Yesterday Raven went to the pool w/ some older friends, Caspian was on my computer while I went & re-licensed the truck, with Al always here. Late in the day, Caspian & I swam for one hour.
We then attended “First Thursday” which is a blast for free in downtown Columbia, put on by the Arts community. Artists display their work in studios while providing munchies in the form of cheese & crackers, fruit and drinks, to people who come by. Musicians gather on the streets to play music, and some special performances occur. The highlight of the night for our grandsons were the guys who perform with Fire. Using oil, they light batons and oil buckets they twirl around and toss into the air and catch. One girl with a hula hoop did an exceptional performance & ended with a hoop that had oil pots that were lit all around the outside of it. One guy “swallows fire”. It was a great performance, with loud music with a beat, & Caspian was mesmerized, sitting close to them the whole time. When the one came out who cracks something like a whip that spits fire, the crack was so loud Caspian jumped about a foot into the air.
Thunder and lightning threatened us the whole night & when it hit, it hit fast. We ran down the street to another indoor huge Art Studio, where paintings were displayed. Caspian was uincomfortable with the nudes. I explained to him how they were “art” about the human body. If he were around us more, he would be able to sort out nude art from low-life nudity in porn or such things. He is 10. Raven analyzed a set of paintings that all used the U.S. dollar in the background to symbolize various problems in America.
Music was happening in this Art studio and Caspian then sat right next to 2 guitarists jamming. Then Dubber took the stage and quality and art on the guitar emerged. It was an awesome enjoyable night, all free. Tonight we go to Raleigh for N’s first birthday. Then bring Zakiah back w/ us for a few more days. I will truly need a week to recover, but the boys will enjoy being together as cousins. Hopefully, we will manage. Leah picks up her baby girl Thursday, then we go Friday to the ocean, and Saturday back to Indiana, where AL will also be able to visit w/ his dad who is recovering from having a pacemaker put in place last week.