Slice of Life

Just finishing up the first work holiday I've had since New Year's. There was MLK Jr.'s birthday in January and President's Day in February, but my employer chooses not to recognize these. So, I had Memorial Day off with my family. A very hot and fine day it was.

We all spent the afternoon doing housecleaning, and the kids pitched in very well. In particular, my boy seems very intent on making the home visitor worthy. Whatever inspiration works is fine with me. I should mention that my wife hates to begin running the air conditioning as summer rolls around. She feels that it is surrendering to the elements. (Have you noticed her stubborn streak?) We hit 90 F today, which is about 34 or 35 C, I guess. Bloody hot for housework, I have to say. I told her that I thought she would relent by Wednesday afternoon. The weather is not due to break till after the weekend.

After the cleaning stopped, the missus wanted to have a meal out on the deck. She made mojitos for us, my first one. Not bad at all. Lots of good convo with the kids, and our fill of tofu hot dogs.

Mrs. Leslie also had the terrific idea to make ice cream after dinner. Rather than the conventional way, she filled gallon Ziploc bags with ice and rock salt for each of us. Then in a smaller Ziploc, we mixed sugar and half & half and vanilla (or in my kids cases, peppermint or maple). We put the sealed smaller bags into the large ones with the ice, and shook the bag for about ten minutes. It worked splendidly, and the ice cream was terrific.

We all took a half hour walk, with the dogs, after all that. And then, my wife insisted that I do aerobics with her (Yes, I mean literal aerobics: deltoids, hamstrings, etc. What did you think I meant?!)

I made a point of praising her efforts over the course of the day, and how I thought she had created some great family memories. I just don't have a brain that conjures these sort of ideas. I'll just stick to my own strengths, and feel lucky that she has a talent for planning things like this.