The days are clear,

Day after day,

When April’s here,

That leads to May,

And June

Must follow soon:

Stay June! Stay!

If only we could  stop the moon

And June!

~ written by the wonderful Christina Rosseti (from an old book of children’s poetry that my brother Dave sent me!)

I have a houseful of very happy children and this mama has a very contented heart.  We’re all home for the summer, no more school, the last day was Tuesday.

The *first day of summer* went by so fast.  I had to go to Agway in the morning for chicken supplies and Davy needed fishhooks.  Then, we spent the whole day at home until we left at 2:15 for Ethan’s orthodontist appointment.  We couldn’t get that close to TARGET without visiting, so we went there, too.  I stocked up on some fresh fruit; apples, grapes, cherries, bananas.  The kids got a few little things to play with outside at the pond; water guns, pool noodles, and batteries for the bubble machine.  Later on, Jacob had a baseball game.

Lots of stuff happens at home that excite us.  Bugs, boat rides, our dog learning to stay home with the hidden fence zapping him, swimming, reading, changes of clothes, snacks, baby toads, garden getting ready, HEAT (close to 100 yesterday, very hot for New England)..just everyday normal family stuff but with seven children!  Hugs, kisses, corrections, talking and joking, music, putting Gracie’s hair in braids….I’m loving it ALL my friends.  This is the good life; with my children all around me.

Did I mention popcycles? 

I kicked off my flip flops to go wading…..and the dog is finally enjoying freedom now that we are training him to STAY HOME.

Caleb was in the garden, hunting for fat peas.

Aunt Phyllis sent me the pictures she took of our visit with Grandma:

Rich loves this picture:

I love this one; with the four of us, and dear Grandma.  We had such a happy visit.

Thank you so much for stopping by….take the time to say hello, won’t you?  And I’ll be back to post a “this moment” picture tomorrow.

I’m off to make pancakes and later on we have friends coming over!  Isn’t summer grand?

xoxo

***************************

After breakfast Grace went out to check the chickies that we had moved into the coop a couple days ago.  Last night I forgot to shut their window and something got in the coop and DESTROYED every new chick.  Not a pleasant experience……….but we’re learning a lesson and NOT giving up.

After coming home from our trip to see Grandma on Saturday afternoon, I went to the library to get a couple of books.  As I browsed the biography section, I discovered a book titled Any Given Day.  It was written by Jesse Lee Brown Foveaux, who was born in 1899.  She had a rich, interesting life, and when she was 80 years old she joined a writing class for senior citizens.  The assignment was to write stories about their lives.  When the writing teacher read what Jesse had written, he was so impressed that he worked to share it with others.  She became a published author at the age of 98 and the book that she wrote for her family (she & her alcoholic husband had eight children) was one I read in one day.  It tells the story of her life, and the ending chapters are letters and words for her family.

As we are in the process of loving and praying for Rich’s dear Grandma through the end of her life, these quotes were all the more dear to me. 

“The main things to guard against as you fight the battle of life are hate, envy, jealousy, and selfishness.”  pg. 252

“Keep playing that guitar and singing; music is good medicine for us all.”  pg. 266

“I am not sorry that I don’t have a lot of money to leave you.  That makes too many problems.  I have watched so many things happen over money while staying with sick people through their last days.  I have seen strange things.  People who had the least worldly goods seemed to be the ones most loved by their family and friends.”  pg. 274

“I am thankful for each year, each month and day I am permitted to be up and busy.  I look back on a life of hard work, and I have decided it was good for me.  I’m just thankful that I was able to get it done.”  pg. 276

“I realize that my happy days can come to an end anytime,

so I shall just enjoy each day.”  pg. 280

Rich’s Grandma, Sarah Lillian, has had cancer for several years.  She is in her 90’s now and in a nursing home.  Aunt Phyllis had a few little things that she gave to the girls and I this weekend.  I love the collection of old handkerchiefs.  They were each folded neatly, and placed in silk fabric folders.

We brought home Grandma’s old dresser, for Gracie.  Grandma was so pleased that we would take it.  It originally belonged to Grace’s Great-Great Grandma.

But we would rather keep Grandma forever than to bring home her things.

Rich lovingly put it together in our daughter’s room, and then came down stairs to lay his head down in my lap and cry.

Being a family that loves reading, I was able to take home a few of her books for the children. 

Rich looked through her bookcase, and found a book to look at while us ladies were busy.  It was a book by J. Vernon Mcgee and it was about different men and women of the Bible.  After looking through the table of contents, he went to the page that he wanted to read……and found a letter that his mother had written to Grandma in 1995.  It was the year he and I were married and we were mentioned in the letter.  He brought this book home with him, along with the letter. 

Some of Grandma’s pretty perfumes and lipsticks, (mostly AVON products) nestled among her scarves, in one of her baskets.

Here at home, we put out one of her handmade hankies, and Grace picked some flowers for the table.

It’s bittersweet, having some of Grandma’s little things, in our home. 

(Aunt Phyllis gave me her old Polaroid camera, too!)

Rich’s Dad called Rich last week, to let him know Grandma wasn’t feeling well.  Rich took Friday off and we went with just the girls, to go see Grandma, wondering if it would be for the last time.

Thankfully, she was feeling much better on Friday, although it was a surprise to me that she is now on oxygen.  Other than that, and a pair of beautiful but tired looking blue eyes, she was, to our comfort, the same wonderful lady she has always been.  We were even able to take her outside in the hot sunshine.  Rich pushed her wheelchair, after jokingly asking Grandma if she was sure she trusted his driving.

We met Aunt Phyllis on our way out and the six of us sat outdoors to visit.  I had my camera but wasn’t sure I would take any photos, until I happened to notice, as the rest of us were talking over their heads, a silent Sarah and a silent old Grandma, together.  Grandma was touching Sarah on the back, stroking her shirt, giving her little pats.  Quietly sharing a moment under the warm sun.

And then Sarah,who is named for her Great Grandma, picked her some flower pedals.  

It was hard to leave her that day, but we are comforted that she has the care and attention she needs, she’s had a lifelong relationship with the Lord, and as we have a big loving family, she is never lonely.  Her 95th birthday is June 30 and we hope to go visit her again, soon.

“So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  2 Corinthians4:16-18

I just had to share this video of Sarah singing her ABC’s.  (she skips a few)

xo

“Now I’ve sung my abc’s

thank you all for helping me!”

I felt like a criminal yesterday.  Seth and Sarah were napping so I went outside with my camera to wander around.  It’s a treat to be alone, as I spend most of my day trying to keep the children entertained and in one piece.  Enjoying the solitude, I went down to the pine trees around the pond and looked up.  I saw a nest up there with a mama bird peering at me over the edge.  It was pretty high up and I wasn’t about to get myself covered in pine pitch trying to climb, so I left her alone and explored the other trees.  Sure enough, I found another nest and this one wasn’t so high or as challenging to look into.

At this point I did not know what kind of bird it was.  When photographing wild things, there is an ever present urge within me to get “closer” to whatever I am trying to photograph, so I crept higher up into the branches.  Little birdie kept his eye on me.  He was getting nervous but I never dreamed he would fly the nest and almost become someone’s next meal.

It was a baby robin. I got pretty close to it, didn’t I?  What happened next was so disturbing that I didn’t get any pictures of it, although Ethan told me emphatically that I should have.

When I snapped the camera, capturing the picture that I was after, the frightened little thing flew right out the nest.

Keep in mind, as a mom of seven, I have a fully developed mother’s heart.  It’s as soft as pudding, especially around babies of any species.  I would never want to see or be the cause of a baby getting scared or hurt.  I want to take care of babies, to spoil and snuggle babies, not make them (in this case) fly away.

The little thing flew right out of the nest.  Right before my very eyes (which were quite wide), the birdie landed IN THE WATER AT THE EDGE OF THE POND directly on the top of a BULLFROG, who PROMPTLY latched on to the dear little thing WITH IT’S BIG WIDE MOUTH.  Oh horror!

I was beginning to tremble and the commotion in the trees, made by Mama and Papa Robin, was making me feel utterly ashamed……..

Down below, the fluttering of baby’s wings in the water and frantic distress calls quickly came to end.  I was on my way down from the tree, hoping to rescue baby bird from being drowned or eaten by the bullfrog.  I was sure it was being held underwater, but I found the little thing trembling on the bank, trying to hide between two rocks.  I made my way down to it, with Mama and Papa furiously scolding me from the trees, and took the little thing in my hands.  It was rather like holding one of my baby chicks.

I returned it to the nest and in the process scared out it’s sister.  She didn’t land in the water but I never saw where she ended up.  I made my way down to the ground and just sat.  Feeling like a low-down criminal.

Mama and Papa Robin were not done scolding me, either.  They peeped and squawked, made a ruckus, and to my amazement, all their neighbors came flying.  I saw a hummingbird, a pair of orioles, a catbird, a goldfinch, a purple finch couple, two little yellow birds, and others.  They all flew over to see what was the matter!

“I’ll tell you exactly what’s the matter!  That big ugly human down there disturbed my babies!”

“I have a worm so you don’t have to make supper tonight, Mama Robin.  Hope you and the youngin’ feel better soon.”

“What’s happening?  What’s happening?”

After we all settled down, I took my unwanted presence away from the bird community.  With many apologies for the disturbance, I backed away and left them alone to recover.

Hours later……………

Grace and I checked on the Robin family.  The nest was (unsurprisingly) deserted and baby was perched in a branch across the way, next to the stream.

The poor thing had quite the day.  “From the jaws of Mr. Bullfrog and back again”

As for me, I will never get that close to a nest of baby birds again!

H E L L O

Good day to you!   I hope that maybe one or two of these weekend photos will provoke a twinkle in the eye and a pair of smiling lips.  Life is good!

Our little vegetable garden is thriving.  We have four little rows of peas, two rows of red onions, radishes (we did a few rows of them but they are almost done, just a couple left.  the littles loved pulling them up)  We also planted 6 tomato plants and some cucumbers.  Zinnea in the corner.  I have a pot of cilantro already up and waiting to be used in my favorite cold bean salad.  The garden is small enough that I can go out and pull weeds once a day and keep up with it.  My garden makes me very happy.

Aren’t toads adorable?  I read in my nature book that they really do have little personalities and are fun to observe at length.  We haven’t tried to keep one to watch daily, but we always enjoy coming across them outdoors.  Grace and I discovered this one on the trail.  Guess what happened when we picked it up?  It’s skin peeled off.  We imagined that it felt good to him.  We put it down and he hopped away in his fresh clean skin.

When we found this wild rose growing close to the ground, we got right down to smell it…..hmmmm….the scent is a satisfying true rose scent.  These flowers remind me of my mom because they bloom right around the time of her birthday.  I picked a closed bud and it’s sitting in a small jar of water by my kitchen sink so we can watch it open.

We made our way (Grace and I) to the stream in the woods.  We were alone, listening to the sounds of water and wind.

We each chose a big rock in the middle of the stream and got down on our backs with our knees up.  We were quiet (the only time she stopped talking on our walk), rested and enjoyed nature on our moss covered “beds”.  One of my favorite memories of the weekend was sneaking peeks at her, pretty and sweet.

Looking up, we saw green-green-and more-green.  Trees are beautiful, aren’t they?

Like stained glass all in green.

So many different leaves.

They were moving gently, fluttering and waving.

The air smelled clean and the mosquitoes bit.

**The children have seven days of school left.  David is officially mentally “done” with school.  This morning when I woke him up he said, “I can’t stand another day of this!”

Have a glorious day, my friends.  You are loved.

l O V E

I am very tired at the moment, even my wrists are sleepy.  Rich is away.  Last night was the first night without him in quite a long time and I was very restless.  I woke up so many times and something weird also happened in the night.  One of our cats tried to open the door to my room.  I woke up to the doorknob rattling.  Thankfully, I wasn’t afraid, somehow I instantly knew the cat wanted to go outside so I stumbled through the dark to let him out.  It was 2:30. 

David is on a field trip today to the Trash Museum.  I’m not sure what that is yet, but I hope he tells me all about it when he gets home.  He and I bonded yesterday because I let him stay home from school just for the fun of it.  And fun, it was.  He’s such a great friend of mine.  He’s so dear, I can’t stand it.  David is our middle child, with two older brothers, and an older sister.  He also has two younger brothers, and one younger sister.  Neat, huh?  As the middle child, he gets to pick which sort of child he is for that day; older or younger.

Yesterday he was for sure an older child, as he was missing all his older siblings to follow around….it was just the two of us, and the little ones.  We went for a walk and he took this picture.

He took this one, too. 

I mentioned yesterday that we had lunch under the trampoline. The children were delighted with it.  We had pb and j, chips, and brownies.

A quiet moment, after lunching.  Sarah likes to dabble in the pond.

David and I read our books together on the couch during naptime.  It was cozy.  I told him I loved him, that I loved having him with me, and that I named him after my brother.  He smiled proudly and shyly.

He also got to do some wandering around outside all by himself.   I like to see him explore and play.

In the afternoon, during that time (hours after lunch) when you start to get a little hungry, David wanted pancakes.  I was involved in my book so I encouraged him to make them himself. 

Yesterday became The Day that David Made Pancakes for the First Time Ever. 

He used Ethan’s favorite recipe, which happens to be their Grandma’s.  He was so sweet, I put my book down to take a few pictures.  It was a good thing, too, because he almost put a tablespoon of salt in his batter, thinking it was a teaspoon.

He got the  idea to make pancakes because he found a Star Wars pancake mold in the toybox.

He added blueberries, (I always keep a bag of frozen ones in the freezer.)

David is unique out of all my children because he never uses maple syrup.  He likes his pancakes with just butter.

So, how did he like them?  He said they were yummy and tasted just like Ethan’s!

(yes, that’s a bruise on his forehead.  he had a minor playground accident)

I have some sad news.  One of my chicks died.  Not the one that Seth is holding here in the pictures, a diferent one, a fluffy yellow one.  It died instantly when Caleb sat on it.  Apparently, this particular chick was hiding in the hay next to the crate and Caleb didn’t see it, he sat on it.  Caleb was so heartbroken and weeped big tears.  I held him in my lap, which was hard because he is big, and wiped his tears away and told him it was just an accident and that I wasn’t mad.  He felt so sorry for the chick but after crying and being comforted he went on his merry way again, quiet, and somewhat stunned, but fine.

Jacob buried the chick and on the way to the baseball game last night, he told the rest of the children what happened.  “Woodchip!” David, cried.  “Poor Woodchip!”  For the name of the (now gone) chick, you see, was Woodchip.  The ride to the game was crazy, people, crazy.  I had 8 children with me.  My own seven, plus our friend Zach, who also plays ball and needed a ride. 

I had to leave the house this morning to take Seth for his check up.  I put on a pair of jeans, a blouse, and my high heeled wedge sandles that hurt my feet.  Then, I realized, I needed to let out my older hens and water them.  So that’s what I did.  I walked down, all dressed fancy, to take care of my farm chores.  While I was working,  I made a beautiful discovery that I want to show you.

In the middle of this group of bushes is a cold spring, it’s a miniature pond in there, but the banks drop steeply down, so much so that I often wonder when I will slip and pitch down into it.  This is where I get the chicken water.  I step down the bank, holding on to a thin tree trunk for dear life, and scoop the water out.  (I dream of a bucket tied to a rope, which would be more convenient).

Scattered around this water hole are wild rose bushes, so abundant around these parts that I really don’t even notice them anymore.

Which leads us to my discovery.

This morning, as I bent over the water, I saw hearts!  HEARTS floating on the top, drifting here and there…….

Hearts mean love.  LOVE.  I ran to get the camera.

It turns out, that the wild briar roses have hearts for petals.

“Today I wish for you, as I wish for myself, that when our authentic adventure comes to a close, we can also be remembered as being by love possessed.”  ~Sarah Ban Breathnach, from her book Simple Abundance  (I had just read this, a few hours earlier!)

Isn’t that neat?

Thankful for:

the oriole nest I discovered this morning

the smell of the damp woods, especially pine

bright, hot sunshine after days of clouds

early phone call from husband

trust in God (my Father)

Seth’s perfect health and the way he said, “Is it time for my hiccup?” (meaning, “check up”)

my bed, that I am going to go curl up in, right now

(((love))) Shanda

“Listen to your life;

see it for the fathomless mystery that it is.

In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness:

touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and the hidden heart of it,

because in the last analysis,

all moments are key moments,

and life itself is grace.”

Frederick Buechner

We are having a nice day and hope you are, too.  Did anyone else eat lunch under a trampoline?