Wednesday, July 19, 2006

This is just to say

Well the weatherdude got that one so wrong, more wrong than the one time I wore drag (for Halloween - I make a scary, scary woman), more wrong than the poor schmuck I savaged in my last post. When checking the forcast with the local gets-it-wrong-all-the-time news team last night, weatherdude estimated the high today at a very civilized eighty-six degrees. He could have been half-assing it what with the beastly heat and mid-summer doldrums, I assume he just reached into his magic statistic machine and let it run some random numbers instead of doing some real weather prognostication. All I know is that the last time I looked the thermometer registered ninety-nine and I dared not look again for fear that the mercury would keep going until it did one of those cartoon pop the top off the glass moves then turns to steam and makes a little mushroom cloud.

Too hot to cook (much less move with any intention) and yet the wee ones were howling for food, little necks craned back and mouths agape like baby birds - I was tempted to regurgitate my lunch for them but I suppose that would have warranted a visit from DHS. Instead, I slapped together some turkey sandwiches, slices of watermelon, and a big communal bowl of cherries.

Perfection. There's nothing like cold, succulent cherries on a hot day. Pits covered the kitchen floor along with watermelon seeds and crusts of bread (it's always the crusts), fronts of t-shirts pink from the juice that dripped from eager chins. As dad cleaned the table - and the floor - the brood made their way out front to make the most of the rest of the summer sun, dirt patched on the remnants of the evening's cherries. The evenings are still long but shorten with each passing day and eventually I will not be able to complain about the heat, the kids will not be chasing the last light out or carrying their cherry mud into the tub.

Sans cherries, the sentiments are the same, a moment frozen in time; I have mine, William Carlos Williams had his:

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

9 comments:

Sarie said...

What a nice post.

We're having brown outs here. I'm guessing from this hellish heat. JEEZ I don't think HELL is this bad.

My poor Chicklet was drenched from sweat after the 15 minute drive from my office to our house. Put his butt right into a cool shower when we got to the house.

UGH MAKE IT STOP!

Anonymous said...

I've never been sure whether the classic poem actually excused the petty fruit theft. I mean, if I found that note, my first reaction would be, "cute, Mr. Poet, next time get your own damn plums." "Forgive me, they were delicious"? If Jonah Goldberg tried that we'd laugh him out of the room. Frickin' artists.

Puck said...

At last, an 'anonymous' who is no dumbass...

I always took it to be a note to a lover who has lingered in bed, a "snooze, ya' lose" situation.

If I knew Jonah Goldberg had his fingers on my plums, I'd toss the lot of em' and smash the bowl.

Laura said...

What an awesome dad you are - I hope you keep your posts about them somewhere safe for later - If only more fathers would write from the heart - or just write.

Mamacita (The REAL one) said...

Red plums, cold, tart, covered with condensation. . . . .

I have to stop now.

Anonymous said...

I love William Carlos Williams!

Good choice - perfect for this hot blistering sun and the fruit it bears us.

:)

Natsthename said...

That is my first introduction to William Carlos Williams and it's fabulous! Thanks for that one!

And hey, all that food talk is making me drool, but I'm in the midst of a gall bladder attack and don't want to make it worse. It's toast for me. But as soon as I feel better..COLD, SUCCULENT CHERRIES will be eaten!

Your Mother said...

It was 114° today. We tied another record. The weather guru is predicting 101° the rest of the week. That is like a tropical paradise after the weather we've had!

Anonymous said...

mmmm, cherries...