Tuesday, July 29, 2008

So there are the kind of parents who never embarrass their kids. The kind who have matching shoes and socks, who don't ask their friends awkward questions (like, "Hi, how are you?"), the kind who don't ever burst into song in the aisles at Trader Joe's and do a little shuffle shuffle, hip thrust right by the nuts and dried fruit, and the kind who do not stop by tree trimmer's trucks every single time they see them and ask for a truckload of mulch to be dumped in their yards.

These parents probably only exist in fiction. I remember being horribly embarrassed by my father, but then so was my mother, so it probably wasn't just teen-hood. I don't think I cross the line, even with tree trimmers, because I never tell them they have to go to college and make something of themselves, nor do I hold up my children as examples, negative or positive, to the tree trimmers.

After months, literally months of talking to random tree guys on the street, today as I biked the little ones to swim lessons (almost done! Thing 4 puts her head under water now!) I stopped yet again. I am nothing if not persistent in my optimism -- someone's going to bring me free mulch someday -- and I chatted them up a bit and asked if they'd dump a whole load into my driveway. As I pedaled away, I called out my address one more time.

And then I forgot about it. I've made a new friend family at swim lessons, so I chatted with the husband (the wife was taking her lactation consultant board exam -- so cool) and got a lovely surprise when I came home. Here's the view from my front room:


The only down side I can begin to think of is the effort it's going to take to finish weeding and raking the back yard before moving it, wheelbarrow load by load. But hey, what else would I do with my time?

One thing I'm not going to do is spin more bamboo. Why? Because, after spending months worrying about ruining some beautiful roving, making half-hearted attempt after another, last night I just sat down with the rest of it and spun. I didn't worry about doing it perfectly, but I didn't give up either. Just spun and spun. And when I was done? I plied it up with the rest of the dark brown merino to get this:



Only 88 yards were in the other skein -- it seemed like longer when I was spinning, but interestingly enough, last night's was spun in a different spirit and it went faster and easier. Lessons there, of course. Lessons everywhere, darn it all. Whether or not I have enough for a scarf or not.

5 comments:

allisonmariecat said...

"How are you?" How could you ask such a horribly personal question?! Tee hee!

Loooove the bamboo. Gorgeous.

Pancake Goddess said...

It's remarkable, the wide spectrum of ability the kids' friends show in making basic chitchat with us. Some of them have absolutely no trouble - they are perfectly charming, even if they proceed into the teen dungeon and roll their eyes at our lameness. Others cannot. do. it. They get all stiff and silent and whether it's rudeness or nerves, it pretty much always comes off like rudeness.

Hmm, there is one kid who is the exception - falls into neither category. He is very capable of being polite but opts for overtly rude. That one is going to have to change or move on.

So, S, it's been a while since I turned one of your posts into something all about me, so I have to make up for lost time.

Beautiful yarn. My poor wheel, so dusty.

Congrats on your mulch :-D

suzee said...

The nice thing? As they get older, they're around you less during your wild moments (like talking to strangers).

Great deal on the mulch, and the yarn is just lovely!

Lara said...

I am utterly impressed with your mulch-procuring skills. That is just awesome.

Hey, if you don't embarrass your kids, you're not doing it right.;)

Robert van de Walle said...

Speaking of mulch, that's an impressive pile! Surely your young 'uns are building character by transporting that pile for you? Except one risk of making them work hard is their bodies just get stronger and they have more energy later...