Once, It Was Pool Chores And Talk About Goldens. Great Sidewalk Art, Too.

5.19.22

53 degrees and surprisingly chilly, most likely because of a light breeze out there. I made it all the way to one of my favorite parks, though, and one house had flexible strands of green lights going all swirly-swirly-swirly-swirl through its white picket fence. Then, closer to home, I noticed gas reached an ungodly $4.79, and then I ran home.

Now here on the back porch with Simon, I should report Holly and I stood at opposite ends of the pool yesterday afternoon fishing out leaves and sticks and tree buds and whatnot with long poles.

This was decidedly unglamorous and rather boring work, but—because of the crazy storm the other day—it had to be done, and it was a reminder life is not all summer fun and Cherry Cokes when you own a pool, and there can be an awful lot of drudgery behind maintaining one, but in the end, it’s obviously still worth it.

Walked Simon late yesterday afternoon. We stopped to chat with an older gentleman tending his lawn, and he stooped to pet Simon and compliment him on his handsomeness before Simon returned the favor by happily flopping about on the man’s lawn to show he appreciated how lush and rich and green it was.

Then, the man discussed a friend of his who had goldens (which is what most people do when they meet Simon—they say they either had/have a golden themselves or know someone who does, that is) and then we said goodbye and continued on, and that was that.

Except it wasn’t, as I should note later in the walk we came across Sidewalk Art, which is something I am always happy to see, except sometimes all the lines and sketches get a little too scrambled and wild for my taste—crooked hopscotch grids and wild smiley faces, for example, folllowed by neon scribbles of sloppy spagahetti on slab after slab after slab.

Yesterday was different, though, and the Sidewalk Art we encountered was very tidy and bright and precise, which I appreciated very much. It had (Photo Below) two hearts, one star, one flower, and one sun, and each was confidently outlined and brightly colored within. Then, it should be noted the sun had a happy face that matched the blue heart, and all of this was very nice to encounter with Simon on a beautiful day in May.

Anyways, what else? Not much. I’m going to bake blueberry muffins from a life-is-easy kit for the boys for breakfast, which should be nice, as blueberry muffins always go fast. Then later tonight, I will probably run to the store, as Parker likes to have snacks during his online seminary class, and I need to see if there are any good sodas on sale. (Also, I’m looking for more Dr. Pepper Jurassic Park cans.)

And so I guess that’s it. Time to head inside with my dawg Simon and get him his breakfast of healthy food pebbles before starting those muffins for the boys. Then it will be Vanilla Coke Zero Sugar and Diet Pepsi with Holly, the house will thunder awake with scrambling boys looking for food, backpacks, and shoes, and then another day in May—which is always a blessing—will be ready to begin

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