There’s nothing better than a good cat nap!
My son loves the summer. It brings a long break from school to do as he pleases, anything he wants. And this summer his role model is Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.
“Look, look,” he yells to me, pointing to one of the comic strips.
It is about Calvin’s appreciation of Saturdays — and, by extension, summer — as a time of perfect freedom, with unlimited opportunity. “And what better way to appreciate that opportunity,” he tells Hobbes, “than by squandering it watching cartoons all day!”
I laugh.
He says, “You see, it’s good to watch TV.”
Left to his devices, that’s just what this seven-year-old would do on these lazy summer days after a morning at the beach, a whirl on his bike or a romp through the forest in Pinamar, on the coast of Argentina where we are spending the season. Then comes a chance to squander the rest of the day with delightful vegetation on the sofa watching cartoons. [continue reading…]
Yeah, they’ll be calling me skinny by the end of the summer, el flaco.
There’s nothing I like better than pulling off my shirt after a day at the beach. My arms ache from surfing, my back too. My eyes are heavy and my body feels good. My shirt peels off my salty, sunned and rough skin, and there’s a pleasant smell of salt and surf wax. I breathe in and remember the day, a day well spent, a day at the beach.
I’ve been surfing since I was 13, first hitting the waves on my brother’s Doyle soft board over Easter in the cold waters of Will Rogers State Beach in Los Angeles.
I was hooked from the start. [continue reading…]
I drove my father to the coast, to spend the summer in our Pine Tree Paradise in Pinamar, Argentina.
My father is visiting from Los Angeles, 92 years old and with time on his hands to spend in his homeland of Argentina.
He’s not letting time slip by. He’s been reading though my library, hanging out in the cafes, chatting with friends and exercising. He talks with my three children and watches them play. All of this may be slow going for him at his age, but he is steady.
We all sit down at dinnertime and talk, but it doesn’t happen all the time. There’s been a lot to do: work, the children, and the end-of-year activities. The days go by and then we go to bed without much of a word.
My dad likes conversation. A cousin of ours asked how she could help. I thought of all the medical treatment, the nurses, the doctors’ visits, the supplies to stock up on. I thought for a moment more and then said, “Conversation.” [continue reading…]
