Between the dark and the daylight,

when the night is beginning to lower,

comes a pause in the day’s occupations,

that is known as the children’s hour.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Admittedly the children’s hour is not always the best time of day for us. It is ‘betwixt and between’ with energy levels dropping and yet much left to do before heading for bed.  Yesterday I stole into the living room to nurse the baby at just this time. These are the pictures that caught my eye out of the back windows. It was just what I needed to recharge and carry on with evening chores.

I wonder how many times I have missed this sight while rushing to prepare dinner or gathering up the last piles of folded laundry? This week’s goal is to consider which things can be done in the morning to make this time of day run smoothly, whether it is setting up the crock pot, making the salad, or laying out pjs after bed making, because hey, we really don’t want to miss this. : )

Great minds. Several of us must be pondering similar thoughts in our hearts lately. Barbara from Mommy Life wrote a very moving post about her estrangement with her adult daughter. Instead of just addressing mothers, she issues a particularly poignant challenge to daughters as well to be merciful and respectful both in and out of the presence of our own parents. Don’t miss this one!

I have been blessed by conversations with friends old and new this past week. Phone numbers netted from Christmas cards allowed for much overdue catching up with women I dearly love. Those conversations and the events of recent weeks have helped me stop and take a deep breath once again. Life has this habit of speeding up in little increments until suddenly, despite the best intentions you are going way too fast. I am not sure what is more challenging to me – avoiding the speeding up or feeling guilty about moving slowly while my peers seem to be moving so much faster.

We did the big freezer cooking this week. It seemed to be a metaphor for so many other parts of life. I have lots of meals stored up. They don’t taste very good. You see I was trying to squeeze lots of cooking into a couple very short days in between baby dancing and laundry and school lessons.  The prospect of having to move this bunch has been hanging overhead so I dove into toy organization and a number of other spring cleaning chores. All at once. Not sure what I was thinking other than that I wasn’t doing enough. That is a thought that visits every now and then and tends to throw me into a tailspin. Enough. Maddeningly unquantifiable, that word.

My solution to the enough question was ‘more’. That never works. My food turned out like my power scrapbook sessions. Lots of volume, little satisfaction. This isn’t me.

I came to the computer a bit ago to visit Penny Gardner’s site. I figured some Charlotte Mason thoughts would help me refocus. She had this to say:

Georgia O’Keeffe wrote, "Nobody sees a flower-really it is so small, it takes time. We haven’t time and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."

…like cooking a satisfying meal takes time. Like creating logical storage solutions takes time. Like greeting my husband at the end of the day takes time.  This week we are back to ‘slow’. I will be diligent, but I will be purposeful. I will remember that holding babies and typing narrations and making slow, messy meals together is ‘enough’. I will see the flower this week.