Sunflower Blog

Neighborhood Picnic

I went to the beginning of summer annual bar-be-cue in my mom's residential neighborhood. She enjoys affairs like that. I suppose it reminds her of the good old days. She only knew half a dozen people there. There were 20 kids and 90 adults that RSVPed for the event, according to Gretchen, neighborhood representative for everything.

People brought their own lawn chairs, and the caterer neighbor set up the grill and the corney dog oil vat in the middle of the street. Tables of beans and potato salad and home made cookies were set on tables in the street. The eats are usually good. Extra good meat this year.

The half-block they had portioned off for this party included one of those bouncey blown-up box cages for the kids. I enjoyed watching a few 5 year olds for awhile. I miss that freedom of body that a child has.

We sat with Diantha and Ed, neighbors from down the street. He's about 70, and always jokes around. As we were leaving, he had Diantha's camera hidden in his hand, and he pointed to his cheek with the other hand and asked my mom to give him a kiss. As she did, Ed snapped a picture and the flash surprised her. My mom laughed, "You're not going to show that picture to your wife!" Ed's the type that always leaves an impression. What a card!

In the shade under tall trees, with a subtle breeze, it did feel like 99 degrees, which it was. Damn hot. Texas. Good times anyhow.