I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment, I would say good fences make great backyards. As do swings, hammocks, trampolines, dogs, and tennis balls.

A Walk and First Bonfire

Sunday 20 September 2020 | 0 Comments

In the afternoon, we took the dog to the dog park. It's not that we felt she needed the exercise; rather, we felt she needed some canine socialization. We couldn't go to our favorite park without a walk, though, so after the dog had had enough (or rather, we'd had enough), we headed out for a short jaunt.

We likely would have made a bit longer walk of it had our favorite park not recently banned pets and bikes from the unpaved areas. K emailed the park administration about it, and they explained that it was due to a number of complaints about off-leash dogs and crazed cyclists who put others at risk and damage the flora. But the thing is, K pointed out on our walk today, we rarely saw others on the off-road trails. There were a couple of more-popular trails that had more traffic, but by and large, we were the only ones we ever saw there.

There is a certain temptation to say, "Forget it -- we don't damage anything, and we wouldn't dream of letting Clover off-leash, so we're going to walk the trails anyway." But we follow rules even when we don't like them. (Insert political comment here.)

After the walk, we let the kids play on the playground a bit. The biggest kid got a kick out of trying to do the same tricks the middle kid did.

To top off the weekend, we had the first bonfire of the autumn 2020 season.

Saturday 19 September 2020 | 0 Comments

At the Swing

Wednesday 16 September 2020 | 0 Comments

For a few years there, you could count on pictures down at the swing and hammocks. It was such a regular occurrence that I pretty much stopped taking pictures down there. How many pictures of your kids swinging do you really need?

Today, we all went down to the swings for a while before dinner. I took some pictures, then gave the camera to the Boy.

He's got a good eye, that little fellow.

Tuesday Playing

Tuesday 15 September 2020 | 0 Comments

K and the Boy spent some time rolling around the neighborhood this evening after dinner. One of the countless things I love about K is her own love of childhood joys.

She was on E's scooter, having the time of her life it appeared.

Afterward, we played a bit of soccer.

The Girl was at volleyball practice, so we had to do something to entertain ourselves.

And of course, we had to have a little down time once it was all said and done.

Rainy Monday

Monday 14 September 2020 | 0 Comments

78802588996763,33.211974110032365 ↩
564322523881344,34.564322523881344,15.43567747611865,15.43567747611865 ↩

Morning Reading

Saturday 12 September 2020 | 0 Comments

Lake Tillery 2020

Monday 07 September 2020 | 0 Comments

The Doll

Wednesday 02 September 2020 | 0 Comments

I don't remember where the doll came from -- some aunt or other gave it to us, or maybe Nana. It's fairly lifelike in its size and features. Enough that when we first put the doll's box in E's closet (far back on the top shelf), he fussed quite about about how terrifying it was to think that such a thing was lurking inside his closet.

Today, K got the doll out to practice for a shoot she did for a friend who just had her first child.

As the Boy was cleaning up his room before bed, I noticed the box on his bed and went downstairs to retrieve the doll. I tried to sneak back in without him noticing because I feared a little breakdown when he realized the doll was going back into the closet.

"Oh, are you putting the doll up?" I heard behind me.

"Yeah. Mama was using it to practice pictures with today."

"Oh." Pause. "That doll -- I used to be so scared of it."