Wishing you a peaceful, prayerful Sunday.
Category Archives: The Ranch Hands
sweet sixteen
My beautiful baby girl – a willing walking partner, a dedicated dancer, a gentle spirit. I am so glad you were born.
red
We do have sons. Boys sure tend to vanish when the camera appears though. They looked so bright against our first snow when they were bringing in my shopping bags I ran out to catch them as they are right now – one growing like a weed, the other finding all sorts of reasons to postpone that haircut another day.
The glitter-soft flakes have turned the farm into a snow globe but have had little impact locally other than to frost every surface beautifully. This kind of snow we won't complain about.
and just because this sort of thing happens a lot, a shot of the pheasant photo bombing.
: )
Quotidian
I am sitting on a ton of lot of travel pictures but night after night I don't get them up. The times we are all home together I just want to be with the rest of them and we are doing something til it's time to drop it seems. I am in a hedgehog sorta mood – hibernating when I can. <g> So, instead of the cohesive note I will probably never compose….
In brief, it snowed. The first snow we have seen in England. Not much, but delightful nonetheless.
We made these muffins (pic'd below) and chicken soup this past weekend. I could live on soup right now.
A fair amount of my binder is being transferred into our Cozi app. The Luddite in me has gone kicking and screaming into the Brave New World admittedly. But since we are in it, I am determined that it will serve us and not vice vs. This is a great example. My brain was just overflowing lately with travel, schedules, chore lists, practices, shopping lists that were never completely complete. So now we have one app, we all can tap into it and I can watch their checklists tick off from any room in the house. Love.
I finished Kim De Blecourt's adoption story. Chock full of intrigue and corruption and suspense. Many of the good online reads of late ended up on the friendfeed to your right fwiw. Some good stuff!
A very good short read is here. Hat tip to Rebecca for sending and mulling it over with me. I think I am often too indulgent with myself. We hear all the time that venting is a good thing. I am not so sure. Never have been. Bitterness isn't any better in small portions. I am resolved to do better at catching the little foxes and remembering that success rarely lies in a few landmark battles but rather in staying faithful through many small skirmishes.
These everyday things – they are the big things.
And that is that. : )
Embracing Idle Hours
"Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour." – John Boswell
After a full and bustling December we are settling into a somewhat quieter January. Breath in, breathe out. It is a little window before things pick up again and I have learned to gather moments where they can be found. This week we have brought home into clear focus again, taking into account the things scheduled in coming weeks and months and balancing those with a steady rhythm in this house and a generous dose of idle hours. We need those too.
Walking the Fen
I remember many years ago when we lived in Ohio my friend called me at 8am when, I admit, I was just becoming functional for the day. "Hi!" she said.
"Uh, Hi," said I.
"The sun is out!!!" She gleefully pointed out it had been something like 21 straight days of clouds and drizzle that winter. She was from San Diego and wilted in the drippy midwestern winters. I didn't get it. I had grown up in the upper midwest and moved to Germany and then Ohio. Clouds were not all that noteworthy to me, at least not at 8am. Having since lived in the American west and southwest I do get it now.
When we woke to sun streaming in the windows after a similar stretch of drizzle I began pummeling my husband with pillows insisting we GO somewhere. Anywhere. Outside. And we did. We decided to hike the Lakenheath Fen. Despite the bright sun overhead it was still in the 40's and the wind was powerfully strong. The boys and I were covered in mud by the time we got back to the car due to the muddy lanes and off roading we tend to do.
Walk with me, if you have a minute. I want to show you. It was awesome. I really needed some open air.
There is a board where local bird watchers make notes of recent sightings. We didn't see anything too exotic but lots of ducks and swans. And birdwatchers. Hard core bird watchers. I admit to some camera envy. Holy cow. The equipment there rivaled the sidelines of an NBA game.
If you look closely you see the blonde backs of some lowland cattle grazing in the tall grass prairie.
My guys. This is where having some of each kind of kid is really nice. My daughters generally love to walk with me, but not in the mud. The boys are game for any kind of slop we may trudge through.
more tea please
I took some on the run to Heathrow this morning returning one son and his girlfriend to the States. Drank it while Agnes (the tempermental GPS) misbehaved on the two hour trip there, occasionally refusing to "calculate this route" altogether and worrying me about making them late for their flight. After much sweet talking, cajoling, beseeching – and unplugging – she ascquiesced. She did not return me in time to meet Alannah's afternoon appointment with the Human Resource office on base however.
After some quick rescheduling work, I stopped home instead for the feis dress. And more tea. Chai latte this time. And just missed the tailor who went home for the day before the alterations shop closed.
So Moira and I hit the library, dropped a boy off at Dad's office, and finally reached the grocery store around five. ish.
True story – the day out ended with this conversation…
Grocery clerk (male – late 20s): "What animal would you be?"
Me, looking up from the nether regions of my cart: "Pardon?"
clerk: "Animal. You know, like if you could be one. What would it be?"
Umm, yeah. No.
Not today thanks.
More tea please.
a look back – 2012
What a year it was. We rang it in with fireworks in a tiny farming village on the highest peak in our part of the Rhineland Pfalz. We closed it out watching magnificent fireworks explode over the London Eye. (and can't wait to share!)
In between there was dancing
in Stuttgart, Ramstein, Munich…
and in Ireland. Beautiful Ireland.
There were parades big and small.
There was a lot of football. From little boys playing alongside the flight line to American pro football in Wembley Stadium
to English football in Manchester.
There were great celebrations. Holy Communion…
Confirmations.
As well as solemn memorials to a good man gone too soon for us.
We cheered at a high school graduation and a college graduation.
And then there were the road trips. Lots of them.
Luxembourg
Köln
Trier – a couple times.
Some of them hiked the French rock formations along the old Roman road.
another put her toes in the sand on the Italian coast
Others splashed along the Suffolk coast.
We watched another cross the finish line in Prague
Prague, the city which stole Abbie's heart.
And we boarded ship for the white cliffs of Dover, not a road trip but to make a home.
Where we pal around in Cambridge and London
From flowering rapeseed in Germany to the bowing fen grasses of East Anglia.
We have been blessed to share this year's adventures with over a half dozen American students as well. The one face you don't see in these pictures is our son Asher. He spent 2012 in Korea. Major goal of 2013 is a picture of him next to his mama.
It's been quite a ride y'all. I count it as a singular blessing to have been able to share it with the people I dearly love near and far, face to face and via this screen. 2012 saw a lot of boxes and suitcases and smiles – as well as tears. Life is full.
It is never easy.
It is always good.
Life is good. Hold on to that.
Shop til you Drop
So goes the saying. It took far less time than you'd imagine. Zach and Megan had tickets to a Manchester United soccer game and the girls and I thought it would be fun to drive up together and make a day or two of it. Turns out there is a Vegas-style mega mall in Manchester. We haven't been to any sort of mall in a couple years. Absence makes the heart grow fonder….and the memory dim. We freak out in malls. At least in malls boasting 11,000+ parking spots. We found ourselves in a vast sea of humanity pressing in from all sides. Even things the girls had hoped to see were hard to focus on in that crowd.
It took several hours to work our way from one end to the other of what is billed as "The People's Palace" a lavish tribute to retail utopia. We left with one bag between us, purchased just before we left. We will never win any shopping awards unless it is "Most Likely to be Overwhelmed."
This sabbath day finds us happily encircled by beech trees and hedgerows once more.
Christmas past
Not far past, but I am on a bit of a time delay due to our travel schedule this season. We have a blessedly full house with our kids and their friends, which is just how I like it.
Starry Sky Journal 