Such a day! All sunshine and May colors. Light green, lime green, dainty yellow green. A few flowers.
But could it be that they are overshadowed by the entirety? By the brilliant entirety?
(Tuxie, the sheep shed cat is hiding out in the flower field. Still not used to our visiting Polish engineer.)
Ed asks -- you want to go to Finca Cafe for breakfast?
I do!
He has some papers to notarize at a next door bank. And though the fruit is ready for our at home breakfast, I put it off for later.
It seems the perfect moment for us to celebrate May, togetherness, those light green colors. He wants to take the motorcycle. That's a tad cold for me, but I am agreeable. We're both so agreeable! I huddle behind him for the short ride.
We used to come to Finca a lot, when they had good bakery items. These days they only bake sweet cheese quesadillas. They're okay, but still -- maybe next time we should go back to Paul's? Or the local Tati? The sky is the limit!
While he pops out to attend to his signatures, I study Shakespeare's the Tempest. Snowdrop is trying out for the Young Shakespeare Players ("YSP") summer production of it. How can we not be nostalgic? Once upon a time her mom played Alonso in YSP's the Tempest. Snowdrop wants to read for Alonso as well.
If thou be’st Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation;
How thou hast met us here, who three hours since
Were wrack’d upon this shore; where I have lost--
How sharp the point of this remembrance is!--
My dear son Ferdinand.
The auditions are tomorrow. YSP is an inclusive organization. You audition for a part you'd like, but you are guaranteed something, no matter how poor your performance. Most kids do very, very well in their roles. Only a few struggle with memorization (they have 2.5 months to learn it all). Ages? They work as a team, spanning elementary, middle and high school grade levels. My older daughter did it for four years in a row (my younger one -- three years), starting age 9 (my younger girl -- starting age 7). And now here we are. Repeating history with the Tempest.
Home again. A "second breakfast," on the porch.
The rest of the morning? Weeding, mowing a few tight corners with the hand mower. And chatting with our guest from Poland who is looking for a place to stay this summer, along with his wife and their newborn. Well, soon to be newborn.
And here's a return to something I'd abandoned due to the garden work: Ed and I go for our bike loop. I dont think I've biked since... March! Such a different landscape now!
The kids are here after school of course.
But our routines are off a bit. Snowdrop is practicing her lines for tomorrow's audition.
And of course, there is the usual Friday lesson run. A bit nostalgic there as well, because though Sparrow still has a few violin lessons to go this year, Snowdrop is finishing up ballet today. It's family observation time. The jury is out on whether she will return to ballet in the Fall. She likes it, but is that a marker of anything? Is there a class that she doesn't like? Okay, she snubbed soccer. Nonetheless, she has competing interests and ballet may have to recede for a while (forever?). So I'm nostalgic about watching this last dance class of hers.
But I never get to see it. I dont get to go to ballet, Sparrow doesn't get to go to his violin lesson either.
I'm driving up a busy road to deposit the little guy with dad and violin at his class. Almost there now. I need to make a left turn onto a side street. The cars coming from the opposite direction stop to let me through. I wave in appreciation. I'm nearly done with my turn and a car pulls into the parking lane and zips forward, crashing into me. How did he not see me? Why was he passing in the parking lane on the right? Unanswerable questions. (Unfortunately, the driver did not speak English. But he did talk up a storm to the police, who used Google translate to get some coherent story. I think his version was that he was in the proper driving lane. In any case, there were witnesses who called the police (thank you, civic minded people!!!) so I should not have problems. Ed asked -- did you get witness names of the cars that stopped for you? I did not. I was too busy calming screaming kids. The noise had been deafening.
In the end, parents came, took both kids, I stayed and waited for the police to file their report, then drove home. Ed tested the car for drivability (I have a more official check on it on Monday). The dents speak for themselves. His advice -- dont fix them! Scratched cars are more fun to drive! I had to smile at that.
Evening. Different, too, from the usual. We have our young Polish engineer over for a Thai supper. I'm not the cook, so the prep is limited to putting out plates and drinks. Our guest is delightful and positive and super pleasant to have with us for this short while.
So ends a full day, a brilliant day, an exasperating day! Tomorrow? Possibly fuller, possibly more brilliant! Less exasperating, please!
with love...
