Unfortunately, the editor has some strong principles. One of them is not to dip her feet and legs into the ocean during winter. While we respect, even admire, principles, it does preclude a person from becoming sweaty, dirty, cold, maybe getting sick and mostly, having a lot of fun. Gaga then decided to assume the role of a photographer for the afternoon, finding a purpose (important?) rather than sunbathe and turn blue. The photographs below show her skill, eye and unfortunately, not her image.
Building the dam became a difficult task for a couple of reasons. Apparently, 'dam' is a bad word which the grandchildren have been told to avoid. So instead of constructing the dam or is it damn walls, we had to keep reminding the kids to put more sand on the "bad word" walls. Eventually, we all got used to it and built quite a nice "naughty word" to harness the water.
Another problem was that when the sea sand was too wet, we received a rather curious instruction from Ellie. We're inclined to receive a number of instructions--when we think of it, we get instructions from both generations. We look forward to the great- grandchildren for some respite.
"Papa," she instructed, "We need some dry water."
We try accommodate the kids but this was outside the realm of the possible. After some minutes, but not before we used the term ad nauseum, did Ellie clarify her meaning and so we searched for dry sand.
As an aside, over the years, we have developed our own dictionary of words. Although I'm probably past middle-age, what's the cut-off?, I still find the humor (silly) amusing. For instance, when Natalie, that's the grandkids' mother, sometimes referred to as 'Ms.Snackwi(t)ch' (never in front of the kids though), struggled to pronounce the color 'Lellow'...that should be 'Yellow', we succeeded. While I've come to realize my faults as a father which have also been pointed out to me frequently (thank you), I was able to teach her to pronounce it correctly. Got one thing right...actually, I think there was something else, too but can't remember it, at the moment. Hopefully, it'll come back to me.
As a second aside, (are you allowed two asides in one paragraph?) Fellow baby-boomers? Don't you wish we'd had the wisdom of our children back then. Perhaps, we would have done a better job in raising them. Huh! Could be some logic issue there or perhaps, a double-edged sword.
Back to colors. Not surprisingly, when Ellie began to speak she would of course say 'Lellow' and same with Benny. I would like to believe I took the lead and got them to pronounce the color correctly. I'm not sure whether there is a dispute in the family about it. However, the point of this rather long-winded story is that when the four of us are together, the correct pronunciation for the color is of course, 'Lellow'. In fact, if one of the kids does say 'Yellow', they'll correct themselves immediately. It's wonderful to be part of the educational process of our grandchildren.
Finally, to hear them sing "Ag please, daddy' with a raw South African accent would make Jeremy Taylor proud or some of the songs of our friend Brian Murray, particularly, his tribute to Nelson Mandela, is a compliment to both Brian and Nelson. Well, there's a lot more I could write and get into even more trouble but this has gone on rather long.
Perhaps take a look at the pure pleasure kids derive from the simple things in life. (Oh dear, where's the iPhone, iPad, iTV…)
Exactly how Natalie would have looked, especially her stride and movements, at Ellie's age. When we look at the photograph, we have to remind ourselves it's not Natalie.
You have the worker and the supervisor working in harmony while the other supervisor's taken a break.
Carrying my boy down the slope.
Those dam walls.
Cheers,
GagaPapa
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