Waiting, Waiting

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
In which the day is spent perusing art and autumn in the city…

OLeif was joined by Collette and Puck on his commute into the city that morning. The day was predicted to reach 86, and Forest Park was almost entirely empty by nine o’clock. Puck tore down the green hill, where the remains of Monday night’s bonfires still smoked under rows of dark red sugar maples. They sat for awhile by the lake until the museum opened at ten. And Puck was eager to march up the stone steps to the awaiting glass door.
Surprisingly, an hour and a half of roaming was not too much for the fellow. He paused for some time before John McCrady’s 1937 painting: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. And a lengthy Dutch film involving chess, stars, musical notes, and footage of Washington State parks.
It was Dickey’s barbecue for lunch with OLeif: pulled pork sandwiches, mac ‘n cheese, and free soft serve, out on the street in Clayton. Puck had dinosaur nuggets.
And back to the Art Museum and Art Hill for the rest of the afternoon…
“I want to see every single piece!” Puck declared, somewhere around visiting the mummy room for the second time.
There was an hour or more at Shaw Park amongst all the Cards fans in red, where Puck immediately made friends with the children of pink-argyle-sweater two-and-a-half-inch-heeled mothers… and enjoyed loads of fun swinging wildly in the swinging saucer before walking back to the Brown Shoe Company where OLeif was finished for the day.
A drive home, stop in for snacks, including Cheez-Its for the boys. Puck requested more from his seat in the back…
“I’ve only had three gallons, Dad.”
The wind was picking up. Storms were coming…