The summer is done and over. During the night, the trees in our yard lose their first leaves, slowly, gently.
Even Nounou and Loladorada know something is coming.
The First Leaves of Fall
Month: June 2018
Ending the Day at the Beach
We spend a few more hours with Gram, then as the shop closes, we hug her, and head to the Oasis Springs beach with Mom and Dad. The heat is almost unbearable for most people here, but I don’t mind it at all. I just love the sun.
The twins are sharing secrets as soon as we arrive. Over their shoulders I can see what looks like a glass roof — are they looking up greenhouses? Good luck convincing Gram to get one! But I’m thrilled they are showing such passion into a common interest.
I hear Mom and Dad whisper about how the bar on the beach “hasn’t changed a bit”, but they won’t clarify when I ask. They just exchange knowing looks and smiles so intimate they make me look away — I’m not sure I want to know.
I love my sister, but I’m not taking her up on her offer to play Don’t Wake the Llama. She’s a sore loser and I’m much better at it than her. Learning dodge traps in the jungle has the side effect of making you more agile than the average teenager, you see.
What’s better than having your legs soaked in fresh water during a hot day?
I’ll tell you what. Having your legs soaked in fresh water during a hot day as a family.
And then we go jam to the sound of some summer tunes. Mom does a good job of not looking too disappointed at how little her kids can stick to the rhythm.
I may not dance as well as hear, but I sure do look fierce doing it.
Apprentice Gardeners
It’s still early in the morning and pretty chilly when we reach the Herbology shop. Gram is already there, waiting for us with a hug and a big smile ready.
We don’t spend much time waiting outside. The summer is almost over, and Gram needs to harvest the plants that will die soon. She waves away our suggestion of building a greenhouse. She wants to stay close to the natural cycle, she says, and she’s not really looking for efficiency anyway.
She gives us direction and advice, and shares precious knowledge about how to keep a plant alive. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea, but the twins are listening happily, and I’m just happy to be with Gram.
We also get to plant the future autumn crops!
Look at me, getting an apple into the ground.
As I was saying, Cyril finds an unsuspected love and peace into this gardening morning. He rarely ever gets behind holidays and their traditions, since he’s a delicate, teenage loner, but he’s happy to be participating in this one!
He’s also much better than me at this. He’s already harvested ten flowers in the time it takes me to find one lemon.
I just stick to planting more apples.
Some of the crops will survive through fall. These only need a bit of watering today, and Cleo volunteers.
The Gardening Twins.
Gram jokes that her old back is relieved she doesn’t have to do all of that herself, but really we know she would probably be much, much faster on her own… The years have had no effect on her health, it seems, and she’s so experienced it would make up for it anyway.
More flower picking.
Gram explains that this is chamomile, and you can use it in many special decoctions. Some of them, she adds, I may like to bring with me on my belomisian travels…
I’m not really sure what she means by that yet, but I grab a handful anyway.
Apparently, you can give someone a full, five-minute critique on their crop-watering technique.
Around lunchtime, exhausted by the whole exercise, I’m the first to head inside the shop. It’s full of people looking for bio produce or some earthy panacea. Or maybe they just find comfort in this green place that seems entirely removed from the outside world.
In the staff room — aka Gram’s personal space — I unpack the lunch mom made for me.
It’s actually not all too bad, especially with some of the fresh spices I gathered from the garden to accompany it.
The twins gather a little more advice from Grandma before going on their own break.
Cleo, whose hands are full of dirt, comes inside to wash them.
Cyril wants to stay outside for a bit. He’s found Gram’s workbench and is tempted to make her a bouquet.
He’s not quite self-assured and the bouquet involves a lot of trial and error, but…
… in the end, he’s pretty satisfied with the results.
Naomi’s Herbology Shop
Near the water in Windenburg, you’ll find a quaint little house. It looks like a cottage and it has a vast garden full of exotic and rare flowers, herbs and trees.
This is Gram’s herbology shop, that she built after entering retirement, and where she’s been spending most of her time since my grandmas died. She takes care of her plants, and brews remedies from them in the back of the house.
Today, for Family Day, she’s proposed that the twins and I come join her. She would like to introduce her to one of her passions, and the thought of spending a day surrounded by greenery and hanging with our great-grandmother sounds pretty much perfect. Cyril is not really into the idea of gardening at first, since he’s not fond of dirt, and dirt getting under his nails. He also dislikes crowds — and people in general — so the clients scare him. Really, Cyril doesn’t care much for this holiday dedicated to gardening.
He loves Gram dearly, though. So he only pretends to complain for a while before agreeing to come with us.
So in the early hours of the morning, we join her at the shop.
Family Day — Morning
Around here we have a specific holiday. It’s called Gardening Day, and it’s a really, really old tradition that dates back to the very first members of our community. Gardening is how the first members of the Stewarts family made their first dime. Made their fortune, in fact.
It’s a holiday for everybody, but for our family, it’s the occasion to commemorate and spend time together. So we’re up at dawn and get ready to enjoy this time together.
Mom and Dad are living the spirit of Family Day from the start!
I woke up late and reaaaally didn’t want to witness that so soon after waking up.
Cyril and Cleo were smarter and took their breakfast in the dining room, like normal people. Mom quickly joins. We plan on spending the day outside, and she won’t be joining us until later, so she’s packing our lunches.
Cleo is already pretty excited about today, she’s dancing around in the living room.
Mom and Dad may not be into gardening at all, but that doesn’t stop Dad from being in the flower theme. He gifts mom a bright red rose for the occasion.
A Responsible Day
Cleo and I have plans to go work on our fitness together today.
I lead the way and she quickly joins. She’s gotten better and better, and now easily keeps up with my pace. She jokes that soon I’ll be able to take her on my travels to Selvadorada.
Or is she joking, really?
Not everybody can keep up, though. We meet a jogger who decided to walk instead.
To be fair, not everyone can keep going under the scorching sun. It invigorates me, though.
After a quick shower, I go outside again to sort the drying laundry.
Cyril’s grades have been menacing to slip recently, so before he even gets rid of the sweaty smell of walking around under the sun for too long, he kneels in the grass and works on an electronic project.
I should clarify that Cyril is a straight-A student. When he means “my grades are slipping,” he means he got a B in Science.
When my grades “slipped”, it meant I almost got kicked out of school for sleeping in math class again.
Dad’s clocked in a few extra hours at work today, too. Nounou is not the most expressive of cats, but Dad is happy to have him to cuddle after a tough day.
Water Fight
It’s 90 degrees outside today. It’s as if summer wanted to go out with a bang.
So what do you do when simply stepping outside makes your skin burn?
You hang by the pool in your bathsuit, for starters.
And most importantly…
You start a water balloon fight with your unsuspecting father.
Impact incoming!
I missed. Dad finds that hilarious.
He instantly fires back.
His aim is even worse than mine, his balloon ends in the pool. My turn to tease him.
This time, I take my time to aim.
Account for the small breeze…
And shoot!
Perfect form.
Time stops for a fraction of a second…
… and…
Gotcha!
Dad is distraught, and soaked in cold water.
I’m pretty proud of myself.
After that, Dad doesn’t want to play anymore, so instead I go play with the sprinkler system.
Don’t worry though, Karma gets me in the end. This heat is welcome for me, but it’s also exhausting.
We can’t do anything more than hesitant circles around the rink, but at least we don’t fall anymore.
Willow Creek Park
On an overcast day, Dad, Cleo and I head to Willow Creek’s central park with Gram. The plan is just to take a walk around the park at first, but as we get there, it turns out there’ s a number of other activities we are interested in.
“Look Gram! That’s the last relic I found the other day! It’s really interesting because… well, do you see that indent above the llama’s eye?”
Grandma knows a lot about many things, but she never got around to studying archeology. I’m proud beyond what words can say to be able to show her my work and watch her nod as she learns more.
We hang by the stream for a while. Gram does ask us why Cyril didn’t come with, but the truth is, Cyril like his bedroom more than the outside world. Sometimes, Cleo laughs, she wonders if he doesn’t love his bedroom more than her twin.
Then we have a try at the rollerskating rink nearby.
I’m not too sure about it.
Not too sure at all. In fact, I keep falling.
Being hungry doesn’t help. I order a nice, refreshing fruit parfait at the nearest food stall.
Just the right amount of healthy calories!
Back to roller-skating with Gram.
I’m getting better at this.
In fact, I’m enjoying it a whole lot.
Mom is back from work, and she joins us directly at the park.
There are only four people skating around on that rink, and it looks like Mom is already sort of familiar with one of them. I’ve never seen her before myself, though she definitely looks familiar.
In any case she’s friendly, and better than us at skating, so she helps Mom. It’s sort of a weird sight, like a mother with a child, though they look about the same age.
I wouldn’t mind some help, too.
We’re all just very bad at this.
The Stewarts Family (and other shenanigans) 