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a distracted exit.
The days have been breezy beautiful. That’s good for life but a challenge for finishing strong these last few weeks of school. I confess – I think I want to spend my days outside digging in earth and playing games even more than the kids want to. Our regular schedule has been off. We’ve completely finished a few subjects –…
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the why. because I needed to remind myself.
I’ve already bemoaned the fast pace of my days lately. But I still feel a little like reflecting. I’ve missed a handful of days in the past few weeks writing on the blog in case anyone is keeping track. Because computers are so tricky smart, however, I can tell that not many people have, in fact, been keeping track. Which…
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the definition.
A graduate of high school now lives in our home. Which makes three of us, I suppose. When Riley was just a little kid, seven or eight, she asked me a question. “What does bittersweet mean?” And so we talked about it. About bittersweet. The rising joy and the crushing sorrow. The tinge of grey skies around all the bright…
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a doll story, a Finn story
I just deleted about thirty-five blurry, barely recognizable photos from my phone. There were at least twenty more that I sent packing because they were basically a picture of darkness. (Not nearly as poetic as it sounds. Just – literally – a picture of nothing.) Piper Finn and Otto asked to borrow my phone to take photos of Piper’s pal,…
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gasp!
That’s the sound of me, surfacing. Coming up for air. I like full days and fun adventure. But I don’t care for hectic at breakneck paces. And for some reason, the past four or five days have felt more breakneck pace than anything else. Filled with the good – visits from faithful college buddies turned lifelong friends, unexpected fireworks in…
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The walk down that infamous lane called Memory
Of course she’s been on my mind lately. Nineteen. Graduation from high school about to be in the rearview mirror. So much change about to be her world. Having nine years between child number one and child number the rest has always been a heart-wrenching way to raise a family. That age gap has allowed an obvious opportunity to watch…
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a funny video.
It’s been more than a year since we moved twelve minutes down the road into this old farm house where we seem to be collecting memories and animals at an increasingly alarming rate. Kevin’s been plowing new ground with Jody over at Bottlecap for more than a year and we’re all still here – paying rent and eating meals and…
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how can I not share this stuff?
When I ask London Scout to write about a field trip we just took, she’ll give me a sentence or two. A drawing. Doodles around the corner of the page. After handing her the black notebook we use for our writing schoolwork and assigning her a written narration of a story we just read, she sighs a little and sometimes…
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Friend: Five Minute Friday
It’s Friday. I’m jumping over to Lisa-Jo’s blog and joining Five Minute Friday again. Five minutes of writing on an assigned topic – no second-round editing. The topic is Friend. Go. _____ This year marks the year my children have developed real friends. Friends I think they will remember. Oh yes, we’ve been blessed with buddies like cousins and relatives…
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My Pinterest Test Kitchen: Cook This – German Chocolate Fudge Bites
I’m not anti-sugar. But I sure am trying to bake more with less sugar. I pinned these German Chocolate Fudge Bites a rawther long time ago. Intrigued by the picture, I clicked the rectangular “pin it” and moved on with my day. Eventually, I read the ingredient list, saw that the primary ingredient was dates and never gave these bites…
Keep Reading . . .
downhill: a commentary on this thing called aging.
the winter feels
The Right Word.
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today. three years ago.
Today we went on a field trip to Connemara, home of our poet friend Carl Sandburg. (Sherry – can you please tell me again about how I am sort of related to him?) And then we had Book Club this evening. It was an unusually full day of activity. I was pretty prepared for the day, surprising myself with my…
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all birds not welcome here apparently
On the way out the door to church Sunday morning I saw a tiny bird (from the outside world, not the caged world) fly through the broken open window in our laundry room. She had a little leaf in her beak and she flew right up to our shelf, home of surplus toilet paper and trash bags. In the car…
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I can’t believe we said yes: what love will make you do.
Last week we celebrated Bergen Hawkeye’s birthday. Up until now, the guest list for most Keigley kid birthday events has been almost exclusively grown ups. Usually summer staffers. But this year we invited a few of Bergen’s buddies, drew out a couple treasure maps and created challenges for each of the kids. Turned out to be a perfectly sweet evening…
