That's More Like It

Yeah, the professional photog is back on staff. When Jim got home on Sunday, we went out to a beach park our friends had told us about, and brought some sand diggy toys Muriel got for her birthday. It occurred to me that I had completely forgotten what it's like to be a kid, because of course these girls had to go in the water (even though the day was both gloomy and chilly), and got themselves extremely damp and sandy. It was a rousing success.

Oh, and on the way out, we passed a picnic, and two kids from the picnic group were maniacally chasing the ducks around. I suppressed an urge to scold. Then the bigger kid (seven, maybe?) picked up a handful of sand and gravel and hurled it at the duck, at close range. I can't remember what I said, something fairly innocuous like, "Hey, hey, hey- take it easy on our duck friends." We passed the picnic group, and that's when I noticed that they were eastern Europeans. duh duh dunnnnnnh! As we were leaving two of the guys started following us to the parking lot. Track suits, gold chains, shaved heads, grim expressions. Holy crap! I had picked the wrong duck-attacking kid to scold! But they were just getting something out of their car. Whew.

Today was a pretty great day. Work has been kind of brutal of late, and today things seemed a lot more under control for some reason. I left a teeny bit early, made some pasta in a hurry, and left it on the stove while we went up to the pool for a dip. Hopping around in two feet of water for forty minutes makes my kids hungry and sleepy, which meant a satisfyingly focused dinner at which Naomi had three servings of pasta and Muriel ate something like ten asparagus spears, and a lovely bedtime with no objections. After the dishes, I took Luna for a walk around the blueberry farm, where unscrupulous summer lovers were sneaking some berries in advance of the opening of U-Pick season. It was a fantastically beautiful evening.

I choose to dismiss the part where my employer mailed me a free "book," the title of which may as well have been "Get Your Family Skinnier." Thanks!