Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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Remember that carnival I’ve told you about?  You know the one that, after we attend it, usually results in emergency medical treatment (Bird: opthalmologist with a torn cornea Me: ER with a foot crushed by large, fat pony).  Well, it was that time again and I took the kids, singlehandedly and brought along Ren, just for kicks.

All told, it went very well despite the heat (high 80’s) and the fact that we spent FOUR HOURS there.  Of course there are stories.
Remind me to tell you about:
~The wine bar (it doesn’t exist, but it should)
~The mother who treated her kids like props in a photo essay 
~God help us, the TROLLEY!
Oh and I’m ruminating hard about love, specifically the reckless sort. 
   

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/08/406/

The Lake

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It’s been a busy week of constant get togethers with friends and family.  We’ve been outside all day, just about every day.  Today we sort of collapsed.
Fortunately it was a day of rest.

Kicking (kickin?) it pool side.

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Christopher is visiting cousins which made having my Mac by the pool a possibility.  This lasted for about three minutes before we realized that Jackie Boy was AWOL.  Since yelling didn’t summon him, we had to mount a search.  By the time all the girls were out of the pool and found their flip flops, Paul found Jack at the neighbors.

The little brunettes floating on alligators are my nieces.  It was an all H- – – – – – Girl Sleep Over last night.   
Good times, but not much rest.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

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A couple weeks ago I awoke early and happened to see two deer on the trail across the road. They were looking around and daintily nibbling branches. Eventually they jumped back into the brush. Watching them I noticed the way the light was shining on our hill. I grabbed a beach towel, the Bible, a notebook and pen, a thermos of coffee, a bowl of oatmeal and my camera. I had to make two trips, but it was worth it to sit on the hill, with the sun shining on my face.

I didn’t bother to get dressed, so I was still wearing my pajamas. Few cars passed. It was me, the trees, the sky, the birds, the grass, the sun and surprisingly few mosquitoes. When they began to hover I decided to practice a sort of mind control and it worked. They left me alone, for the most part.
The above is a picture of one Sunday morning, but it could be a snapshot of this summer. It has been my best one in years. Faithful readers of this blog have been with me on many a dark day – figurative and actual – and I just want to tell you that the sun is shining and the air is cool and sweet.

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On the 4th of July our little town has a parade and afterwards a fair.  In the past, we’ve made the mistake of going immediately after the parade with all the crowds.  This is fine if you like standing in long lines under a noon sun.  I do not and so we finally smartened up and this year, immediately after the parade we drove home.  The girls swam while David, Christopher and I went to a book sale at the local library.  Standing under a noon day sun perusing used books I can stand.  When we returned Torey, Paul and I loaded up the four bigger kids and took them over to the fair.

The place was almost deserted.  Paul split off with the big kids while Torey and I double teamed the Legumes.  We went over to the bounce place and, as you can see the Ren and Eden were the only kids in it.  Watching them jump around made us both wistful.  “I wish I could go in there.”  Torey said.  Before I could even say, “Me too!”  the teenage employee said, “Go ahead.”We both scrabbled up and in and started jumping like our little girls.  
It.Was.So.Much.Fun.
Torey bounced down on her bottom first and then I did.  Our jumping knocked the little girls off balance.  They were flailing around and falling and we were all laughing and laughing.  I don’t know how long it has been since I have jumped in one of those.  I remember when I was little getting knocked into corners, having my face jammed against the netting and trying so hard to get loose but any ground I would take I would lose to a bigger kid’s bounce.  When I was quite young this scared me, but as I got older it just made me laugh, which weakened me further.  One memory I have of jumping with my brothers and being down on all fours, trying to get up, but continually being knocked over and then laughing so hard I couldn’t stop.
Laughing like that feels so good.  I don’t laugh like that enough.  I want to start keeping track, not in a formal way, but just get into the habit of a little check in.  We need to laugh.  It’s like an emotional massage.  I don’t want to withhold that from myself anymore.  Tomorrow I am going to call a rental place to find out how much it costs to get one of these things for a day.  I know a lot of people who have need of a place where it’s safe to jump and fall.  I want others to laugh until they cry or to cry until they laugh.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/07/411/