I just came in from the garden.  It's a beautiful quiet and cool twilight.  About 7 pm each day, my neighbor behind the back fence starts to practice his fiddle.  The notes hang in the air, punctuated with the sound of children's voices.  The combination is such a wonderful sound in the dusk.

We fed some more larvae to the fish.  Robert is observing them right now, but I came in to finish the blog.

A opinion poll canvasser just called--to ask questions about the election in the Fall.  It's so embarrassing not to know anything, and to see how shallow my opinions are--and I do listen to the radio and try to keep up.  In the end, I'll ask Rainey what she thinks, because she really keeps up with politics and is in the League of  Women Voters.

Gunther just rang the bell.  He wanted to know where I got the little airplane for Auggie that fits on his handlebars.  He wants one for his and Eliza's too!

He just told me Tuesday is National Block Party night, so he's going to put his BBQ in my driveway and make carne asada tacos.  We have the swings that will keep the kids busy.  Should be fun.

Robert just came in and said he thinks Red Spot is acting funny. 

Well, we found Red Stripe dead today, under the lily pad.  Too bad, isn't it?

We can't figure out why she died, since Robert sees no sign of any disease.

Now we have left seven fish.  There's Blackie. He's big, like a submarine.  He shoulders away the other fish when he sees something to eat.   There's the triplets, all gold, hard to tell apart. There's White Head, Red Spot, and Minnie the Minnow. 

We discovered mosquito larvae in the back pond where we removed all our fish.  Now it's empty and breeding these vile, wiggly, little creatures.  However, Robert got the little green net and is catching them---and feeding them to the fish in the pot pond.  Wow, they love these things.  Kind of labor-intensive, though, catching the larvae and handfeeding them to the fish.  Wow, we got the fish originally just for this purpose, and now they live in different ponds. 

Gunther, Eliza, Auggie, and Anders came over for pork chili stew and rice tonight.  I wanted to hear about their five-day camping trip at Bearskin Meadows.  This is their third time (it's the family camp for families with children with Type 1 Diabetes.)  I am so grateful that this camp is available for the information and support is offers families.  They learned some new strategies for working with the insulin pump.  The kids had a great time with the counselors and daily activities.  They even have gluten-free food, which we were excoted about, although Eliza's biscuits are better than theirs, so they thought!  

It's so good to have them all home.   

Gunther and Eliza and the boys went off for diabetes camp at Bearskin Meadows.

Homely chores today:

Robert and I went over to Gunther and Eliza's  house to check to see that their friend's bunny hutch had been picked up so we could lock the back gate and put out their garbage.

We took their food from the refrigerator to use up--mushrooms, lettuce, cheese, and milk.

We gave their chickens some cut-up cantaloupe and lettuce and watched them peck around. Tomorrow I'll put in fresh newspaper and throw away the poop.

I harvested some of their fresh tomatoes--I love the smell of a tomato patch--there's nothing like it.

Robert and I created a safe patch of mulch under the second swing that Gunther put up on my tree by the sidewalk.  It's safer for swinging now.  We also built up some flagstones to create a jumping off place for the swing, which will be a fun discovery when they come home from camp.

Robert and I gazed at our goldfish.  Ick (a fish parasite Robert observed) has been corrected.  Robert peeled (!) the skin off of one pea, mashed it and fed it to the fish.  He says it helps prevent fish constipation.  We fed them some watermelon yesterday.

The water is clear.  Everything looks perfect.

A hummingbird suddenly buzzed in front of us as we were gazing at the fish.  What are we?  St. Francis of Assisi?! 

I'm tired tonight but it's a feeling that allows me to break down the fence between the day and the night, and bring reflections forward.

The need to write has been growing thoughout the last week...as I long to record the beautiful moments of the last seven days.

Treor (8) and Chloe (6) flew up from Studio City to stay with me, and spend time with their cousins, Anders (7) and Auggie (5).  Auggie and Anders and their parents, my son, Gunther and daughter-in-law Eliza live across the street, so we have a little family compound going.

Eliza and I moved in sync each day to set up fun local acitivities--and to give each other needed breaks.  (I'm not used to full-time mothering!)

Bright moments:

• In Memorial Park, a pick-up baseball game with another 8-year old, who had brought a ball and bat, but who lacked any friends (he said he was visiting his divorced father.)  Trevor--who plays on a little team at home, was thrilled.  We all walked home together-a new friend

• Auggie's 5th birthday on Sunday July 12th, again at Stinson beach--friends, lounging, body boards, a rare sunny day, a Pinata, hamburgers, hot dogs, and getting buried in the sand.
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• Robert, Trevor, Chloe, and me watching the original (is there even a new one?) Attack of the 50-foot Woman.  An alcoholic woman gets irradiated by an alien and grows so large she walks the streets moaning, "Harry, where are you?" in search of her philandering husband.  She squeezes him to death.  "I liked it, actually," said Chloe when I remarked to my friend that it was pretty hokey.
  

•  Buying enormous quantities of food, every day
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• Going to Adventure Land at the Berkeley Marina, where they all went on a zip line (landing in a hill of sand) and got to do stuff like hammering and sawing
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• We made a "movie" where aliens landed and hunted down the earthlings at my house.  Anders and Trevor, wearing last-year's Halloween's knights costumes arrive in a cardboard box from outer space.  Chloe and Auggie (wearing his "handsome shirt") arrive home in my car after shopping, enter the house and go to bed.  Hearing noises, they go downstairs to encounter the aliens.  "The humans have to win," I direct. I teach them how to slip a sword between their arm to look like a stab.  The aliens, fight, but unfortunately are killed and fall down dead.  Everyone stays in character.  I wish I knew how to put my digital vignettes into one continuous narrative.  "We want to have 100 hits on YouTube," they all tell me.
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• Last Satuday, the parents (Gunthe and Eliza and Jim and Sigrid) go off to San Francisco.  The kids and I eat dinner on the new deck that Gunther just built onto his house.
  
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• "I want to make a speech," begins Anders, and offes a long thank-you speech to me ("Nana")  Wow, it broke my heart.  Trevor followed suit, and actually thanked me for having their parents. I returned the favor by pointing out the special qualities of each of them.
• After Jim and Sigrid and Trevor and Chloe left to drive down to Southern California, Gunther put up three swings in my front yard.  Now we can have a mini-park in front of my house.
  
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• Last week (especially Saturday) might turn out to be the best days of my life.