A nut and a swirly slide

It started out as a dog eating everything.

Then there were several hours stewing and doing nothing and watching too much t.v. There was a mom resistant to all the ideas that were proposed much to her shame.

But then, like a strike of lightening splitting the sky, a vision about how a nut might be conveyed by a swirly slide came charging out and changed everything.

The dog became a tunnel through which an attached and more than a little broken toy turned into a new toy. More boxes and more milk cartons were added and angles were experimented with . The mom started to loosen up a little and was in charge of cutting and duct taping. The kids kept bringing more things out of the recycling bag. More possibilities were discovered and more vehicles, beyond the nut, were tried.

The milk carton became a channel through which a bouncy ball could pop out of.

Soon enough, the dry version was outmoded by the water slide version. Instead of pouring water directly into a bottle, it was discovered that you could connect it to these joints of milk cartons and usher the water into the bottle. Once disconnected, this water bottle made drinking water a special and hard won activity.

The water, once it passed through these chambers, was very very good.

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I entered August without you.

I won't visit you this month. You won't call. I will raid your garden and you won't get any of the vegetables. I will make plans without telling you about them. We'll go to the store and not buy you one single thing. Whole books will be read and I will not tell you which ones. I will watch movies and not inform you. The nasturiums will ripen. Last month was different. I changed my schedule and took time off work to be with you. I dropped all kinds of plans for us to be together. You sent me messages, I received them. I picked up food that I thought you would like at the store and sent you pictures of every beautiful thing I saw. I sang with you. We watched the Great Canadian Baking Show. You chose the recipe for the garlic scape pesto and gave me instructions for making the gooseberry jam. I am in August without you. You are in July.

Keep telling yourself that.

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Growing Versions

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