(Sunday Paper, Year V, Issue 22)

A few weeks ago I told you about a writer friend of mine who created a brochure for her family’s stay-at-home summer of 2020.

I immediately knew I was going to use her idea…and I think everyone should.

I have not yet made the actual brochure…and I probably won’t. (Fun fact - we don’t have a printer, so it would only be a digital brochure anyway and while that’s fun it’s more work than I’m probably willing to put into this.)

But I have thought of some fun words that would fill the brochure.

So without further ado…here’s how I’m selling the 2020 summer-at-home experience to the family.

Tour de Fra…mingham

There might not be a yellow jacket, but we certainly have bikes! While the actual Tour de France was postponed…nothing will prevent us from biking away the summer, all around Framingham and surrounding towns! (Or, more likely, taking that same 2-plus-ish-mile round trip route we always take.)

The Field of Dreams Package

You don’t have to wait until long after I’m gone and then destroy your corn crop to build a baseball field in your farmland to have a catch with your dad - we can do it now!

And, as soon as that grass grows in and we can walk all around the yard, we can play wiffle ball back there. It may not be heaven back there…but it certainly could pass for Iowa.

Fire and Water

We’ve of course had our first test run with the fire pit - there will likely be more of that to come all summer long. (Or should I say, “S’more of that”?)

And when I’m not watering the grass, I’ll spray the hose in your direction or throw on the sprinkler for some water fun. It’ll be just like a water park without the annoying (and potentially contagious) other people!

Independent Learning

I like learning new things, join me in exploring new topics that we don’t know a lot about. (I know this isn’t all that enticing of an activity, but I was thinking about how much knowledge I want to gain this summer. I figure I don’t have to do that alone.)

Movie Night

Your vote counts! We have a whole summer ahead of us to use our fun voting system to select movies we want to watch and determine the order in which to watch them.

Food and Drink

Join me every morning for outdoor breakfast. (That’s been one of the things I’ve really been enjoying, by the way, sitting on the deck in the cool morning air with my coffee, newspaper, and sometimes eating breakfast. It’s like I’m on vacation even when I’m not on vacation.)

All of your meals are complimentary - and we offer both indoor and outdoor seating. (And indoor and outdoor cooking!) Mom and Dad’s creative menu offerings will keep you coming back - hour after hour - for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert!

Lawn Game

Yes, you read that correctly. We only have that one lawn game - Ladder Ball - but we can play that…whether it’s on the front lawn or that new grass in the back!

Notes

*I am proud of that picture at the top of the post. Being at home has been challenging as far as the ‘creative pictures’ department, but I feel like I’ve held my own these past few weeks after a slow start.

*Unfortunately, I don’t know how further creative I’ll be - we’ll find out these next few Wednesdays. Remember, I said I’d be posting every Wednesday this year some kind of picture along with a mini-essay, or piece of writing, just to keep the Facebook page active on days that weren’t Sunday Paper days…and even though the Live videos have also kept the page over-active, I’m going to keep doing the #EveryWeekOnWednesday pictures. Hopefully I have enough exciting going on to keep doing those.

*And, yes, the readings will continue. I know they don’t draw a lot of traffic every day, but I like doing them. I hope those of you who are actually watching them are enjoying them too.

*If you’ve come here some way other than the Facebook page, you can Like the page here, and you can follow me on Twitter here.

*And just like that, next week it’ll be June. I’m going to turn the Sunday Paper over to the rest of the family for the next month - each of the girls will write one for the next three weeks, and then Kathy will close out the month and I’ll be back in July.