yardfull
Yesterday was a perfect day for being outside. The sky was overcast and breezy so the temperatures stayed comfortable all day long. Such days are rare in the middle of summer, so my kids and I took full advantage. I cut chores a little short so that we could all get out front and ride bikes.
Since I don’t actually have a bike and Patches is too young for one, we just played chalk and No Street. The other three kids had a blast. Even better, they met up with three kids from around the corner and abandoned bike riding for sword games.
The excitment moved into the backyard where I was able to relax my vigilance of Patches and actually do some gardening while the kids ran around yelling at the top of their lungs. My yard has been sadly neglected over the last 4 years and so I’m in the process of reclaiming it from the jungle of weeds. I’ve enlisted the aid of chemical weapons otherwise I’d lose the battle. I love the stuff that I can spray all over my flowerbeds and then the grass in them dies. Just the grass, the flowers thrive. Wonderful.
I wish there was stuff like that for Bindweed. As it is I’m stuck pulling the bindweed out by hand. It isn’t too hard except in the rosebed. Those stupid rose bushes keep attacking me, don’t they know I’m trying to help them? No. They’d rather stay smothered by bindweed I guess. One of them has already sacrificed its life for it’s principles. I’ll have to remove it with a shovel. Oh well. One less rose bush to tend.
The best part of the day came in the evening. The kids were over by the playset tying each other up with rope and I took a moment to just sit on the grass and look around my yard. It wasn’t the look of “what should I work on next” or “Gah THAT still needs done.” It was just a moment of serenity. I just sat there and enjoyed the fact that I have a yard. I enjoyed the greenness of it and the feel of the breeze. I even lay on my back and watched clouds pass in the sky. It has been far, far too long since I’ve done anything like that. It was a beautiful day.