The Streetpoet

Since I still don’t drive the freeways, Jane picked us up and drove our car up to Ventura for the day. We got to the beach before the crowds and before the sun. But there never were many people, since they tell me this is the first day of school, but after a while there was plenty of sunshine.

Before we left Jerome told me that he didn’t want to get in the water because he was afraid he would get stung like last time. (In April something stung him in the water on his hand and he had a terrible reaction and had to go on antibiotics.) So I told him he didn’t have to get in the water. Auntie Jane took him to the edge of the waves to get bucketfuls of sand to build sandcastles with, and he quickly lost his fear.

On the drive up Seth told us “I’m afraid of the beach.” but I think he meant the ocean. He stayed at a safe distance all day.

And on the drive home he confirmed it to us several more times…but I think he had a fun day digging in the sand, climbing rocks, and trying to play with other people’s sand toys. 🙂

It was startlingly different. After a while the wind and brightness and noise became normal, even peaceful. But walking among the rocks there was an immediate reprieve. Quiet. Warmth. Shade. I hadn’t noticed the harshness of the afternoon until I found an accidental shelter. However the rocks were sharp. My boys must be part mountain goat, though, because it didn’t phase them. And they enjoyed the refuge of the rocks. I pray they find refuge in the Rock of our salvation!

This was Ian’s first beach experience! And he slept through most of it…

Thank you, Jane and Donna, for a lovely day at the beach!

I hadn’t let Jerome carry Ian around by himself yet…although Ian is over 16 lbs. now. This afternoon Peter handed the baby over to Jerome’s care and we were impressed with his strength and carefulness. He was absolutely thrilled to be trusted with his baby brother and would tell us if he was getting too tired. I am increasingly aware of his need for my trust.

Here’s the proud brother.

Rain! We got a tiny bit today and the sun shone so bright I thought we’d have a rainbow…but I never saw one. The smell of rain is one of my favorite things. They said it was humid today. It was a very calm, mild day. I enjoyed it very much.

Our landlords were out today too, working so hard taking care of this place. They spread fertilizer around the trees and plowed it under, then ran the water lines out to wash it all down. The sprinklers will be running all night…it sounds like rain.

California State University of Northridge started classes this week…

Jerome builds the neatest stuff…

And Seth is digging and working. 🙂

They say it’s because of a hurricane…

Peter built a bonfire for us and we ate dinner around it together as the moon rose.

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge .” Ps 19:1-2

Just a few images from our day…

The gardeners come every Tuesday and this week they trimmed the lantana bush outside the livingroom window while Seth watched them. Today he was “lawning” in the side yard and he told me pointing to the lantana “That’s for working.”. 🙂

How small Jerome looks in front of that bouganvilla….

And here’s our little three month old Ian Daniel!

It’s been a mild summer, and I’m grateful, but we’ve had our heat spells. Our little house is barely insulated at all and is very drafty, although the attic holds an unbelievable amount of heat during the day. Last year Peter installed an attic fan and that’s helped some. A few weeks ago he traded out the air-conditioning unit in our bedroom for a bigger one that actually cools the house! And he also put up a tarp outside that takes away all my sunshine in the bedroom…but it’s also easier to cool. 🙂

My mother came out to visit right after Seth was born and planted a beautiful garden right outside my kitchen window.

A year and a half later we adopted a dog, and then our neighbors got a puppy, too. Well, that was the end of my garden. Between their dog’s digging and our dog’s trampling-in-search-of-a-shady-nap…it was gone.

So, before Ian was born Noel came over and replanted my garden. My mother was coming out and I was embarrassed to have her see it like that. Noel found shrubby plants that could withstand some dog abuse and it’s really pretty with roses, lavender, mock orange, tea tree, and some plants I can’t recall the names of. But what has really done well (taken over) and gives me so much pleasure to look at is the purple fountain grass. It’s getting so tall and the fluffy things catch the evening sun to light themselves up.

But none of it could be seen until recently. There had been a metal dog fence around the whole garden to keep the dogs and little boys out until the plants had a chance to take root and establish their home there. Well, they did that just fine and the dogs and boys stayed out and the fence just kept stayin’ up. I was just as embarrassed about that fence as I had been about the bare dirt of a garden, but I wasn’t gonna say anything about it because I felt it was my pride making me ashamed of a metal fence held up by tires in my front yard.

Peter spent two days of his free time putting up this lovely little wooden fence in replacement. It made me so happy! And now anybody can see what’s in that garden. And I suppose since the ugly metal fence was up for so long, the dogs got used to not being in there and they haven’t even tried breaking in. 🙂

Another thank you to my man!