The next door neighbors to the north went to Disney World for the week. We went to Public Presentations.
It was too cold, this week, to spend any time outside. A mid-week storm made travel treacherous. We didn't go sledding or skating. There was no trip to the indoor water park. Instead, we hosted other people's children who were suffering from cabin fever just as much as we were.
On Thursday I served an impromptu meal of homemade pizza and soft pretzels to 8 neighborhood children.
On Friday, my cousin's boys came and spent the day playing with squishy colored beads stolen from my flower vase. They let them soak in water, argued over their value as "jewels," stuffed them in their pockets, and fished them out of the toilet when I attempted to throw them away. The gang locked the cat in a drawer, locked the smallest boy in my bedroom, and jumped on a bed until it caved. When Mr. D arrived to pick them up we shared a beer. And I was asleep by 7 p.m.
Then came Saturday and 4-H Public Presentations (an event the children find more painful than a dental extraction). One boy finished his project at t-5 seconds, after staying up into the wee hours of the morning for several days in a row, sawing and assembling a giant xylophone. Another refused help and never practiced his presentation until he was in front of the judges.
"WHY?" I moaned, from the audience, "didn't we quit 4-H last year?" The other mothers laughed, knowingly.
While we were there, the diamond from my engagement ring fell out.
I discovered this later that afternoon, on the way to The Pinewood Derby, a Boy Scout event filled with more excitement and drama than the Daytona 500 (my living room looks like "a pit stop" filled with spare tires, paint, weights, and scales.)(And then there was the day I came home from work to find the boys spray painting their cars with black paint- in the kitchen) (I was initially concerned about food quality. A friend said I should I have worried about the stove's pilot light).
Finally, late in the evening on Sunday, I found a moment to brush the dog. This puppy is a great Pyrenees who lives with our sheep. I should be spending more time training him.
His coat is thick, white, and satin soft. He smells like barn wood, straw, and wool. He's snuggly and ginormous.
It was nice to have some much needed dog therapy.
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