May 06, 2007

Piles of red

Piles of red

All weekend, red balloons have been drifting down from the ceiling, covering the floor, catching on windowsills, balancing on plants and furniture. Overachievers, we'd blown up not 99 balloons, but 216, and most of them, shrivelled smaller, the helium leaching out, are piled on the floor, where they are constantly being kicked and thrown and batted about. When my parents came over this morning to welcome their granddaughter home, they had to push balloons aside to find a place to sit.

After a busy weekend, our extras went home, and we went to a park this afternoon, just the six of us, to spend some time together as a family. The park is actually the playground of an elementary school, a place famous for a big wooden structure with all kinds of ramps and towers and things to climb. It's a place we used to go often when the kids were little. We haven't been there in years, but we figured we'd go there for old time's sake.

In the car, we all starting teasing Beautiful Smart Wonderful Daughter about how the playground had been destroyed while she was gone. We were just kidding, of course. Then we pulled into parking lot of the school, and walked around the corner.

The wooden playground was gone. It had been completely removed.

Boy in Black was more interested in the big field that we had all to ourselves, and he talked us into playing some frisbee. I'd brought a blanket, and eventually, some of us ended up just lying in the sun, talking lazily. Boy in Black climbed a tree, and With-a-Why curled up next to his sister on the blanket. Eventually, we drove to a place that sells submarine sandwiches and bought a picnic lunch to take to Pretty Colour Lakes. It was nice to be together again, just the six of us, hanging out under a gorgeously blue sky and doing not much of anything.

It's evening now, and everyone is tired. Shaggy Hair is asleep on the couch, and Boy in Black asleep in the chair. Spouse is sorting laundry. Beautiful Smart Wonderful Daughter keeps saying she is going to unpack, but I suspect that if she gets near her bed, she is more likely to take a nap. With-a-Why is playing the piano – Bach's Solfegietto . His fingers are absolutely flying over the keys: he is the only one in the family with any energy left.

Tomorrow, I drive to campus to hand in my grades, and my summer begins.

Drifting down to the windowsill

15 comments:

Liz Miller said...

Great pictures!

The playground was just gone? No sign to say why? Are they replacing it? What's up?

PPB said...

the idea of a disappearing playground really disturbs me.....

I also have to say that your living room looks very nice. I would expect it to be a disaster with all those teenagers.

Unknown said...

I just love the family joy that oozes from every one of your posts. Lucky family.

Anonymous said...

Ditto what julieunplugged said...

Yankee T said...

happy homecoming and happy summer!

Linda said...

What a great day! You guys really know how to celebrate.

Stolmit said...

Okay, I'm finally making myself known. Yes, I've been stalking your blog. I hope that's okay. I love reading it. It's such a good read.

I never comment because you and everyone else are excellent writers and so intellectual. I also can be long-winded. See?

BeachMama said...

What a great beginning to the summer. Sorry about the playground, hopefully another will be put in it's place.

ccw said...

Other than the missing playground, it sounds like a wonderful day with the family.

Rev Dr Mom said...

But what happened to the famous playground?

When we lived in the Place Farthest South That We've Ever Lived, a wonderful wooden playground (huge) was built at one of the elementary schools--it was a big community project and all the construction was done over a long weekend--quite an undertaking. There were stories about it on national TV and I believe a piece on the Olympics coverage--some sort of commercial about it iirc. It's hard for me to believe that it was almost 20 years ago now....wonder if it is still there?

Rana said...

That's too bad about the playground. There's one here that is a combination of castle and fort - enormous and filled with all kinds of climbing equipment, ropes, swings, slides, bridges... - and I've always been sad that I'm too big for it.

On the other hand:

*high five* on getting the grades in!

Unknown said...

Have a wonderful summer!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Mm. Now I want to fill my house with balloons. That looks like fun. (I have a group of friends who would share a room with me whenever we went to summer camp, and for various reasons we frequently ended up with a room full of balloons. I love that so much.)

Kathryn said...

Can you just run that past me again?
Did you say that your summer is beginning NOW????????????
My kids have only been back at school after their Easter break for 2 weeks,- even Hattie Gandhi doesn't get home from college till the end of June, and the boys stagger on till 24th July.
Is it REALLY summer holiday time in the States already?
I think I want to emigrate :-)

jo(e) said...

Kathryn: Yeah, the younger kids go until the third week of June, but most of the universities are done for the summer at the beginning of May. It makes for a nice long summer ....