Dad and Benjamin were alone at home one day, and after doing some Architecto, Dad suggested going out to Port Meadow with the soccer ball he and Lizzie had found in the quarry. It was a warm day, and they didn’t really need their coats. They walked through the Trap Grounds woods to see what had been done by the Parks people, who had cut down lots of trees near the stream, cleared brambles from near the path, and put down wood chips. On the road next to the canal bridge was a long row of garbage cans, and some oldish people were carrying garbage bags and pushing wheelbarrows. It was a grand clean-up morning for all over Oxford, and they were cleaning up the Trap Grounds. Dad and Ben walked along into the woods a little, and then Dad decided to help. He crossed the stream on some branches, signed in, and was given some gloves. Ben and Dad started looking for trash, of which there was plenty. People had been dumping garbage there for a long time in the past. Some trash went into the plastic bag; glass, tires, and big items were piled up by the side of the path to take away later.
After a while, they decided to keep going to Port Meadow. Dad left his gloves and the bag full of trash. They walked on the “secret path” behind the school. There were two soccer balls in the bushes there. One Dad retrieved and threw back to the school; the other was too deep in the brambles.  Then they went up over the bridge, kicking the ball. On the way down, though, the ball went through the wooden fence, down the slope, and into the stream, almost to the other side. That was that, it seemed.
At the end of the bridge, they looked back,though, and the ball had returned to their side of the stream. They carefully picked their way across the muddy grass and retrieved it.
On Port Meadow, people were picking up trash too. Ben and Dad took off their baseball caps and their jackets and put them down for goals, being careful to choose an area relatively free of cowpats. Then they played soccer. Ben scored a point almost immediately. He raced around, falling often, out of breath. Dad aimed his shots carefully, and some got through, but Ben was good at blocking. It was fun.
After twenty minutes or so they started home. In the Trap Grounds they met the neighbor girl Hazel and her father, picking up trash. Ben and Dad retrieved gloves and Ben wore them so he could pick up too. They found lots of glass, and Ben was very careful. Then they carried the trash back to the trashcans and went home for a lunch of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. It was a good outing.
What a lovely way you two spent your hours. You all must really feel a part of the neighborhood in many ways by now. Soccer’s very popular here also and Jacob’s baseball group will start soon, so he may do less railfanning videos on Youtube.
Monica’s looking forward to another basketball session with the summer Y program.