Now Playing: Nick Drake, "River Man".

The McCs are staying with us this week, which means that a holiday atmosphere has overtaken the house. I came downstairs at about nine o'clock. Of course, the adults had already eaten, so I proceeded to eat my breakfast quietly. I got about halfway through a P.G. Wodehouse story when Abe came sauntering down, yawning, and poked at the cereal.

After breakfast, the morning drifted by quietly. I think Abe, Peter, my mother, Laura, Stephen, and Lydia watched a Dr. Who episode. Uncle Scott ensconced himself in the living room with an enormous stack of my father's books on theology, while I sat on the sofa and worked on editing a friend's book manuscript. Lunchtime came along, and we had a picnic meal of leftovers and sandwiches.

We got lunch cleared away quickly. The afternoon was wonderfully cool and clear for Oklahoma at the end of July, just barely breaking 80 F. So Uncle Scott, who has a twisted knee from playing ultimate frisbee, and some of the boys piled into the minivan and drove over to Boomer Lake, while Laura and I collected Moochy, and we walked over to the lake.

The guys (Uncle Scott, Abe, Peter, and Stephen) decided to play frisbee golf, while my mother, Aunt Anna, Lydia, Laura, Moochy, and I walked around the lake. Lydia had never been to a wetland area before, and she and Aunt Anna were full of questions about the lake and its flora and fauna. We walked past a gaggle of geese, saw a green heron perched on a tree stump, heard a turtle plop off a log into the lake, and watched a pair of white terns (very far from the ocean!) zip over the water.

We walked around the northern end of the lake to the peninsula where the veterans' memorial is. Laura and Lydia ran out onto the peninsula with Moochy, who had to be coaxed by Laura to chase sticks into the water.

We turned around and walked back to the house. Laura ran next door and got a brush and shampoo from Mrs. O while my mother filled the wading pool in the back yard. Lydia ran and put on a swimsuit, and we all gave Moochy a bath in the wading pool. The dog put up with the process. We scrubbed away, and Lydia brushed her vigorously. Fur scummed the water. After two shampoos, Laura took the dog next door.

I took a cold shower, then came downstairs to bake a chocolate cake for tonight. The Bs were coming over for tea: Noah, Lydia, and their three small children.

My mother had organized an ultimate frisbee match at the OSU track at seven o'clock for the CY, and since we were running a little late on the meal, the youth and the Bs drove over shortly after the meal.

Once the dishes were washed, we drove over to the OSU track, where the match was already in full swing. As we walked towards the green grassy oval inset in the track, I prompted Aunt Anna on the names of the players: Sam, J.D., Elizabeth, Anna, Hannah, Logan, Jonathan, Stephen, Laura, and of course Abe, Peter, and Lydia, as well as Noah. Uncle Scott, my parents, Lydia B., and the three small ones set up camp chairs at one end of the track to watch. Aunt Anna joined Sarah and me, perched on a big tractor tyre that was sitting on its side near the long jump pads.

Sarah and I sat and chatted with Aunt Anna for awhile, with each other, and with Elizabeth when she took a break from the game. The huge blue sky opened above us. OSU's bulky brick buildings looked diminutive under the enormous evening sky as they caught the level rays of the sun. Other people were walking or jogging around the track.

Dusk deepened overhead. Wee Katie scampered over to show us her pink teddy bear. As it began to grow dark, my mother brought out the chocolate cake and served it to everyone. We all sat around on the long jump pads in front of the adults' chairs. Uncle Scott bounced Julia, the littlest B., on his knee and hummed the Purdue fight song to her. Anna and Elizabeth joked around with J.D. Sarah and I dozed on each other's shoulders. Aunt Anna and Lydia lay on their backs and looked at the stars.

We stayed there a long time, talking. People began to leave slowly. It was nearly dark, and the stars were beginning to flash like jewels in a hydrangea-colored sky, when my father started to move toward the car. Everyone lingered in the car park. We were home by a quarter to ten.