midsummer
We're staying up late to celebrate midsummer. I made bread and cookies and Leah is hard at work on a shirt for herself. Things are much more relaxing than they were this time last year, except when I think about the fact that we haven't yet managed to go strawberry picking and I remember that I'm very concerned about our future jam security. It's on the schedule for Thursday morning; lets hope the supplies in the fields will last that long.
But, as I say, except for that things were wonderfully calm and pleasant here this evening. Harvey and I played catch outside—he worked on getting his catching hands down by his belly button instead of right under his chin, a position that caused me some concern for his nose and teeth. I only hit him on the head once, which is a good thing since we were using a baseball. I guess Zion was doing a little fussing inside, but hey, that's what babies do, right?
Outside is, of course, beautiful this time of year. The only possible downside is the insect situation—the mosquitoes and flies are pretty startlingly numerous, and bother Leah so much that she bought a big sprayer and some liquified garlic from the internet. It hasn't been applied yet, but once she gets out there to spray we'll let you know how well it works. Harvey and I mostly don't mind the bugs, and you can even say that they have their advantages.
I guess the firefly flashing right over our front steps, while exciting, doesn't qualify as the sort of insect we're talking about, but even the flies provide their amusements. Rascal is firmly in Leah's camp vis-a-vis biting pests, and the flies especially drive him to distraction by circling around and buzzing in his keen doggy ears. This sends him into a frenzy of chomping and leaping, which this evening amused Harvey so much he was literally doubled over laughing, holding his stomach. I don't know that I've ever seen that outside of a cartoon. I wish I'd had a video camera on the pair of them, and I also wish I could communicate to Harvey the nuanced understanding that, while it's ok to laugh at Rascal for flailing around after bugs, Mama is not similarly fair game.
Tomorrow is the last day of the 2010-2011 school year in most of Lexington. As usual I don't know where I'm going to be next year, but with sweet evenings like this I can ignore that and look forward to a few months of summer fun.