Summer Arrives

Hope everyone had as nice and relaxing a Memorial Day weekend as I did! The meteorologists were wrong, wrong, wrong, as usual*—the weather was luscious from start to finish. Our neighborhood pool opened up, and the kids got their fill—especially Julie, who would swim 24/7 if that were possible. Having finally reached the ripe old age of 10, she is now old enough to be there without me, so she can walk or ride her bike there (preferably with one of her siblings) and swim to her heart's content. 

Today the kids were all at the pool, and Andy and I realized that it was a perfect opportunity to ... watch a movie. Those of you who have been around these parts for a while will remember the days when we watched a DVD from Netflix nearly every night after the kids were in bed. Netflix made no money off of us in those days; now, however, we are lucky to watch one every 6 months. The problem is that the kids stay up too late now, and we can't watch anything rated R while they're up. But today, while it was glorious outside, we stayed in and watched The Kids Are All Right, which had been languishing in our Netflix inbox for 4 months. 

You know that I adore both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore; I'd be hard pressed to pick my favorite. In this movie they play a married couple with two teenage kids who were conceived via the same sperm donor, played by Mark Ruffalo. The kids are eager to find him, but his arrival on the scene complicates the family dynamics considerably.

It was a terrific movie. I found every character fully fleshed out and every situation believable. I don't recall having seen Ruffalo before, but I'm told that he was in Collateral, which I did see, but I just don't remember. (Andy recalls loving that movie; according to this review I was lukewarm on it.) Anyhow, two thumbs on this one for sure.

I did not work at all this weekend, which is a rarity for me. I made two deadlines on Friday and figured that earned me a break. Instead I caught up on my Scrabble games, tidied up some loose ends with regard to Bar Mitzvah plans (12 days and counting!), and thought about buying the book that we're discussing at book group this Thursday, but did not end up doing it. I will just have to miss out on this discussion (but might show up for the wine and snacks and conviviality).

*I recently remarked on Twitter that it's time I stopped blaming the meteorologists for being wrong every day and instead started blaming myself for believing them every day.

Comments

[Algot Runeman]

Of course, you could always move to California. A meteorologist once wrote that he hated doing the weather there. It was just too easy.

There's the old adage of New England, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." That makes me happy, even though I'm just the most amateur of weather watchers. We get it all. Clear and beautifully cool, hot and muggy, hot and dry, hot and wet; cold and clammy, cold and snowy, cold and... You get the picture.

Be honest, would you give that up?

[Val]

Although your kid had reached the age of 10, you should not allow her to swim all by herself. Did you know that drowning is the second cause of children's death?

[Karen]

Hi Val, I should've made this clear -- it's a club pool staffed by lifeguards at all times! I just meant that she's allowed to be there without me. I would never let any of my kids swim alone! Thanks for the opportunity to clarify this.