The Circus Is Here

I love small town parades. Okay, not the time 30 years ago when the Memorial Day parade consisted of a couple of kids on bikes and the mayor carrying a Sousa-blasting boombox. That was a little embarrassing. But generally, a parade in a small town is a blast.

It’s true, you don’t get the enormous inflatables floating down the street overhead, but you have all the basics, like really loud trucks,

people throwing candy at you, and your parents actively encouraging you to run out in the street.

AND you get all the small-town good stuff. Running into friends on every corner.

Opportunities to descend on one of your babysitters.

And if you have a habit of climbing things that you oughtn’t, it’s possible you might get, ah … hung up on something.

Yes, in fact, I did take a picture before I rescued him. If you’re surprised about that, I’d say it’s possible you haven’t been paying attention.

Honey! Even if you’re bleeding, you still need to shut the door!

In my defense, they were very small cuts.

Levi’s most recent obsession is fishing. He begs to go every chance he gets. Today, he asked three separate times. He actually got to go twice. Paul has the patience of a saint.

And because he doesn’t want his dear little boys to get sunburnt, Paul hooked up a special rig. (That’s a beach umbrella purchased in Florida several years ago that’s been languishing in the attic.)

Earlier this week, Levi had a once-in-a-lifetime moment – he caught two fish on one hook. I don’t even really understand how it was possible, but Paul sent me the picture, and he doesn’t know from Photoshop, so it has to be real.

Levi didn’t quite know what to think, but he did inform me that he got both a male and a female. If you are as unfamiliar with the intricacies of bluegill as I was just a few days ago, allow me to educate you. See the fish on the tailgate here?

The darker one is the male, and the lighter one the female. Levi can identify this difference with no problem, and he was telling my sister all about it over supper the other night.

Levi: Yes! I caught two fish at once! One of them was a female.
Auntie: Ohhhhh. Wow! Levi, do you know know what a female is?
Levi: Yes. It’s a kind of bluegill.

I suspect he’ll come up with a different definition for female by the time he starts caring what his hair looks like and taking showers without being asked.

Personally, I’ve decided that the fish are a couple, and when one of them got snagged, the other jumped on too, so they could face their fate together.

What? If Nemo’s dad could ride the EAC to 42 Wallaby Way to find him, there could be a bluegill love story. I’m sure Pixar is working on it right now.

P.S. The lovely couple were returned to the water shortly after their photo shoot, not much worse for the wear.

As you know, I am the only girl living in my house. My family’s idea of Fine Entertainment runs to tractor pulls and dirt piles. Going to the bathroom outside, standing up, with Papa, is the pinnacle of the day.

I don’t really get it. Boys are weird.

However, it’s become clear to me lately that I wouldn’t necessarily understand girls, either, if we had any. We have some good friends with three girls and no boys. Their house is peppered with evidence of three little feminine souls. I find mud-caked shorts in the kitchen, and they find, well … this:

I know that’s a purse. I think it’s also a poodle.

And my personal favorite, which I snapped a couple of weeks ago as I was leaving.

Barbie, all alone in the driveway, doing splits. You just don’t get to see that at our house.