The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

There's no other word but 'bustling' to describe the scene at the mall near my sister's place in Atlanta today. Shoppers were nearly at holiday numbers, so many that entering and exiting the flow of foot traffic required some serious merging maneuvers. And why not? It is a holiday of sorts for the parents, if not the kids, down here.

School starts on Tuesday.

This Friday Night

"Do you guys have any dances in middle school?" Heidi asked soon-to-be 6th grader Richard the other day.

"I think maybe one or two," he answered.

"How many do our sixth graders have?" Heidi turned to me.

"Two," I replied, "but they have that mixer in the beginning of the year."

"What's a mixer?" Richard asked.

"It's a thing where they have a variety of activities," I explained. "There is some dancing, yes, but also games and contests, like donut eating."

"Donut eating!" both Richard and Annabelle repeated.

"Yeah," I said, "we tie Krispy Kremes to strings and hang them from a pole. Then the kids put their hands behind their backs and see who can eat one the fastest."

They looked at each other in stunned amazement.

"Why don't we try it while we're here?" I suggested, and it was easy enough to purchase a half-dozen classic glazed the next time we went to the grocery store.

AND, that's how we found ourselves out on the driveway this evening with four donuts hanging from a broom

Oh my gosh!

I have not laughed that hard in a long time!

Richard had the edge going in, but he quickly lost the advantage by chewing too thoroughly and chasing his donuts in circles trying to get the biggest bite.

Annabelle was the tortoise to his krispy hare-- she methodically consumed her donuts until the point where gravity took control. On donut one, she caught the last bite in her mouth, but when the second one hit the pavement? So did she, eating fast enough to stay within the five second rule, and handily defeating her brother who was still pirouetting around his second.

And their mom caught it all on camera! 

I. De. Clare. Fun

Growing up in the South Jersey in the late 60s and 70s meant lots of muggy summer days with no air conditioning. To be honest, it was barely a hardship, especially since we didn't really know any different. Once it got so hot inside that the box fans in the windows weren't enough, we moved away from the TV and its game shows ans soaps and out to our shady side porch to read or play cards and drink iced tea with lemonade.

These days I spend most of my time in climate-controlled spaces, and there are many summer afternoons when I walk out of school or home with flesh so chilled that the blast of heat and humidity almost, almost, feels like a nice little hug. And even during the laziest days of summer, TV and card games are rarely on the agenda. 

Even so, today when the sweltering blue Atlanta sky turned thundery, Heidi and Annabelle and I took the dogs and headed out to the front porch. Torrents of rain spumed up into clouds of spray on the roofs and sidewalks as we played first War with an incomplete deck of Star Wars Hero-themed cards, and then Corn Hole with just one board pushed all the way to the end of the railing.

It was a perfect summer afternoon.

Touch the Sky:)

Hi I'm Annabelle, Aunt Tracey's niece. I'm nine years old and yeah. Today I went to SKYZONE, it's a trampoline park if you didn't know. Today I am going to tell you what I did there. The first thing I did was  get signed in and get socks. Then, we started bouncing on the normal trampolines. My brother Richard and I chased each other, he is really fun.

Next, Richard and I played dodge ball. We almost won. Then, we went to this thing were you try running up a hill, I couldn't do it though. There was also a line you have to try and walk across and jousting. Richard went against me and won every time. I went against this guy who was almost three times the size of me. I almost won against him but he pushed me down. This other girl was really strong and pushed me right off.

After that, Richard and I went to the foam pit which is really fun. I did front flips into the pit, but Richard was a lot better at the flips than me. We got bored flipping into it so we went and tried to climb a ladder across the pit. Richard went across and back twice but I didn't make it across once. The last trampoline activity we did was normal jump.We decided to do it again because we wanted to do flips, run up the wall, and run all around the trampolines.

Finally we had to go, but we got snacks and played some games. For example we did the hurricane simulator. At first I didn't really like it but then it turned out really fun. One of the games took our money and didn't give it back.We also tried a photo booth but that didn't work either.

When we got home Aunt Tracey and I played war. Then, we baked a cherry jello flavored rice krispy treat with vanilla frosting. It's really yummy.I haven't eaten yet but I'm about to. I'm having steak and the adults are having sword fish. we are also having salad. Richard is eating the same thing as me. After dinner we will all talk. Then I will get ready for bed and go to sleep.

 I really liked my day today it was really fun!
Thanks for reading my day everyone! I hope you enjoyed it and Bye! :)

Go Ahead-- Be a Square

When we were kids we were lucky enough to travel a lot. Our dad worked for TWA, which meant unlimited standby flights, and my parents believed it best for us to literally see the world. Honestly? It was fantastic! (Thanks Mom!)

Of course, such privilege involved a lot of time spent on planes and waiting in airports, and so in that time long before smart phones and tablets we became experts in entertaining ourselves with cards, comic books, and paper. One of our favorite games involved creating a matrix of dots and taking turns connecting them. Anyone who closes a box, scores a point, and such a deceptively simple game involves quite a bit of strategy.

So, today at lunch when Richard and Annabelle had exhausted the tic-tac-toe boards on their kid menu place mats and our meals still hadn't arrived, I flipped one mat over, grabbed a crayon, and began to make a grid.

Some things just never get stale.

Southern Hospitality?

We were just outside Durham, NC when we stopped for gas and a restroom break. The gentleman at the register was surprisingly dapper; with white hair, mustache, and beard and a matching white suit he seemed a little more suited for KFC than the modest little Family Fare convenience store. In truth, he couldn't have been more than five or six years older than I am, but his look was definitely from another time.

"Would you like a bag?" he asked after ringing me up.

"No thanks," I shrugged as I scooped up my three bottles of water.

"Well, aren't you the independent little lady," he noted in a nasal drawl.

"I like to think so!" I winked as I pushed out the door.

Just Pull the Plug

Oh my!

2 inches of water filled our nearly vintage Jeep this morning after a summer boomer last night. No worries! I simply pulled the plugs on the floor and let it drain. A few towels later and the vehicle was cleaner than it has been in years. Well, maybe the upholstery was a bit damp, but a hot July sun steamed most of that moisture away.

Good thing, too--

It rained again this afternoon.