Father's Day and Field Day 2016

Not a lot of time to write, but Father's Day was very nice and I think Chewy found himself very much appreciated and loved!

He got to sleep in late, he got gifts and sushi and he watched one of his favorite movies Commando (for some reason he thought he could watch this with both his children--Willow left in disgust within minutes--Chewy said, "hey, its about a father rescuing his daughter!")

Yesterday was Field Day--which is a big ta-do around these parts--and Willow even got a shirt to prove it!

Pictures for bother Father's Day and Field Day, below!

Swinging outside on Father's Day

Summer is HERE! Michael is off for the next two weeks; Willow's last day is Friday...

Finding Doreen...

Michael did his first volunteer stint and it went fine.  Over protective mother that I am, I did stay at the movie theater the whole four hour shift -- I took the opportunity to read in the newly furnished lobby.

It is opening weekend for Finding Do.r.y.  Not as many people as I thought were there at the beginning of his shift...but it got busier.  And it being opening weekend, they had face painting and balloons, etc.

Michael and I got there and immediately we found...Doreen.  She has been a volunteer for Jimmy Fund (and the Red Cross and others) for eight years.  She actually volunteered to show him the ropes--and off they went.  Between screenings, they would come out in the lobby.  Michael did some pacing, while I got to talk with Doreen. She was very talkative and nice...and very nice to Michael, taking his eccentricities in stride.  She helped him be more at ease...and therefore I was more at ease.  She wryly said that they "discussed" whether her mechanical pencil that they both used to check off their movies was a pencil (Michael at first insisted it was a pen, until she showed him it had lead (Michael corrects--graphite).  By the time the four hour shift was ending, Michael had joked with her, had pizza and M&Ms and he had talked with a boy similar in age who was working as an usher!

It was a good Whew!  Moment. No incidents and a pleasant afternoon.  And he collected money for a good cause!!

It was so nice that we found Doreen to help him ease into this!  Now I feel a bit less worried for his next shift in July...

Michael's canister with the schedule--Doreen suggested putting the schedule around the canister...and there is Michael in his typical "not smile/smile".  

Meanwhile, I stood in line and got some Dory and Nemo balloons...

Distracted

Another senseless tragedy, this time in Orlando, Florida, has caught my attention and while I attempt to grapple with senseless murder and the intensely stifling and useless political collateral damage..the gun debate, the terrorism debate, the dumbing down of values and ideologies...I thought we would accomplish something after Sandy Hook...but...

So.

I have wanted to read more. I used to read books all the time, and the last couple years, it has been hard and I have found a lack of time and distractions a'plenty.  I hate to say it--but the internet and smart phone are often too easy for me and occupy my time when I could be reading a good book...(could be why I am resistant to electronic books--prefer the actual physical one).  I also get overwhelmed with domestic and work duties...and by the time I have time to relax--I find I want to veg in front of the television (and there have been a lot of good shows for the science fiction geek lately...)

So, looking for a distraction after the murders in a LGBTQ night club...I found myself drifting to re-reading Alison Bechdel's Fun Home.  I am voraciously reading it, staying up late at night--because that seems to be the only time I can find to read.  A little less sleep--but so satisfying to be reading and thinking.

I have been trying to find more times to read--with some mixed success.  Maybe this weekend...

Michael is going to volunteer for the Jimmy Fund.  Not only is it a good cause, but will give him some useful real world experience that he will need to eventually be able to get out there in the workforce.  I am a bit nervous for tomorrow--it will be his first four hour shift.

Willow has a birthday party on Saturday to go to...and this weekend is our town's annual Flag Day Fireworks and Carnival...

And then there is Father's Day!

And now for something completely different--Goats!

(We went to a goat farm last Saturday--Michael was very happy!)  (That is a story in itself--I had to go to the Dentist last week for an unscheduled filling--and we got to talking--and his wife own's a goat farm!--so there ya go!)

#MicroBlogMonday: Weekend Snippets

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Willow's Sunday Plans (mom was away in the morning)

Cute Niece Alert!  (I was at a surprise Brunch for my brother, who finished his Masters Degree)

I cannot get him to smile (teen thing more than aspergers thing) -- this is me telling him to smile(!) while I took a picture at the Boston Pops Live in Concert Raiders of The Lost Ark.  (He loved it, btw--yeah, you cannot tell from the picture--but he did!)


And then there is this, on a Rainy Sunday Afternoon: