Unicycling

Solange ordered a bike rack and storage shed hoping to remove all the  bikes/skateboards from her front entryway and dining room. But two unicycles arrived on the scene before  any sign of the organizers. Mike was excited to apply his considerable mountain biking skill to this  wobbly alternative. He started by  riding along a brick wall then progressed to  leaning heavily  on my shoulder.  I went from long arm hangs dragging the unicycle and my legs along the wall to lightly touching the wall with one hand punctuated by seconds of panic as the wheel tried to escape ahead or behind me.  As always, Rafi saw only my potential. He  offered to either take up a collection for a unicycle for Gwen or saw my bike in half.

Iris and Solange commandeered the house right across the street from Solange by being wonderful friends to its owners: Pam and Dennis. Iris went on to have a table set for 12 at 9 AM and dinnertime each day then proceeded to magically make various relatives want to cook the meals. Conversations ranged from best movies to Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin to whether or not one of Solly’s neighbors could shoot the other without getting out of his armchair or opening his window. (He probably can). Rafi taught me the provinces of Canada, and the major cities in Australia, and the likely compositions of the cliffs east of Scottsdale on the Apache trail. Emily led Cranium games- she won every single game but everyone had fun except maybe Rafi who never heard of any popular songs in his life.

Derek was great- he took us mountain biking and Pam and Dennis’ dog,  Blanka, followed him everywhere. He played and watched football with Eric, played chess with Rafi, Sorry with Summer and hiked camelback – arriving at the top first.

Derek and Bessie  watched the Day after Tomorrow with us even though they’d already seen it. I could tell Bessie related to intense scientists stopping at nothing to save the world. Nellie and Summer  woke up by 10 AM or so- a big improvement over past years.  Nellie  looks 17 when she’s confidently driving her new white compact car around. Otherwise, I still can’t believe she’s that old.

Solly acted all pokey letting everyone hike and mountain bike ahead of her.  She maintains large piles of laundry in various prominent locations and seems to spend a chunk of time cleaning cat litter.  But on our trail run, I could only keep up with her for about a minute.  Eric did better but she ran about twice as far as we did. And she did 5 plus 4 pull ups (from a dead hang unlike Summer’s 12 pullups she claimed). Under the jumbled laundry is the most gorgeous old fashioned quilt which she made. And she did write an attention grabbing courtroom drama while working full time. I’m sure she’s a multimillionnaire about to become richer in real estate. And her kids are growing up creative, brave and strong.

As the sun started to set, a wiley coyote in the street witnessed Mike riding up and down the street with no help except the recycle bin to get him started. We said our leisurely goodbyes complete with photos then nearly missed our plane which left at 6:20 instead of 7:20 pm as I thought. At least we all had to sit alone on the plane so nobody could yell at me. And once again, we’re a family of 5-  Lauren is coming home!