Little boys!

Just finishing a long weekend with our grandson, Quincy, six years old and amazingly handsome with that shock of red hair and blue eyes. He's tall for his age, going for a size eight. We look back on so many times we have had him at the ranch, from the time he was eighteen months old, still in diapers, and we were on the tether of the intercom at night from his room to ours. Those times were hard for these grandparents, no time for us at all.

But we have come to a lovely place now. No need to worry about toilet issues or getting dressed or brushing teeth or sleeping through the night.

What's left of the darling little boy is the night time rituals when we cuddle up after his bath, on his bed in the room that once was his mom's, and read the bed time story and talk about this and that. The last thing we discuss is what to have for breakfast tomorrow. French toast or pancakes? He wants to have a light left on in the bathroom. We tell each other we love you, and then he's out for twelve hours. Just before I go to bed I go upstairs, situate the covers over this dear child, kiss him one last time.

He was so excited that this weekend we would be having guests- two boys about his age. These are the sons of good friends from New Zealand, and Quincy knows them already from his school.

Those three boys had a wonderful time, running around every moment to catch frogs and bugs, climb trees, swim in the pool, and put together a "museum" of bones they collected from the property and installed in a remote cabin on the place. They climbed trees, shouted with glee, ran up and down the compost pile. They all ate prodigious amounts of food from the garden, squeezed oranges for juice and when they were in the house they constructed miles of trains and games and interesting conversation.

It was a lot of effort. We love those people, the wonderful and talented parents of these boys. What would life be without having these young people in our lives? I was charmed by the nice manners all these kids have. They all are so affirmed by being with folks who appreciate having family be there for them. It was fun for us to see Quincy as a part of this.