Yesterday turned out to be 100% rainy-day play. First, we walked out to buy a box of excellent French-bakery croissants for breakfast. Then my sister and I made a cherry pie together. Then T and I taught H and K how to play the board game Wingspan, which they loved. Then we went candlepin bowling at lanes that had been preserved in their original 1960s glory . . . paper scoring! curved aqua plastic benches! cheap prices! Then we went out for a big sushi dinner. Then we played another round of Wingspan. Then we ate pie. Then we fell into bed exhausted from hours of fluffy fun.

It's been so lovely having them here, so good to spend our weekend together actively amusing ourselves instead of devolving into family frets and chores. This morning everyone (even me, briefly) is sleeping late. Then we'll figure out some sort of breakfast, and H and K will pull themselves together and start heading back to Vermont, and T and I will slip back into our usual sort of Sunday.

I haven't cracked a book for 36 hours. It's been great.

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There's only one space left in the August Poetry Kitchen class. If you're interested in the topic but that weekend doesn't work for you, let me know. I've had some people ask about scheduling a second session, early in the fall. If you'd like to join them, I'll start figuring out dates.