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| "This is the biggest sand pile I have ever seen." |
I am not sure which was used most: the trampoline, or the dirt pile under it, or the dirt under the pine trees just south of the trampoline.
Years later when the trampoline was gone and the pine trees were cut down, I was raking to get grass seeded in that spot. Every time the pitchfork went into the earth to turn it over, I would find a new treasure. That earth was my first archeological dig. I found tiny cars, the wheels now rusted away, red legos filled with sand and best of all, I discovered where all of my missing teaspoons had been laid to rest.
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| "I wonder why my dad didn't come with us." |
Now another generation is playing in that back yard.
The fence is down between the two houses, the purple lilac bushes that rimmed one of the lots are gone.
Grass has been laid again. So far the yard belongs to Michael since Alice is only beginning to pull herself along the floor.
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| "Look! You can get some toys and play here too." |
This week Richard showed Michael how to get into my house.
The back doorknob has been changed for the better.
Now it has a lever mechanism.
All the better for someone with arthritis to open the door.
And there is also ease for a 2 ½ year old to come and visit if his dad has shown him how to get in on his own.
Now I hear Micheal open the door and call into the house, “Want to come out and play sand, Grandma.”
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| ... baby blue-eyed Alice ... |
Soon I will be playing under that clump birch as he is already doing.
Arta
Oh, that back yard. What fun we had playing in the dirt pile. I remember making a mountain and carving canals around it spiraling from top to bottom. Then we would turn the hose on at the top and watch the water make its way down.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to remember what kind of mess we tracked back into the house. I have no recollection, so that must mean we were perfect kids who never got dirty.
Which reminds me, last year our washing machine quit. Leo took out the broken pump which was the culprit. When he opened it, it was full of sand. The sand had ground down the parts so it wouldn't work anymore.
We had a good laugh at that. One replacement pump later we were back in business. I wonder how many more years of sand until that pump goes and we have to move on to number 3.
Bonnie made a sand pile for David just on the north side of the parking lot -- rimmed it with rocks and boards and provided an awning so he wouldn't get too much sun. That sandpile only lasted one year for him and then he lost interest in it. I was thinking Michael might pick it up on playing in it if I went out and loosened the sand. But no. Bonnie Wyora told me he headed for the spot under the clump birch and that is where we might find him for the next three weeks.
ReplyDeleteI know that spot. I had raked it and was wondering how to beautify it. I have one large fern growing there and then a low green bush. Of course this is making me laugh, for I built up the sides of the north space there with rocks and leveled out the dirt. That is all good. I just wish I had known I was preparing a sand pile and not a flower bed. With that knowledge, I would have put more sand in that spot.
Bonnie Wyora said she is worried that Michael will go over the edge of that space and tumble down the hill. Miranda has more faith in him. She thinks he will be OK. She hopes he will catch on to place he can go and places he can't. But where those places are is yet to be determined.
We saw a huge digger by the last sand pile before 5 corners on the LaRue estates. It must be from the CPR and getting ready to fix the road from the flood. David said it was the biggest sand pile he had every seen. We got home at 9:30pm. No babysitter. A work appointment in Silver Creek and then a Board of Education budget meeting to attend to protest cuts to SLP services and Teacher-Librarians in our school district. Lots of tears at the meeting. They said the cuts were not of excess, but rather what critical services they could trim that would do the least damage, or something to that effect. David sat by me eating skittles and playing on his ipad. The teachers and administrators wondered why parents are so silent about the cuts. I will try to do my part to be more vocal about the need for more funding for education. Now, David has fallen asleep. Time for me to do so as well.
ReplyDeleteRe the huge digging machine: I wish I were there to stand by Michael and watch that machine all day. Please take some pictures and let us know what they are doing. So many vantage points: -- on the back deck, up at five corners, sitting on the stairs that go down to the lake.
ReplyDeleteRe: Why parents are not vocal?
Mmmm. Anyone who asks why parents are silent hasn't watched someone tend a child all day who needs more help than the average child. The parent has to get to bed for they will be getting up the next day to do the same thing. Where is the time for that parent to be vocal? Oh! That is just what you said in your last line. Time for you to sleep as well.
"trimming critical service" and "doing the least damage"
ReplyDeletePutting both of those phrases in the same sentence kind of turns my stomach, especially when the discussion is about children, the people who have the least power to protest.