I Shot Billiards With a Midget Until the Rain Stopped

"I was pacin' myself, trying to make it all last
Squeezin' all the life out of lousy 2 day pass..."
--Tom Waits, "Shoreleave"

I think of that line alot on the weekend because that's basically what a weekend is: a lousy 2 day pass. Gotta make the most of it. I think we succeeded in that this weekend.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day at home playing with the baby and waiting for the landscaper. You heard me right: landscaper. I decided that I needed to face the fact that I was not going to be the hero weeding the yard and prepping next years garden. Not with a full time job and a kid. Oh--and a lazy streak. I looked on Angie's List and found a lady who looked as if she only helps people with gardens--no grass cutting, no heavy work, just gardens. When I met her at the door her greeting was, "Honey, you have weeds." Obviously a seasoned professional. She and her daughter are going to weed and prune and edge and mulch and then work with me next year to get the correct plantings. Yes, its going to cost money--I've decided that's what my pin money from giving the cemetery tours is going to go towards. I feel a bit of shame (at not doing it myself) and a whole lot of relief (sweet Jesus, its going to get done!) After they left, I got a sudden case of cabin fever and packed up the kid for a trip. Our usual Saturday bus into Oakland had left so we went Downtown, which could have been dumb if I had not realized there is a super secret place for babies to run around:

Trinity Burial Ground!
At first, I have to say, I was not sure what the hell they were doing with the restoration work. If you did'nt know it already, I can be an insufferable snob when it comes to cemetery preservation and nothing makes me roll my eyes faster than a project that's only about the monument with no attention paid to the landscape. I still think there may be some of that mindframe going on but, in looking at these photos, I think they planted the pacasandra and weird grasses to keep folks from running around and stepping all over the fragile stones. I mean, some people let their kids climb all over the monuments and that's just wrong.Historically accurate or not, the flagstones made a great little labyrinth for Donny to run around. It was great too as the burial ground is both elevated and fenced it--no chance of the kid getting away from me. You can see from the photos that he was all over the placeI tried to get a photo of him actually looking at the camera and I only managed one, and he's not posing next to an interesting gravemarker:I'll admit that part of letting him run wild was to tire him out so that he'd fall asleep at his 9pm bedtime. I did my work a bit too well and he fell asleep on the 71A that we caught to meet Dad at Whole Foods. After we got home the New Roofer came over and we made a downpayment--the yard and the roof are going to be fixed! I think I might faint!

Today, Sunday, we made a one day trip to Elyria to see my family. Part of me hates these one day trips but this one went really well. We got there at about 1pm and Donny was hungry, tired and NOT happy about being in a strange place. We got him to eat some grilled cheese and drink a bottle of water but he ended up having to take a nap as well. Last time we made a one day trip, we tried taking him to visit my Aunts and that did not go well. With that in mind we brought the Aunts over instead and that went swimmingly. Everyone was doing well and was happy to see the baby and after his nap he was his usual charming self. He even did his little dance, which consists of him running in place as fast as he can. As if my Mom could love him more... No pictures from that visit but here are a few of him running around a rest stop in Ohio. The last photo is when I asked Mike to hold the kid still so I could take a photo of his face. Note the stars in his eyes.