Greetings!

I’m sorry I am a terrible blogger. And I thank you (all who continue to visit) for your care and friendship. I am not the same person I used to be. And yet, I am the same in the most important ways; heart, soul, and mind. Life is a journey and I shall rejoice and be glad.

I have a lot inside of me that I can’t seem to get out, I don’t have the words neat and clear yet. I don’t like having my blog private, it feels restrictive. So that right there; these two things; this already dampens my writing obsession.

Also, the children have taken over my computer. It’s rarely charged and rarely available. I could put my foot down; but I don’t care enough to do so.

I feel like I am in a waiting room. I’m stuck here for now. Some days are better than others.

And yet, here I am!! I’m doing it today!

I send lots of love to each of you. No matter what, you are loved. Do you feel it? If not, go look at the sky for a while……….look at the trees, and how the tops of them blow gently in the breeze. Notice the little wild things around you; the insects, the birds. Listen to water, of streams, of rain, of ocean. Watch how people smile at you and say hello. Perfect strangers with lights of friendship in their eyes! Hold a child close to you……. remember the Words of Life. Listen to music, read a good book. All these things are gifts.

I care a lot about people, and I want to care about you and love you. This blog is a sort of love letter, you know that? It’s mine, from my heart to yours.

This is the face of our little cottage by the sea. We live in a neighborhood of like cottages, they all look slightly different though, because people like to make things their own with different wreaths on the door, different gardens, little touches of personality, I notice them all as I walk or ride my bike. We have a wicker rocker on the front porch right now, which I had Seth carry from the back porch, but we are planning on finding something permanent in the next week. (Rich is taking next week off from work).

This is our downstairs back porch. It’s screened and there is a ceiling fan. You can see the top of Sarah’s head (just barely) she is inside watching TV so you see how the view is close to everything we do. We have a corn hole set (on the right), and it’s such fun to play in the evening when the back yard is in the shade (still hot though!).

The rope is the edge of our back yard, then there is sand and then the rocks. There is a walk-over on the right (not pictured) so it is easy for us to get to the water. However, at high tide we can’t go as the water is up the rocks. I have an app on my phone that tells me when the tide is rising and falling, it’s been such an education to learn the ocean’s ways. It’s always changing with different sunlight, weather, wind, tides, clouds or no clouds, smooth or rough. Such a delight to notice these things.

For example, sometimes the water reminds me of that old “fuzz” we used to get when a channel on the TV went out. The water glitters and moves just like that.

And then, another day, I just got settled with my book when a rain cloud opened up above me. It was the most magical experience to sit in the rain by the ocean. I took the photo right after it stopped, when the sand was so wet it became a mirror of the sky…….

Books read on the beach get rather abused. I’m sorry, books. (they are mine, not borrowed, don’t worry). I’m making memories with them! They are forever baked, wetted, and sanded by my hours reading.

I try to bake or cook in the mornings. Today I did bacon, eggs, and toast. The children were very appreciative; Sarah said, “I just love it when you make us breakfast.” And Seth said, “yes, it reminds me of home.” (to them, this is not home, CT is home.). My heart melts.

A few days ago I stood and sliced fresh peaches into a pie plate, I pulled apart fresh cherries to get the pits out and added them, too. Then I sprinkled on some frozen blueberries, and some sugar, and then a crumb topping. No recipe (signs of a maturing homemaker)…..

The cups are new, I found them at TJ Maxx and I had to have them because they made my heart sing. I love the very light beige color and the blue hydrangea pattern. I’m drinking iced tea out of one as I type this.

Rich likes to use heavy cream AND half n half in the coffee now which is so nice because that means I always have it on hand to whip up for a topping; here’s my fruit crisp on a fiestaware cinnabar small plate. I was VERY generous with the crump topping made from white/wheat flour, dark brown sugar, and good butter.

I opened up an organic avocado and found it was already growing, so I got potting soil but forgot a pot. I made my own out of a cardboard box……and yesterday I found the first sprout!

Rich’s morning alarm goes off at 7 and I spend a few lazy minutes in bed while he showers. Then, we get dressed, he makes the coffee, and we walk outside drinking it while he reads a devotional of the gospels out loud. He took this photo while I was waiting for him to get ready.

Some mornings, like today, I am too tired to get up and I sleep in.

I went to Brunswick, a town I love, to visit the library this week. I went by myself and it was food for the soul. I looked at a dollhouse book but spent the most time looking through a nature book filled with photos of New England plants and insects, butterflies and moths, berries, trees, etc. How charming, to know oneself, and delight in the things God gave me a passion to know about.

So when I saw this children’s illustration on instagram I immediately knew it was me.

When Rich and I came across a huge spider web I asked him to reenact the” illustration of me”; as you can see it didn’t turn out. However, it gave me a huge laugh. The spider IS in the photo, but he focused on me and my face instead.

Here’s the spider from my angle. It really was a very impressive personage. The web! So intricate. He wasn’t thrifty or stingy or lazy with his work. Recklessly (joyfully?) used TONS of webbing. I really should go try to get a better photo of the web, it’s quite hard to photograph, or maybe I can draw a picture of it. That’s a good idea.

We drove over to beach volleyball to watch Caleb and Seth play with a community group that meets every Thursday and I promptly saw this amazing sight. AMAZING.

Rich took this photo of me giving praise.

David my son saw the photo and said “You are incredibly dark. That’s sick, I’m glad one of us can actually get dumb tan.”

To which I laughed continuously over, for the rest of the day. He has a way with words. His own way.

The nicest people ….. welcome the boys and anyone who has any desire to play. It was a joy to sit in the shade of some bushes and watch them. Rich made me laugh to tears when he said in his calm way to me, “Oh! did you leave that there.” I looked at what he was pointing to on the ground between us; deer droppings.

Another kitchen success; French bread pizzas that I made (Caleb sliced the pepperoni). This is Seth doing a happy dance over his first piece.

Grace sent us this photo today; David. My heart can’t take it. Look at him. I miss him so much, this is the longest we have been apart (he went home with the others in the beginning of this month). He had a job interview this morning at the Big Y (grocery store) and got it!

My mother texted me this photo that I just had to share with you. She found this old mailbox in the stream by her sister’s house and took it home (she loves rusty things). She hung it up on the woodshed and……..

Look! A robin made a nest in it.

I told her it was more beautiful than a Tiffany jewelry display.

Don’t you agree?

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“the woods call to us with a hundred voices. but the sea has only one — a mighty voice that drowns our souls in its majestic music. the woods are human, but the sea is of the company of the archangels.” ~LM Montgomery

“I find it very moving that after all is said, experienced, and done, the words, ‘I love you’ end up being the most important words left to say.” Joyce Landorf