In the Good Old Summertime

Hot weather has already arrived in Texas and our pool is full of grandchildren and sometimes their closest friends, on an almost daily basis. While Hannah continues to work from home full-time and spends her days on endless conference calls, she is glad to have her offspring out of the house and expending energy for a little while each day. This is especially good since their community pool is closed for the time being. To help keep the kids occupied and on track with their online education, she hired a nanny who comes three days a week. Kim usually brings the kids over to swim at the end of her "shift" and then we take them home later. We have them all day on Thursday and Reagan on Friday, since he is working an 80% schedule these days.

Noah has turned into a little fish and swims without a vest this year. He dives underneath the water to retrieve toys and loves to get in water fights with his sister, using a foam shooter. Noah is absolutely fearless and like to do cannonballs, belly flops and somersaults off the edge. Lena can swim the entire length of our small pool underwater and makes up competitions and games. Booker loves to turn the spa jets on turbo and enjoy the bubbles, then jumps in to join whatever games are going on. 

Lunchtime means a tray of sandwiches, fruit, chips and beverages on the covered patio, with a break from swimming later for Italian ices or root beer floats. This makes me think of all the times we packed such a repast at the cottage and then headed out to the island on the float boat. We'd anchor and everyone cooled off in the lake before lunch. Good times!

To me, although the pool is sparkling thanks to Andy's attention, the surrounding deck looks quite drab without the tubs of flowers I always planted. Because of COVID-19, I was not able to visit the garden center to get everything I needed. Sigh - maybe next summer. I can't tolerate the hot sun, so I sit under the big umbrella and watch the kids swim or sit on the patio where I can still see everything. My time in the pool is after the sun goes down.

My dad always used to say that his beloved cottage was a catalyst for family interaction. I feel much the same way about our pool. From May to October, it's a magnet for the kids and their families. Bring on the fun!

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