Us, March 9, 2009: John, Ondine, Roy, Leo, and Buddy
Us,
March 9, 2009:
John, Ondine, Roy, Leo, and Buddy
Here’s something that may blow your mind: it is now closer to Christmas than it is from last Christmas!
The weather turned dramatically over the weekend and summer has hit like a thermal bomb. It’s unpleasantly warm in the morning, with burning sunlight glaring through the windows. When we run water from the cold-water faucets, it’s warm, like sweat, or spit. Because the hot water pipes are insulated for some of their run, the hot water side actually delivers cooler water than the cold-water side, for a while, anyway.
John changed his run from morning to evening because, even at 5:30 a.m., there’s a palpable heat throbbing through the air.
The kints have this week off, after doing day camps last week. Roy did a half-day tennis camp, which he hated, and Leo did the San Carlos Rec day camp, which he wants to go back to.
Saturday we had a quiet day at home. We visited next door to hear about Barbara and Bill’s Big Bear trip. They showed us some photos of the cabin – it looked spectacular, like a treehouse nestled high in the oak canopy. Another photo series showed the acrobatic squirrels climbing and stretching to the bird feeder. They are determined little creatures!
The boys enjoyed looking at a photo book of Sand Pond photos.
In the evening Ondine went to Story Makers for the first time in months. Her friend Sharon performed, reading and singing.
Sunday morning, first thing, Ondine headed up Cowles Mountain with her friend Lynne. She took Buddy with her, but Buddy had a hard time up there. Once again, he was dragging and flopping down in every tiny patch of shade he came across. He is not a heat dog, nor a hiking dog. He dawdled all the way down, and some people even asked if he was an old dog!
John and the kints, meanwhile, went to San Carlos Hardware to buy a locking doorknob for the door into the garage. The old one had pretty much stripped, so the key would just spin in the cylinder without catching the lock. Then John installed the new knob while the kints rattled around. Ondine had returned home by then, and Buddy was flopped out on the cool kitchen floor.
Of course, for the kints, the big attraction at San Carlos Hardware is the free popcorn!
Henrietta dropped off Michael at 11:30 and Ondine took Michael, Roy, and Leo to pick up Stephen. (Stephen is now big enough to sit in the front seat of the car!) Then, they all went to Peter Piper Pizza! They met Leo’s friend Jake and his mom Heather there. While the boys played the various games (Peter Piper Pizza is like a casino for children), the moms chatted.
This outing was Leo’s reward for making it into the Gage Running Club Top Runners – kids who ran 150 miles or more over the course of the school year. They get a special field trip – this time it was to the Allied Gardens pool for a swim party – but Leo was sick that day and didn’t go. So, Peter Piper Pizza with a friend was in lieu of the pool party.
Ondine has been straightening and organizing, and she managed to clear out a special little writing space in her office area. She was horrified, upon her return, to discover John had invaded her special space with his laptop and was writing there instead of in his own office. John retreated, chastened, to his crate.
Monday we have a wonderful return of June Gloom, the last of it for a while. The boys will go next door for a longer visit. This week we plan to try to get to the Del Mar Fair, possibly twice as we’ll definitely be going on the Fourth of July to watch Ondine hula dance in an on-stage performance with the rest of her hula class! John has a lunch meeting today with José to go over upcoming projects.
Neighborhood gas prices are holding at about $2.97 per gallon.
Visit us often - this journal has been updated at least once a week since 1998! Our friends
at WebCounter say you are visitor number
since then.
Back to the Kuraoka Family main page, with lots more stuff, including photos!