Lemon Trees and Dirty Streets

Holy Moly time flies!

Today I am sunburnt and happy. Forgot to apply sunscreen on the parts that never see the light of day...such as my back. We went swimming in a lake! Leann and Brad came to whisk us away from the tantalizing glow of a computer screen swarming with zombies, on into the day!

Actually I'm kidding about the zombies. That's what I've been doing with my late nights instead of writing in this blog, but this morning we got up and out by 8:30 am. I had the day off (woohoo!) and Edie and I took a long stroll to Cafe Ladro so I could get one of my freebies. We played at the local elementary school for a bit, and some kids at the YMCA came out to play on the climber too. One kid took great joy in wheeling Edie's stroller around wildly, first empty and then, as we made to leave, with her in it. By the time I pushed her up the hill to our house, she was zonked out and I was sweaty yuck, so I parked the stroller at the foot of the stairs and got some lunch while Uncle Robby babysat for five minutes.

He doesn't like bugs. I came out to find him swaddled in his blanket like a creepy troll, in an effort to protect himself from the big scary beetle that my cat had injured and was now buzzing around in circles, on its back. He ran inside and I got to work on my sweater for a WHOLE HOUR! while Edie rested. Did I mention I'm working on a sweater? It's made from recycled yarn; I pulled apart a super bulky brown thing that was extra unflattering, and I'm making the Wrenna pattern, from the book, French Girl Knits. Last Wednesday I went to Maria and Chris' house for a knit-b-que and Maria and I are knitting the very exact same sweater! What I mean is that we are each knitting a sweater from the same pattern, not that we are knitting a sweater together. Leann is working on a scarf with some cute self striping yarn. We ate brahts and beer and Edie came for a while, and also ate brahts and beer, though not with anybody's permish.

Anyhow, just wanted to say it feels good to be sunburned, after a day like today. We went to the lake, Edie rode on an air mattress with Leann and then with me. We ate sandwiches and bananas while somebody at a picnic table nearby sang Cat Stevens perfectly, but just for one song. If I'd have known he was going to get up and leave after the one song, I'd have clapped much louder, but I clapped just a little, thinking he was going to play a whole Cat Stevens album. Some crazy little boys put Edie and I to work, building a swimming pool on the beach. "Here, you do this rock like this. Do it right, or you'll be fired." I asked him if he was going to give me a paycheck, and he said he'd find one and it would be a beautiful paycheck. "I'll give you a rock and it will be your paycheck, and then you give me a paycheck rock too, okay?" Their redheaded stepchild of a little brother came up and started splashing Edie. She liked it, so I didn't stop him. I said "do you think she likes getting splashed? Would you like it if she splashed you?" to which he answered a double yes. A couple of minutes later, though, he dumped a bucket of water on her head ("I'm gonna give her a shower!") and she cried. I turned her to face him so he could see that what he'd done had upset her. Which, I'm pretty sure was the point.

There was another family there. When the little boy who liked splashing Edie took his pail and shovel from her, because they were his and not hers, this other dad came over with his son, who handed Edie a pail and shovel and said, "Would you like to borrow my toys?"

Whoa, I just got really tired.

After the lake we stopped by Candice's house to dance and eat raspberries while the boys played soccer games and Edie watched. She's fascinated by the backyard sports. It was great to see Candice again. We are going to start a weekly lunch date because our jobs are close together.

Time for bed already, my goodness!

Happy Fourth of July.