Death Metal

An eleven-year-old friend died this morning, after a long illness. Broken arm for four years, he had led a dull, dry existence in the shadows, with only rare examples of ever showing us his former spark. He limped along, doing what was asked of him, before crawling back into his hole, whiny and leaky. We had hoped he would last through the summer, or at least until Memorial Day, but this morning...

the starter cord broke off in my hand.

So now we have a new lawnmower. Fire engine red, it's a 'self-propelled' jobby, which seems silly, especially when my Saturday backyard mow was sometimes the best exercise I'd had all week, but after rebate it was only $6 more expensive than the regular model.

Spent the morning with Ryan, as Ainsley and Erin were invited to a Mother-Daughter breakfast down in Quantico, allowing Ainsley to get dressed in a lovely flowery yellow ensemble with pearls, and Erin to wear an outfit a friend bought her that looks like it was made in 1906. So the dudes went to the Post Office in Historic Occoquan and did some historic Mother's Day shopping and ate some historic banana bread, before picking up Grandad to join us for lunch.
Because I'm actually getting some grass to grow in the tough under-old-deck spots, I spread some more soil and seed this evening with Ryan's help, plus he got to see a couple backyard frogs, so all in all a great Father-Son day. In casual unmatching clothes.