The weather is glorious, biting autumn cold, but sunny…one of those edgy, orange/red/yellow leaf days where the clouds seem to stand still in the sky and the shadows are so crisp they could cut you.
A group of parents has had the unenviable project the past few months of transforming the school yard from a sea of concrete to a green and inviting playground. They’ve put out calls for volunteers and materials and spent several weekend working, and several days worth of time calling the county and wheedling their way into approvals for this and that. Today we were there at 10 a.m., helping to finish up 2 obstacle courses. There were at least 15 parents and and equal amount of children milling around underfoot while their fathers hammered and drilled and raked and shoveled. I sanded several posts and 2 seesaws smooth, and raked and shoveled with Karin and Anders until we got called for hotdogs. Martin helped for a short while, but spent most of his time with an older girl, playing on the swings. 🙂
The 2 obstacle courses run parallel, starting with a huge concrete pipe to crawl through, 3 round posts of varying heights, a seesaw to walk up and then down, a chain bridge, a zigzag balance beam, a suspended round log balance beam, and a contraption that consists of 8 chains suspended from a beam and anchored to the ground in a row, that each have an upside down horseshoe for stepping in and climbing across.
I have the primer coat on the new art desk and half of the first coat of green (what else?) paint on as well, so feeling very accomplished.
Last night, after a droolingly yummy dinner of sushi, galestorm and I crashed an Amerikanska gathering, and were pleasantly surprised at how nice and talkative and welcoming everyone was. We’ve both had a disenchanted relationship with the Talk Forum on Amerikanska, but the group in Malmö seems to be a lot of fun. 🙂 That was the first time I’ve ever been able to go, and while smoky pubs are not really my style, I would certainly like to meet up with this group again.
I’m wondering if I can make something yummy over pasta using pumpkin, garlic, onion, creme fraiche, bacon and mushrooms. With those ingredients, I ought not to be able to go wrong…or?