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Excessive Heat Warning

Submitted entry: Paul is asleep - I think he must have worn himself out. He had a friend over today and the two of them played in his playroom for several hours before she went home for lunch and Paul had lunch then nursed to sleep. It was such a trip, though. The two of them played so well together (she’s about twice his age so that probably helped some) that I wasn’t needed and instead helped Sage rearrange her office keeping an ear open for the conflicts and mischief that never came. Interestingly enough, I felt guilty despite all that. Here was Paul and his friend having a great time in the box-houses we all made together (Sage got two new filing cabinets and the boxes made great houses that we decorated together) and Sage and I were working and chatting together. But it didn’t matter - there was a discernable feeling that I had to get in there and facilitate the play and that not doing so was a bad idea. I was glad I stayed out of it, though, as they were having such a great time and he really needs time on his own with kids untainted by adult conversation just as much as we need adult conversation untainted by the presence of children. It was actually really beautiful to watch from a distance.

Yesterday despite the “Excessive Heat Warning” we all piled into our car at 7:30 in the morning with a box of pesto pizza and a jug of water and headed for the Springfield library. We took a different way there, avoiding the four lane divided highway and got there quicker and cooler with all the shade from the trees helping us out. What a good thing it was to go there too - we checked out 70 items - books, cds, books on tape and even a few toys for Paul. It felt like everything good about shopping with none of the guilt. We got lots of new stuff to look at and enjoy and didn’t spend a dime (well, we had to pay $35 to renew our annual membership and Sage had about $4 in fines but that isn’t always the case). I got a couple novels, a “Dummies” book about Debian Linux that I got for the CDs in it which turned out to be horribly scratched, a couple of books by Trungpa Rinpoche and several cookbooks as well as a pile of CDs of which so far my favorites are Buckshot Lefonque and The Smiths.

And speaking of the Smiths - it was really odd. This morning I was listening to it outside while watching the kids and there was just something so weird about hearing the music of my angst ridden late teens played while I was almost the age of my parents when I was listening to the music. So it was something like this:

The rain falls down on a humdrum town
Hey Paul! Wanna look for roly-polies?
This town has dragged you down
Daddy! Look at me!

It just is hard to get into the ennui when you’re as happy just sitting and watching your son playing happily. (Of course the 20 year old me would just remind me that someday he’ll be 15 and he too will think that Depeche Mode’s Blasphemous Rumours is the deepest and most apropos song for his life that he’d ever heard.

Despite all that it’s reminding me that I should try to track down Morrissey’s Bona Drag - it was an album that spent most of 1990 in my CD player with a cassette copy in my car. By all rights I shouldn’t like this music - he’s not particularly talented and I’m not fond of the lyrics but all the same I enjoy it.

Of course the other project I’m trying to take on is actually finding new music. For someone as prone to nostalgia as I am, it’s really easy for me to just spend my time listening to and trying to find copies of my CD collection circa 1991 but at the same time I love the feeling of finding a new musician that I like and it’s been a long time since I’ve done that. I think the last find I had was You Were Spiraling and I’m getting sick of the albums I have of theirs - their second album pretty much lived in the rented car’s CD player when we were in Michigan. Does anyone have any suggestions? Woj? Emily? Anyone?

Paul just woke up and I’m going to end it here though he is lying back down with Sage. Why? Because I don’t want Sage to get too swamped writing her column. Sage is pretty busy - maybe someone would like to be a guest contributer?

King Friday

Pesto