Yellow

Yellow is ...





























1. A pair of boots, perfect for stomping around in the neighborhood creek.
2. Ugly formica countertops, probably original to my 1968 house.
3. Signs of artists at work.
4. Industrial strength sandbox toys, nearly outgrown by the one who most cherished them.
5. Napkins on the line.
6. A boy, armed with outsized water balloon.
7. Same boy, arranging his history event cards to beat the stopwatch.
8. Flourishes on our broccoli garden.
9. "House" collage culled from old National Geographic magazines, inspired by the wonderful Blue Yonder Book of Days and the terrific A House Is a House for Me.
10. A notch on a belt rack.
11. Some post-mud-play sister lovin'.


And I can't show you, but I suppose yellow is also the color of surrender today. Conscious surrender on my part to the reality that my son was not going to finish his academic requirements of the day, was not going be anything resembling focused, but was instead going to make mud pies in the yard with his sisters. For all my belief in a happy childhood, this decision was harder than it sounds. A good parent is supposed to be consistent, right? Help her child develop good habits? Learn to work before play?

But in a stroke of master irony, my son managed to turn the experience into his own sort of academic exercise. I give you this analytical recipe for good mud, typed by Himself.

IAN’S MUD RECIPE
Needed:1 sive*.1 large bowl.1 strong stick. Step 1: put the sive over the bowl. Step 2: take a large shovel; gather some dusty dirt. step 3: pour the dirt into the sive and mousache** and shake until most of dirt is in bowl. Do this repeatedly until there is a good amount of dirt in the bowl. Let as little sticks and rocks in as possible. Step 4: pour some water in. step 5:stir well with stick. Step 6: you are done!

(*sieve. ** massage.)