I needed Eeyore's help

For two days now we've been quietly going about our way. I didn't write last night partly because, for the second time this week, I fell asleep on the couch almost immediately after Calvin went to bed. But also I didn't have much to say. That's not to say that we haven't done anything, it's just that it was all life as usual, all that incredibly enjoyable, fascinating, soak-up-the-world kind of life as usual, but still life as usual. And the sun came out, and the weather was warmer, and we put on sunscreen and spent hours in the gardens, or going for walks. Yesterday we sat on the garden swing and read the Aeneid. Today Calvin read to me from The World of Pooh while I set about the tedious task of digging out all the thistles growing in the garden (if only Eeyore had been there to help, Calvin tells me).

We're in a sort of combined exploration mode. We've been playing around volcanoes for a while now, and when my parents got back from Spain and mentioned the Roman ruins, and Calvin connected those with what he knew about Pompeii, the leap from there to here was a done deal. So the Aeneid it is. And a bit of the Iliad, and some Roman myths, and the ruins, and the system of government, and the army. And Pompeii and Vesuvius, of course. He wants to absorb it all.

And there was a brief return of the Egyptians, too. That had mainly to do with proximity, the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians all being on the Mediterranean Sea and whatnot.

Jon found a Britannica Kids app for the iPad that had great photos and videos of volcanoes, as well as mapping features and a few tame games (and by tame I mean they aren't video games and they aren't "learning" games, but things like puzzles).

But like I said, the real glory of the past two days has been the weather. Between rain falls the sun has been demanding of our time. Demanding that we spend our time with weeds and plants and birds and bubbles and joy and laughter, and the sweet smell of the damp, warming earth.

We set a record this week. Four days out of the last seven we have spent almost entirely outdoors. Three days out of the last seven we have thrown our windows open to the fresh air. It has been a long time coming, and I daren't say the wait is over, but I am slowly releasing a long held breath in the sound of an elated sigh.