One More Dancing Recital in Bristow

The Lovely Hayden Bissell

Pas de Deux

Ah, I slept in till after 7:00, the good life her in Bristow.  Another warm and sunny day forecast for Virginia, high near the 90's alas but we have air conditioning so it does not matter.  If it were the lake, we would be closing the windows in an hour, to keep the house cool.  It's cheaper and it works.

Yesterday we hung out with the girls most of the day, nothing big and exciting, just enjoying them and their friends.  The day began early for Hayden, as she had swim team practice at 8:00.  Almost all of the neighborhoods in this area have huge pools, a center of life for both parents and kids during the summer.  Each neighborhood pool has a team, composed of swimmers from all ages, with meets on Saturdays.  It's a big deal here, lots of support, in fact, last night their was a huge rally at the pool because of the meet this morning.  And parents were out setting up tents and canopies, getting ready for today's morning swim extravaganza.

Swimmers Get Ready

Halle, Waiting to Swim

At 10:00, Halle had swim practice and both Evie and I went with her, to watch and enjoy the morning. We happened to sit next to a gal, a friend of Jill's, who grew up in Jamestown, loves the area, and returns every year with her boys to enjoy the lake.  Halle, as well as Hayden, are both becoming good if not passionate swimmers.  Some of their friends are of Olympic caliber, go to meets all over the Virginia area...sounds like hockey and soccer in Ohio.

We came home, had lunch, and Halle brought a couple of the neighborhood girls over and together with Hayden and Evie, they decorated and ate the rest of the cupcakes Evie brought from the lake.  They had a fun time squeezing the frosting our of the plastic bag, creating towers of frosting before devouring them.

Frosting Cup Cakes With Granny

Halle and Grace

Hayden and Kelly

We then went back to the pool with Hayden and Halle around 2:00,  as Jill worked for a couple of hours, swam and sunbathed with all the Mom's and their kids, a busy place on a hot afternoon.  The  girls loved playing in the water with Evie, just like Chautauqua but without the lake.  We stayed for just about an hour, then Hayden had to get home to get ready for her recital.  The dance performance, all 54 of them, started at 7:00 and Hayden had to be there at 6:00, so they left at 5:00, stopping at Five Guys for sustenance and energy for the long night ahead.  Jill suggested I might not enjoy sitting through this so I unwilling stayed home with Halle, didn't want to miss the shows!  Anyways, we had a great time together, going to Chick Filet for dinner.  Halle loves their nuggets and fries and along with a cookies and cream shake, she was one happy little girl.  We came home and watched a movie on TV, then took Coco out for a walk, before watching a little more TV before bed.  She is a cutie, happy to go up to bed as long as it's not too early.  Evie and the girls did not get home till almost 10:45, exhausted from the show but exhilarated from Hayden's dance.  And Hayden was pumped as well, starving too, so Evie heated up some of her homemade vegetable soup.  We all were in bed by 11:30, ready for another day, another recital, this time I get to attend along with Drew, who has been in Sandusky, Ohio, at the nuclear power plant, for a few days of security scoping.  It will be good to see him.


I particularly liked today's poem from The Writer's Almanac, by Anne Sexton, so I thought I would end my post with this celebration of the simple things in life, the joy we rarely acknowledge, are conscious of until late in life if at all.

Welcome Morning

by Anne Sexton

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry "hello there, Anne"
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
dies young.