-
Why I Love Hanging Our Laundry On The Line
It’s a lousy chore made beautiful by sunshine and fresh air. I can’t hear any noise from inside the house while I’m at the clothesline. If I have to fold towels and t-shirts, I’d rather be surrounded by trees and grass and the chattering of birds and the free ranging of chickens. Whenever I hang the laundry up outside, I feel as if I have somehow redeemed a mundane task into a lovely gift.
-
when Facebook is a winner
We still haven’t done the precise math to determine if it was fifteen years ago or sixteen. I’m sure it’s irrelevant. It was the year Kevin and I worked together teaching at the same small school in Virginia. That’s when we met Rodney. A tenth grader. (Or maybe a ninth grader?) He was just one of those kids who stands out. In the best of ways. Already an independent thinker. Seemingly unimpressed with entering the woes and dramas that some kids believe is a rite of passage in the teenage years. Kind. Intelligent. Polite. A good kid. The kind of kid we were glad to see try out for soccer…
-
the sharing is the real point
It’s probably the most email I’ve ever received on a post before. Not as many comments on the blog as personal messages in my inbox. The opinions have varied. The thoughts and ideas frequently rather different, one message from the next. (I’m in the process of responding to them all. I really really am. I’m just so painfully slow about it.) I just love the passion this topic of food has brought to the table. I love hearing what you do in your house, where you stand morally on the topic, what you’ve tried and where you’ve failed. I love this gathering of information. This assembly of ideas and thoughts…
-
storing sunshine
60 degrees in January. I will not complain. Nature Study outside in t-shirts without jackets or scarves or mittens. Lunch on the porch. The sun literally warm on our backs. It’s hard to focus on George Washington and crustaceans and a dog named Lassie. Feels like spring fever come early. The kids are making giant nests out of dried field grass and we’ve actually spread a blanket to complete our school work. But I keep granting breaks. “Yes, we can swing on the rope swing after science.” “Yes, let’s gather leaves after history.” “Just finish your copy work and you can have yard races.” I can’t help myself. I know…
-
mountains.
Our marriage retreat was in Asheville. Hands down one of the prettiest towns I’ve ever visited. And we stayed at The Grove Park Inn. A gorgeous old-fashioned one hundred year old rock beauty. The view from our room was spectacular. When I’m in the mountains, I don’t want to be anywhere else. And what I want more than anything is to never leave. To stay stay stay. And I get sort of frantic the very second I arrive. Breathe in. Look around. Feel that cozy safety of the ensconcing hillsides. Because immediately I begin to think of being forced to leave. The tearing away. The mountains in my rear view…
-
Tuesday Morning. (My morning, not the store.)
Oh goodness. Does anyone ever realize life while they live it? (Oscar Wilde) What a weekend. Kevin and I spent an incredibly lovely weekend marriage retreating it in Asheville with some super fun friends and a group of about forty other couples from a local church in our town. I have some bits and pieces to share about that when I pull my brain all together and have a chance to process the weekend more thoughtfully. I’ve been overwhelmed at the great responses I’ve received from my post about Bergen’s label reading and food concerns. We visited the grocery store last night for the first time post-comments and I can’t…
-
Educate Bergen and Myself. Please.
I’ve mentioned it casually on my Facebook page, but I’ve decided that now it’s time to bring it to the blog. My boy Bergen is concerned about our health. He’s a label reader. Well – he’s just a reader reader. He can’t help himself apparently. And he is a Question Asker. I’m glad he’s both. I’m glad he reads. And I’m glad he questions. Lately his questions are thus ….. What’s soy lecithin? Why does this cereal have BHT? Should we be eating high fructose corn syrup? I’ve explained when I’ve known the answer. And I’ve googled letters and abbreviations and symbols. I’ve allowed him to read news articles discussing…
-
Bergen Hawkeye, HomeLife, Keiglets, London Eli Scout, Mosely Ella Claiborne, Otto Fox Wilder, Piper Finn Willow, Riley Amber
What They’ve Been Up To Lately
Scrambling eggs. Becoming increasingly obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. (Despite the fact that none of our children have ever watched even one of the films.) Saying “happy new year” after every sentence, regardless of appropriateness to the conversation. Speed reading through The Hobbit. Taking her first college level science class, complete with weekly three hour lab. Painting drumsticks red without anyone’s permission. Wearing a Snow White costume on top of her normal clothes. Reading food labels and researching soy lecithin. Attempting to stop sucking her thumb every morning and forgetting about the challenge every evening. Baking Aunt E’s Famous Pizza Dough recipe solo. Creating miniature paper cutouts of…
-
writing on the wall
Sometimes at the end of a day all I want to do is paint some words on the wall. (In the laundry room: The most memorable days usually end with the dirtiest clothes.)
-
Keigley Campaign. Paris Mountain.
The forecast said the lows were in the thirties. (But no rain was predicted.) Circumstances dictated that we only had one free night instead of our regular two. Budget restraints dictated that our gas allowance would not stretch to include a two hour or more drive. But the calendar said the Keigley Campaign was slated for this weekend. And we’ve discovered that if you don’t seize the day, the day seizes you. If you don’t simply make the time, that time always evaporates and is nearly impossible to redeem. We looked over our map of state parks. We’ve conquered pretty much every nearby park. Except one. One we usually overlook…
-
Hello Sunshine
And in all this rain, we didn’t get washed away. The sun seems to be trying today and I join the ranks of grateful mothers everywhere. I feel certain we could not have endured much more. We were not only surrounded by puddles and dampness and grey grey days, but we were car-less and home bound which only fueled the fire of dreary and dazed. We completed some school, but not as much as we should have. We played Legos. Made bread that could never get warm enough to rise. One window was broken from indoor running. Kids wrestled on the living room floor until someone’s head was knocked into…
-
give me some rainy day ideas, cheer ups, elixirs of any variety.
It’s the rain. The forced indoors time. The dreary cold that settles in my brain and in my frozen feet. I send the kids out for rain walks anyway. And they come back dripping and muddy and traipsing the dampness through the entire downstairs and I know that’s all my fault. The clothes pile up by the dryer because for every one load we can wash – it takes two cycles through the defunct dryer to complete. I’m blaming the rain. (Just like Milli Vanilli.) (Rainy days make me reference old lame singing duos.) But it’s probably more than just that. It’s the car – in the shop again. Again,…
-
reading. aloud. together. all the time. every day.
I have heard mounds of advice about homeschool over the years. Piles and gobs. Good advice about managing your time wisely, about organizing your day, about unschooling and school on line and classical vs. Charlotte Mason, about textbook choices and co-ops and at what age your child should be able to read, speak, think, tie shoes, make a pie, write an essay, climb a ladder. And it varies greatly. All that advice – it points you in a thousand directions frequently opposed to one another. It’s tricky to navigate and it’s personal and it’s big and intimidating and it’s overwhelming. But I don’t think I’ve ever met a homeschool parent…
