Simple days, simple pleasures -- grandkids, sprinklers, and pitching the softball

One of the advantages of my being retired is the things I get to do. I don't have to work. I don't have to do anything. Another advantage of being retired is that I can appreciate simple things.

Take today for instance. If someone had filmed my day expecting to come up with a blockbuster hit they would have been sorely disappointed. Some would call my day boring. I would call it "awesome."

I didn't do anything special -- at least what other people would consider special.

I did, however, play with my granddaughter in the water. We usually set up her small pool -- as pictured above. (She's wearing her sun hat). Today, we simplified even farther. We played in the sprinkler. I can remember playing in the sprinkler a lot when I was a kid.

Pool and sprinkler days are almost over in the Midwest. Fall is around the corner and then winter. When I was a child, the seven people in my family lived in a two-bedroom house with a utility room being the bedroom for my brother and me. This room wasn't heated and it was right next to the garage. It would get so cold in there in the winter that there would be frost on the inside of the walls. My brother and I slept with a fan and buried ourselves under five or six quilts. When my face got cold, I just buried it under the blankets and stayed there until I had to come out to breathe. The sleep I had in that room was the deepest I ever had.

Little Bit, my granddaughter, and I played in the back yard for part of the day. She likes to play sink or float by putting items in the birdbath. Her favorite, a definite floater, is the acorn. We also play hide and seek around the tree.

Today, I got an old softball that had been lying around the house and had her throw some. I have dreamed that she would be a girls' softball pitcher. For a just-turned three-year-old, she has a pretty good arm.  I held her Teddy Bear, constant companion, and handed her the ball. Almost every time, without prodding from me, she threw the ball with her left hand. A southpaw softball pitcher. I don't know how common they are.

I teach online now instead of face to face like I did for over 30 years. I added a couple assignments for my classes to do, and I spent some time writing on a book that I'm working on. Right now, I'm reminiscing. Later, I'm going to write some more and read.

Not bad for a day's work, is it?