A Lake called Paradise

We had it ALL TO OURSELVES yesterday, for about 2 hours in the afternoon. It was so tranquil that the lake was teeming with fish. Fish that were biting. Guess who they were biting?

Musings on the 4th of July

Today, we celebrated the holiday quickly, for Daddy had to go into work for the evening. We fired up the grill, made some garlic burgers with all the trimmings, ate some decadent dessert, played in the baby pool, and in the late afternoon as the temperature cooled, Caleb and I took a walk around our neighborhood.

I’m so glad for my decision to walk today, for this is what we saw:

A backyard party with dozens of people under a tent set up on a lush green lawn. Smoke snaking up into the sky from the barbecue grill, a line of parked cars snaking down the cul-de-sac. People talking, children laughing, chasing each other, running out into the street. An old couple, sitting quietly on their front porch together. A family with two dogs eating dinner, amidst lively conversation. Male members of families messing with grills on decks. Festive-looking neighbors leaving the house. A cheerful young boy tossing water balloons, careful not to hit us. A toddler wandering out into a driveway, his mother following close behind. People in good spirits, smiling, nodding, waving to us everywhere. This is America. White people, black people, Asians, Latinos, ...Hungarians – they are all represented here in my neighborhood. We all mingle here, and today we’re outdoors celebrating our freedoms and 232 years of independence, over hot barbecue grills. Only in America.

As night fell, the sound of fireworks forced me to the window. Our backyard partying neighbors had a fireworks show and so did our City Stadium. I could see them both from my front window.

It was good to be an American today. (Even though I am, technically, not quite there yet.)

GOD BLESS AMERICA
By Irving Berlin

God Bless America
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains,
To the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam.
God Bless America,
My home, sweet home.

God Bless America
My home, sweet home.

The last weekend of June

In pictures

The (Un)Celebrated Day of Love

My husband and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. I know: this is equal to heresy in our commercialized world.

I don’t remember ever having observed the Day of Love, which is not to say that we don’t value romance. To the contrary! We make it a point to take time out for romance all year round. Each and every week, you can find us at our house, lingering over a fancy candlelit dinner, with Frank or Tony crooning in the background, the two of us engaged in spirited discussion about anything and everything or just gazing into each other’s eyes (yes, we do this even with a baby!).

We’ve come to expect these evenings, just as we expect that Mondays follow Sundays. We look forward to them with anticipation; they are an important part of our marriage. Ten and a half years of romantic dinners twice a week on average look something like this numerically: 10.5x(52x2)=1092. In reality, we’ve enjoyed over a thousand romantic evenings, many of them uniquely memorable.

Like the time when I surprised Ron with a four-course meal on the dawn of his birthday upon getting home from work at 4 AM. Or when we grilled steak and lobster outside at midnight one freezing January night. Or when we hiked to our destination, carrying our al fresco dinner (with wine!) in a picnic basket, so we could enjoy a crisp fall day by the river. Or when we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year with a traditional meal. There have been countless nights when we sat on our back deck watching fireflies light up the sky, bats fly overhead, pointing out constellations and observing the moon wax and wane. I could talk about the night we sat and marveled at the new life we’ve created. Or the night we had our deepest discussion yet on the nature of God.

So you see, we really have no need for Valentine’s Day. It will remain uncelebrated by us yet again this year.

(Unless the fancy strikes us at the stroke of midnight and we decide to fire up the grill and pop open that nice Shiraz.)

Caleb's take on politics

This is what he thinks of political speeches at the moment

On the other hand, his parents were thrilled at having the opportunity to hear 2 political candidates (Paul, Huckabee) speak in 3 days. We may have a third candidate visit our little town in the next couple of weeks.

Caleb slept soundly through both of these speeches (though the energetic cheering threatened to sabotage his peaceful slumber on more than one occasion).