Slope summer is in full swing. Or should I say: in slow down mode.  There are less people around; it’s a little easier to park. Seventh Avenue isn’t swarming with parents and kids at 8:30 in the morning, at 3 p.m. The Mr. Softee truck doesn’t park outside of PS 321 anymore. The ices guy and the man who sells cotton candy hanging from a stick
don’t show up either.

Therapists are on vacation. Friends are in Europe, on Long Island. The girl next door went to Barcelona. The kid across the street went to sleep-away. Summer is a time for travel, for transitions.

Teen Spirit is counting the days until his best friend gets back from his three-week stint at sleep-away.

OSFO goes off to day camp every morning, her backpack packed with swim suit, pink beach towel, rain gear, water bottles. She came home after an action-packed day at a swimming pool with pink lines under her eyes. First sunburn of the season. And these day camps are religious about lathering the kids with sunscreen.

Tonight, Mrs. Kravitz and I didn’t feel like cooking (I could just skip eating this time of year) so for the kids, we ordered dinner from Grand Canyon: waffles for OSFO, a club sandwich for Teen Spirit. Mrs. Kravitz ordered franks and beans for her son, a waffle for her daughter.

Grand Canyon has it all.

A man on a bike delivered our dinner and the kids ate outside on the green plastic table. I’m starting to feel self-conscious about spending so much time in the front yard. A friend walk by, "You’re always out here," she said.

It does seem that way. Is it very obvious that we don’t have country homes to escape to on Friday nights; that our idea of summer is sitting out on the street.

Mrs. Kravitz cut out the article in the City Section (of the New York Times) about the panini stand and put it on our front door.  Our Ravi, the building’s resident sitarist, is famous now. So is the kid across the street.

Slow, lazy days. It takes effort just to walk around. There is still much to do and it gets done but more slowly than usual. Over at JJ Byrne Park, the Piper Theater is going full tilt getting ready for their production of Much Ado About Nothing this weekend.

Energy.

On Tuesday night (July 11) we’re putting the big screen up and showing a movie; if it doesn’t rain, that is. We’re showing "Coney Island: The American Experience" the documentary by Ric Burns and Buster Keaton shorts. 

Should be a fun night. I don’t think it’ll rain.