bits of sunshine

out my window: 
this goldfinch and his mate 
maybe they'll nest close by? 
more rain and some hard, driving sleet 
springtime, please come

inside my house: 
another cozy fire 
bigg-y dog and small-y dog napping 
a big pile of books 
a nap under a cozy blanket 
planning for warmer weather 

wishing you a peaceful, joyful sunday 
love, ~e

on saturday there was hail. and then there was sunday . . .

the day started out grey.

we enjoyed bagels for breakfast.  they were very tasty!  and i think they will become a weekly staple.

i also enjoyed some of my yogurt.  i will also continue to make yogurt - at least weekly.  it was so easy!  just warm the milk, cool the milk, stir in a bit of live-culture yogurt, set the mix in the oven overnight, strain through cheesecloth.  easy, cheaper than yogurt, tasty.

ben and i exercised.

the sun came out!

we set up our fence for our piggy.  now the solar panel has to charge until wednesday, then wilbur can move to his own pen.

we spent some time down by the river, enjoying the nice short grass where ben had done a bit of burning on saturday night.  we are looking forward to many a swim and campfire down there this summer!

zoe swam and swam in the river.  the river water makes her coat so smooth and shiny!

lola went for her first swim!  the small-y dog wants to be just like the bigg-y dog.  but she wasn't expecting the current or the coldness!  she went in and splashed back to the bank where i pulled her out.  i was so happy she made it back to the bank!  i thought i was going to have to go in after her!

isaac felt so bad for the shivering lola that he took off his undershirt and put it on her to help her dry off and warm up. 

maddie went barefoot for a good share of the day.  she's really ready for summery weather.

in the evening we went visiting and my friend helped me go over some proof-reading i was doing. 

what a very lovely sunday we had.

here's to a pleasant week, my friends.

love, ~e

weekending

homeade granola (some variation of my recipe)

hail and rain and wind and another cozy fire in the living room stove

(we were going to fill my rock encircled garden with dirt and put up a fence for wilbur, our pig, to come home too . . . there's always tomorrow . . . or some other day when the weather wants to cooperate a bit better)

a super cool lego dragon made by isaac (with thanks to teresa and scout for some of the pieces)

homeade yogurt and bagels made with whey from the yogurt (from this book - i'll tell you how they taste after we eat them for breakfast tomorrow)

milo and otis on the computer for the kiddos

planning on doing this in july with ben and two friends

supper with some dear friends

pinning a thing or two

and just enjoying my family

i hope you are enjoying your weekend, my friends.  love, ~e

 

 

 

some things that are awesome. (and some that aren't.)

i spent the last 7 days with my family and two great friends.  outside.  in the sunshine.  it was awesome.

today i kept a fire going in the stove all day.  maybe this is a different kind of awesome . . .

i know that i have been very laid back today.  the kids and i did a bit of schoolwork.  i finished the memory keeper's daughter  which left me feeling sort of deflated.  for every part that drew me in, there were pages and pages that i just felt like i was getting through.  it could have been a wonderful story . . . the quietly reading part was pretty awesome . . .

another kind of awesome is when the UPS man pulls up and hands you a book-sized package, but you didn't order a book . . . and inside is a book your friend ordered for you and had sent right to your house . . .

so . . . i started make the bread, buy the butter - what a great read about what is worth the time and effort to make and what maybe isn't.  it also includes lots of easy to read (and follow, i think) recipes.  i'm looking forward to cooking out of it.  i'll let you know how things turn out - hopefully awesome.  i think i'll start with yogurt.  maybe tomorrow, even.

ben and i planned a get-together and sent out invitations and plans.  then someone who is invited decided to add something to the get-together . . . without checking with us . . . but we are still hosting it . . . i think this falls in the that aren't category . . . not that what got added is bad, just that, if you were invited to a get-together and you had an idea of something to add, wouldn't you check with the host/hostess first, before sharing your idea with all the other invitees?  maybe?  anyway . . .

i am wearing a t-shirt with ninjas on it.  i think that's pretty awesome.

my kids are awesome.  they just are.

my husband.  oh man.  he rocks my world.  he's definitely awesome.

my mom stopped out at my house today to share some very sweet oranges and to "just see some people she loves."  that would fall in the awesome category, for sure. 

and that is ten things.  maybe i'll have ten more tomorrow.

love you, my friends.  ~e

 

 

this moment

i was doing dishes

hands immersed in warm, sudsy water

seeing the beautiful messy, snarly bun in maddie's hair

hearing the tunes isaac is practicing on the piano

knowing that maddie is working away on finishing another section in her math book

thinking about my husband off working so hard to keep all of our physical needs met

conscious of a little dog sleeping under my feet and a big dog across the room

pondering the ins and outs of keeping a 7 year old boy interested in grammar and math

relishing in the thought of 11 whole days in a row to spend with my husband (and kiddos)

resting in the all-sufficient grace of my Lord

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joining soulemama and all you other wonderful moment keepers today

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happy friday, my friends.  happy friday. 

love, ~e

sunshine and springtime

sunshine and springtime

skirt and mud soup

backwards cap and bb pistol

bigg-y dog and small-y dog

forts and ropes and picket fences

sunshine and springtime

when i'm not here, i miss this space

but ben and i have been planning the projects that we will do on our yard this spring and summer and starting in on the work, we've moved a room in our house, i've been cleaning out closets and donating and throwing away and burning and painting and doing dishes and laundry and teaching my kiddos and learning with them and playing with my kiddos and my dogs and listening to music and thinking hard and trying to balance rationale with emotions and words with thoughts and melancholy with joy and holding feelings close with holding them loosely and at arms length.

have you ever had whole speeches and defenses planned out in your mind and you just know that they would fall on ears and a heart that wouldn't understand you for who you really are or hear you for what you are really trying to say, so you just pile the words onto the plate of your mind and slowly eat them, chew on them, taste them, swallow them, let them work their way through you and then slowly, ever so slowly, pass out of you? 

there is a fire triangle.  fire needs three things to burn.  fuel, heat and oxygen.  if you take just one of these away, the fire will starve.  it will not be able to burn.

i have starved some fires.  i ate the words (the ones written to me, and the ones that i wanted to reply with) that would have been fuel. 

i am starving a fire.

and now there is no heat.  just cool space. 

i will be cordial.  i will be kind.  i do not harbor bitterness and ill will. 

but i won't put much of myself out there to these word senders.  somehow, in the situations i'm thinking of, i, myself, seem to be fuel for the fire.  the things i do and say that are innately me are perceived as heat and fuel when they are out in the air, and suddenly, fire errupts, catching me off-guard.

he was silent.  when accused, he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7)  and he is my example.  i am learning this.  slowly.  slowly.  in thirty-two times around the sun, i have piled that plate with defensive and harshly true words and dumped them on the fire more times than i care to count.  but i am learning to look at that plate of words carefully and to slowly discern whether the words would be beneficial to the hearer or only be selfishly spoken to assauge my hurt.  when the words are selfish, i am learning to swallow the words that i would say and let the discomfort and hurt pass through me in exchange for the slowly gained peace of silence.

why am i telling you all this?  partly to explain some of my silence here and partly to share what i am learning - that peace bought with one's own discomfort is still peace.  this lesson has been slow in the learning and i won't get it right every time, but he who began the work is faithful and will complete it. it will be complete on the day of his return (Philippians 1:6).

and now, my friends, i am off to walk in the wind and, as my dad would say, clear the cobwebs out of my head. 

love, ~e

4.1.12 (1:30 am)

eating kettle corn

drinking a cran razz xenergy

staying awake all night, taking care of old men with dementia

thinking about

• maddie and isaac tucked in their beds
• ben sleeping on the couch in our cozy living room
• small lola in her kennel
• zoe sleeping on the floor beside ben
• my nephew calling lola the "small-y dog" and zoe the "bigg-y dog"
• the last day of march turning into the first day of april - april fool's day - should i play any april fool's tricks?  i probably won't.  i'll be sleeping the morning away.  and my english friend told me that all the tricks are supposed to be played before noon, so, i'll probably loose my chances - but i shouldn't be tricked, either, then, should i?  

hoping your forecast for this april first looks something like ours - sushine and very warm - and that you enjoy your day, my friends.

love, ~e