"…in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."
– Khalil Gibran
Monthly Archives: May 2014
snap out of it
That's what I told myself the other day. I was pretty grumpy though and not for any one particular reason, but rather a series of reasons that by themselves would probably not have been all that impressive but together combined with the vomit I mentioned they had combined forces and made for a sour mood.
We had remarked to each other for weeks that we must firm up Memorial Day weekend plans. Come Thursday however those plans still had amoebic form. (and speaking of amoeba, the puking mentioned yesterday coincidentally began.) It wasn't like we didn't have a thousand and one things we could spend the long weekend catching up on, but right then I wasn't embracing the down time.
See, one downside to living in an awesome place, and knowing that you aren't going to live there forever, is this internal pressure to cram every spare moment SEEing something new. (even though you still need to do all those things at home that everyone needs to do) By all accounts we have made very good progress these past years. But when there are days off strung together like that it can feel like wasting opportunities.
It probably didn't help that by that time I was deeply entrenched in Farenheit 451. One son wrote a few weeks ago and said, "Mom, it's happening. I mean really just spend an hour on Facebook…" And before I was halfway through the book I came to the absolute, no-doubt-about-it, certainty that we.are.doomed. We as a species that is. For real.
That brings us to the weekend.
The thing about Mom being in a sour mood is that it spreads like wildfire. It seeped into the rest of them as invisibly and as infectiously as that stomach virus had done. So by mid-day, when everyone looked reasonably well, I started packing sandwiches and gathering water bottles. The enthusiasm was forced, but I was banking on the real thing kicking in once we hit the park.
That investment paid off. As did more long walks each day. It helped to finish the book too since it ends with some big thoughts on hope and humility and moving forward. My camera card is now full of silliness in the forest and my quote book is full of Bradbury's words (which I admit, I have been sorely tempted to make into placards and broadcast with evangelical zeal from street corners. But I won't. Probably. ; ))
This morning I woke up feeling sorted out.
"He stood breathing, and the more he breathed the land in, the more he was filled up with all the details of the land. He was not empty. There was more than enough here to fill him. There would always be more than enough." Farenheit 451
sunshine on a cloudy day
This girl is hard to pin down these days. She puts in extra hours at work whenever there is a special project or inspection or certification to be earned. She hits zumba class twice a week. On her long lunch hours she has been known to hit the grocery store for me. On the weekends she is my BBC buddy. Current fix? Call the Midwife.
I drove her car the other day. (Did I mention she is driving? On the left side? here?) It was tidy, smelled of fruity air freshener, and the station was playing country music. None of which can be said of my own vehicle but it was all perfectly "her."
This weekend I have been up to my elbows in vomit quite honestly. The little girls have been sick and the weather was pretty hit and miss for a holiday weekend. We had planned to travel but in the end we didn't get farther than the local park. That was just fine. It was a pocket of sunshine in more ways than one.
taking a dip
“We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole. In my children's memories, the adventures we've had together in nature will always exist.”
The children got a chance to meet with the biologists on base this month and help assess the health of the pond. This is determined, we discovered, by the variety of critters those nets pull up. The good word is that there were plenty – plenty of muddy, slimy, slippery critters dredged up by very enthusiastic budding biologists.
They learned that presence of too many of the itty bitty bloodworms would suggest the pond is low on oxygen and that he dragonfly nymph is apparently the equivalent of the lion in the jungle – king. Said critter obliged by demonstrating an impressive consumption of a teeny shrimp.
The bigs had to take a bye on this trip since it was dental appointment day for them.
good save
He was sauteeing when I walked in the door. It is our new dance night routine. For better than an hour I can sit outside the gym with my laptop and attend virtual photography workshops while kids dance their hearts out. My husband gets home before us, turns on the oldies, and pulls out the Pioneer Woman cookbook. That's where he was, moving steaming veggies from stove to set table, Tom Petty free-falling from the ipod dock in the background, when I paused in the doorway.
The boys were in the courtyard outside where I had told them to sit for a minute. From where I stood I could see them through the window looking deeply regretful, as I was, wishing we could will time backwards. Just moments before we were crusing home, sunroof open. We had prayed the rosary on the way, as we usually do on dance nights, knowing we get in late.
As we pulled to a stop the rush to get out and in to Dad commenced with little people pressing against the doors and running to the house with backpacks dragging and sweaty faces grinning. Abbie Rose had begun to doze off during the last mile or two and woke up distressed to discover she was the last one out. The Hello Kitty bag got all caught up on the carseat and tears flowed. I came around her side and helped her out, then walked around the car to get my purse and laptop bag. Before I reached my side again all those little people were running back to the car, talking over each other. Hurried explanations, many more tears.
See, in an instant a poor calculation was made. One boy had opened the laptop bag en route to see if the movie the boys were going to watch with Dad was downloaded. In his momentary euphoria he ran, laptop open, across the paved courtyard to the kitchen door. There were technological casualties. (well, more like techo-disabilities) In the abstract, you could say it's just stuff. Truth be told, though, it was expensive stuff, expensive stuff that was recently purchased.
So I stood watching his back bent over the buttered veggies and knew we just had to get this over with. The news was met with a GAHHHHHHHHH! No! And affirmation by me that yes, it really happened. Irreversibly. He went outside to talk to the boys. There were sighs and contrite nods. He sent the boys upstairs to clean up and stood there rubbing his forehead while he explained to me that we probably would not be repairing the damage since we have allocated funds other ways this coming year. It is what it is.
Without words we exchanged one of those parent moments where you silently recall damage done over the years, silently replay other responses.
In that instant he just turned, walked back to the kitchen, and said, "Dinner's ready. Come down and eat." Soon after we were squeezed between blankets and kids on the couch. We will be working through a cracked screen for a while, but the important things are intact. Machines break, hearts shouldn't.
Eel Fest
It's been too nice to sit home on the weekends lately. The girls and I decided to check out the Ely Eel Fest this month. Truth be told it wasn't all that. Unless you like eel. Much of this area was under water back in the day. Ely was a high spot. It was an island then surrounded by water. Water with lots of eels in it. The monks at the monastery used them as currency. Cromwell's wife later served them at table down the road. So that's the history. There isn't an exotic "foodie" among us girls though, so we mostly just walked and soaked up the sun.
{Insert slight pause to see the lady walking the ferret}
Way better than eels. : )
{this moment}
{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
linking up with Amanda
new
Where the wild things are
I am still not sure what we were thinking that morning as we pulled out of the drive with the rain beating down and not a single umbrella among us, but that we did. We had reservations for some classes at the Banham Zoo in Norfolk so rain or shine we were headed that way. You would think that it would have occurred to one of us to grab a brolly though.
The upside of visiting the zoo in the rain is that you have the place virtually to yourselves. We wandered in peace through nearly deserted grounds. The rain mostly let up early on leaving plenty of puddles to jump in.
Abbie Rose announced she needed a restroom rather immediately while Dad was getting the bigs to their class so she and I made a mad dash for one of the few facilities that were open. Since I have no appreciable navigation skills we managed to circle the place twice before we found the rest of our group again. Hence I do have pictures of every.single.animal. I mercifully culled before uploading. : )
The classes were split into age groups so once again I have little people pictures while the bigs were off on their own learning about zoological careers and the particulars of the zoo nurseries. It was encouraging to me to watch them in their workshop. I am not sure how much they retained information-wise but I watched them wrestle with and ultimately conquer their own squeamish fears. The zookeeper brought out progressively "yuckier" species to pass around. Each time I saw their eyes grow wider as they quietly assessed their options. Each time they opted to touch and hold the new creature. Snakes, rats, cockroaches. In the end they said they were not that scary after all.
I want to be like them when I grow up.
can you dig it?
A morning at the dig site. The children got a tour first where they showed some of the Roman and Saxon artifacts that have been unearthed locally to include a Saxon warrior buried with his horse. Then we headed out to the current dig site. Since the area has been rich in archeological finds the local government requires the archeologist team to come in during excavation and remove anything significant before building begins.
The area is divided into squares which are shoveled off in thin layers with trowels. Then they sift into buckets. Overandoverandoveragain. My hat's off to them because 20 minutes in this job gets a little tedious. Abbie Rose hit jackpot however. She pulled up a tiny piece of Saxon pottery. (not what she is holding)
In case this is starting to look like the little people are the stars of the show I should point out the site organizers split up the kids into teams and we had to stay with the littles. This happens alot, so they get the most press. Moira, Aidan and Kieran were on the other end of the dig site though.
Starry Sky Journal 