Flying Time

Finally, a chance to post something. This poor blog gets treated like our house plant, which somehow continues to survive despite erratic watering and being in the same pot of soil it came in several years ago. My wife says it’s the perfect plant for her.

One distraction was the commemoration of Bean (the nickname given granddaughter Whitney by her grandmother) attaining three years of age. A large crowd turned out for festivities that were held in my backyard, which is actually a common area in the mobile home park that has a picnic shelter, a concrete area with a basketball hoop, some playground equipment and a large sandbox.

Meat was grilled, and large quantities of liquids were put to use to combat the equatorial heat, both by internal consumption and in an inflatable combination pool and slip-and-slide that kept the kids entertained, especially the birthday girl, who decided to use it without changing into her swimming suit, which was only a temporary problem given the quick-drying outdoor conditions.

Naturally Bean acquired lots of swag: dolls and clothes and various other goodies. One hiccup in the soiree was the birthday cake from Wal-mart; it looked like it had been assembled by Bean herself. There wasn’t time to get a proper replacement. Grandma plans to investigate thoroughly. (Update – a full refund was procured.)

Overall, though, good times were had until the mosquitoes declared an end, leaving me to try to avoid thinking about how quickly it seems that this has become three years old.