By David Fortier 

Come Sunday morning, there have been more revelations about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. capitol, another babysitting gig, and a Saturday family picnic, celebrating July 4. The picnic brought together all the grandkids and parents at the beach on a day that thunderstorms had been forecast. The thunderstorms never arrived. 

Mostly, the kids play by the water, with the appropriate adult supervision, and the rest of us chatted, sometimes one on one, other times in small groups, and then as a group. By three o’clock, things had wound down, and people started to head out. You can’t really beat a day like that. 

Babysitting for a six-month-old is a joy. He naps, gets a diaper change, eats—a bottle, yes, formula is tough to find—and play time. Play time consists of 20 minutes in what I call the seat, which is not a seat at all.  

It is more or less a variation on the old walker. Slip his legs through the openings in the seat in the center, rather than his feet on the ground, his feet plop down on a platform a few inches above the floor. So, no walking per se, but he can spin around in his seat, moving from one toy to another. 

After 20 minutes, it’s belly time. Yup, literally, he gets time on the floor, where he raises his head, grabs for and sometimes grasps his favorite toys, rolls over, and even rocks back and forth, a precursor to crawling, I am guessing.  

Then it’s time for a walk in the stroller, where he is alert to all the street sounds, including birds singing, cars passing and, in the distance, trains tooting. The trains tooting instigates some tooting from the six-month-old. Woo woo. That gets me every time. 

And then it is nap time—both for him, “Have a nice nap,” and for me. After 45 minutes, we start over. 

There is not much time for anything else, not if I am doing it right, so I don’t bring any work with me, even though I am tempted, and I keep my phone tucked away, even though I am tempted to take some photos.  

*** 

It’s taken a while, but I am getting into a summer reading routine. Reading helps root me, especially when there is so much going on–think of the recent Supreme Court decisions and the Jan. 6th hearings. It seems counterintuitive, sitting reading fiction that is made-up bringing me back to reality refreshed, but it works. And now, I am not only reading on paper. I am reading on an inherited Kindle. 

On the Kindle, handed down from the oldest, I have a selection of nonfiction and fiction. I have decided to tackle Moby Dick, something that I have attempted several times. I don’t intend to plow through it but to linger, read a little bit at a time, and see where it goes.  

I think it was at the onset of the pandemic that I listened to an OpenSource podcast by Christopher Lydon, about Moby Dick that whet my appetite. For a listen, click here. 

I think it was three years ago that I took another big book project, James Joyce’s Ulysses. I made it through the book in about nine months. Was it worthwhile? Sure, for the simple reason that the book is often much different from what people have to say about it. I mean, what people have to say is important, and it helps, having read the book, to understand the context for their comments. 

I did not spend much time reading about Ulysses while reading it, which meant I had to fumble through, which was part of the fun. Having read it, now, whenever I come across something about it, I kind of nod to myself, and say, in so many words, “I get it.”  

It is rare that I read one book at a time, so I have also picked up another one, recommended by the oldest, who just recently finished it—The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It’s a first for me by Butler, the late Black American science fiction writer and first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award. 

So far, I have gotten through a few pages, allowing me to start taking the measure of the narrator, a 15-year-old with an interesting diagnosis, and to start piecing together the world that she lives in, a dystopian one where water is more expensive than gasoline and people hold up in enclaves where they need to band together to fight for their lives. It’s a type of reality check.  

For the ultimate reality check, there are the videos of the U.S. House of Representative hearings on Jan. 6. Click here. It’s a link to the U.S. House’s Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol website, which has all of the hearings conducted to date, including the most recent with Cassidy Hutchinson on June 28. 

*** 

Summer is with us, not only with the celebration of the Fourth, but also with the summer music series co-sponsored by the West End Association and Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services and held at Rockwell Park on Tuesday evenings. 

And of course, the Blues are back and American Legion baseball is hopping. Many more summer activities are underway. 

***

 On a final note, with the passing of former Bristol mayor Art Ward, condolences to the Ward family.

“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org. 

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