Dawn Byrne: August 2017

For 5 weeks, Grandma (I) got more exercise after Pop (my husband) put away the stationary bike to make room for our daughter and her two children. We enjoyed typical activities grandchildren and their grandparents have fun doing: Birthday celebrations; Fireworks; Sesame Place; Making butter in a baby food jar; Collecting flowers from the yards to put in water tinged with food coloring; Adding ice to Grandma’s Just Add Ice orchid; Visiting the pets who live next door; Feeding Grandma’s 29-year-old turtle.

After their 18 hour trip, an additional hour and a half car ride to the New Jersey shore wasn’t a good idea for a 4-year-old or a 1-year-old. So, we played in the giant circle of sand in the backyard. Pop had conveniently taken down our 4 foot, above ground pool just before they arrived.

Dropping Grandma’s marbles down holes in the floors, left from our old radiators, seemed as fun as digging holes in sand. Grandma needs all her marbles. So she suggested lowering highlighters down the holes with twine, and taping the twine to the floor. My daughter volunteered glow sticks in place of the highlighters. We went down into the basement and awed at them dangling from the basement ceiling.

Back upstairs, Pop trumped Grandma’s paper marble shoot with his PVC pipe that doubled as a weapon. Tupperware worked fine as a depository at the end of the paper cylinder. But the marbles ran so fast through the pipe, that we needed to use our beanbag chair as a landing pad so they didn’t ricochet out of the plastic bowl and shoot someone’s eye out.

Our volcano experiment went over big with a gallon of vinegar and 5lb. box of baking soda. Food coloring’s a popular ingredient in this, and other such liquid fun. Except when it’s too hot to go outside and water balloons are in play: Grandma filled them at the kitchen sink; Grandson threw them out windows and doors while his sister napped. When the temperature dropped a bit, collecting the colorful remains became a unique seek and find game.

A neighboring tree branch that hung over the deck of the house next door finally fell. During breakfast, we watched through the window and waved at the lawn service man as he measured and took pictures of damage to the deck. Our adult eyes widened at other dead branches leaning towards our house.

During a doctor’s appointment, Grandma realized the 9 lbs. she thought she had lost was due to our bathroom scale being 9 lbs. off. At the end of the 5 week grand visit, a bigger problem weighed in the kitchen. What to do with all the snacks our daughter had left?

Friday, August 25, 2017

Juliette Writers' Group

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Grand Visit

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Juliette Writers' Group Meeting