Summer is officially here

I'm washing a load of laundry this morning. In it are my family's smoky clothes from our first fire of the season in our backyard last night, Sam's mud-splattered shorts and race t-shirt from the Congdon Cougar Chase yesterday morning, and some mosquito repellent-laden clothing from a hike I took earlier this week in Hartley Field.

Sam, by the way, had an excellent 5K run on the Lester River trails. He ran a time of 28:14, placing 7th in his age group and 41st out of 127 runners overall. I believe he would have placed higher if the mud hadn't sucked off his shoe and sock. He crossed the finish line carrying the sock but wearing the shoe.

The shoes, now clean, are drying on the front porch in the sun.

Alternate modes of transportation

My son usually rides the bus to school. For the past two weeks, he has been hitching car rides from his Dad in order to get there early for school Safety Patrol training. This morning, he rode his bike.

He left at 6:40 a.m., his Dad accompanying him on the 26-block, mostly downhill ride. He arrived at 7 a.m., about 15 minutes early. My husband called to let me know they had arrived safely. Sam had a great ride and received a bright orange t-shirt for participating in Walk/Bike to School Day.

I'm supposed to meet Sam and his Dad after school and running club for the mostly uphill ride home. When I walk to work, my 7-minute downhill jaunt takes about 14 minutes on the return. We'll see how this return bike ride goes. Getting to the school bus that stops less than half a block from our home seems so much easier.