One thing we sorta forget about when we come here in winter is just how green it really is throughout most of the year, especially summer. Even though the heat is stifling this time of year, the trees and hedges and vines make a total canopy over all of the yards in the neighborhood, rendering them marginally comfortable - as opposed to completely oppressive - for outdoor activities.
Lucky for us, the next door neighbors on both sides have kids, which means they have cool play structures and equipment to play on. Today Luke discovered the joys of the tire swing hanging from one of the big trees next door. The movement on a tire swing is different from the herky-jerk back-and-forth of a swingset swing. Once you get on, you just kind of glide to and fro, changing direction with the slightest shift in weight, but never once coming up against a sharp angle. Luke was skeptical at first but once he started getting with the flow, he didn't want to get off. "This feels really nice," he announced dreamily, to no one in particular. In a way, it was sort of hypnotic to watch him drifting back and forth through the thick air, with the sound of cicadas buzzing above us and ...
...wait a minute! Isn't there another kid somewhere? Where's Zach? Ugh! Any time you turn your head for a second, Zach will find his way to the nearest pile of dirt. Like tonight when Rosemary and Fred came over for dinner and for a moment all attention was on Luke so Zach worked his way over to the potted plants and started methodically emptying the soil onto the dining room floor.
"You know, you did magic tricks for my mom at her birthday party once," Luke told Fred after dinner. It's true, as we pulled up the pictures to confirm: There we were, 36 years ago this summer, at my fourth birthday party, and there was Fred, '70s-style hair and clothes, hamming it up for a crowd of little ones who are now in their thirties and forties. Tonight Fred brought a few tricks for Luke, who screamed and applauded and couldn't stop laughing. It seemed like magic way back then, and somehow it does now too.
Lucky for us, the next door neighbors on both sides have kids, which means they have cool play structures and equipment to play on. Today Luke discovered the joys of the tire swing hanging from one of the big trees next door. The movement on a tire swing is different from the herky-jerk back-and-forth of a swingset swing. Once you get on, you just kind of glide to and fro, changing direction with the slightest shift in weight, but never once coming up against a sharp angle. Luke was skeptical at first but once he started getting with the flow, he didn't want to get off. "This feels really nice," he announced dreamily, to no one in particular. In a way, it was sort of hypnotic to watch him drifting back and forth through the thick air, with the sound of cicadas buzzing above us and ...
...wait a minute! Isn't there another kid somewhere? Where's Zach? Ugh! Any time you turn your head for a second, Zach will find his way to the nearest pile of dirt. Like tonight when Rosemary and Fred came over for dinner and for a moment all attention was on Luke so Zach worked his way over to the potted plants and started methodically emptying the soil onto the dining room floor.
"You know, you did magic tricks for my mom at her birthday party once," Luke told Fred after dinner. It's true, as we pulled up the pictures to confirm: There we were, 36 years ago this summer, at my fourth birthday party, and there was Fred, '70s-style hair and clothes, hamming it up for a crowd of little ones who are now in their thirties and forties. Tonight Fred brought a few tricks for Luke, who screamed and applauded and couldn't stop laughing. It seemed like magic way back then, and somehow it does now too.
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