Lazy Weekend...
Where is my rain? I was counting on a rainy weekend. And no, that bit of hail and rain this morning wasn't enough. We made sure to get our plants in the ground on Friday...and even watered them so as not to jinx things... Well, despite the lack of rain it's been a pretty delightful weekend. Friday evening the boys had a friend sleep over so after a late dinner I decamped upstairs with a glass of wine, some music and my kindle. The air was soft and it felt like heaven. Yesterday Ernie and I hit the farmers' market, the iris show at Lincoln Square (bought one yellow iris plant for $1) and Art Mart for a couple of croissants (ham and swiss, and pastrami and havarti respectively). We trundled home, made some lists and then went to Lowe's and a hardware store....stopped in at Fries and Peanuts and talked to our beloved Mary for a bit. Then we went home, kicked the boys out of the house and sat in the front yard a bit. A little while later the guys' friend Jair showed up, escorting a sobbing Owen. While playing Ghost in the Graveyard he somehow scraped his thumb along the picnic table and got a big old splinter way, way down under his thumbnail. Jair (who scored more older brother caretaker points than the actual older brother did) took him to Greg, our wonderful neighbor who happens to be a doctor and one of our favorite people as well. Greg didn't get it evidently and when he said he was going to get a needle Owen reportedly said something along the lines of "I can't take it" and sobbingly limped home to us. We took a look at it and said we were off to Convenient Care. We were whisked right in. The doctor, eh, not particularly warm. Owen was pretty calm until she started tugging at it and then he melted down. He kept asking her if he could get a shot to numb it and she just said that would hurt too. Then she got a nurse to hold his hand still.....still nothing. Finally she said she'd give him a shot to numb it. He asked if he could first have a "minute or two with my parents" but she said no. Understandably but like I said....a little warmth wouldn't have killed her. As soon as it was numbed he calmed down and she was finally able to get it out. Owen asked me to sit in the back seat with him as we rode home. Later he went over to thank Greg for his help and then he talked to me about the fact that he might have to stay home from school on Monday because he wouldn't be able to write....and he might still be in pain.
We got home and we let Owen watch tv for a while. Then I called Leo over and gave him a lecture about brotherly behavior. Neither of us were too happy with the other so he went to the park and stayed there until it was almost dark. Well, that's ONE way to get him out of the house.
Ernie grilled some chicken for dinner and I made a last minute dish of farfalle cooked in a rich chicken broth with asparagus, garlic, tarragon and parmesan. It outshone the chicken by far....
Now it's Sunday morning and I'm sitting here having finished a particularly fine serving of Ernie's home made biscuits. I wrenched my back so am sitting gingerly but relaxing depsite that. We were in a car accident back when we lived in Chicago---somebody blew a red light and smashed into our little Honda. For years after that I would periodically wrench my back---right behind my shoulder blades---and it would hurt like hell for a few days. I haven't had it happen in years but the other night I woke up sleepily, put my arms over my head to stretch and felt a PING. Damn.
picking this up on Monday morning:
The weekend closed out with more familycentric laziness. We had lunch at Fries and Peanuts and watched the bicycle races stream by. I love watching it---the rhythm of it all and the colors flying by.... Then we went home and watched the storm clouds build up and roll in. I wish we'd gotten more rain but at least it was a bit....I think everything is now up in the garden....
Overall a pretty unproductive but soul satisfying weekend...and sometimes that is just exactly what you need.
I listened to the new Rod Picott a lot over the weekend....it's particularly nice laying in the dark, listening to Lego clanking across the hall in the background....