Today we went to the celebrations at the opening of Helix Park in Falkirk with our good friend Toothball - or, as Audrey insisted we call him, Mr. Ball.
There were a lot of people in very beautiful and interesting costumes doing performance art all over the place that was fascinating and weird, and that Audrey was rather captivated by.
Some truly strange music, some of which was wonderful and some... well, some we weren't so keen on, but very interesting to experience nonetheless.
And Toothball even got some rollerskating in.
Audrey teaches me so much. With everything that was going on today, I would have been in a rush to see it all, to check each thing off on the map until we had worked our way round the most efficient route possible of the entire park. But Audrey had other plans - she meandered, she doubled back, she spent hours throwing pebbles into the lake and watching the ripples they made, she stood at the shore and watched the boats, she petted puppies and had hushed conversations with "snakes" in trees, she played in fountains and when she wanted to sit down and rest she did it, without worrying what she might be missing. I could learn a lot from this young woman.
There was a spiralling track for the children to play on, a series of connecting and ever-decreasing circles that they raced on. "This is MY motorbike racing, Mama," she told me proudly, and wouldn't let Ian or me come with her onto it. Some of the children had bicycles, scooters, skates. Sometimes most of them were running. Audrey chased her own brave little way around, getting very annoyed at "that little girl in yellow who is catching me". When one of us crept closer to see if she was okay we were instantly shooed back. The message was very clear - she might be little, she might sometimes be shy, but she's got this covered thankyouverymuch.
Here's hoping your weekend is as full of your favourite things as ours has been.
