She knows she’s not supposed to be there. I’d be a fool to expect her not to stay out as long as I’m not keeping watch. It’s the Garden of Eden in our own home.
the dog
After Dinner Play, Redux
When your kids ask if we can do the same thing after dinner as we did yesterday, and it involves laughter and the dog, of course, you say yes!
The Day After, Again
What is it about the day after Easter or Christmas that makes us want to do nothing? We do what we have to do, but it’s just off. And even if the day after is a day free from the obligations of work, it still feels off.
I’m not talking about hangovers — those are easily avoidable. Just don’t drink to excess. It’s undoubted the feeling of deflation, of everything coming down after building up for so long.
The party is over; the friends are gone; the spell is broken.
I want to say it’s because we don’t have anything to look forward to, but that’s not true. We look with anticipation and excitement at many things coming in our family’s near future: a camping trip, several tournaments, a summer trip to Poland.
Perhaps it’s the bustle of getting so much ready so quickly for a party, and then the sudden release of all that?
Or maybe it’s nothing…
Yesterday and Today
Another Conestee Walk
Another Conestee Walk
Our Neighbors (Sort Of)
Out for a walk with Clover, and I find myself wondering if that guy up the street -- a near-neighbor, I suppose, who lives about half-a-dozen houses up the street -- has finally taken down his Halloween decorations. He puts on such a show that he starts putting crap in his yard sometime in mid-September. Surely, I think, surely he's taken the last of the decorations down -- huge skeletons that have remained in his yard long after everything else disappeared.
But no -- no such luck.
"He can just put hearts in their hands and he'll have Valentine's decorations," K laughs when we're talking about it later in the evening. "And then an Easter egg!" she adds.
"Maybe a flag for Independence Day," I suggest.
We come to a few simple conclusion, though:
- We're glad this guy lives up over the hill, and we don't see this unless we go for a walk.
- We're glad the neighbors around us have, well, taste.
- And we finally see a positive use for a HOA...
A Walk in the Park
Evening Walk
Took the dog for a walk — it was foggy.
Spent the rest of the evening resetting passwords in LastPass to improve my security scores and peace of cyber-mind.
Searching for Normalcy
"Normal" is a fluid idea in our home these days with Papa's condition, but with two kids in the house, we also have to try to keep the old "normal" part of our new normal.
Yesterday, for example, I took the Boy swimming in the afternoon (the Girl was not interested in going just to float around with a bum ankle if she didn't have a friend with her, and it was too late to arrange all that), and afterward we went out for our favorite Boys'-Night-Out meal: Mexican. A taco and enchilada with beans and rice, all covered with sauces and queso?! Who wouldn't love that?
"The only problem with going out for Mexican," the Boy explained, "is that it's so easy to stuff yourself." That's certainly true.
In the afternoon today, I spent a lot of time with the dog, kicking the ball for her to retrieve. Again and again and again.
She came back in a slobbering, exhausted mess.