Dreamy Twilight

Last night I babysat Zo so that his parents could go have a date. He's a baby, well 13 month old, who is either on, or off, happy or mad, there is no fussy in between. You never know what you'll get, and last night the cards came up trump. Not only was he an easy peasy baby, it was a delightful night.

He very cheerfully waved his parents 'b-b-b-b-bye '(He's starting to talk!) and didn't fuss a bit as they left. It was pretty late and I hadn't had dinner yet, so I put Zo in his tricked out all-terrain stroller and headed out. We strolled the two blocks along the main street to the pizza place where I ordered a small pizza and they said it would be 15 minutes or so. I seized the opportunity to take Zo for an evening walk.

The Three Zs live in a typical New England small town with a main street, a few shops and churches some closely clustered streets with houses but with farm fields mixed in lending a patchwork quality to the layout. The world before subdivisions and houses that are all identical covered the land.

So we turned left out of the pizza parlor and headed down a long side street. The sky in the east was the softest, haziest pink that faded into layers of blue and violet while the sky in the west was glowing a sweet golden honey yellow. The air that had been so hot and humid for days was cooler and drier with a teeny breeze to ensure comfort.

The sidewalk winds under huge maple trees and the leaves were moving in a very gentle breeze making a whispering noise. As we passed tiny farmhouse with a sprawling porch the crying of a baby wafted out the windows. Zo didn't seem to mind at all and I thought, 'Don't get any ideas, baby!'. But he just lifted up his bottle and lay back in his seat and drank while waving his hand at the leaves passing over his head.

The perfect rows of corn stretched out on the left, a red barn in the distance. We walked past a colonial saltbox house, tiny with a huge back yard surrounded by hydrangeas in full bloom the windows warm yellow squares of light. Another house, with the sound of a tv competing with the wails of a pre-schooler who 'No want bath!'. The colors of the sky continued to deepen as we passed overgown lawns and perfectly tended vegetable gardens. I waved at the folks eating outside and Zo started to drift off to sleep.

By the time we had turned back Zo was sound asleep. He slept through the noise and bright lights when I stopped to pick up the pizza. He slept through the barking dog and the loud stereo that blared from a passing car. And miracles or miracles he slept through the transfer from stroller to crib with just a little fussing that was solved by my patting his back.

I was able to eat two slices of delicious pizza and watch Phil and Paul narrate one of my favorite summer events, The Tour de France.