Yesterday morning was one of those low points when I went to pack Caroline’s lunch for school and realized we were out of bread. And ham. And basically all other sandwich-type components. So her lunch was a baggie of pretzels, some Laughing Cow cheese, peanut butter crackers, carrot sticks and a Hostess cupcake. Please note that while I may run out of bread, we never run out of Hostess cupcakes.
I just sat here for five minutes trying to come up with a smooth transition to other things that have been going on around here lately, but I’m drawing a blank. Speaking of Hostess cupcakes, P and Caroline went fishing last week and had quite a good day. I think they ended up catching over fifty fish, but only kept a few of them.
I think that’s two fishermen who enjoyed their time. And also enjoy matching outfits.
They got home late Wednesday afternoon and then it poured rain most of the day Thursday. Soccer practice was cancelled but, never fear, we still had plenty of soccer in our future because she had a tournament all weekend. Fortunately, the tournament schedule fairies smiled on me and our first game wasn’t until 12:40 on Saturday. We were playing teams that were a year older throughout the tournament so we didn’t win a single game. At one point Caroline was matched up against a girl who – I’m not kidding – had to be almost six feet tall. It was like David and Goliath but with a soccer ball.
But we still had a great time and she always loves being with her soccer friends.
The only downside was the heat. And the humidity. And the heat and the humidity. By the time we got home on Saturday evening I felt like I’d just spent six hours in a sauna. Maybe because I’d spent six hours in a sauna.
We picked up barbecue on the way home and ate dinner while we watched the Aggies play Ole Miss in baseball. We came so close to winning the SEC Championship, but lost the final game of the series. On the upside, we finished the regular season ranked #1 in the nation and there are still good baseball times to be had because the SEC tournament starts this week, then regionals and then, God willing, on to Omaha for the College World Series.
On Sunday morning, I drove Caroline back out to the soccer tournament while P spoke at church. He met us out there as soon as it was over and then we headed home for the rest of the afternoon.
Oh, and in the middle of all of this, I was reading The Nightingale. I couldn’t put it down and picked it up every chance I had all weekend long. It was so well-written, but oh my word at the sadness. That sounds dumb to say because I knew it was set in France during World War II and that premise isn’t generally a harbinger for the feel good novel of the year. When I finally finished it yesterday morning, I immediately regretted that I chose to read it while I’m trying to finish my own book which is supposed to be predominately funny and light-hearted. I immediately had to cleanse my brain palate with several episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and now I am not going to allow myself to read anything else about any sort of war until after I turn in my book. Otherwise I might finish the whole thing with “What’s the point of any of this? The world is cold and cruel. The end.”
But it was a really great book. Just don’t pick it up if you’re looking for a light beach read.
By Sunday evening we were all tired, including Piper and Mabel. In fact, they were so tired that Piper let Mabel use her bed as a pillow.
Mabel wrote a haiku about it later.
Sister shared with me
A place to lay my tired head
Growls replaced by love
And then earlier this afternoon, Caroline spilled a whole bag of Cheetos on the couch and Piper and Mabel declared it to be the best day ever because they were immediately on the scene before we could clean it all up. Mabel wrote about that, also.
Puffed corn tastes of cheese
I have seen the face of God
Joy unspeakable
Hope you have a good Tuesday.