Summer: Wed., 7/4

Happy Fourth! L&G are wild about this holiday, and we love it too. Over the past few years we've established a whole little ritual that marks the day. We've been coming to NH for the Fourth for our entire married life--we could only think of one year when we couldn't be here, when we'd just moved to CA and were staying in a Hilton in downtown Sacramento, frantically trying to find a short-term rental during a holiday for a new job Andrew wasn't sure he'd be keeping. Good times.

Today was genuinely good, from beginning to end. After breakfast we headed into Plainfield for the Fourth of July parade, a favorite of L&G. We got there a little early and browsed around a tag sale, where I found a brand-new pair of royal blue Birkenstocks in Lucia's size for $5. Greta chose a book. I spotted a wooden cobbler's bench that I knew I'd wind up going back for.

We found a somewhat shady spot to watch the parade. L&G got lots of candy thrown to them, and they were given small bottles of chocolate milk from a local dairy (Greta's favorite part). After the parade, we had hot dogs and pulled pork sandwiches in the firemen's picnic tent. L&G began making their way through their bags of candy.

Andrew then went to get the car and I went back to buy the cobbler's bench ($15).

Back at home, we read some Pippi Longstocking and then got into our swimsuits to go swimming at William's pool. We were melting by then and this was a perfect way to spend part of our afternoon. L&G played with the various pool floats.

We spent a little time outside at our house after that, playing Chutes & Ladders all together, and Andrew and the girls played frisbee before getting too overheated.

Next we made our way down to the pond, with our raft-boats, and floated around a bit. And then, suddenly, while the girls were floating in the center of the pond and Andrew was swimming nearby, Andrew suddenly shouted at Lucia: "THE SNAPPING TURTLE IS NEXT TO YOU. SWIM OVER HERE. NOW. NOW. SWIM!! SWIM!!" Panicking but not enough to make a beeline for the shore, Lucia swam quickly toward Andrew, shouting excitedly that she'd accidentally touched it with her hand. Greta, meanwhile, tried to swim toward the spot where the turtle had been because she wanted to see it. But the turtle was gone. This sighting is momentous, because it's always unclear to us whether the snapping turtle is still alive year after year. We've seen it only three times (including today) in all the years we've been coming here together. For it to surface today, while we were in the pond, close enough for Lucia to touch with her hand, is crazy.

William and Sarah and some of their relatives joined us at the pond shortly after that excitement. And that's when the second momentous pond event occurred: I got so blazing hot sitting on the shore, while others used my usual raft-boat, that I got into the pond and swam for the very first time in my life. Algae stems tangled around my legs, arms, wrists, and neck. Things stuck to me. I imagined the turtle under my feet. But the water was gloriously cool. I didn't stay in long, but I did it. Possibly once in a lifetime.

That was a lot of pond excitement. Back at the house, we made some dinner (leftovers from previous dinners out) and then got ready to go to the fireworks in another nearby town. We drove in around 8pm and found a spot in the grassy field where the fireworks viewing is. We'd brought a large amount of glow sticks, so the waiting went quickly, and the fireworks were fantastic.

We hadn't left any lights on at the house, and when we got back at 11pm it was pitch black. The girls are never awake late enough here to see the amazing stars, so Andrew spread out a blanket so they could see the Milky Way and a few constellations, which they were really into until bats began swooping alarmingly close to us, and we went inside.

Happy Fourth. Nothing feels like summer as much as this.

PS: I had an encounter yesterday that I forgot to share. We were at the local grocery store, picking up a few things, and I went to put my credit card into the card reader. But the man behind me in line was too close to the reader, and his sidearm--or whatever you call a gun in a holster connected to a kind of belt around his waist, above but not actually holding up his Jams-style shorts--was knocking into my credit card. "Excuse me, sir, but your gun is hitting my credit card," I said. What a feeling, to speak a brand-new sentence.

Comments