Waltzing Matilda

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Late on Wednesday morning, Puck’s Great-Great Aunt Rebecca and his Great-Grandma Snicketts came over with Mom to see him and the brightly painted house. They sat and talked over many things and held Puck, having sandwiches and fruit for lunch.

There was the usual news from Grandma regarding the family: Samwise had been to Germany for ten days and back. Esther was off to London shortly and then to Africa. Uncle Clarence was prepared to leave within days for South Carolina.

There had also been word from Carrie who had called Mom and Dad rather early that morning.

“They’re having just a great time,” Mom said. “Carrie says they got to pet koalas. And she has a picture of Elazar and Eve chasing peacocks.”

The thunder tumbled in just about the time that Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Rebecca took off to return to the house.

Sometime that afternoon Collette heard from Joe that he had biked from the English’s (stopping for water), to the Silverspoon’s (also stopping for water), and to the Hobcoggin’s (stopping for water again).

Meanwhile, Puck, at exactly ten weeks old, was having a rather stormy day interspersed with moments of his sunshine smile. He was occasionally distracted by his mom singing all four verses of “Waltzing Matilda” to him while she washed dishes that morning.

And before his much-anticipated dinner, he sat in his swing and kicked furiously, puckering his lips in sternness and thrashing his arms in baby wonder at the bright orange-ness of the study walls. He also thought that it would be a good idea to laugh at his hypnotizing bookshelf again so that it would not feel neglected.

Even with his moments of temper, and even though Collette was not what she would consider a “baby person”, she had to admit that they had been given a wonderful baby Puck. His patient coos could melt the coldest heart.

The rain swept through sometime that afternoon about half an hour before Mom, Rose, Mrs. Tecumseh, and Juliet planned on heading over to Grandpa’s & Libby’s pool for Rose’s fourth-in-a-row birthday gathering. Although, in the end, because of the rain, Mom and Mrs. Tecumseh visited Mom’s favorite shop, The Robin’s Nest, and they returned to play a game with the girls involving trains and colored cards and European cities.

OLeif was working late those days. Wallace and Popschnorkle were both out that week due to vacation and moving. Thus OLeif had returned to work after Rose’s birthday bash the night before and did not come home until one o’clock in the morning.

“Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and he waited till his billy boil,
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

“Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and he waited till his billy boil,
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.”