Friday found all five of us high in the Santa Cruz mountains for Lexy's school day camp. Jen got to do the same kind of work I do at the museum - facilitate activities for small children. Lexy, being one of the small children, did activities. Nathan, being an even smaller child, wandered off a lot. Sophie, being downright tiny, went dirt surfing. Of course, I had to help her dirt surf, which entailed holding her hands and running down a small dusty slope with her, letting her feet drag in the dirt. She made me do this again and again until my back hurt. Then we did it some more. We all got home dirty and tired.
The next day we all went off to the renaissance faire with our moms. It was Jen's birthday, and Lexy got Jason to buy flowers for her hair. Lexy got to be St. George in a play. Nathan wandered off a lot. Lexy and I, for a nominal fee, threw tomatos at a privateer, but didn't hit him. Our moms got tired out and went home early. Jason and Stacy took the kids on a ride so Jen and I could get a bit of time to ourselves. I bought a shirt to wear at the wedding, and an interesting reed instrument that sounds like the bastard child of a crumhorn and a bagpipe. Jen bought some cool paper. We got some incense too. Wearing renaissance costumes while talking on a cell phone is a bit incongruous. I reflected on the fact that many people seem to spend a lot of time escaping from the present. The distant past and the distant future can be romanticized quite easily. When past and future collide, they create the roadkill that is the present. Deep. We all got home dirty and tired.
These two days just whipped by, and it always seems that Jen and I don't get enough time to just be together. It really is all about the kids. Sunday, when the kids were at their dad's, we could have had a day together, but I ended up on an OAC related mission to Felton, hiking into the woods in the company of Matt and Greg, with musical instruments in tow. A fly flew up Greg's nose. I laughed. A fly flew down my throat. I spent five minutes trying to cough it back up. Matt inhaled a spider web. We arrived at a suitably isolated spot and sat down to record some "music". My new instument was missing its reed, which meant that it had jumped ship somewhere between Matt's house and the little creekside patch of ferns we had settled down in. We used other instruments. On the way back I found the reed on the trail. Then Matt read his new long story, which has a segment where a large man chokes on a gnat.
I got home too late to spend much time with Jen before the kids got home. Maybe if we can figure out a way to not need sleep. We still have so many things to do in the next month.

cds that I listened to while reflecting on the fact that I have to stop buying so many cds because I really can't afford it: Death In June "Take Care and Control", G.I.S.M. "s/t" (semi-bootleg anthology), Lo'Jo "Au Cabaret Sauvage", Goran Bregovic (another Greek title - you'd think he was Greek. He isn't), and Stellamara "Star of the Sea"

Now: Townes Van Zandt "For the Sake of the Song"