this is not nothing

rainbow bouqets

 He is a rascal and a delight.

more than soup

There's a story that's been told and retold about the Wednesday evening I sat at the dinner table straight through my favorite extracurricular activity because I would not take a bite of the tomato soup that had been served. I loved gymnastics and I was pretty sure I hated tomato soup and I still wonder from whom Tolliver inherited his stubborn streak.

Tollie asked twice recently if I'd make tomato soup, the "good kind" like I made for Andy once he recovered from Covid enough to regain appetite and taste. The kind with sauteed onions and garlic, chunks of roasted tomatoes, heavy cream and fresh basil.

Yesterday I made the soup. I didn't take a single bite, but sometimes we can tell people we love them without saying a word. I hope he remembers the hot bowl in front of him, a metaphorical hug, the same way I remember missing gymnastics all the times my mom did make the things I asked for.

a bushel and a peck

a bystander to the magic

The little boys don safety goggles while Andy mans the chainsaw. They're designing a stump throne at the edge of the woods, a place to sit and think.

I wonder if they'll always have their work cut out for them.

Standing at the counter, the big boys are disassembling a small mechanical toy, to replace batteries and - hopefully - reconnect a gear. Andy shows them how to diagram the parts as they remove sections, a strategy to aide in the rebuilding, a way to honor the process with some fulcrum of stability.

After an epic game of laser tag in the lawn, huddled around the outdoor kitchen the boys take turns flipping pumpkin pancakes, all of them so present that yesterday's regrets fall off the radar.

I become a lucky bystander to most of the magic happening here.

please

loquacious

I remember when Tucker, having gone to the theater with Grandpa Rod, came home and retold the plot of a movie in such remarkable detail that the retelling may have taken longer than the film itself.

Hank does this now, recounts stories that circumnavigate the globe before I catch any possibility of a conclusion.