Summer Walks

Another nice thing about summer, is we often go on walks...more so than during the school year.  Always something new to see, or see in a different light.  Here are some photos from last nights escapade, kid shots and artsy-fartsy shots.

View all

Get your own

The Tale of Two Evening Walks

And so begins our walk.

One of the things I like about living at this latitude are our summer nights. The sun stays out until after 10 pm.   It reminds me of the summer nights in Canada or Schleswig-Holstein.*  

As Jean-Loup, Anne and I walked to cool off from the warm day we'd had (84°F), we were reminded of a similar walk we took back in Missouri a few years ago...

  

 Only sailboats and paddle craft 

In Missouri motorboats buzzed around in the background like mosquitos searching for their prey. The noise was so loud I almost didn't hear the scuffling noises coming from the woodpile.  I was surprised to see an armadillo digging around.  

Tonight, a loud motorized noise broke the voices drifting across the lake and the laughter of children playing. I looked out on the lake, half expecting to see a huge motor boat go flying by-nope- just a car in bad need of a new muffler.  My reaction must have been a Lake of the Ozark reflex I guess. 

Sprinklers on the soccer field.

In Missouri we left the cool air-conditioning to get some fresh air only to arrive home soaked with sweat and more exhausted than when we'd begun.  The heat from the day just doesn't dissipate like it does here.

Even before sun starts touching the horizon, the temperatures start dropping quickly around here. The cool lake breezes had been refreshing, but the walk back home is all uphill, like it was in Missouri.  Arriving home we were sweating again, but not soaked to the skin like we were in Missouri.  In both places the sunsets were colorful and enjoyable to watch as we walked. 

 Tonight we arrived home at nearly 11pm, the sun had finally dipped below the horizon.  It's dim glow guiding us home. 

 * We shouldn't have the same sunset time as Canada or Schleswig-Holstein, since our latitude is much further south.  However, our longitude is the same as the U.K., and our time zone is with continental Europe thus giving us an extra hour of daylight this time of year. 

  

Date Night

How did this happen? How can I be here at D’el Arte  wearing a suit and tie with my beautiful wife?   The day hadn’t been planned to end with a date night.  Then it all dawned on me.  I’d been set up.  Duped, so to say, into this unlikely event, a date night.  Her plan was so clever and deceptive as to escape detection until the last card had been played.

 

Oh, my wife is clever.  When exactly did the deception begin?  Was it the party which lasted until 3am the night before? Was it at the invitation to the wedding three weeks ago?  How far back could it possibly go.  When was this seed planted in my wife’s brain to have a date night with me all dressed up and formal?

So many twists and turns-she played her cards well, I never suspected while sitting in the pews next to my wife that when she leaned forward with a pained expression on her face that the evening would end at D’el Arte.  Nor when her condition appeared to worsen and I decided to go get the car to take her to the doctor’s office, nor when I returned to find her lying on the cold hard stone floor of the church could I have ever imagined we would be enjoying a quiet evening together sharing entrees and desserts.  Nor could I have conceived after having multiple people help calling the ambulance, which never came, or the friends who called my in-laws to come take care of the kids, that we would be eating a wonderful pizza by the end of the evening.  No, none of these things would have prepared me for the relief I would feel after waiting 4 hours in the emergency room that her pains were probably only intercostal muscle pains and the test for something more serious were all negative.

Honestly dear, next time you want to go out for a date night just ask me.  I’ll say yes.