Swim and a Haircut

Me before I actually got in the water. Not the best to start with maybe, but certainly not the best to end with either.

Good morning! Thus far, it is a pretty good day. I woke up at a decent hour and when I left the bedroom, the rest of the house wasn’t unbearable and it is nice outside. However, given that it is 72° now, I am not sure about the rest of the day. Our projected high is 89° and if we were to have reasonable humidity with that (think 30’s or so), it would be quite doable. With a humidity of more than 50 (which is likely what we’ll have), not so much.

Cedric and Seth with the noodles that aren't Coast Guard approved floatation devices and therefore aren't allowed during regular business hours.

Yesterday morning was full of things such as folding laundry, stacking wood for half an hour, and other such fun and exciting things. I read quite a few chapters of Laura’s story which of course means I did not read as much of Falls the Shadow as I had hoped.  Ah, well, such is life.

Joseph and his ball. It was by far easiest to get decent pictures of Joseph.

For lunch I grilled some pork chops. I wanted to use up a marinade we had in the refrigerator (I’m all about using things up here) which I did. And then we tried two others that were in the basement. They turned out pretty okay. I also grilled the broccoli I brought in from the garden and Seth, Joseph and Paul had tomatoes. They were just store tomatoes so they didn’t excite me. After lunch we had milkshakes and then went out and stacked wood for another half an hour. Then we had ice-cream. Paul split all the wood that he can before having to either have help holding it while it is split or cutting it to length with a chain saw and then stacked the rest. It wasn’t much but might have taken 15 minutes for the rest of us to do simply because some people don’t work as fast as others. Still, the wood is as done as it can be at the moment so next week we’ll have to do half hours weeding in the garden. The trouble with that is that it is in the sun most of the day so we’ll have to go out early or relatively late. I’ll probably opt for early and the reward will be going to Goguen’s to swim.

Joseph and his ball again. See what I mean?

Other than that, the afternoon included lots of Lego play and the washing of much laundry and the hanging outside of two loads of towels. I put one load of laundry on to dry just before we went to Comet Pond. It wasn’t quite dry when we got home so it finished when we got home. Another load got put on to dry when I went to bed and I hoped that it wouldn’t make sleeping too unbearable for all the children. It was dry this morning so I have the last load of towels I washed in drying now.

Amena cleaning her feet and flip flops off.

Comet Pond felt sooooo nice last night. We got there probably just a little after 7:00 and there were eight cars so some of us weren’t sure about going because that many cars meant there would be lots of people. But we saw two walking out as we were walking in and then two more were walking out as we got nearer the beach. That meant, counting the van, there were seven cars left. Then a family of five was getting ready to leave but they were replaced by a family of four from Rutland. Then more people came including what appeared to be an extended family of a mom, dad, couple of kids, and a couple of uncles and an aunt. The trouble with them is that the adults were all smoking and one of the guys brought his down to the water with him. Yuck! I am sorry, but I don’t enjoy the smell and in fact it makes me sneeze and if you have the right to smoke, I have the right to breathe clean air. Anyway, at one point there were 31 people there and that after the family of four left and another family who had been fishing on the side of the swimming area and a trio of girls who had come in a boat. Finally, one of the smokers got out and announced loudly enough for everyone to hear, which isn’t that hard, that the horse flies would be biting so they needed to go. Well, that did the trick. Almost everyone got out and left. There was an older couple (I’m guessing they were maybe between my mother and Grandma in age based on the fact that they had white hair) still there but that was it. Then they even left and we had the place to ourselves until a man came. He had come to swim laps and left before we did. We finally left because Seth and Joseph were cold and there was a horse fly that wouldn’t leave Amena alone. Cedric figured out how to swim when he went to Zackary’s birthday party so he now practices swimming. Last night Amena figured out how to swim. Now they both need to learn how to breathe while swimming.

Sunset.

Last night Cedric wanted his hair cut. He’d told me last Sunday that he wanted his hair cut short but not until Friday or Saturday. Saturday is usually the day I cut hair for the boys because they always have a shower or bath Saturday night. So, even though it was very late, he got his hair cut last night. I used the quarter inch attachment for most of it so his hair is now short. It shows of his scars nicely which is either good or bad, depending on how I feel at the moment.

Part of Cedric's scar. The bit above his ear is actually scar as well.

And the rest of the scar. He said yesterday that he would rather have had a broken arm and jaw so I guess he would have liked to trade places with Seth. Personally, I think things happened the way they did for a reason.

And that will be all for now. Have a wonderful day!