blog entry number one

most articles on blog best practices advise us newbies to have creative, intriguing blog post titles that draw people in and make them want to click on it. as this is my first entry i thought i'd spend even MORE time working on it. i hope it reflects the level of effort that went into it.

in early april, when last we left our heroes, they were just entering the sweet spot of quarantine. sharing funny memes. trying out new recipes. rediscovering old photos of loved ones from their cute and cuddly days of yore. appreciating sweatpants on a whole new level. their border-in-law, zum, was just about to emerge from his own sub-quarantine in a small room to join the other three in their home. samson was in zoom school, phil was working from home and beth…well, we’re not at all sure what beth was doing. honestly, everyone was just trying to leave her alone so she’d stop threatening to cut their hair with the new clippers she found online.

and now there’s this. august. summer. and everything that’s passed in the last four months.

if april was the sweet spot of quarantine, then by july i was like:

i am so OVER this whole pandemic thing. it has totally jumped the shark for me. new programming, please!

and yet, the programming raged on, undeterred.

so, we dug in, and dealt.

let me bring you up to date.

it would be madness to try to enumerate the entire blessed tedium of four long months. but there’s no reason i shouldn’t at least try to bore you with some of the highlights. here we go.


BEGIN MONTAGE

• zum emerges like the proverbial groundhog in time for easter

<click on photos to enlarge>

samson still enjoys a good egg hunt. however, we've heard rumors that the easter bunny that services this part of town is considering retiring. not sure if that's true or not. more information as the story develops.

 

     

• via communal decision-making phil is allowed to turn some-number-of-years-old on april 28th just prior to his son’s impending may birthday

do you like my party hat?

zoom surprise party: it's a thing.

zum on zoom. it's another thing.

chocolate cake with chocolate and then a little added chocolate. 

may this always be a thing.

• in spite of a pandemic, samson runs headlong into 10-years-old on may 15th

yes, he LOVES tanks. did i mention that?

zoom birthday party. it's so may 2020.

someone got a hamster for their birthday! 

(from his sisters, belinda and leilani -- and 

in case you're wondering, he was dubbed: pumpkin melon)

our birthday boy

• school’s out for summer, laissez le bon temps rouler! (let the good times roll!)

let's see. now where did i put those clippers?

• july 4th: hot dogs over the fire & cornhole at sundown. beat that!

  

• at one point my son was in such desperate need of summer camp activities that he created his own. i present to you: pantry camp.

yes, we needed a permit to enter

i did notice, in hindsight, that pantry camp had a lot more snacks than activities.

• the months were also full of sports, especially pickleball, which uncle zum introduced not that long ago. and it's something we can play in our driveway.

<click on videos below to make more big>

i present to you: one pickleball

there were so many sports and games played over the past few months that, spoiler alert, expect some postings on that subject in the near future.


END MONTAGE

after ending the montage, i realize that even though there are few words with photos, each one is worth, roughly, what, like ten hundred words? the blessed tedium has become more tedious than i anticipated so i'll wrap this up here, in july.

there is so much more to share with you (arts and crafts, cooking, camping, the entire month of august). for example, i haven't even mentioned that my new hobbies are:

• finding the pangram in the new york times daily spelling bee game
• growing my hair long and gray (you can picture it. go ahead, i'll wait.)
• pretending whatever i just did counted as exercise (which i think it should considering all the mental gymnastics i go through to get there. i'm sweating just thinking about it!)

what are your new hobbies?

thanks for visiting! i look forward to our next catch-up when i take you back to the future!*



*that was a teaser. (another blog best practices for endings.) how'm i doin'?