My story telling is out of order, which is par for me, but it seemed a perfect day to share the Rushmore visit. This group of our kids had not been before so we made a little detour in our travel plans to make it happen. We ended up visiting on a picture perfect day.
Some Rushmore and presidential reads for summer:
It was flukey, this little detour. My friend Lisa and I have a knack for never being in the same place at the same time, yet we move in similar enough circles that the rest of our families have been. We have seen some of her clan at various camps. My husband and son even had brunch at her Las Vegas home not too far back when traveling through. Despite the fact both of us lived in Colorado for many overlapping years we were both so busy with homesteading and homeschooling and general child corraling that our paths only crossed online.
That changed this month when she arrived back to her new heartland homestead (after marrying off a daughter in Denver) just as we were coincidentally passing right by. Other women might have begged off but Lisa messaged me en route and urged us to stop on the way. The difference between a 49 year old husband and a 29 or even 39 year old husband? "Sure! Why not," says the 49 year old man. Yes, gone are the hurry hurry, stick to the schedule days. We have every bit as much to do as we ever had but perhaps enough perspective now to know we really want to make the time.
We were greeted out front by Penny, the Wonder Dog, who was a modern-day Nana of Peter Pan fame.
and strolled past the napping kitties…
to the place I had come to see….
Lisa is blessed with a bevy of ingenious and industrious offspring who had the vision and determination to refashion the old summer kitchen on the property into a mom's retreat, a writer's haven. It is cute as can be and screams Lisa from the minute you approach the door.
They had paid $75 to have a local electrician shore up the wiring. Then came the brilliant part for me. They found a local fence builder who happened to keep a large stash of old pickets. They repurposed them for pennies a piece to panel the interior.
Is this awesome or what?
There are whimsical Lisa touches everywhere you look. Just a feast for the eyes. She is all set up with coffee, wood stove, and enough reading to keep her out of trouble a good long time. Are you jelly? I am. : )
…and here we are finally, as we loaded up for the next adventure. I'm so happy to have been able to steal away an hour with this wonderfully witty fabulous redhead.
Before the road trip we hit the Ogden Arts Festival on a hot, sunny afternoon. Live music, great booths, and a fabulous vintage fashion fair. Back story – I was something of a hippie kid. Summer weekdays in Milwaukee were sticky, sweltering, grimy. If you hung on til the weekend you'd hit a festival – all summer long. And we did, my single 20 something mom and I. I can still feel the heat radiating from the fairgrounds cement and smell the hops from the brewery as we passed by on our way to the lakefront. (If you drove through in that era, you know exactly what I mean : ))
Summer of '15 in Ogden is uncannily similar, right down to the shoes and the stickered vans lining the streets downtown. If there was a soundtrack for summers like this it would be this. And for the record I heard them perform this live though not in'73.
I hope your summer is filling up with happy hot afternoons and sandals and sizzling food on paper plates.
"Please call."
My phone was flashing this message when we stepped inside from the deck two weeks ago. That call set into motion a long road trip to the midwest where we buried my father-in-law's widow and have begun to learn how to disperse an estate. It's a new season of life, this goodbye-ing. Honestly my head is too full to put words to it all.
I have to smile now remembering packing up from England and musing about whether these changing seasons meant travel was over for us. Not so. We just logged some 45 hrs on the road with three very chill and cooperative passengers. (while their bigger siblings maintained the intricately pieced carpool routine back home.)
If I were a more ambitious blogger I would insert tips for packing or pacifying children. Truth is we travel pretty gimmick-free unless you count in the promise of a soda from the gas station each day. Truth is, I don't have tidy definitive lists of how to do all these things we are called to do. Success increasingly seems to me to be less about procedures and perks and more about carrying on in a forward motion.
Relentlessly. Peacefully. Cheerfully.
Trusting that everything is unfolding exactly as it should. It's contagious, that sort of trustful stepping out each day. We notice it spreading among us and we notice the rapid breakdown between us when one of us loses it. For the record we do and we did and we regrouped and gave do overs. Forward motion, even if its bumbling at times.
There have been very late nights and early mornings and lots of work in between but also so many surprises, new places, new faces. Easier to show than tell so here are the highlights from day one on the road…
Ending where we start, really : )
"Abide {stay, concentrate, give your full attention} in Me. Now part of this abiding means being focused on the example before us rather than being distracted and filling our eyes and ears with things that encourage what used to be called "our baser nature." Do you know what I'm talking about? I've found that some books, conversations, or films stir up resentments, impatience, or other sins such as bitterness or discontent. But other images or sounds we take in encourage the good, the pure, the life-giving."
This from my morning reading has become something of a litmus test for me. She goes on to say,
"Not everyone is able to expend anything like the portion of time and energy on (homemaking) that she would like. In this case we have to choose what is most important and simplify unnecessary complications in our lives."
Alannah made a simple dessert cake, deliberately opting for a flat knife buttercream finish. We set it on the beautiful vintage cake plate Rebecca sent. This could be considered the 20 part of the 80/20 plan, wherein we gravitate towards Paleo and all natural most all the time.
Except when we don't. : ) That could either make you send up a cheer for being "real" or bemoan my inconsistency and compromises. Either way – it looks lovely on the cake plate. Humor me.
Shortly after this afternoon of baking we ran across this book which we agreed may be our next investment. After years and years of elaborate cake making on her part, Alannah was drawn to the simple, organic appeal of Naked Cakes. We are anxious to see more. Since there is not really a full '20' for me, a very promising read is My Paleo Patisserie. Those two are on our short list for summer dessert adventures.
We are in deep. Way deep, head over heels in love.
My husband had been begging talking about getting a larger dog when we returned to the States. Seeing how we tend to opt for "or not" given "ready or not" we went ahead and jumped this week.
Meet Archie, a 10wk old Standard Poodle. Affectionate, mellow, and all legs. And very likely the subject of an embarrasing number of 'baby pictures' in the coming months.
This summer is about taking inventory, something of a State of the Union. I am taking a hard look at where my time and money and emotion is being spent and fixing any little (or big) leaks that I am finding. As Ann Voskamp famously quips -
A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over.
As we have been cleaning the refrigerator weekly it has became clear we are losing too much food due to poor planning and poor execution. Time to tighten up the ship and be more intentional in what we buy and seeing it through to being used.
Some efforts to that end:
make a menu
shop from a list
prep food soon after shopping (wash/chop/store)
store it so you can see it
use leftovers creatively
This last part is essentially what is composing our breakfast and lunch menu. Leftover fruit, vegs and meat are finding their way into smoothies, soups, frittatas, wraps, omelettes, stir fries. If it is likely to be used within the next day or so it goes into a small storage container. If not, it gets frozen. (the last serving of smoothies and soup are easily poured into extra ice cube trays)
Todays breakfast took five minutes to prep. Line muffin tins with one slice bacon each. Pour in beaten eggs – average one per muffin cup. Add leftover sauteed vegs. Bake 20min in oven. Mine was set to convection. Your time may vary. We have done this minus the bacon and used leftover ground meat or sausage. (pardon the iphone pics pleaseandthankyou)
Anyway, maybe it's just me. It seems as we get busy we get little leaks in the budget like this. We move faster and there is more expense and more waste. For a season you can compensate but it's not a good long term default.
"For the struggling Christian it may seem that joy is at the bottom of a well. It is never obtrusive, but there it waits, cool and clear, promising to refresh.
We have to practice our faith, to send down the bucket on a reliable rope of faith . . . and draw up joy hand-over-hand."
I've been smiling over this excerpt since my morning reading today. We sometimes bemoan the lack of water when we aren't doing our part to carry the bucket.
Little joys here:
vintage sheets
French vanilla coffee
morning time journaling
beautifully crafted headbands from gifted friends
care packages from afar
daughters who bring home dessert
texts from my daughter-in-law
letters from old friends
long naps
gathering supplies for new projects
All this rushed in together with some challenges and some very discouraging news. There was a choice about where to let the focus rest. I am choosing joy.
I hope you are drawing up hand-over-hand this weekend and I would love to hear what is making you smile right now.
I explained to him that the penance Jesus wanted from him was complete obedience,; obey and that’s enough.
"Can’t I do some other penance?"
"Yes, you can allow yourself the penance of being patient with others and the unpleasant things of life; to accept equally the heat and the cold and the rain; to be cheerful when tired and not feeling so well and so on.”
“But,” said Dominic, “these things come to you whether you like it or not.”
“Precisely,” I replied, “offer them willingly to God; there is nothing that will please him more, and you will be doing real penance.” Thus reassured, Dominic was very happy and completely at peace.
– St John Bosco speaking about St Dominic Savio
Starry Sky Journal 