Finally...

a summer night I can enjoy outside. As I write this I'm sitting on my front porch, in my genuine Cracker Barrel rocking chair, listening to the crickets and actually appreciating nature. I literally cannot recall the last time I have done this. I realize there is nothing old-fashioned about typing on a laptop, but rocking and writing under the porch light feels almost quaint. The windows are open to let in the fresh air, and I can see (and hear) Andy in the living room.

Nighttime brings with it a whole new perspective. Just the occasional car passes by, the lights are off in the surrounding houses - probably due to the fact that the inhabitants have real jobs, and the retired ones are just cute and need their sleep. This applies to the babies on the street, too. It's trash day tomorrow, so all of our matching "Keep Nashville Clean" brown cans are neatly placed so that the garbage truck can extend it's arm-like lever-contraption and dump the contents in the morning.

The train yard half-a-mile away never sleeps - the night is when it comes alive. Or maybe it's just that the sound travels better. The brakes are squealing, which sound not unlike aliens talking to each other across the galaxy (the aliens I've encountered, at least) and the boxcars accentuate the conversations with a resounding bump. And tonight, I'm not even bothered by it. In fact, Matthew Perryman Jones' song "Beneath the Silver Moon" is quite happily lodged in my head - the perfect soundtrack to this evening.

There is a definite calm that descends, mmmm, about the second Ella goes to bed. Not that it's better than when she's awake - just quieter. I welcome the change, live an "adult life" for a few hours, and then am ready for her smiling face by morning. We have good times together, she and I. I literally laugh out loud at her crazy ways. The way she says "hi" is about the sweetest thing I could imagine (it's very high, soft and drawn out) and her growing fascination with dogs is quite endearing. Good thing there are lots of them on our street to keep her entertained.

Today we went to a playground right down the street from where Andy's working this week. We played on the swings, went down the slide, and I kept looking around for signs of Nicole Kidman (she's doing voice-over work for a movie at a studio in the neighborhood, and all I wanted was for her to drive by, see a cute baby playing, stop and talk to that baby's mother. Is this too much to hope for?).

Afterwards we went to say hello to Andy and the others at the studio. Ella's milk had been outside for a while, so it was time to refrigerate. You know your daddy doesn't work at a typical office when your sippy cup is chilling in this environment...