Little Things, Hidden Things

Connor brings me joy. I love listening to him explain to his dad why his bad guy is badder than his dad's bad guy. How he didn't really lose the chess game. His continual, incessant, running dialog, explanation, observation about everything. The fantasy scenarios he creates with Legos men, cars, sticks outside, characters in books, or his left hand. The man has an opinion or two. I love the way he tidies up a restaurant table, but not the living room.

He is going to Lego classes starting next week and he had to fix a post-it note on his calendar, marking the beginning, the six Tuesdays and the last day of the classes. That would be a gift from his father who lives and breaths by post-it notes. I loved his deep conversation about the Lego shirts he will wear to said Lego classes. The Lego shirts that were a Christmas gift from his granny thank you very much.

Being a child can be quite different in today's world. Last week he asked which container to put his trash in, the recycle or trash bin. That is different for modern children.

This week I took him some Cracker Jacks in his treat tin. He noticed the little boy character on the front of the box and explained to me, in detail, Connor is all about detail, that Cracker Jacks were Boy Scout Cracker Jacks. I said, no, they aren't Boy Scout Cracker Jacks. He showed me the picture of the BOY SCOUT on the front of the box as proof positive that they were in fact BOY SCOUT. I said, no, that is a picture of a little sailor boy, not a Boy Scout. Next he asked, how do I know that is a sailor and not a Boy Scout, always wanting proof.  I explained I just knew. He cocked his head and gave me that suspicious Connor look and inquired - did you look it up on the internet? The internet? The internet! I guess it is the new Encyclopedia Britannica and The Guinness Book of World Records rolled into one. I didn't dare tell him I didn't. The inquiring mind of a six year old is an amazing, baffling, wondrous thing.

"Intelligence; Not because you think you know everything without question, but because you question everything you know."

I am full of the mystery of what we don't see:

There is a rusted out cab of an old truck planted in a front yard on the way to Connor's house. It looks like something we had in the pasture growing up, something that looks like it has been shot with a thousand bullets and wouldn't die. Well, there is sits nestled in some shrubbery in a yard on the way to Connor's house. I asked Roger if he had noticed it? Yeah, it has always been there he said. Always? ALWAYS? I've driven past that house on my way to Connor's every week for six years and I never noticed it? It is not that hidden, it is nestled!

I noticed a beautiful arbor in a back yard driving out of Mukilteo the other day, Something else I had never noticed before and I drive down the Mukilteo Speedway two to six times a day and have for ten years.

Never noticed, never saw. This got me thinking of the mystery of what we don't see. How we have to open our eyes, and open them, and then open them some more, but more importantly how we have to open our heart to seeing. We tend to drop into complacency, rote, our mind isn't inquiring any more but set on what we know, what we see, what we think. We quit looking and seeing when actually there is always more. Tin cabs and arbors are the metaphor. The lesson learned is there is always a deeper understanding. The will to see more, more expansive, more deep, beyond horizons and beliefs fills me with the best kind of mystery. Mystery to delight.

I live such a tiny life.

A life filled with little successes and little failures.

I visited Christian at his new apartment located on the road to The Edmond's Ferry. A favorite road, a favorite ferry. Had lunch at Taco Time where they still serve an old fashioned taco burger. We've had splendid weather; warm, cool, sunny, misty. Just the way I like it. I'm buying some new "bling" shoes, they are covered in rhinestones, Matisse Ozzie, item number 433368, check those babies out, never had anything like that before. I tried Mary Lee's recipe for Mexican Trash, very tasty, I will be making it again. Saw two good films, A Gathering Storm with Brendan Gleeson as a magnificent Winston Churchill and Living is Easy with Eyes Shut, about a man's mission to see and talk to John Lennon, a wonderful Spanish film. Finally I started The Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer, had lunch with Karmen, having dinner with Mary, a nice phone visit with Janice. Stephanie shared a new sleep blend vitamin that really really worked last night. She gets them from her doctor and will buy me a bottle also. I saw a beautiful ruby throated bird of some sort. I have seen this bird before but not often and I haven't a clue what kind of bird it is. I'll wait and ask Julia.

Julia is visiting in June. Jean is visiting in May, practically next week. I had a phone call from a cousin I haven't spoke to for thirty years or so. She wanted clarification on a recipe I had in The Taylor Family Cookbook, Artichoke Appetizers. I told her after she ate those she would be glad I was related, as will you after you make them.

This cousin, Judy, lives a few hundred miles south and wondered why we shouldn't see each other, so I am map reading and contemplating a drive to Washougal Washington. What do you think Jean?

My crisis' for the week? Well I had a mandarin orange go bad in the fruit bowl and had to feed it to the garbage disposal and some kind of painful infection on my elbow. I've never had a boil but thought it might be the beginning of one. It didn't. It went away, the fever and redness faded like last weeks sunburn.

I told you I had a tiny life.

The rhythm of my days is usually smooth. Birthdays, friends, friends moving to Minnesota, cook, clean, laundry, actually, I lied, Ian does the laundry, Ian is gone traveling, books and films, company coming, car, apartment, shoes, work, hill climb to work, price of downtown parking for work, bills, income tax refund, library, time off for said company.

Jean I am getting off on that Tuesday at ten so I will be picking you up at eleven. No sitting around the airport for you, I love you that much. Three and one half hours much!

Julia I have no official itinerary from you, but based on our conversation if you take time off work to come see me, I take time off work to play, I love you that much. Eight hours much! Can't wait.

What do I dread? Hot weather.

Here is to little things and hidden things. Things nestled in the grass, the stars, or the mind of a six year old.