sunday

i can hear rodney setting up a fire in the living room and i'm grateful because it's chilly in here. jubal is nursing in preparation for an afternoon nap which i am hoping to share with him. today the three of us took a long walk, first around the neighborhood, then through north regional park, which circles the sewage treatment plant and winds around the golf course. the girls are with friends and should be back soon. it's been nice to have a break from them, but i quite miss them when they are gone at unusual times, feeling that something is missing.
the path through the park was blanketed with yellow and orange leaves and oak galls, we saw a dead possum and half of a rodent, shrew or mouse. the possum's teeth were sharp and vicious-looking and i think the girls would have liked to have seen it. there was a young boy (10 or 12?) learning how to golf and he hit a ball about ten feet in front of us into some blackberry briars, after which rodney walked in front of the stroller to protect jubal from crazy golf balls while i encouraged him to walk more briskly to get around the novice faster, but he was interested in watching him practice, as he enjoys a game of golf now and then. also i think he just enjoyed seeing a father-son couple doing something as bizarrely mundane as teaching/learning to golf.
rodney spent a lot of time venting about the publishing industry as he has completed a novel and wants to find an agent, which is challenging. we fantasized about how our life will be different when we're published and rich and talked about our fantasy property and the lives we would lead on it. when we have talks like that i can see the land--our rolling hills, the pastures and woodlot, my vastly huge garden, a house big enough to accommodate all of our projects and neverending stacks of seasoned firewood.