Summer and New Friends

Many (or even most) of my local friends have been traveling on and off this summer. A couple of my friends have been away 6-8 weeks. Usually this is due to long visits to their home countries.

As a result of all of this traveling, our crafty group of quilters, knitters and sewers has been pretty small at our meetings. Parents of children not already traveling have the kids at home because they are not back in school yet. So, while we generally don't have children at sewing, we've usually had 3 children at our recent meetings. The trio of children met for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Initially there was not too much interest in playing together. Then all of the sudden, they were the best of friends. I would have liked to witness the moment when it all changed.

And along the way this summer I have a new friend. She's 5 years old. I had met her before but we'd not really spent any time together until her mother brought her along to a recent crafting meeting. The next week my new friend invited me to join her and her mother for a post-sewing lunch. I didn't want to disappoint her especially because it was the first time she invited me so I joined them. We had a lovely lunch at an all organic cafe called Tasty Homemade.

I had some fabulous miso noodle soup and a yummy ginger lemongrass iced tea. Quite nice. I hadn't been to this place and probably would never have found it on my own. I did decline to accompany them on some errands after lunch. I had my own errands to run. We had some fun at lunch creating a bowl of fruit on paper. My young friend insisted I take our drawing. It's now displayed on the fridge.

Later in the week, I invited my new friend and her mother to join me at a 4th of July celebration and they said, "Yes!" Events to celebrate the US 4th of July here were delayed because the date fell during the same week as Idul Fritri (the end of Ramadhan). To avoid that week, most places planning celebrations for the 4th either held them early or delayed them. This party was at the American Club, an official entity of the American Embassy Commissary and Recreation Association here. It was held on July 23.

There were kids games and activities like face painting and some great coloring stations (for kids and adults alike now that adults are getting into coloring, too). There was a Harley Davidson motorcycle parade which included a rather dramatic (and extremely loud) ensemble engine roar to conclude their parade. Note: When you witness a Harley parade and the bikes start lining up next to each other apparently this is not so folks can walk around them and say how pretty or cool they are. It's so they can rev their engines simultaneously while causing hearing damage to those who stood too close!

There was also a release of red, white and blue balloons. All children were invited to assist. It's funny how so many of them stuck in the trees.

And of course there were fireworks. In the 30 minutes preceding the fireworks we noticed distant lightening. Less than 5 minutes after the conclusion of the fireworks the skies opened up and it rained heavily. I was prepared for the rain. I was prepared for everything. I'd taken a hat for the late afternoon sun, lathered on the sunblock, dowsed myself in insect repellent (yuck to both) and carried an umbrella. I'd carried a small bag to hold the umbrella but that also worked to hold my little friend's shoes and balloon animals and the materials we received at the door. Incidentally, the balloon animals didn't last very long. Rubber bands and balloons degrade with long term storage. Must be the heat, the air or a combination of both. Anyway, I saw balloon animals popping all around us.

I didn't think to shoot video of the fireworks until it was nearly over but here's a small bit.

It was a nice afternoon and early evening. Remember the sun sets between 6:00 and 6:30 all year long and the so the fireworks were over before 7 pm.