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texas wins.
Last weekend the kids and I spent two days in Charlotte. In December we drove there for a birthday party. I can’t even begin to recount the number of Charlotte-bound drives our Suburban has made over the past five years of living in South Carolina. The spotting of the giant peach water tower is always our half way mark. But…
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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…
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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…
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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…
Keep Reading . . .
just recounting a day . . .
Beyond Wildwood: The Ranch (Tuesday)
Otto Meets a Hawk
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.)
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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…
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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…
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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…
