The Tenth Avenue playground at Belmar.

I bundled them up but there wasn't any wind so they had their jackets off in short order.

We brought a picnic lunch of sandwiches, clam chowder in a thermos, pretzels and cookies.

They played for an hour, ate and played for another hour. We met many nice people, adults and children. Some were there for the week and others were finding their summer rental property.

I need to get my beach badge soon. The pavilion wasn't open.

But Strollo's was!

Kenny got lemon, Chris took cherry and Timmy had vanilla with rainbow sprinkles. The bridge was up when we got there. We watched a tall boat, the Golden Eagle, pass under. It was too cold for italian ice but lots of people were getting it.

I sat with Tim on one side and Chris on the other. Kenny was across the table and started jumping around as the sugar hit. His antics prompted Chris to bounce in his seat. But he was too tired to hold his own and he fell backwards off the backless wire-mesh bench. He scraped his elbow through three layers of clothing.

I popped up like a jack-in-the-box to rescue him and set him back on his perch, laughing all the way at his carelessness. I was keenly aware of the elderly couple seated across the street. They had been watching us and no doubt their thoughts ran from "Oh, what a delightful boy" to "Oh, what a thoughtless mother letting him sit there by himself. Why, he ought to be on her lap or caught up in her arms so nothing evil befalls him." It's enough to make you crazy. So I laughed.

Kenny and Timmy were having an eating contest and Kenny was winning ... until Timmy accidentally knocked over his cup and a good portion fell onto the table.

Instead of crying, Timmy announced with triumph, "Now I'm winning!" That's my kid; always looking on the bright side.

We wrap up Women's History Month with a look ahead to Holy Week via the Via Dolorosa's Eighth Station:

Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem.

"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children."Luke 23:28

From the dark end of street
To the bright side of the road

"Got everything out that you need, hon? EZ Pass? Garage door opener?"

Yeah, yeah. Have you seen my garage doors lately? I'm serious!


"Can you save the inspection sticker?"

"We can't guarantee anything. Most folks drive straight from here to the inspection station for a replacement."

"But it will be closed by the time ... is my husband's car ready yet?"

"Um, no. Maybe Monday. Do you have a ride, hon?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Jeff's on his way. I just gotta move the car seats ..."

---

It got done today as planned. And they saved the inspection sticker. As if I need to be driving around without one ... all at the end of the month!

Yeah, it's a hassle that only my car has enough spots for four car seats.

Yeah, it's tough driving to Red Bank during the morning rush which included an unexplained, police-enforced, 30-minute detour around Manalapan and Freehold. And they wanted the car for the entire day. And, well, shoot, I can't get in and out of a repair shop for less than $800 these days it seems.

I'll tell you how my windshield cracked when I've cooled down ... yeah, the cold and early spring storm seemed to have something to do with it. Actually, yeah, the weather had alot to do with it since the streets are typically cleaned in preparation ... start to see it now? Need I go on?

With the nursery's rocking chair in storage in the basement, I became quickly bored of the remaining seating options left me.

I shifted an oversized chair to an unused corner of the living room and set up another rocker next to the crib, a layout that affords me a great view through the front window without the sunny glare and line of sight to the radio/CD player. Funny, we bought this huge CD changer just before iPods came out. What a waste of money. But, whatever.

I've stashed the remote controls in my rocking chair's pocket. Nursing can be mind-numbing at times especially now that I'm getting enough sleep at night and starting to regain my cognitive abilities, little by little.

I have yet to load up the CD changer with anything but Christmas music.

However, I have an idea of which CDs I would put it when I get around to it.

The tuner is pre-set to only two stations, WMMR and WHYY. Since moving to the panhandle seven years ago, I never got around to learning the radio stations because I was burning my own CDs for the car's changer. As in UNIX, there's always more than one way to skin a cat(1), i.e., to listen to music.

Trouble is, I don't know how to operate the stereo system via the remotes. I gotta find the manual and learn. I don't think that my iPod came with a remote. It's such a handle-held gadget.

If I had known it was going to be so cool, I would have taken pictures ... of the delivery truck with a hydraulic crane that lifted the pallet of roofing materials from the truck bed up, up, and over our heads to the top of the house.

Me and the able-bodied boys watched from the vacated nursery. The succession of thuds above us as the operator set down bundles, presumably in scattered work areas, caused me to fear a collapse. The young ones didn't like the noise either ... or were bored ... and quit the empty bedroom suddenly.

Roofing materials are heavy, no doubt about it. In the old days, folks like my father lugged stuff up by hand. Frankly I can't remember how he did it. His ladder had a rope and pulley but that was for full extension, not hoisting supplies. I just know that he did, by himself.

He only allowed me on the porch roofs, never higher. I think he fell off the ladder once. My mother would sometimes hold the ladder. (No, I don't think that's why he fell). I don't remember him breaking any bones in his fall. Shoot, I break bones every time I fall down the stairs. (I do think that my heel was somehow broken in my most recent fall from January but I never got around to getting an x-ray to confirm).

I hope to heaven none of these guys fall.

A deer ran into his car, I told you that, what, over a month ago.

He left it at the body shop on Saturday and the insurance co. provided a rental, a Ford Taurus (naturally).

This morning, he put a booster seat in the back of the rental and took Kenny to school.

He shared with me Kenny's reaction to the fabric on the Taurus's seats: "Oooh, so soft." He likes it better than the leather in our cars. Funny.

Actually, I like fabric better too, but it doesn't wear well. Leather lasts and even gets better with age.