. . . to come in out of the rain.
Yes, we got our usual spot. 5pm, Roger's Grove, snug up against the do-not-cross tape. (Telling people "this is the end; you can go no further" loses none of its appeal over the years). Veggies (broccoli, jicama, tomatoes, peas, carrots, celery, cucumbers) and dip, lots of cheese, crackers, three kinds of chips (Sun Chips, Doritos, and those wonderful veggie chips -- mmm, sweet potato chips), Oreos, and a chocolate birthday cake with chocolate chip frosting. A long, leisurely game of Apples-to-Apples (did you ever pretend that the cards you win say something about yourself? My husband's cards said "normal" and "ancient" - poor sweetie! - but mine said "sexy," "sensual," and "boisterous." Ha!). We had just sent the little ones off to play in the cattails, and had started a very loud game of Pit among the 9 adults, when we looked up at the sky... all previous rain clouds had tracked to the south and west of us, but this one was smack on for us. Now, unlike other places on the front range, it hasn't rained decently here in ages and ages (see, e.g., our water bill from trying to keep our yard from being a fire hazard), but this one promised to do more than spit on us.
Quick! Stuff the games in the ziploc bag. Fold the blankets and squish'em in trashbags. Rip holes in trash bags and stick'em over the kids' heads! Pop the littlest ones in their strollers and toss the small tarp over the bunch... too late, here it comes! Umbrellas up!
Oops. Somebody left the veggies out. (But the chips stayed dry).
Oh How It Rained! And of course, there are the 23 of us, toddlers to teens to folks in their mid 50's, huddled under two beach umbrellas, two hand umbrellas, and trashbags. More than a quarter mile from any shelter, at least we weren't under a tree or anything. For forty minutes it poured, and flashed, and blew. Someone remarked that even a duck would need an umbrella, so that started up a round of "Four Little Ducks" which led to "Rise and Shine" (the one about Noah's Ark-y Ark-y), which led to, of course "The Ballad of the Titanic" (but I refrained from the refrain about 'fishes and turtles, the ladies lost their girdles'), and then "Found a Peanut" where we ate it, got sick, died, were rejected from heaven and hell, came back to life, and hadn't learned much from the experience because we ate the peanut again. Then "I'm gonna eat some worms" and "Tom the Toad" and "Black Socks" and it's still raining, but at least not quite so hard.
Eventually, after an hour and some, the storm passes. There was half an inch of water in the veggie tray. Soaked to the skin, we debated our next move, and decided to... stay, of course!
Two servers from Texas Roadhouse, whose market washed away when the deluge began, walked all the way over from their stand with a box full of roasted peanuts... they'd heard our singing across the lake, and just had to bring us some.
Eventually, the sidewalk dried out (though our hair and shorts didn't, much), so we sat on the warm concrete, and passed around the birthday cake (the paper goods were a soggy mess, so it was eaten out of hand), and the glow-bracelets, and before much longer: BOOM!
I love Independence Day.
Quick! Stuff the games in the ziploc bag. Fold the blankets and squish'em in trashbags. Rip holes in trash bags and stick'em over the kids' heads! Pop the littlest ones in their strollers and toss the small tarp over the bunch... too late, here it comes! Umbrellas up!
Oops. Somebody left the veggies out. (But the chips stayed dry).
Oh How It Rained! And of course, there are the 23 of us, toddlers to teens to folks in their mid 50's, huddled under two beach umbrellas, two hand umbrellas, and trashbags. More than a quarter mile from any shelter, at least we weren't under a tree or anything. For forty minutes it poured, and flashed, and blew. Someone remarked that even a duck would need an umbrella, so that started up a round of "Four Little Ducks" which led to "Rise and Shine" (the one about Noah's Ark-y Ark-y), which led to, of course "The Ballad of the Titanic" (but I refrained from the refrain about 'fishes and turtles, the ladies lost their girdles'), and then "Found a Peanut" where we ate it, got sick, died, were rejected from heaven and hell, came back to life, and hadn't learned much from the experience because we ate the peanut again. Then "I'm gonna eat some worms" and "Tom the Toad" and "Black Socks" and it's still raining, but at least not quite so hard.
Eventually, after an hour and some, the storm passes. There was half an inch of water in the veggie tray. Soaked to the skin, we debated our next move, and decided to... stay, of course!
Two servers from Texas Roadhouse, whose market washed away when the deluge began, walked all the way over from their stand with a box full of roasted peanuts... they'd heard our singing across the lake, and just had to bring us some.
Eventually, the sidewalk dried out (though our hair and shorts didn't, much), so we sat on the warm concrete, and passed around the birthday cake (the paper goods were a soggy mess, so it was eaten out of hand), and the glow-bracelets, and before much longer: BOOM!
I love Independence Day.
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