The people in my neighborhood, probably like the folks in yours, don’t have a lot to do anymore. The library’s closed and there ain’t no school. Dad’s are hanging around the house the whole day long cause there’s no work to do so he doesn’t go to the office. Some dad’s go to an office to work but some go to a job in a different place everyday in a truck filled with tools. But lately the tools just sit in the truck and the truck sits in the driveway and dad just sits in his big ol’ chair readin’ a book or watchin’ TV! Every once in a while he gets up outta the chair and goes to the refrigerator and gets a little snack and then he sits right back down…until dinner time.
Mom’s the only one in the family who’s still got plenty to do. Nothing’s much changed for her. She’s gotta figure out what to make for dinner and what to buy at the store so she has stuff to make for dinner. She has washing to do-both clothes and dishes, seems like there’s always a sink full of dishes ‘specially since dad’s eating snacks all day. So, mom is pretty much as busy as she ever was except now-a-days she humming and singing under her breath while she bustles around the house. She never used to do that before, and then you realize she’s not singing, cause when she sings she smiles. She’s talking to herself. Muttering mother.
When the sun is shining you want to go out and play with your friends, right? But you can’t ‘cause mom says you have to stay in or if you go out you can’t play with your buddies. “You don’t want to get sick now do you?” she says. Everybody is worried about getting sick so you can’t play with your friends or go to their house and get cookies. Your friend’s mom makes the best cookies and you miss not seeing her bake and the smell of the cookies coming out of the stove is extraordinary! All you can do now-a-days is sit inside your own yard when the sun comes out and mind your little sister. Boring!
So, one day your mom is tired and your dad is bored and you get a great idea. “Could we go for a walk?” you say to your mom while she’s bent over the clothes dryer pulling a hot load of clothes out and puttin’ them in the basket. “I gotta fold these clothes before they get all wrinkled,” she says. “Aw mom, please! It doesn’t matter if they’re wrinkled. We’re just wearing them around the house. No one is gonna see our old darned clothes anyway…pretty please, I’m bored!” Mom thinks for a few moments, and she just throws the towel she’s folding back into the basket and says, “OK let’s go!” She goes over and shakes dads shoulder to wake him up from his third nap of the day and announces that the whole family is going for a walk. Get dressed and get the baby dressed and let’s go out for a walk. Dad moans as he puts on his boots but you jump right in and put a sweater on your little sister and one on yourself. Mom is humming a real live song when you walk out the door and she is smiling for real this time.
About a quarter mile down the road you notice lots of other people are out for a walk too. The sun is too beautiful and it’s too nice for folks to sit inside. In fact is seems like half the neighborhood picked this very moment to get out and walk. You see a couple of your friends riding their bikes and you yell hello to them and the wave. Mom, still smiling, tells you it’s OK to say hi but you gotta stay away so you keep waving and yelling to each other until they disappear around the corner. Mom and dad say hello to other people from the neighborhood and the whole walk mom keeps on smiling. Even dad is smiling by the time you get home. He goes to his truck and pulls out some tools and goes around back of the house starting some kind of “art” project until dinner time. You look at the little rocks you picked up on the walk and put them into a box where you keep your precious jewels-well not really jewels but quartz and other smooth sparkly pebbles.
The walk is a success and every day after that the whole family goes for a walk. Mom lets you ride your bike and if you stay a little bit away you even get to ride along with your friends. In the back yard dad is building a row boat! He works on it every afternoon and he doesn’t eat as many snacks as he used to. Sometimes mom lets you help fold the clothes and chop stuff while she makes dinner. Sometimes you read a book to your little sister at bed time. Even little sister seems less “icky” since the whole family started to walk.
Now, in my neighborhood I’ve noticed a bunch of people taking advantage of the nice weather to do some walking of their own. They walk around the pond that is at the center of the neighborhood. Families and sisters and brothers and moms and dads all walking in the sun, looking at the birds and the trees. And there is one spot where there is a big ‘ol tree that fell over in a storm and is laying on the surface of that pond. On bright sunny days the turtles who live in the water and on the shore like to climb up on that tree trunk and feel the sun on their backs. Sometimes there are thirty or forty of them all lined up sunbathing. And the people walking around the pond love to see those turtles. The people all whip out their iPhones and take a million pictures of those turtles. The turtles are very shy and they have extra good hearing and when they hear a bunch of people making noise they all slide off of that log and swim away until it gets quiet again and then they all come back and climb on the log. Folks walking and turtle watching have learned to be very quiet so they won’t scare the turtles away. On cloudy days walking is not so much fun and sunbathing is not much fun for turtles either so they don’t climb up on the log.
I am writing a little song about those turtles and maybe you could learn it and sing it with me?
No one’s sittin’ on the log today
No one’s layin’ on the log.
Sun ain’t out
And it’s too darn cold
So nobody’s layin’ on the log
Little fish, Big fish
Swimming in the water
People walking their dogs
Turtle’s ain’t sunnin’
Til the sun comes out,
So nobody’s layin’ on the log.
No one’s sittin’ on the log today
No one’s layin’ on the log.
Sun ain’t out
And it’s too darn cold
So nobody’s layin’ on the log
Everybody waiting
For the sun to come out
Birds and people and frogs.
Wanna see the turtles
Sitting on the tree
Reptiles layin’ on the log.
Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one’s sittin’ on the log today
No one’s layin’ on the log.
Sun ain’t out
And it’s too darn cold
So nobody’s layin’ on the log
