Rainy Day

Nan's old beach umbrella.

Vintage now.

The beach umbrella is Nan and the duct tape is Gramps. He put duct tape on everything. He even used duct tape to fix the holes in his socks.

It's funny how inanimate objects have so much life in them through our memories. 

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Beach Umbrella -

Family backyard barbecues. Swimming pool. Splashing. Aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, sisters, brothers, parents, and friends, all gathered together at Nan's house. Roast beef dinners and green salad with only one dressing on it. Eating under the beach umbrella at the picnic table. 

See also The Beach.

J sometimes feels left out because I post so many photos of K.

Well, he's never said that to me. But I'm fairly certain he must feel that way. Maybe it's some sort of mother guilt I am feeling that makes me think that. So I have to post some photos of him. And not her.

At least, not today. 

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Live Simply. 

Easy to say. Hard to do.

We helped some friends today get ready for a big party tomorrow.

Our friends, T and T, have a son deploying to Afghanistan in a couple months. They are throwing a "Goodbye! Stay Safe! We'll Miss You!" party for him. My friend T had asked if she could borrow our big tent in case of rain or too much sunshine.

We watched the weather all morning long. Showers and drizzle on and off. Mostly on.

We had to get the tent up so we waited until it looked like it was clearing and heading over to their house with the tent all bundled up and covered with tarps so the cardboard boxes would not get wet. Because, of course, it started to rain heavily once we left the driveway.

After hemming and hawing for a bit, we decided we were going to leave the tent and set it up tomorrow morning. But I could see that was causing my friend T some stress. I know I would not want to be setting up a tent just a couple hours before my guests were set to arrive. There is way too much to do the morning of a big party and setting up a tent should not be one of those things to do.

So I said, "Let's just set it up today. It's only rain. We won't melt!"  T jumped all over that one. I could see the relief on her face.

And everyone else agreed. Except the Man. He had a "you have bats in your belfry" look on his face.

Yes, it rained the entire time. We got soaked. Our hair was hanging in limp, wet strands with streams of water running down our faces. My shorts were so damp, they were sagging and I had to hold them up so they wouldn't fall off. At one point I looked at T, she looked at me, and we just started giggling. 

Wet rats. That's what we looked like.

This was one of those days that I don't want to forget. Funny moments spent with good friends, working together, helping each other. It's all good stuff and happy stuff and please-don't-let-me-forget-this stuff.

The rain stopped as soon as we finished.