We were not in the totality of the eclipse yesterday but we did make the most of the 93% experience in our neck of the woods.  It was last minute chaos-as-usual, not for lack of preparation.  My party food ingredients, purchased on Friday, were consumed in bits and pieces throughout the weekend.  After shopping I had spent the weekend looking up serial numbers on the backs of our glasses and determining how many seconds of direct exposure were required for irreversible retina damage, how permanent retina damage presents itself, and devising various ways for affixing said glasses onto my kids' heads.  I am nothing if not spontaneously fun lol.

Monday morning I sent the boys to replace the party food they had eaten that was missing.  The three youngest worked on their pinhole viewers.  That whole thing was pretty darned fascinating.  If you still have yours lying around, or you are into photography, you might want to check out this link for more information about the camera obscura. 

teaser from the article…

Here is Dad explaining how to embed the paper glasses onto your face so your mother doesn't freak out. 

….as much

Here is what 93% shadows look like….

That part was amazing to me.  The next image shows about what it looked like around us at its peak.  Mostly the sky dimmed considerably and the shadows deepened.  Our temperature dropped and the crickets began to sing.  Birds started to fuss about the trees.  

When it began to pass we celebrated with our eclipse lunch.  Corny I know.  But hey, learning should be a blast right?  I am a sucker for a great theme. 

That right there is my baby girl whose computer and phone and icloud all crashed or deleted just before the eclipse (unrelated, just bad timing) and who lost a great deal of data and personal memories.  This is her who, having wiped her tears, said, "Mom I'm really, really upset but let's not ruin the party.  We will go look at it after." These are the moon pie esclipses she made for the littles.  THAT is more self control and goodwill than I am usually capable of in the midst of heartache.  

(follow up is today after many tears and prayers she was able to recover most though not all of her data.  Heading to the Genius Bar tomorrow.  Say a prayer, y'all.) 

In usual form, we reserved these books which look promising and will be read retrospectively:

Eclipse Miracle

Cowee Sam 

Eddie's Eclipse

How was your eclipse day?  Did you read any fabulous books or do projects you'd recommend?  Do let us know!  We will be exploring for a while yet.  

It's often very warm after dinner.  We move slowly, as a rule, gathering the dishes and putting the leftovers away.  I am happy for my window over the sink.  It faces out over the valley where the sun sets.  Right out there the other night a family of quail cautiously crept out of the woods and made a rather bold trek across the yard.  It was a success. The dogs snoozed nearby unaware.  Only we humans noticed.  First the girls, who then whispered through the open window, "Mom!  Your birds!"  I dropped my dish cloth and we walked outside to watch them together.

The mother bird eventually led the way northward, followed by a mostly orderly line of little chicks.  If you've ever crossed the street with a gaggle of kids you know there are always a couple who wander further abroad, making their mother crazy.  The male, on crossing guard duty, stayed mid-yard on lookout until the last chicks passed.  When the planks of the deck creaked he hurried them all along into the brush and out of sight.  

There was something wonderful about the whole journey, both of the pair with their jobs to do. Single minded. Each instinctively knowing how critical their role was.  Happy little chicks exploring eagerly with no idea how vulnerable they are, trusting the older birds to get them where they were going.  

This one, standing as a sentinel afterwards, until they were well hidden and down the hill.  The dogs would have gone after him if he had been noticed.  I suppose that was his purpose for remaining out in the open so long.  I found that heartachingly beautiful.  

 "Love is always ready to deny itself, to give, sacrifice, just in the measure of its sincerity and intensity. Perfect love is perfect self-forgetfulness. Hence where there is love in a home, unselfishness is the law. Each forgets self and lives for others."    JRR Miller

This week has seen a lot of action for the three youngest here. We sent that young man (above) off to camp. Then the girls have been preparing their projects to submit to a local gallery for our city's monthly art stroll exhibit.  I will be honest.  That was one of those ideas that sounds awesome when you first hear it.  Then as the time draws near, if you are an introvert anyway, you start thinking of how swamped you already are, how you need to find out where the art work is supposed to get dropped off, that you must plug all that stuff in the GPS and figure out how to get it there on the same day the boy child needs to meet his camp ride.  And it's his first time away from home and both of you are a little wigged out about all that. And paint and finding newspaper to cover the table, and cleanup and stuff.

This is GOYBP at its finest y'all.  Get Off Yer Butt Parenting. It's a critical piece of the discipline puzzle.  You know, when you are trying to finish your chapter/blog post/phone call/work deadline/whatever but Child 1 reports that Child 4 is pouring that new organic shampoo into the toilet, then you need to GOYB and go parent right then.  When you're sitting on the couch calling the child and child keeps saying, "In a minute," over and over?  You've gotta GOYB and go retrieve the child.  

Well, it is every bit as important to GOYB when the kids are being awesome.  These kids have been awesome and since they can't drive and want to participate I pushed past my foot dragging and we got 'er done. I'm so pleased with the finished products.  Both girls have been working so hard and trying many different mediums. We have learned so much – both what worked and how we will do some things differently next time.  

OK so we did actually go to the wrong place initially but we recovered, got to the right venue and found their work.  Then we crossed the street to the cupcake shop to finish off the evening. Lemondrop , Chocolate Marshmallow, and a caramel chocolate macaroon thankyoukindly. So much fun.  Now we are scanning our Pinterest feeds for the next project.  

We had a quiet dinner at home for Alannah's 23rd birthday. It has been such a blessing having her here as long as we have.  Ours have tended to fly from the nest earlier vs later. In her case, having a wonderful local college nearby and lots of privacy at home has made for a practical arrangement for this very responsible young woman.  These days are numbered no doubt.  We get few birthdays with our faraway adult children, so we relish celebrations together at home when we can get them.  

We are wrapping up a short trip to the Uintahs.  Connection is sketchy so this will be necessarily short. While reading during some down time I ran across Jane Kenyon's poignant poem Otherwise.  I was thinking of it when I saw this picture of my dog and I pausing partway up Mt Timpagonos.  We are a little sore after our climb, but grateful for this very good day.  I take not one single one of these for granted. 

Otherwise

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

~ Jane Kenyon

I came across a wonderful summer bucket list a teacher made for her students encouraging them to experience all nature has to offer this summer.  My artsy kids were inspired to take the framework of her sketch and make their own list to which we continue to add more ideas.   The four element categories remind us to broaden and balance our study of the natural world and incorporate more aspects of it into our summer days.  I should clarify that our love of the natural world does in no way verge on the magical in a religious sense.  We simply believe the Creator made a rich, multi-faceted world for us to enjoy.  A feast for the senses. 

I have also been thinking about some ideas Donna Simmons had years ago about therapeutic or healing education and addressing the full spectrum of needs in a child versus focusing solely on the intellectual.  Her thoughts would be echoed later by Kim John Payne in Simplicity Parenting.  It's a big busy world.  Who of us does not feel a tangible peace spreading when we light a candle before dinner or at church, when we gather around a campfire, when we run a warm bath at the end of a hectic day, when we dig in our gardens, or feel a little rush as the kite tugs back on its string? We are on top of to do lists, academic goals, lessons, meetings.  Why not also be intentional about incorporating those simple things that ground us and brings us back to that quiet place where we can regroup and shore up again?  Peace, it's a good thing.  

Some ways we checked off the bucket list lately….

Some opportunities to explore this week:

Fireworks Science links

Outside: Summer announced its commencement with temperatures approximating those on the surface of Venus.  Ok, I exaggerate.  (no, it's true, I do that sometimes) We have been spoiled by exceptionally mild weather for some time now.  It was bound to happen.  I was not prepared for it to happen at the moment I walked outside thinking I would plant a couple extra annuals this afternoon is all.  Check the forecast, self.  

Speaking of planting though – look at us planting stuff!  I just mentioned a while back that I enjoy gardening about as much as I enjoy cooking.  That was super tongue in cheek for those who don't know me.  (I don't usually enjoy either) However all that changed with truckloads of new dirt.  New dirt being better than old dirt, our kids wanted to know.  In this case, yes.  WAY.  We had nasty gray fill dirt in our back yard which was essentially incapable of supporting plant life.  The sloping side of the house had eroded borders as well.  The additional topsoil is amazing.  Fingers crossed the new plants 'take.'  Probably could use more of these…

A nearly there shot. Mulch to follow…

Wearing: Coral tee and coral and white cotton A line skirt.  Comfy. 

Listening to: 

Aidan and I found some common musical ground.  

Reading:  The funnies.

We have gotten two papers delivered the past week or so.  We don't subscribe here but have veen thinking about it. The three youngest don't remember when we got the Sunday paper regularly while living in Colorado and had not read newspaper comics before.  Such a treat.  This was my fave 

Laughing at myself here.  I really could use a seven second delay.

In 'real' book reading news I have been slogging through The Scarlet Letter waiting for it to pick up.  It hasn't.  This concerns my teens to no end.  I think I am going to start over and read it aloud to them. Say a prayer for us. 

The younger three have enjoyed some slightly irreverent histories:

Poop Happened    Which is about pretty much what it sounds like.  Some things are constant.  Death, taxes, and waste disposal.  Tess now knows how the latter has been handled through time.  

They also devoured Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tale's.  Disclaimer – I have not devoured them myself so if you find offensive content, please know I am clueless.

Creating: An outdoor dining space out of a sad sorry table and chairs which were painful to behold.  They were increasingly painful to sit upon as well due to the inevitable splinters.  We came very close to tossing the whole thing.  Then it occurred to me to tackle it for my husband's birthday surprise since the deck is literally his favorite room of the "house" in summer. Tess, did not love gardening like Brendan did but she was a good sport for refinishing furniture.  We sanded the whooooole thing yesterday morning.  Then realized we got the wrong color stain.  Ran to replace and stained with deck wood waterseal.  The transformation was incredible.  My husband was on the phone with his mother when he got home. He had wandered out to the deck to finish his conversation and was gesturing wildly through the kitchen window.  We did good.  Even if my arms and back are complaining today.  $25 for a second life for the set plus more $5 Walmart cushions.  

With this success under our belts I think the bathroom cabinets will soon follow.  Soon, being a relative term.  

From the kitchen: People, check out my new favorite food.  (we added a nut to each) Our friends Annie and Mike made these when we were over.  I was able to replicate with no disasters.  SO so good.  I want one right now.  

But I am not having one right now because A) husband and I ate every last one of the last batch and B) IF      

What is IF you say? Well….

Towards wellness:

Exploring Intermittent Fasting.  Our boys have been practicing forms of this with great success.  It is connected with improvement in autoimmune conditions as well. Giving it a shot. Most likely this will be on Friday's right now given that the Church has built in a day of the week, days of each season (ember days), and one entire season (lent) to eating exactly like this.  Looks like what is good for the soul is also good for the body.  

It was such a rare blessing to meet friends from California and friends from Maryland in this beautiful place. We aren't exactly halfway but it worked out that we could all get here at the same time which is something of a mini miracle.  While we were all in the same vicinity each family did their own hiking based on the age of their kids and what everyone wanted to see.  Our family opted to hit Kolob Canyon this trip.  We had driven into Zion and it is breathtaking.  Truly.  But it is pretty "people-y" in this, the high season.  I'm not a crowd lover let's say. My husband  did some homework and found some less traveled but still amazing trails for us.  (ps we do plan to go back again in off season)

On this hike we went down to the canyon floor and followed the river.  There was forest and red rocks all along the sides of the trail. 

The temps were in the upper 90's much of this weekend but we got some wind while hiking which kept things comfortable.  Ducking into the shade of red rocks helped too.  

These little lizards were spotted several times darting across the path.  We didn't see many other hikers which meant lots of little critters were daring to come out.

"Look!  It's a dinosaur face!" 

It's always a treat to find a semi-secluded trail and I can't tell you how amazing it is to see these places.  I won't pretend that all family members are equally enthusiastic over every single hiking or sight seeing excursion however.  That's just not real life.  Kids are delightful.  They skip rocks over pond water.  They hide behind big trees and leap out when you pass.  They yodel off the top of the summit to see if their voices echo back.  

Kids.  Are.  Awesome. 

Kids are also childish at times, being that they are children and all.  Their shoes bother them.  They drop the last protein bar in the sand.  Sunscreen annoys.  So do brothers.  Or sisters.  And you would not believe the passion with which they can argue that riding a scooter round and round and ROUND the pavement of the RV park is a better option than seeing, oh, you know, a NATIONAL PARK.  They can however.  

One person was having such a day when we began this hike.  It was sort of the pits for a while.  In fact that part was kind of a drag riiiiiiight up to the turn around spot at which point all of a sudden it was SO much fun crossing the stream hopping on the dry rocks or being the first to notice the huge butterfly or watching the grasshoppers fly through the air.  The snacks were good.  The drink hit the spot.  All was well with the world for the second leg of the hike. 

Thing is, it always ends that way.  It would be swell if every single family member was always on the same positive page.  That's not real life though. Still there are ways to deal with those crummy scenarios which can get everyone back on board and keep your sanity as well.  You can listen.  You can empathize.  You can troubleshoot little problems.  Sometimes you encourage them to push through anyway because you know something awesome is up ahead and it would be such a shame to miss it because of a temporary bad mood.  Perspective – you've got it, they don't.  If you can just keep your game face on and encourage them to hang on for a little bit it pretty much always turns around and ends on a high note.  

So that's how we hike.  My disclaimer is that all the above applies to generally well children who are rested and fed and in good health. Sometimes we get frustrated when a child's behavior is really the fault of a parent who has not met their needs and planned appropriately. That's no good obviously.  Empathy goes a long way.  Know when they for real are not ok and call it.  As the saying I've shared before goes, "The purpose of the task is to strengthen the relationship."

So here we are refueling.  You get to the end of the trail some hikes and look at each other and the two of you just have to laugh because he is wearing one sock since he gave the other to a child whose shoe was bothersome. His giant Curious George hat was claimed shortly after that.  And someone got wet.  And two were having a hysterical conversation in made up voices.  And one joked that little kids were fired from the next hike.  And you're sort of tired and sore but happy you did it anyway and suddenly it all strikes you as super funny.  It just really is. 

You gotta laugh y'all.  It's a crazy life.  

Alannah sent me some video she took so you can walk along with us for a minute.  We are working on getting more video.  #goals

Summer festival season has begun and we couldn't be happier.  We almost didn't make this one due to tackling some home ownership issues. (I am tellin' you, folks, I'm still ambivalent about home ownership.)  In the end my husband shooed the girls and I out the door for a few hours for some distraction and fun.  The arts fest provided both.  

The first band we heard was a little trippy to be honest but when the next began to warm up we were so glad we hung around.  

Nitrogen ice cream!  Not sure if it is altogether much different from the regular variety but it definitely makes for some visual impact!  Bubblegum please, said the girls.  I remember choosing that myself when my Gram would take me to Baskin Robbins back in the day.  So good. 

We bought some art, we made some art, we listened to some art.  Summer is off to a very good start.