Monday, April 9, 2012

In the Sunshine

Today was incredibly sunny.  If I were a teacher, I'd have brought the class out to a damp grassy spot on the playground and given a lesson there.  There is reason why I am not a teacher.  That kind of thinking would have backfired on me.  I would have gotten distracted, maybe taking the kids to look at buds on the trees that were about to bloom, maybe leaning back and looking for shapes in the clouds.  This would have given implicit permission and the kids would have become distracted as well, staring off into space, rolling around and talking when when they should have been listening.  Then I'd have become disgusted as I dragged them back into the relatively dark classroom with a glum look on my face and a bad attitude all around.  Good thing I'm not a teacher.
 I should have walked Teddy today, but I ended up hanging around on the back deck too long while Teddy sniffed around.  I wanted to stay home today, to noodle around back there, making it nice for sitting in the sun with a book, sweeping steps, pulling small nettles on the hillside, piling rocks in nice places.  Then, suddenly, I didn't have enough time to walk before heading off to school. 

I did take one of my reading buddies outside this afternoon.   Oh, I pretended to work.  He read to me and I let it wash over me, the words, the sun, the breeze lifting my hair.  I almost forgot to ask him any questions.  I'm supposed to work on reading comprehension.   That means that I need to ask questions like, 'Did anything like that ever happen to you?' or 'What do you think is going to happen next?'  I wonder if my guy knows that I'm not just trying to engage him in conversation? We had a good time, reading outside.
 
I was talking to another mom after school.  It was funny how she kept referring to a day two weeks ago when we'd had great weather and I knew just which day she meant. 

"It's funny, you know, how we live here long enough in the rain and the gloom and we can remember a day more than two weeks ago just because the weather was nice that day," she said.  I knew what she meant.  I like that too. I didn't tell her that I also like the rainy days, the days when the clouds bump along the ridges, sometimes nestling into a ridge or behind some trees.  I don't mind walking in the rain as long as I have a good raincoat. 

But if you'd asked me as I sat on my back deck, I'd have said that today was perfect.  The sky was robins-egg blue and clear of clouds.  The birds were cheerful even though the feeder has stood empty for three or four weeks.  Teddy had sniffed around, but didn't go out of sight.  He's such a good dog, even when he doesn't get his walk sometimes.  Both cats stood at the screen door sniffing the air and looking at him as if he'd been the only kid in the car to get an ice cream cone.  Well, they'd been picking on him, so maybe that was how it was supposed to be.  Life isn't always fair, but I can try to even things out a bit, letting him come outside with me because he's such a good companion. 

I noticed last Saturday, when we went down to see the Snoqualmie Falls after the Easter egg hunt, that the hiking came easier for me now that I'm doing it on a regular basis.  I like that.  My breath, my muscle movement all came easier.  I love my two kitties, but it's good to have a dog that needs walking but doesn't mind basking in the sunshine on the back deck now and then too. 

Thank you for listening, jb

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