As I sit here my house, my "quiet" country house, is filled with the noise of little boys, laughing, shouting to be heard over one another, growling (yes, growling!) and filling the house with an exuberant energy. It is Sijo's 10th birthday party.
The activites we planned to fill a 5 hour stretch of time are being raced through at top speed. The cupcakes have been eaten, and the party bags opened. The back yard is full of wet patches and a still running hose that no one thought to turn off. Bathing suits and towels and wet sandals are strewn from the shoe bench at my doorway to the coffee table half-way across the living room. The boys are beginning what promises to be a video game marathon, although I plan to scoot them back outside into the breezy afternoon at some point in time.
Sijo prepared a lazagna before his friends arrived (it is his specialty) and it is sitting on the counter to be popped into the oven later on. There is a watermelon chilling in the refrigerator. Cool wind through the open windows... Colorful messes in every direction... Little boy chatter and general chaos echoing down the hallway... It's all good.
picture by Haiku July 2009... a quieter moment on the hill
