A Realist in a Practical Household, Looking to Play Some Chess

In our house, Labor Day is precisely that.  We spent the previous part of the weekend well - a state fair on Friday evening, a Portland Sea Dogs baseball game on Saturday, a trip to an outdoor woodland-creature zoo on Sunday for the boys (and, of course, a cat show for the girls).  But today is a day of productivity-at-home.  Amy, at this moment, is downstairs painting the "library" - formerly known as "the train room," from when the boys were smaller and Thomas the Tank Engine ruled the roost in our house.  And she has managed to find all kinds of supporting tasks for me.

But Ian wants to play chess.  I told him the timing might not be the best, but, being the realist that he is, he went straight to the source to try to open some space in my schedule:

"Mom, may Dad play chess with us?"

(September 1, 2014)