Fast-moving bread; birthday boy and a scary dip

 They zip down our street twice a day nearly every day with the signature, recorded chant of banh mi nong day, banh mi nong gion day (hot bread here, hot, crispy bread here) blaring over a loudspeaker. The men and women who race down our street on their motorbikes are carrying baskets filled with rolls and they seem as interested in covering a lot of ground as they are in selling the bread. Some people on our street join me in chuckling about the speed at which the bread sellers travel. If you're not outside, it's difficult to get these doughboys and doughgirls to stop and sell you bread. I've yelled from inside the house and they'll glance and keep moving. I've gotten them  to stop maybe once or twice with a yell from inside the house. Standing outside and waving a hand is your best bet. The reward is an OK roll that is best eaten right out of the basket. In a hour the crust can get absurdly flakey and the dough expands and gets chewy. But the bread, which doesn't cost a lot of dough, so to speak, at 5,000 dong (25 cents U.S.) per roll, is adequate in a pinch, even if you never know exactly when these bread bikes will come around. Sometimes I hear the familiar and not always comforting chant of  banh mi nong day, banh mi nong gion day at 6 a.m., and the chant continues (loudly) while the cyclist stops to make a sale outside our bedroom. The few times we've really wanted to buy a roll or two, they'll pass by after dinner or not at all. But all the sellers are pleasant, friendly and willing to change large bills. The seller I have a photo of picked up our daughter's shoes from the street and put them on our front steps when it started to rain; we were trying to dry them out after our daughter went puddle-jumping. The drive-bys are welcome since they bring some life to streets recently quieted by Covid. It's a sign that life is returning to normal. There is plenty of commercial traffic now on our street from motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians; these folks sell ice cream, mops and brooms, food and lottery tickets. And if you don't blink, you might see people riding on motorbikes selling bread.
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Our son Elijah turned 2 on Friday, which seems incredible. Even more unbelievable, Joanna will turn 6 in July. I'm not sure Elijah understood the whole birthday party process, but he smiled every time I sang Happy Birthday. We had a little unwanted excitement before the birthday dinner when Joanna fell into the water at Gosanke, slipping off a wet rock while trying to touch some fish. My wife pulled her out of the water and things could have been horrible if no adult was around. The water was fairly deep -- over her head and she can't quite swim yet. I was chasing Elijah around the coffee shop's parking lot and didn't see any of the mishap. Elijah and I went back into Gosanke and a soaking wet Joanna was walking toward us with her mom. I took her home, had her shower, and we went back to Gosanke. Hopefully, Joanna learned a lesson. She seemed a little shook up by the incident, aplogizing to us, to the fish, to everyone. But she got right back on the rocks to feed the fish after she cleaned up and dried off. Maybe that's OK, as long she avoids the wet rocks and watches her step. And keeps close to me or  mom!
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Rainy season is off to a roaring start here, with big storms coming four out of the last five nights. No water in the house yet, except from plumbing issues, so all is well. I've always enjoyed thunderstorms, and that's usually what we get here. ... My ailing foot has responded well to treatment and I'm able to walk where I need to go with Joanna, places like the pool and Japanese Bakery. I don't want pain to intrude on our trips, or prevent them from taking place. ...  The remarkably detailed book Hamilton by Ron Chernow is riveting, depressing, upsetting and inspirational. It has given me a whole new perspective of our founding fathers in the U.S. Hamilton has helped push my Kindle reading streak to 881 days in a row. It's a long book and totally absorbing so I expect the streak will grow. And speaking of streaks, I haven't drunk any booze of any kind for 29 months. Too busy reading and chasing my kids, I guess.