happy independence day!

...yay! it's a four day weekend! and what a busy one it's been, at least by our household standards. friday night, ted had a show w/ our friend tim lowly. it was at the elastic arts foundation, which is a pretty cool space above a chinese restaurant in logan square. cadence and i went, since it was an all ages smoke-free show. we were pleasantly surprised that by the time tim and the gang got on stage, most of the chairs were filled. they played a really great show, and i wish i could say that i know that firsthand from having witnessed it, but cadence is not one to just sit quietly through a performance. after about 3 songs, i spent the rest of the evening walking her up and down milwaukee avenue. still, my cousin kris and 3 of her friends as well as my brother were there, and i was glad that the band had a good audience that made the show so enjoyable for them.

...on saturday, when ted got home from work, he kindly booted cadence and me out of the house so that he could brew a microbatch of beer. we went to the mall to get a sunhat for cadence. she was in a really good mood for some reason, and didn't complain at all about being in the stroller. she made up little songs and flirted tirelessly with whomever was within flirting distance. after the mall, we drove over to evanston's award-winning rose garden.

...cadence thoroughly loved running around barefoot on the sunken lawn in the middle of the garden. by this time of the day, the sun had sunk far enough behind the buildings and trees that the whole garden was shaded, except for some small patches of golden gloaming light. the grass, which was mostly green, felt so cool and delicious beneath our bare feet. this is one of the few places in the chicago area where i would feel safe letting cadence run around without shoes. the sunken nature of the lawn, which is surrounded by a shallow brick wall, makes it difficult for her to escape out into the street, so i could basically let her run free, which is another thing she doesn't get to do too much of outdoors living in the city.

...i'll have to remember to bring cadence to this garden more often, just so she can run around barefoot so freely. living in the city, especially a big one like chicago, you sometimes forget that children really were meant to run like the wind, unfettered by shoes or the admonishment of adults, without worrying about cars or glass or suspicious strangers...

alright. more later. it's almost time for me to turn into a pumpkin...