Summer Fun!

As the summer evening sun starts to slide to bed ever so slightly earlier and the little children count with dread the number of days of freedom they have left, the residents and visitors of Penguin Hall enjoy the lazy hours. Killer spends most afternoons spread out on the Persian rug in the sun, sleeping off her morning conquest. Cars come and go as the kids arrive and depart for their respective jobs (and parties). While Mr. H. puts the lawn tractor on auto-pilot and taxis back and forth slowly across the lawn, Mrs. H. paints the kitchen a fresh shade of robin’s egg blue-grey. It is a time of ethnic festivals and parish picnics, and it was just such an event the Halls attended Sunday afternoon. The air was filled with sprightly polkas and their tummies were full of pierogies and kielbasa. On a whim, Mrs. H. purchased some raffle tickets for some prize baskets, since in the past her contributions to the good of Sacred Heart Basilica have usually taken the form of losing to Monsignor Gleba at his “Beat the Padre” craps table. Her whimsy took her well, as Monday morning brought her a call from Sister Melanie that she had won the little “basket” with the three penguins and a year’s family membership to Rosamond Gifford Zoo.
Serious studies and a stern focus on the future should be the vocation of every young man, but last week, for Master Christopher’s birthday, it was all fun and games. From his favorite breakfast of lox and bagels to his favorite dinner dessert of peanut butter ice cream pie, it was a day, as it should be, of pleasant self indulgence. Highlight of the evening: a spur of the moment, all-out, every man for himself Nerf™ war! The wounded were treated to seconds on the ice cream pie, so it could truthfully be said that there were winners all around.