summer...

Summer in this small town is sweet.  It shrinks closer to its townie size of 8,000, and there is parking, and quiet.  It doesn't mean there's nothing going on though.  Why, just this last week we attended a city council meeting!. The girls had entered a contest to design flags for the uptown area that depicted healthy living in our town.  There was a presentation and a general parading of the children (not our favorite kind of event - Eliza played along grudgingly, but Ani hid behind her chair when it came time to publicly show the art on the public access channel. I don't blame her) but the coolest part was seeing the flags up a couple of days later as we made our way uptown to meet Dan for the 100th birthday party of our little independent cinema.

The girls chose their subject matter themselves, and I love how precisely they represent what they really love to spend their time doing.

Eliza made samosas for our picnic during the celebration; after champagne and birthday cake the crowd walked up a block to the campus green to hear a band concert featuring movie music...

...and back to the cinema for a showing of the first movie the Athena ever played, in 1915: Mary Pickford's Cinderella.  We sat in (near) silence for almost an hour, enjoying the movie! (Ani and I couldn't help whispering to each other what the actors might have been saying. Prince Charming: Do you like my crocheted tunic? My mother made it for me. Cinderella: Oh yes, how do you like my netted hat with lampshade top? PC: Very fetching indeed. C: Oh my, is it midnight already?)

Of course there was swimming - at the lake and at the pool - and a modified schedule of learning together (another post perhaps), but my favorite time was an impromptu Sunday evening picnic of spring rolls and strawberries. Complete with grasshoppers and a scarlet tanager (number 52!).

oooh, can you see it?

There was much sighing as we lay around, watching the birds and the ants and the sky, and suggestions that we do this every night.  I know, it wouldn't be as special if it happened all the time, but it's so lovely to be so content that you want that to be The Way It Is.