We have had halcyon weather this week (I just learned this word and wanted to try it out; it sort of rhymes with calcium). I want to be happy about it, because it is beautiful. We can see the mountains much more often.
It's warmed up enough for the rhododendrons to come out in full force all over the city. They always remind me of Daphne Du Maurier's "Rebecca," so I love/hate them.
When we go walk the boardwalk trail through the wetlands the birds are all out and active. There were a bunch of these beauties last time we went.
And one of these singing away that distracted me so much that I lost sight of Vivien and Rafe on their bikes and spent the next half hour breathing deeply to keep panic at bay while I tried to figure out which trail they had taken. They were just picking flowers waiting for me at the trail head when I found them.
We can throw a blanket on the lawn and while away the afternoon watching the wind blow in the leaves.
We can go to outdoor birthday parties for our friends where we play in sprinklers on the lawn.
We can go explore the valley on the other side of the fence of our neighborhood park.
(We went from our neighborhood to deepest forest in less than 3 minutes of walking. The ghost of my preteen self was in heaven; she could spend many happy hours out there every day exploring. But the mother inside of me needed the adventure to end quickly so the baby didn't get eaten alive by mosquitoes and so I could get lunch going. I can hear my preteen self scoffing at how boring moms are, while my mom-self sighs and does the dishes no one else will do.)
The kids can spend whole afternoons out in the back yard, swinging on my Mother's Day swing, riding bikes across the porch, constructing complex irrigation systems with gardening shovels to supply the weeds living under the porch with water, generally having a magnificent time in the open air. Annie eats a lot of dirt.
Which means I get to sit and read Poldark voraciously. I started Demelza at the end of last month, then read Jeremy, then these . . .
. . . and also these . . .
. . . plus two others on my Kindle app. It's a good thing I don't do drugs. I am happy to be in the last book. I need my life back! Though it's fun to see Vivien dress up and think, "Gee, that looks like a tricorn hat."
And there is so much fascinating history that I now have a place for in my brain. I was so excited to read this paragraph, because I totally purchased the yarn for Colette's Christmas sweater two years ago from New Lanark Mills! I knew they used the traditional techniques, but now I know what the "19th century England" they're talking about looked like. And I am filled with an overwhelming desire to sing the Reading Rainbow song . . .
Anyway. The beautiful sun and warmer weather lets us do many fun things. But. BUT.
No AC. Sabrina likes her house to be 68 degrees. It is usually about 76 degrees now. It would be manageable, but my household duties regularly require me to sit in front of open flames, handle scalding water, and snuggle a tiny human heater several hours a day. It makes me cranky. So it's especially good that my children look like this:
They are truly enjoyable little people.
Another one of those, just for fun.
And one of them all. Pay no attention to the laundry still waiting to be folded. My hands have been busy turning pages . . .
After Vivien's nightmare of Annie's death I mentioned last blog post, both Rafe and I also had dreams about her dying (in mine I'd somehow let her freeze to death in the night and I was burying her in that fluffy pink coat she's wearing above when I was awakened by Rafe crying out, "Nooooo! I love Annie." I had to get him good and awake before he would stop crying.). Sort of related picture . . . Rafe. Mom. Sleeping. Check.
Afterwards I laid there in my bed in a thrill of anxiety trying to figure out what it meant, if anything, and shake away the miasma enough to sleep (another new word to try out!). In the morning I ran it by lots of people, to get it out in the open and talk it through. The general consensus was that it was probably a reminder to have CONSTANT VIGILANCE! I have a tendency to be pretty laid back in my parenting because I want my children to experiment and learn, but I do actually need to be there to make sure they can do it safely. So, you know, they don't get lost in an enormous wetland because I'm off listening enraptured to a western meadowlark. Or lock themselves in a closet upstairs while I am buried in a Poldark novel. They need my attention.
And so I am happy to give it to them!
Maybe soon we'll get Merrick switched over to a safer bed. Poor 4th child. His nursery would not be featured in any baby magazines, that's for sure. Merrick's sleep jam is "Celestial White Noise." It's like an on/off switch for him now.
Here at the bottom I will just give you a sample of the intellectual gauntlet my children run me through every day.
Vivien (in the car on the way to swim): How does someone make tools if they don't have any tools?
Rafe (at lunch): Mom? What's inside carrots?
Vivien (2 hours after having been put to bed): Mom? How did they choose the new Chancellor when Dr. Rivera died?
This one took me a second. We checked out "Tomas and the Library Lady" from the library which is about the early life of Tomas Rivera, a Mexican-American author/educator who was the Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside at one point. There's a little bio at the back that I had read to her maybe twice several weeks before. These are the things Vivien thinks about at night when she's going to bed.
And also a little snippet of the joy of joys that is bath time with Mr. Merry.
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