Block Party Redux

More on the block party.

There were few pictures taken that day. This is a result of two things: having too much fun and having too much, wine. The party at our place started around lunch time and the last table on the street was put away at midnight. In between there was much revelry, carousing, visiting of friends, neighbors, former neighbors and making of new friends.

Every year we have the fire department come and open the hydrant so the kids and party goers can cool off. The kids really love it.

This is my friend Liz. She and her husband came for lunch in the afternoon. You may remember Liz. She was with me when we cheered our husbands on in the charity race back in June. She recently started writing a blog about living in New York City.

A quiet lull during the festivities.

Eventually, the fire department comes back to turn the hydrant off, signaling the beginning of the end of another successful block party.

The Fair

What is it about a county fair that makes me want to high-tail it out of the city and live in the country?
Maybe it's the country livin' wisdom. Waste Not, Want Not, according to the Grange hall.
Maybe it's knowing those peaches you put up in
July will taste sweeter with a blue ribbon hanging from the jar.
Maybe it's that Harry looks good in green.
Maybe it is the rabbits. I would like to raise rabbits.
Angoras, for their hair, which I will sell.
(This is not an angora, but he's cute anyway.)
Maybe it's the bunnies.
Maybe it's the pigs and their curly tails.

Maybe it's the poultry. Living life surrounded by chickens might be better than living in New York surrounded by pigeons. Oh, wait a second, those are roosters.
Obviously I'd need the remedial farming class.


Maybe it's the creative things country folk do with potatoes.

Maybe its the fresh country air. It makes you tired.

Winner

At the swim championships last week, Sophie won her event, or as they say in swimming circles, heat.

She swam the freestyle, and helped keep her team firmly in 7th place for the season.

To celebrate, she got herself a temporary tattoo.

Block Party

By city permit, our street was closed at 9:00 am yesterday for our annual block party but it didn't officially begin until after one of our elderly neighbors who passed away earlier this week was driven by her house for the final time on Saturday. She so loved our block parties, it was only fitting that she kick it off.

Yes, you read that right. We kicked our block party off with a funeral procession.

But it's all good! Because after, we put a table up, dragged our grill out front and spent the day eating burgers and franks with old friends and neighbors. In the process we met two new sets of neighbors who are new to the street. Also, they each have a child identical in age to our children, and so our kids made new friends and didn't say they were bored once.

Random Assortment of Observations

On neighbors: the neighbors with whom we've become acquainted with and make activities at our weekend place such fun? Some of them also get a tad out of hand when tensions are high at swim meets and can be...shall we say, prone to irrational and borderline violent behavior. (But it's still all good.)

On social responsibility: I was reading a book to the kids recently about the ocean. When we got to the part about sea sponges, I told them how they really do come from the ocean. Sophie asked "Is the government regulating how many are taken from the ocean? If they don't they will end up on the endangered species list." A little part of me thinks an eight year shouldn't worry about such things but a big part of me is glad she does.

On social manners: we took the kids to dinner on Saturday night. The food was taking a little long to come out of the kitchen so Harry stood up, pointed to two elderly women across the dining room and said "AM I GOING TO HAVE TO LOOK AT THESE TWO WOMEN ALL NIGHT OR ARE WE GOING TO EAT DINNER?"

On neighbors, part II: This weekend we are having our sorta-annual block party so I've been tidying up the house all week where tidying up = finally putting away the recipes sitting out since Easter.

Neighbors

For a long time now, whenever we would go up to our weekend place, we used to keep to ourselves, offering just a nod of recognition as we passed our neighbors, maybe a "good morning" if we were feeling particularly friendly and talking over the fence to only our closest neighbors in proximity.

Now that Sophie's on the swim team, we've been meeting a lot of new families (well, new to us) and they are all such lovely people.

Especially the one who answered my prayers for poolside coffee urns. I love her. I don't know who she is (yet!) but she's totally going to be my BFF.

This weekend was the annual talent show, where even more neighbors turned out in droves, maximum occupancy fire codes be damned!

You should hear them raise the roof when the kids perform. You should hear them yell encouragement to those who forget their lines. You should see how they eject some neighbors who are drunk and disorderly.

These people? They got your back.

Harry's Got Talent

The camp the kids are attending this summer puts on a show every Friday for the parents. The kids create the performance themselves, which is based on the theme of that week.

Last week's theme was the Wild Wild West.

Harry made himself a cowboy hat, surrounded himself with cowgirls and sang "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" with gusto.
And for his next act....Harry made all the other parents glad they were not me.