Father's Day

The weekend began happily, with Cleo emerging from a half-day in school (her first, since she'd fallen sick several days earlier) reasonably full of beans, and with the card, above, in her hand. Father's Day! I can't say it was foremost in my mind, which was generally crowded with thoughts of dosages of antibiotics, passive verbs in Arabic, and the Czechs' upcoming test in Euro 2012, but it turns out that it's actually taken rather seriously here: Cleo's lovely teacher looked me in the eye, and then wished me, sincerely, a very happy day. And then added, Don't let them spoil you.

No, ma'am. For in fact I've found that - for all the beauty of decorated cards and the touching thoughtfulness of mailed wishes - some of the best gifts to this father, at least, are the offhanded ones. For instance, Cleo recently rediscovered her Curious George activity book, and this morning we spent a few minutes carefully composing complicated narrative landscapes using pages of stickers in the back of the book. Approaching a beach scene, Cleo opted for a sticker depicting tumbling surf, and soberly announced that "These are the great waves of Africa." I'm not sure where the phrase came from, but for some reason I loved it - and want to think of it, too, as the sort of gift that falls into a father's lap, as he simply sits and watches.

Or sits and participates. For, after we picked Cleo up from her school on Friday, we drove over the crest of the mountain on whose northern slope our home sits, and then down into Camps Bay, where the sun shone strong, and the sandy beach beckoned. L. had thought to bring several plastic cups, and so for a good half hour we sat on the strand, our casual conversation and impetuous earthmoving projects occasionally offset by the offers of vendors who wandered up and proffered sunglasses, and paintings, and sculptures. Cleo is still recovering, I think, from her bout with Lyme disease, and she was clearly tired, and a bit prickly. But she still dropped, without even meaning to, a number of lovely moments in my direction. Including this one, which L. managed to record, and is all this dad needs for a happy Father's Day, and then some: