One of the things I like about where I live now is that there are packs of children. One big pack possibly, or perhaps interweaving smaller factions. I’m not sure. I’m not doing an anthropological survey and analysis.

I haven’t seen a group of kids like this, roving around in bike brigades, or swarming over the little berms that border their housing complex, in a long time.

They don’t have phones. They have fun.

I get a little worried about their safety because they like to tear around the roundabout at the intersection in front of my house and they aren’t very careful about staying out of the street. It seems so familiar.

A few days ago, I watched two girls try to use a couple of those extruded plastic snow toboggans to slide down a big pile of construction dirt. They spent quite a long time experimenting and adjusting to try and get a bit of thrill from the ride. Moderate success. It didn’t seem to matter much. They had a delighted banter going back and forth the whole while, and it delighted me too.