September

Today was "back to school" day around here and probably the hottest day we have yet had here this summer. It has been an odd summer, starting late and never really hitting its stride. Everyone is complaining about how far behind their gardens are and wondering if their tomatoes will ever ripen. The end of a short summer came far too quickly for most.  For me today meant that my daughter and son-in-law are back to their classroom duties and my grandchildren are mine for two days a week.

The energy changed around here today for sure. The toys came out. I had to make sure I had kid-friendly food on hand, especially snacks, and I had to be ready for a one-year old who is now mobile and curious and not too discriminating about what goes into his mouth. Whew. I am tired tonight, but I feel lucky to have this kind of involvement in their lives.

Years ago when I owned a quilt shop someone sent me not one, but two of the little wooden school bus toys in the photo above. They were samples, trying to entice me into stocking a whole line of these wooden toys. I didn't buy them, but I loved the little buses. I put one into my basket of toys and books that I kept in my shop for the children of customers to entertain themselves with. One little boy who came in often with his mom really loved the school bus and when I closed my shop I gave it to him to keep. The other I kept because I liked it and I rediscovered it when we moved. My grandson pushed it around the kitchen all day today. He seems to like it as much as I do.

After lunch and naps, we played outside in the backyard, enjoying the shady part of the yard. I wondered how long the warm weather would last and thought about how hot my daughter's classroom probably was today. Ironic that most of the city's kids spent the warmest day of the summer  in classrooms.

It was a pretty good day all in all. Marco took a header off the only step in our house and bonked his head, but cried only briefly. Sofia and I finished the Ramona book we started reading before school finished last spring. We found a tiny, tiny frog posed prettily on a hydrangea.

The nice thing about hot September days is that once the sun goes down it cools off, and the mornings are chilled and dewy nearly until the sun hits the the quarter mark in the sky. Fall may be in the air, but summer's pleasures are not done yet.