Watching Clouds and Geese

~ rabbitpatchdiary.com

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Monday

On Monday, the wicked heat lifted.  The sky became a bright blue after dawn.  The morning was bright and cool for June, in the south.  It was the kind of morning that made you want to forget housekeeping, altogether and abide outside instead.

We all rose early enough, to spend a few minutes on the front porch, before Will left for work.  The laughing river was blue as ever and sparkled in the morning light.  The sidewalk was busy with people walking dogs and plenty went by on bikes.  There was an older couple who walked holding hands.  All had a greeting or a kind word to share with us folks on the porch.

Lyla wakes up smiling and hugs us all”good morning”.  After breakfast, Lyla and and I went to the the little playground, just a short walk from Jennys’ house.  The park is set by the rivers’ edge.  Usually, there are geese grazing in the shade.  We were the only ones there yesterday.  Lyla took full advantage of that.  It was not for long, though, as the sun warmed the slide and everything else up quickly.  For a while, we watched the cars on the bridge.  We watched clouds, too.  One looked like an angry troll with horns, lying in wait for the only child on the playground, but right before our eyes, it then became a lamb with a sweet expression.  As I sat there watching clouds and geese, I thought, that life had some grand moments.  Lyla got hungry, otherwise,  we may have stayed all day.

After lunch, Jenny, Lyla and I ran a few errands.  It was Jennys, friend, Michelles’ birthday and so we bought the ingredients for a key lime cheesecake.  We bought strawberries for a neighbor.  When we got home, I washed the berries and Lyla ate quite a few.  I put some in a basket, for Miss Thelma and Jenny dressed Lyla up for the visit.  What a cute picture Lyla made with a basket of strawberries and a pony tail.  Miss Thelma is in her nineties and is ” as sweet as pie”.  Lyla was fine til, I asked her to present her gift to Miss Thelma.  Lyla, had apparently became quite attached to the basket and said “No!”  followed by “Mine!”  Oh goodness, how  I tried to convince her that sharing was good.  I even brought God in to it-however, Lyla was not feeling very Christian, at the moment.  Miss Thelma was gracious and kind.  When I finally pried the basket from Lylas’ hand, Miss Thelma made good time to dump the berries in a bowl in the kitchen.  She returned with a stuffed frog in the basket.  Lyla wailed at the sight of a frog in her basket, instead of the strawberries.  I could not get away fast enough.  To say, it was harrowing, is an understatement.  Lyla walked in the door at Jennys’ with a long unintelligible explanation, that I think may have been “Honeybee is hateful.”

Lyla soon recovered-and so did I.  Later we had a light supper.  Michelle and her family came over for dessert.  Michelle and Danny have two boys.  I watched them oh, so carefully catch lightening bugs and then quickly release them.

The night before, we had all taken a walk at dusk.  We saw a small colony of bats come out of a chimney.  Lyla and the boys were quite impressed at the sight-so was I.  It had been a long time since I had seen such an event.  The adults talked about all of the horrible and unjust myths about bats.  I agreed with every word. . .until one flew right at me.  Just before contact, he darted off, as if nothing had happened.  I was shattered and decided maybe bats will “make a nest in your hair”  after all.

The boys splashed in every puddle and walked along the shore of the river.  Lyla was content to watch-and so was I.  I picked her a mimosa blossom and we smelled the white crepe myrtles.  The blossoms of the white variety, smell like clean cotton.

Jenny said Lyla fell asleep, while she was putting her pajamas on her. Jenny and I stayed up and actually watched a movie.  We chose “Lion” , which is based on a true story.  

Dear Diary, Especially in summer, I am determined not to be rushed.  I do not want to miss clouds that turn into lambs.  Summer is a time to imagine what seems impossible-and I am glad for that.  Every firefly matters to me and so do the diamonds on the river.  I am glad for hours that meander without haste . . .and strawberries.

 

27 thoughts on “Watching Clouds and Geese”

  3. I love your posts. They are magical. I had to laugh at Lyla not wanting to give up her strawberries. It happened in our neighborhood. I was the old person being given some bar cookies in a bag by neighbor Shawn’s 3-year-old granddaughter. She had come over with Logan, who was probably five at the time. He did everything short of hitting her to make her give up the goodies. Nope, she took them back to grannie’s house. It was good for a laugh, and I certainly did not NEED those calories.

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  4. Even as I read your posts, I anticipate the last paragraph where you express gratitude for your blessings. They always touch my heart. This line did as well: I do not want to miss clouds that turn into lambs.

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  5. Another wonderful post full of happy moments in life. I had to laugh at Lyla not wanting to give up her basket full of strawberries – one never knows how a child will react to any situation until it happens. I know Miss Thelma understood. Bats – I see one or two occasionally when I am outside before dawn. They are very beneficial creatures.

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    1. I will not soon forget Lyla and her strawberries! ha! I forgot she was two! Miss Thelma was so precious and understanding. Bats really are so very important=but I appreciate them from a distance! ha! Thank you precious friend! love Michele

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  6. Can just picture you with Lyla @ Miss Thelma’s trying to take her in hand! Your remembrance caught me laughing (out loud) @ coffee shop. Hard to stop! Enjoy the laughing river! 🤗☀️💜🤗

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  7. Dearest Rabbit, I have loved this post like it were a cuddly teddy bear. I felt myself squidging it and squeezing it and loving it sooooo much that I should imagine that Teddy Bear would be glad to see the back of me! Aaaand … I howled with laughter at the pickle of poor Lyla not wanting to give up her lovely basket. Nor share the strawberries. Nor did she want to show any gratitude for the generous gift of the stuffed frog.

    Aw heckaroonie… I LOVE Lyla. She’s at that age where she’s not got very long left in years before she cannot ‘say it, and display it exactly like she feels it is.

    But … I can imagine being the mother/Grandmother of her when she makes her feelings about a subject matter known to all. Been there … done that. I can laugh about it now, but my two girls seemed to have a homing instinct for the wrong time and the wrong place.

    I recall Daughter No.2, being invited to a Nursery school friends Birthday Party.
    We’d been shopping for a gift, and bought a Polly Pocket House, and something else which I can’t remember….

    We wrapped it up together, wrote the tag, and the Birthday Card, and then, on the day, we were ready, and No.2 had her party dress on, and just as we were going out of the door to go to the party, No.2 Daughter said …. “Why are you taking MY present to the party?”
    “Because you’re going to give it to Amanda for her Birthday, along with her card and *the other thing*”
    “No. NO. MY Present is FOR ME! The other thing is for Manda, and she can have the card too!”

    I’d obviously not quite explained this gift giving thing properly, or enough times.
    Daughter No. 2 thought that the Polly Pocket present was for HER.

    All heck was let loose in the back of the car as I was driving her to the party.
    When we arrived her face was like a smacked bottom, the ribbons in her hair looked like they’d been put there by a dimwit Chimp, and she absolutely refused to get out of the car.

    “Ok, well then I’m going to Amanda’s party and you can stay there in the car for an hour”. said I.
    “Otay” she replied.
    I swiftly picked up the gifts (including the Polly Pocket) and card and went to shut the door.
    “NO. NOOO. NOOO NO NONO. Dat’s MYYYY Polly Pocket! IT’S MINE.” She was screaming at this point, and I swear I could hear police sirens, no doubt called by worried neighbours who thought I was beating my own child or doing something dreadful to her.

    Next followed the most awful battle of rights and wrongs; with me holding the gifts as high up in the air as I could possibly get them so that she couldn’t prise my fingers off them. We walked/stomped/shouted/cried and sweated all the way up the drive of the party girls house (and that was only me!) …. and when we got to the door, Amanda’s mummy opened it and was laughing like a drain. She’d watched most of the scene from the window. I gave her a very quick look of desperation and said in a loud whisper …. “Take these off me and don’t let her see where you put them.” All said with this fanatical look of desperation on my face.

    For the first ten minutes daughter No.2 looked like the grumpiest child in the universe.
    After that …. she joined in and Polly Pocket was all forgotten about …. but I did ask Mummy of Amanda if she would not open the gift until No.2 was strapped in the car and she saw us disappear down the road.

    Ah, I remember it fondly …. but I wouldn’t want to do it again

    LOVED this post Rabbit. Thank you so much for sharing it with us all.
    Oodles of love and squidges ~ Cobs. x

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    1. that is too funny-now. Oh I feel your pain. Jenny looked at me when I got home and knew I had been through something-plus Lyla was still mad and jabbering about it. Well we recovered, but next time I am holding the basket! ha! love you to pieces! Michele

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  8. Loved this post, as always! Really laughed about Lyla and her strawberries. You just have to love those wee ones. They are so honest and have such a way of keeping up humble and slightly desperate.
    So glad you had a wonderful visit with your family. Family is so very precious.

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    1. Oh yes about keeping us humble-what a horrible surprise for me-and Miss Thelma! ha! It was so very funny . . .much later on! I am scared to attempt it again, but I will. I should have never given Lyla that basket! now I know! ha! thank you, love Michele

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  9. I love this post a lot. I too don’t want to miss the clouds turn into lambs. I could visualize your morning from dawn to blue sky and your day going about doing things with Lyla, Miss Thelma. I feel like my day is calm, going slowly, not rushing. Thank you very much for the post.

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  11. I would have had a hard time with a bat flying right at me, too! And I can really relate to Lyla’s reaction to having to give the neighbor the strawberries. Sharing is such a hard thing at that age, but she has the adults to show her the way. Thanks for sharing this post…I love reading about your family!

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