Day 300, Year 8: Timeless
Date: Friday, August 30, 2013
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Cool, Some Sun Mid-Afternoon
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Thankfully, there are some things that never change. They are timeless. And one of those is little boys on lazy days at the end of summer. You have to picture this as I didn’t get photos. I was at Heather’s for lunch and after lunch I looked down in the backyard to see what Sam and Jonah were doing. They were just too quiet. Earlier I had helped them make fishing poles out of sticks and string, and there they were sitting on the wooden picnic table pretending that it was a boat and they had their stick and string fishing poles dangling down into the yard with leaves attached to the ends for bait. They sat there quietly for the longest time catching pretend fish and casting their lines again. I just stopped and stared. All I could think is that this could have been any two little boys anytime in the past. It looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. Of course, they moved on before I thought to get my camera, but they continued to play with those stick and string fishing poles throughout the afternoon. Sam even made the point to me later that their fishing poles were made out of natural materials and that they were even better than fishing poles you buy at the store. I wholeheartedly agreed and smiled to think that he appreciates such things.
The weather continued to be uncooperative today so we didn’t get our last day in at the beach. The sun didn’t shine through the clouds until too late in the afternoon to go to be beach, so we switched to the rainy-cloudy day plan. Mark had to go to work earlier than scheduled to cover for someone who couldn’t make it in, so I met Heather and boys in Woods Hole and we went to the WHOI Exhibit Center to play in Alvin. Heather had to go to work for a bit, so I had the three boys and they enjoyed playing in Alvin together. The floor and walls in the Alvin mock-up are padded and Ollie had a great time resting on the padding. He would play a bit and then lie down for bit, over and over. Eventually Sam and Jonah tired of playing in Alvin and wanted to go see the film that plays repeatedly in the next door room. Ollie did more running around that he did watching, but Sam and Jonah watched it for the third or fourth time this summer and were amazed that they saw things they had never noticed before. We then toured the upstairs of the Exhibit Center. When all three boys were ready to move on, we went across the street to the Woods Hole Day Care Cooperative playground. Ollie is getting old enough to really enjoy the playground along with his big brothers, so everyone played until Heather rejoined us after her longer than expected stint at work. Sam and Jonah played school where Heather, Ollie, and I were the students and they were the teachers. They took us on a pretend swamp mud muck field trip and when we came back to school they taught us what makes boats float. They even let us have rest time and lots of play time. Heather and I decided we liked the school run by Sam and Jonah!
When it was time for real life lunch, we headed home to Heather’s. I went along to help watch the boys so Heather could get some kitchen projects done. She needed to finish making spaghetti sauce to can and process three or four big zucchinis to turn into zucchini bread. While she did this, I took the boys on a neighborhood explore and then to the local elementary school to see if the new playground was completed. Since school starts on Tuesday, I was sure it would be done. But not so. The workmen were still there at 4:30 pm when we left, but even though they were still working they let the boys play in certain parts of the playground. Ollie was still going strong until we got home and then he finally gave in and took the nap he should have had hours earlier. He seemed worse during the night last night, but this afternoon he seemed to be finally feeling better.
The weather is going to continue to contrary tomorrow, so I don’t think we are going to get a sail in this weekend. Mark works on Sunday and Monday, so tomorrow is our only day. I guess we will just have to see what tomorrow brings.
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| 130830 Day 300 Cape Cod, USA–WHOI Exhibit Center |
