While the Lemonade Stand Was Being Made. . .

Perhaps more impressive than the lemonade stand is the stump from a dead lilac that Julie and Ted (mostly Ted) managed to pry out of the ground from the area pictured above.  It was right about where the large green hosta in the front of a row of three coming down the slope now is.  At the same time that the slickest lemonade stand ever was being built, Julie was out back tearing out purple loosestrife and ditch lilies in the same picture above, from the lilac in the picture on the right, on over to the fence, and then transplanting most of what you see there now. When she started, she thought she's leave the stump, but in attacking the loosestrife, she dug up a lot of the dirt around it anyway and one thing led to another, and now we have a big stump on the patio to get rid of, but also a beautiful new slope! We'r getting there, Fans.

So now you know how we spent most of this Memorial Day weekend--that is, covered in sawdust, paint, or dirt. But it was fun, as was winding the weekend down with Joe and Clara's friends Eli and Emma and their parents, Molly and Joe.  Who would have thought two weeks ago that Memorial Day would bring out the bathing suits and wading pool?

Joe's Lemonade Stand

What you see here, Fans, is a pretty slick lemonade stand, staffed by Our Very Enthusiastic Hero and his Erstwhile Sidekick Birdie. Of late, the bambini have been watching a Curious George DVD some evenings before dinner, and there is maybe an episode in there in which George makes juice? Possible to sell? At a stand? We can't say for sure because the Curious George DVD is enough to make one long for a certain tree house down a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country so this reporter at least has come to all but tune it out. But we can say that after watching Curious George, Joe is always writing down juice recipes (that seem to always contain the juice of one radish--secret ingredient) and in the past week, he has made at least three booklets about how to make lemonade. So: a lemonade stand.

Long time Fans may recall that Ted is himself a long time This Old House Fan.  That's a mercy, as is the fact that he is a trained engineer. He is also very kind. That doesn't make lemonade, but it does make for the sort of dad who goes to the interwebs and finds instructions for making a five-piece lemonade stand that slides together and then apart so that it might be stored flat and makes a dream come true, Fans.

Now, there was a hiccup along the way to realizing the dream.  Joe, in consultation with Julie, had selected two citrus shades for the lemon stand: a bright orange whose name we do not recall, and a pale green whose name we do (Honeydew Melon) because Joe took the shaking of that quart a little too far and dropped it on the driveway.  Now we can say, "Accidents happen," but it will perhaps not surprise you to know, Fans, that something different was said in the moment.  At least the paint that was dropped was the green, and the green was pale. It sort of looks like leaves on the driveway.

By Saturday's end, the stand was ready, and so was Joe. Excitement was high. Scattered thunderstorms were predicted with 60% probability, but they never materialized.  What did materialize was a lot of foot traffic on 39th which is a main drag through the neighborhood. (As soon as the new sidewalks go in next month, we are talking prime lemonade stand real estate on our leaf-dappled driveway.). Our Hero sold lemonade in a cup for 25 cents; cans of soda or bottles of water or Gatorade for 50 cents; and snacks packs of things like Nutter Butter cookies for 50 cents. The available sodas were Sun Drop, Sunkist, A&W root beer, and when the pickings got slim, Dr. Pepper 10 and coconut LaCroix.  Fans, Our Hero took in about $16 over the course of about six hours! You should have seen him out there calling out hello to people and asking if they wanted any lemonade and reading his book during the lulls.  He drank and ate a fair amount of his inventory, but hey, that's your prerogative when business is booming and you're the boss.

 

Birdie's Spring Conference

In other news, the last gasp of winter (also know as spring up here) brought spring conferences at KinderCare.  At Birdie's, we learned that she continues to be very social.  She plays with everyone in the room and usually wants to play with someone else rather than be by herself.  Our sense of the mix in Clara's room right now is that there is a clique of girls.  Ms. Lindsay confirmed this, unfortunately, but she also said that Clara is very kind and is one who doesn't exclude others which made us very proud.  Ms. Lindsay also said that Clara is adventurous and always tries everything; she still likes the "dramatic play" area best, but within each unit they do in the room, Clara tries all the activities multiple times.  She is now writing not just her first name, but her last as well with the tricky s at its end.  So she is all set to be moving on to pre-K at summer's end.  (She is also, as seen here, old enough to sit up on top of the counter top like Big Brother Joe.  Keen-eyed observers will note that it looks like she's recovering from a nose bleed.  She is not; rather, she is recovering from a nasty cold that we think might have caused an infection in her nose because it will not stop running on just the one side and that one side is--clearly--a mess.  So Our Poor Runny-Nosed Birdie is going to the doctor tomorrow.)

Tooth Watch, Day 17

Joe would tell you that it is "hanging on by a thread."  Turns out, it can take sort of a while for a tooth to fall out.  The other day, Joe said that what he needed to do was "eat hard things, like carrots, apples. . ."  This, apparently, per Joe's buddy Karlis.

Making Ready For Summer

Lunch on the veranda.

Fans! We know. Nearly two weeks without an update? What happened is that it got well and truly warm here in the Land of Long Winters, and we decided to get after the deck (in desperate need of restraining and repainting) and the gardens (which have three invasive plants invading). So we've been making ready for summer! Last Saturday, it was warm and the deck was far enough along that we could move the outside dining table back on to it. So we ate lunch outside. It was one of those blue-sky days. Joe said the he wished he could touch the sky. Then he said, "We could ask a bird to take us."  Our Birdie immediately echoed him, "Yeah, we could ask a bird to take us." Isn't that terrific?

This Saturday, yesterday, was warm enough to eat outside as well.  We fell to talking about what we liked about Raleigh House.  (This time last year, Fans, we'd just wrapped our one-day-only garage sale in preparation for moving.  Can you believe that?!)  Joe said--and we do not make this up--"the dust in the light when I came home from swimming."  He meant seeing the dust moats he used to see in the sunlight in the living room when he came home from swimming lessons.  We also covered what we like about White House.  Joe said, "It's got a great set-up for Christmas."  True.  But again, we do not make this stuff up.

When Berenicey gets too hot, she moves into the shade on the side of the deck closest to the house.

The deck to the left as you walk out the back door.  (Grandma Connie may notice that the large pots she gave us some years back have been painted gray.)

The deck to the right as you walk out the back door.  (Keen-eyed observers may notice that the deck furniture was rearranged after lunch.)