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Five Finds Friday (Bergen is very funny, a chance to help and a really great documentary)
It seemed like I had a little more time to do things this week. Oh, that’s right. It was our rest week from school. Of course I had more time to do things. Today the kids and I and some friends went on a dual purpose outing – a field trip and an interview for Travelers Rest Here. The couple was a fantastic pair of humans beginning this charming and exciting tea farm. They shared about their lives as I asked them questions and I was impressed slash overwhelmed slash in awe of all they have thus far accomplished and we all looked to be about the same age.…
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redemption: questions unanswered and perhaps rhetorical
I believe in redemption. Redeeming relationships. Redeeming situations. All sorts of redemption really. But is redemption possible in every situation? I guess, speaking specifically of the miraculous role God plays in redemption, the answer has to be yes. God can redeem anything. Any situation. Any wrong. Any relationship. God can, as in He has the ability. But we know, because we live and breathe it, that every situation that every relationship is not redeemed. Not right now. And I wonder how hard should we fight for redemption? How much effort should we give? Is it okay to allow some relationships to just live in the in-between? ______________________________…
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An Afternoon at The Glade
One of my favorite parts of small-town living has always been the community aspect. I love knowing the people who bake my favorite loaf of brioche bread and having the coffee shop owner as an actual friend. I like seeing people I know when I drop my (overdue) books off at the library and having a chat about our weekend plans. When we order our crepes they are generally accompanied by a hug. It’s a genuine privilege to work together with my kids to pick up trash along the biking and walking trail we use routinely. It’s an investment that pays off in a myriad of ways, both personal…
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plate spinning
I guess last week I took an accidental hiatus from writing. And from responding in a timely manner to my emails. I’ve felt a lot like I’ve been swimming underwater and the struggle to “get it all done” has been overwhelming. This is the song a lot of people are singing, I know. Life is full of all the things and the list of people who can do All The Things for you is short. In fact, my list usually feels like there is just one name on it. My own. I’m guessing this is not an incredibly unique feeling that I am describing. Maybe we’re all carrying too…
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run of the mill and catch up thoughts
Let’s just have a little rundown write-as-fast-as-I-speak sort of post, shall we? Alright then. Piper Finn attended a tea party birthday gathering today that just sounded like all sorts of sweet fun. She told me that she learned how to walk with a book on her head and how to fold napkins into shapes and there were tiny sandwiches shaped like stars and it just sounded like the best sort of way to celebrate her friend turning ten. A friend recently told me that ten is just about her favorite age and I have to say – it is a pretty special age. My own ten-year-old, and the birthday…
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Five Finds Friday (Puck perches, a leftover success and a breakfast solution)
Sometimes I feel this need to apologize to you all for not writing every day. Like I’ve got some quota to fill and I’m letting someone down if I don’t post daily. Sometimes I feel as if the person I am letting down is me. But goodness, y’all. This pace is hard to maintain. The website for TR, homeschool, driving kids to events and activities and soccer practices and appointments and theatre camp, the prepping and planning of meals for half a dozen people like three times every day. This sounds like a rant, a whine. It feels a little like it too. Anyway – thanks for continuing to…
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Family Values
The idea stemmed from a conversation, a comment to a conversation really. (You never know when what you say will be the seed of an idea or the catalyst for change.) This friend mentioned having a set of family values – a list of what matters in your house. A core. I loved that idea. I’d like to think our family has always had a standard, a set of ideas and theories guiding our actions. But the thought of actually taking the time to verbalize what those are, to write those down, really appealed to me. The kids and I gathered in the library. (That’s what I like to…
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love languages and being thankful for the gifts given
It’s something that all mothers are inherently provided with ample opportunity to learn. But all of humanity gets its share of readily available lessons too. Love comes in different forms. And you need to accept it in whatever form it takes. Learn to see love in its many varied shapes and sizes. And welcome it with open arms. Sometimes, when you’re the mother of lots of littles, love feels sticky and usually is covered in both jam and magic marker. Sometimes love looks like your spouse taking the kids to play outside or waking up early one morning so you can sleep in. Love might look like your five-year…
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Five Finds Friday (boys up to no good & can you help my family pick a dinner?)
This week has felt a day short. Monday – path of totality day – appeared like a holiday, therefore the week soared along. We had a bit of sickness too that shifted our gears and a field trip and a backseat car disaster involving said sickness. In other random and irrelevant news, I started reading Steinbeck’s East of Eden. The big kids are in a play next week. I still haven’t seen The Glass Castle in theaters but I’m really looking forward to that. Otto still hasn’t really acquired a taste for third grade. The only subject he does without complaint is math. (I’m not sure his genetics are…
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Beautiful Coloring: A Timberdoodle Review
School is back in session and I haven’t even snapped one single legitimate back-to-school photo for some reason. Maybe because not every kid is always dressed in photo worthy attire at the same moment. Or because our first days have been sort of anti-climatic. (This morning I started the day out by artfully dropping a glass bowl full of hummus – shattering the glass across the entire kitchen floor. Despite our careful clean up both Bergen and I have received glass splinters in our feet already today. It was even hummus that I used real tahini in so it tasted top-notch. I don’t know which made me more sad…
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on shapes …… of houses and lives
On the way to soccer practice we drive through a tidy neighborhood. It’s cute. Full of squares. Lots of squares. Square houses. Square screened-in back porches. Square lawns. Manicured lawns. Lawns with the grass cut at an angle and a criss-cross pattern that just politely declares tidy. Men younger than me are standing in their garages, near their garages, in their driveways in front of their garages. In front of their tidy square garages. Garages lined across the back with rectangular shelves housing square storage containers stacked high and in order, full of the organized stuff of their organized lives. Stuff they Don’t Need Right Now. Christmas decorations. Autumn…
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the eclipse from my yard.
I closed my computer sometime around 7 pm Saturday night and I placed it on my desk. I didn’t touch it again until Monday night around 10 pm. That probably shouldn’t be a big deal – or an anything deal. But, since typing out words is what I do for both profit and for pleasure, it kind of was a big deal. In a miniature deal kind of way. A laundry list of events and activity took place over that short time period. Most of it eclipse related. Living in the “path of totality” the hype was paramount. Constant reminders to be aware of the traffic and to…
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Five Finds Friday (funny lyrics & tea & feather earrings)
It’s been a full week. Sometimes you can judge my busyness by the number of blog posts that I am able to send out. This week I think I only wrote two. Of course, sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes I take the time to write a blog post instead of doing laundry or sweeping the floor or planning school or going to bed on time. So – basically what I’m saying is – no one knows. You can’t tell anything. It’s all a guess. I’m not even sure myself. What does it even matter, really? Besides, it’s Friday and so here we are. funny Misquoted…
