Waiting for the rain

   We are supposed to get thunderstorms today and tomorrow.  I am very excited by this because the highway dept. workers were at our driveway this morning trenching and swaling (if that is a word!) and generally making a path for water to run towards the ravine which will take it out to the Susquehanna River and eventually to the Chesapeake Bay.
    I did not remember, but apparently watching construction vehicles rip up part of your lawn and driveway is greatly entertaining to a nearly six year old boy.  Especially when one of the men gives you a ride in the excavator!

   So now we have a trench in front of the house filled with rocks about the size of a fist.  The end of the driveway has a dip and a hump of blacktop, and that extends across the front of the neighbor's yard and driveway and out to the ravine.

 I do not really know why we have rock and they have blacktop, but it may be necessary.  I will admit I am just a twitch jealous, because their side looks neater than ours... but beggars can't be choosers and I will be very happy if this works and keeps the water from the mountain  in the trench and out of the garage!

autism and outside and church

   My eldest son does not go to church.  The last time he went, it was his little brother's baptism - about 5 years ago - with just family, and he still left the church a bit early.  there is something about the cavernous spaces in a church, and the music and sitting and standing that is too much.
   Today, he and I went berry picking.  The younger two are at a water park and so he and I set out to do something special.  When I asked what he wanted to do, going to the blueberry farm was his choice.  We drove out and started picking under a blue sky, with a zephyr  keeping things cool.  We played name games as we picked.  We competed for who would be the champion berry picker.  we debated whether the word wizened was pronounced  with an "iz" sound in the middle or an "eez" sound.  We picked nine pounds of berries.
    As we were gathering the fruits, I realized that this is his church.  It doesn't matter if he never makes his Confirmation in the Catholic Church, or if he never knows what the Council of Trent or Vatican II were.  He knows what is good through experience.  He sees what glory there is in the time he spends out in nature, relaxed and happy and without any of the anxiety that impedes the rest of his time.