One definition of bliss

Is to spend three hours at the ocean with Selim when he is happy to be there and we don't have to worry about sunburn.  I worked four hours of overtime this morning and when I came home, my guys were playing street tennis.  As I got out of the car, Selim was ready to go to the beach.  I had told him the day before that we could take the golf clubs and tennis rackets and have play time at the ocean if it was warm enough.  Since the sun had come out and the temperature was in the 60s, I loaded up the car with our sports equipment, the snacks, towels, a book and a collection of clothes in case it was cooler at the coast -- and then we headed out.

When we started driving, he invited his imaginary friends to come along:

     "Hey Tink, Mist, and Autumn, what are you doing?"
     And I reply in my best pretend faerie voice, "Not much Selim, what are you doing?"
     "We are heading to the beach.  Do you want to come?"
     "We would love to."
     "Hey Osprey, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon?"
     "Yes Selim?"
     "Where are you guys today?"
     "We are just flying around,  hanging out in the sky.  Where are you?"
     "We are on our way to the beach.  Do you want to follow us?  When you see the jeep, just keep an eye on us."
     "Okay.  We will.  See you there."

We had such a great time.  As Selim would say later, "This was the best day ever." We got there before noon and there were about twenty cars at Wallis Sands.  But there were only four or so other groups of people.  Plenty of space for us to play tennis and golf and not have to worry about hitting anybody else.  Saying we were playing tennis is sort of a euphemism.  It is more like running wind sprints after the ball as it went sailing over or past me interspersed with an occasional rally.  But we had a good time.  When I was pooped, he played by himself -- throwing the ball up high and seeing if it would come down on his racket.

He played a bit of golf while I got my legs in the sun and read. 

We went over to the rocks to look for shells.  We didn't find much, but he had fun scampering over the barnacle encrusted rocks.

After a change of clothes, it was back to more tennis.  He wanted to be Roger Federer and then he told me that I had to be a girl player.  I chose Venus Williams.  Once we had established who was who, we were able to resume play.

Before we left, I made him take a picture with me.  We have spent so many days at that beach and have a collection of mother/son photos to mark the years.  I think these ones are particularly sweet.

After three hours it was time to head home.  But what a perfect few hours we enjoyed.  When we got home we added compost to the raised beds from our compost pile.  It has taken three years, but finally, I was able to dig out some great, dark, soil.  I hope that tomorrow we can plant some seeds in the trays we got last weekend at Agway.  We need to get them started before we can put them out next month.

And speaking of garden, Mom discovered that the primrose that we planted last year came up!  On Wednesday, she instructed Selim in pruning some of the dead raspberry stalks. The daffodils are a disappointment, but the one yellow bloom is beautiful.  And one tulip in front of the mail box opened today. 

This has been tough week for my exercise program.  I was tired, not sleeping very well and didn't have the best time management.  That resulted in only three good workouts.  Since Nedim wasn't home when I was ready to run, I couldn't do the usual long block laps.  I decided to try interval run/walk on the short block loop.  Eight times around would be a two mile work out.  Selim came with me on the first lap and then he bailed and played in the street on the next few.  By the time I was on my third lap, Nedim had come home.  So I ran with as long a stride as I could manage, as fast as I could go, from the driveway to the first stop sign.  I walked the straight stretch to the next stop. Ran up the hill to the corner and then walked to the driveway.  I carried quarters in my hand and dropped one after each lap.  It took me longer than a usual two mile run, but I felt the longer strides and breathed harder.  I was sweating by the end of my 26.26 minute work out.