46 photos if I’m not mistaken

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Shanda

HAPPY MAY 1ST

Today is a “catch up day” on the ol’ blog of all the photos I want to share from the last week and a half. I have 46 photos in this post. Life is good, full, beautiful, cherished.

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” — Willie Nelson

I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 1:9

Mom, as she always does, made homemade meals when I was visiting; soup on Friday.

pumpkin bread on Friday evening; I grated the nutmeg and ground the cloves.

pizza on Saturday night

with homemade sauce preserved last fall from her own garden tomatoes

It was so good I was almost crying as I ate it. Tears of joy and of sadness because I can’t make pizza like she does and I have been trying for years. Mostly joy though, I ate three pieces.

She showed me how to make breadsticks using leftover pizza dough. She divided it into pieces and we rolled it out thin (like a snake), drizzled lightly with olive oil, and then twisted it and pressed it through a sprinkling of spice mix of mom’s own choosing on the counter. I remember smoked paprika, fennel, sesame seeds, pepper, poppy seeds. We put them on a cookie sheet to bake and they ended up delicious and fragrant. The next day Mom and I each took one and used it as croutons on salad by crumbling it on top of the greens.

Salad fixings on Sunday afternoon; asparagus, seasoned chicken, tomatoes, cheese, homemade salad dressing.

I went with Dad to his drumming lessons with Kubla the dog.

And for several walks with my parents.

And a nice long walk by myself on a sunny Sunday.

Sunday morning we woke up to frost and a pileated woodpecker! God knew what would get us outdoors in that kind of weather…Mom and I quickly pulled on our coats and boots and had a lovely walk before church, birdwatching. In fact, come to think of it, I do have more photos of that morning but they are on another memory card so I’ll have to share those maybe tomorrow, if ever.

It was a thrill to see the pileated woodpecker; they are the largest woodpeckers in our area and so pretty with the red hat on top.

Mom and Dad’s cat Asian.

Mom’s vegetables started at the window. She uses cut down milk cartons to transplant the tomato seedlings into as they grow bigger.

Dad keeps busy doing wood and keeping the fire going. Even this is picturesque with the wood sheds and rock path, wood smoke, forest in the background, and Dad in his pop of orange.

Sunday afternoon was fun. The frost had melted and the temperature had risen enough to make being outdoors the very best place to be. We worked in the flower bed by the driveway. Mom has a “Rusty Garden” with a collection of old rusty things that she uses as decoration. It’s a fun theme. We took everything out and threw it behind us on the grass.

You can see the different objects she has, most of which came from her Dad’s farm and land years ago before they sold the property.

We cleaned up the edge of the bed and thoughtfully replaced everything in new spots. By the end of summer the plants will fill in among the decorations and be so pretty.

Back at my own home; last week was The Week of the New Lens. The first day it came it was raining outside. (sobs) But then the weather cooperated and I was able to try it out. (cheers)

I was quite far away from these birds and I am thrilled with the photos.

Baltimore Oriole! I stood and listened to it’s beautiful voice before I finally saw it. It was hard to take a photo through all the tree branches–my camera didn’t know what to focus on.

It’s too bad that the roof of the car was in the way but nonetheless, I was so happy to get this photo of a female cardinal and her mate. In my peach tree.

And then on Friday there were four ducks on the pond! I sat on the bench and snapped bout 50 pictures with perfect ease. 🙂

I texted Rich “this lens is awesome!”

He texted back, “I love you, too.”

It’s so funny when they go “bottoms up”.

quacking!

Rich was on a business trip and sent me this selfie! 🙂

Thursday was “take your child to work day” and Seth was the chosen child this year. He went to work wearing clothes just like his Dad wears and with his hair slicked back all handsome. By bedtime he was asking/begging me (and not Dad) to tuck him in and I understood he had had a huge dose of Dad that day. His little love tank was full to overflowing.

Which leaves us with photos from Saturday; Little League Opening Day! It was hot and bright all day long. I went to Home Depot before the game and to my sister’s house. I picked up Naomi and Weston so they could watch the games, too.

The photo of Seth is from the National Anthem. Rich took it with my new lens.

Caleb at bat.

I was sitting on the bleachers!!! So happy with my camera!

After making a double play!

This boy is very verbal and keeps his attention on EVERYTHING, encouraging his teammates and getting them ready and watching for the next plays. He gets VERY into the game, even at home it’s all about baseball with this boy now.

(By the way, he’s a Yankees fan) LOL

I’m going to get him that black stuff that you smudge on your cheeks.

POOR SETH!!!!!!!! He gets TERRIBLE allergic reaction to the dust; his eyes were so red and swollen by the end of the day. Bless his heart. I’m giving him allergy medicine and eye drops now. He’s a good ball player, too, and got to pitch for a few innings.

And that dumb string was dangling all day long. I never did get close enough to tell him to put in inside his pants where it belonged. 🙂

Isn’t he so cute!?!?!

Last, but not least; DAVE! He is 14 and on Juniors this year. He’s known for his speed around the bases, he runs around them just as fast as his dad did when he played. He’s like the Flash (his favorite show on TV).

LOOK at that face of intensity!

I’m so proud of my baseball players. There is practice and/or a game every evening but it’s all worth it. We get outdoors, talk to friends, and watch our boys do great things. In every game there are impressive catches, scores, etc. The moms laugh and try to keep track of everything. Even when the team loses it’s fun simply because they are working together and learning so much. Pastor says baseball is a spiritual sport because “you’re trying to get home”.

ALSO: in pond news: the toads came and mated and then left again (leaving their long strings of eggs behind to hatch and grow on their own)

I had a moment of peace on Saturday evening down by the pond with the toads.

*****

It’s May 1st so try to include flowers in your day or better yet surprise someone else with them. That’s my advice for the day.

Time for me to get off my behind and get to work. Be blessed, my friends. 🙂

{this moment}

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Shanda

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waiting for warm ups to begin for the first game of the season

cleaning & shopping together

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Shanda

Well, part of the reason why I went to Mom and Dads was to help Mom out with some spring cleaning. We ate eggs and the homemade pumpkin bread that we had made the night before for breakfast and made a list of what our Saturday would entail. Could we do it all?

We cleaned for hours and hours and then when we decided we had done enough we headed out to visit some of our favorite places and one new place. Dad had plans with Uncle Brian so it was ::girl time::. (whenever Sarah and I end up alone we sing to each other “GIRL TIME” and give high fives.)

(“vintage” grocery store, LOL) Just like when I was a little, it was so small! Why are grocery stores so big these days is what I want to know.

Perry’s ice cream is the best because it’s what I grew up on.

Perfect way to end the day.

It was A-MAZE-ING how much we accomplished!

*****

Things I bought, in their new home:

Over the master bed I’ve been collecting flower prints that I love. The second one from the right is the one I purchased with mom for only 8 dollars. It’s an old framed print of Irises.

wire egg holder shaped like a pig! Perfect for me in many ways. 5 dollars

(filled with eggs from my flock)

Mom had told me once that her Grandma suggested brown glass bottles for rooting plants. So I bought this old one with the paper label charmingly almost gone for 6 dollars. She sent me home with a begonia stem to root. It’s on my kitchen windowsill and I can’t wait to see the roots start to grow.

Striped fiesta round platter (bigger than a dinner plate)

Fiesta salt and pepper shakers, and a small souvenir plate from the factory. I can’t remember the exact prices of the fiestaware but it was very good because it was half off.

Last but not least, all that cleaning inspired me to come home and clean my own house. I’ve been itching to deep clean the pantry (one of my favorite little rooms) and I tackled it this morning. I wiped down all the shelving with yummy smelling Method cleaner, pulled the freezer away from the wall and cleaned the filthy floor under it, washed the dusty windows, and rearranged the foods and other items on the shelves.

I wiped down the glass doors on the hutch and moved it away from the wall, too.

You know that feeling when you clean one room spotlessly and then realize how messy every other room in your house feels? That’s the feeling I have now, but Jacob told me to get over it because it’s not a very nice one. And the house is clean enough. 😉

flowers under cloudy skies

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Shanda

I hit the road Friday morning and drove to my parent’s house to spend a long weekend. Although I felt a little sad leaving all the children home with Rich, I knew that it was important for me to get away for a *body mind and soul* rest away from the endless rewarding yet sometimes quite stressful jobs of parent and housekeeper.

A retreat to Mom and Dad’s house was just the place of peace and relaxation for me.

***

We had a chilly but invigorating walk on Saturday morning. But before we went up the road, Mom and I put on our necessary rubber boots and meandered about the gardens to see what was coming up.

Mom has extensive flower beds; she absolutely LOVES gardening and has over 45 years of experience growing things. She knows where everything is and where everything came from and delights in the many surprises gardening holds, too. Volunteer plants show up all over the place. She knows when she weeds she has to be careful, but not too terribly careful, because then in one of those fun surprises, the flowers will transplant down the bank where she throws the weeds. And that’s a smile just waiting to happen.

pink and salmon hyacinths

The only one we saw.

(I have a small patch of them in my garden, too; does anyone know the name? I forgot.)

Daffodils

Aunt Rita started planting them here years and years ago and Mom continues. Daffodils are very obliging when it comes to multiplying each year.

“I hope to have them go all the way down the stone fence eventually!”

darling mini daffies

Mom planted Tasha Tudor foxgloves by the house but now they’re gone; they reappeared at the edge of the woods.

I gave her the seeds from Tasha Tudors website years ago when Tasha was still alive. She also has a signed print from “The Secret Garden”. We are fans.

There are things all over the place in the beds to make things interesting. For example, this roundish rock has been in the garden in various locations since I was a kid. Her brother Chris (they were less than one year apart in age) found it on the farm and asked her if she wanted it. We call it the Fred Flintstone bowling ball and mom believes that perhaps the groves were made so that Indians could crack Hickory nuts in them (you can see the tool marks on the rock).

Besides the flower gardens, Mom and Dad work on a big rustically fenced vegetable garden and maintain trails through the wild blueberry patch and into the woods. There is a crick, mature trees and forest, wildlife abundant, places for summertime campfires, benches, and healthy moist lawn perfect for barefeet. In my opinion, all of their well-tended 16 acres could be featured in any issue of Country Living magazine.

After the garden tour we headed up the road together to take ourselves and the dog for a walk.

Uncle Brian and his dogs were out; we stopped for a chat. He had recently seen two big Tom turkeys both trying to impress a hen in all their feathered glory. We told him he should have had a camera and he said he had enough to keep his hands full with the dogs.

He and Dad do a lot together throughout the week working in the woodlot.

The land on both sides of the road used to belong to Mom’s parents. It’s old farmland. Much of it is still in the family; the parts than aren’t still feel like “ours” deep down inside. It’s quiet and peaceful here; hardly a car goes by and you can’t even hear the sounds of distant traffic, only nature and maybe some of the far away neighbors target practicing.

This day was cloudy and overcast but the sky made all the photos beautiful.

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When we arrived back home we had some visitors.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.” –Robert Louis Stevenson

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps;
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps.
~A. Bronson Alcott, “The Garden,” Tablets, 1868

bringing it back {this moment}

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Shanda

I hope blogger soulemama doesn’t mind! She was the original mastermind behind these posts and a whole bunch of us were following along and had great fun. Alas, she discontinued her “this moment” Friday posts a while back now. However, I missed the opportunity and the fun it was to be on the look out for that “something sweet” to photograph and put on the blog~with no words. She intended it for sharing so I don’t think she’ll mind if I once again take advantage of her generosity, so without further ado;

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

hobbies

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Shanda

“A hobby is an activity, interest, enthusiasm, or pastime that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, typically done during one’s own time.” -wikipedia

Just a common red winged black bird but it was singing and making such pretty sounds that I had to share the photo of it. It stood on a slender branch and gracefully inched it’s way to the top of it. It flew a short distance to a fence and then down to the edge of the stream, drinking and fluffing up it’s blackest of black feathers…….

I sat on a dry little hill of land by the stream, surrounded by old last year’s grasses and springtime wetness from the swampy wide stream. I wore jeans, a tshirt, a flannel, and a vest with sunglasses in one pocket and my headphones and phone in the other.

I had my camera in my hands; a Nikon D3300 with a 55-200mm lens. A very nice camera!

I’m generally very content with my camera and lenses. How do you justify a hobby that uses costly equipment? A bigger zoom lens would cost quite a bit.

I was sitting probably about 60-100 feet from the birds I was trying to photograph. When I got home, I put them on the computer and cropped—and laughed at the horrible quality of images I took of this bird:

Yellow-Rumped Warbler (first sighting)

It’s so beautiful, but not in these pictures!

I was on FB this morning and someone from my town had posted photos of a pileated woodpecker—stunning crystal clear close ups that took my breath away. I asked what lens he used and found out that he had a much better zoom lens.

I have dreamed of a better zoom lens but now I REALLY want a better zoom lens!

But like I said, this is only a hobby. I don’t sell my photos or use them for anything but my own blog and photo collections. There is a little voice in my head that says “What is the POINT? This photography pastime is a money pit!”

Of what value is a hobby? To me, my hobbies (photography, reading, collecting Fiestaware) add priceless value to my daily life for a variety of reasons. But to what extent do I maintain and invest in my hobbies, especially in photography?

The hobby itself is not a “thing”– it’s not a material possession. However, regardless of the way it feeds my soul and gets me outside exploring nature, it can be costly as it takes money to purchase photography equipment and time to study the information so I can use it properly.

Part of these feelings about spending a “large” amount of money on a lens is due to my personal penny pinching ways. Although I have no ethical issues with shopping, I am a thrifty shopper and like the challenge of looking for ways to “save money”–coupons, clearance, thrifting, free stuff, library, etc.

But then again, almost every adult I know has a hobby that costs money so why can’t I?

sparrow

Eastern Phoebe

*****

While I was writing this post, I went ahead and researched and found a lens for a somewhat reasonable price and texted Rich all about it….his reply?

“GO AHEAD”

Stay tuned! This is going to be a great summer of bird/nature watching!

What do you think? Do you have a hobby? What is it? Is it easy for you to invest in or do you feel guilty? How do you justify spending money on an “extra” expense in your hobby? Do you have ways of off setting the cost? What are they? Do you have a business online? Do you use your hobby to give back to others? How does your hobby make you feel? Do your children have hobbies? Does your partner have a hobby? What are some of the values in a hobby?

I found a caddis worm

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Shanda

Yesterday afternoon I went to the chicken coop. It was the first day back to school for the children so I was alone and greatly enjoying the quiet. There were three eggs in the coop which I promptly put into the pocket of my shorts. I held in my hand a mug of lukewarm coffee. A rose fiestaware mug, to be exact.

Seth and Caleb were playing catch by the road last Friday. Across the road from our house is forest and when they heard a cracking sound, they looked up just in time to see a small bear jumping down from a tree and running away into the woods.

I had this in mind as I stood and gazed around me at the edge of our property. Would I see the bear? Was I nervous?

Our property sits on four acres and it borders state forest. A shallow but constantly running stream also borders part of our land. I walked away from the coop into the forest and toward the stream. I was wearing shorts and sneakers, the air was warm with a cool breeze and sunlight streamed through the tops of tall pine trees. Beneath my feet were old damp leaves and pine needles, and crackling twigs.

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A frog hesitated and then took a flying leap into the water and swam under water soaked leaves to hide. I had surprised me so I stood still for a while just in case there were any others. In the center of the water beyond reach was a gelatinous mass of eggs. The stream had overflowed its boundaries with the rain, forming a nice big puddle of fresh water, just right for a frog nursery. As I looked, I saw a tiny little wooden thing slowly crawling in hesitant dips and bobs on the bottom of the puddle. It looked like a small pine cone … walking under the water. But that couldn’t be right, could it?

I was wearing my perfectly good black sneakers and for a brief moment I had to decide; would I or would I not get them wet? For a pine cone?

I would.

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I dumped my coffee out and dipped the mug into the water to rinse. The water was cold and my sneakers were instantly filled with it. I bent down to scoop my discovery into the mug and brought it back with me, just a step or two, to dry land.

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It was a tiny creature living inside it’s own homemade case of twigs.

I kept it in the mug as I took a few pictures and a video.

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It’s “front door” –one the end of the case– was finished off with whitish twigs.

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Right before I put it back I held it in my hand. It was less than an inch long.

I proceeded on my walk and as I walked down the trail to the road I almost stepped on a snake.

It moved away from my foot fast enough but then had a hard time slithering away because it was so cold.

*******

Back in the house, I quickly located my favorite nature book and identified the strange water creature that I had found.

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“People who have never tried to fathom the mysteries of the bottom of brook or pond are to be pitied. Just to lie flat, face downward, and watch for a time all that happens down there in that water world is far more interesting than witnessing any play ever given at matinee. At first one sees nothing, since all the swift-moving creatures have whisked out of sight, because they have learned to be shy of moving shadows………….and then something strange happens. A bit of rubbish on the bottom of the brook walks off. Perhaps it is a dream, or we are under the enchantment of the water witches!” ~Anna Comstock

Pity me, because I have to say I have never (until yesterday) tried to fathom the mysteries of the bottom of our stream….and it was only because of that frog jumping that I stood still long enough to discover my very own “bit of rubbish.”

Things I learned:

*You can take these things home, put them in an aquarium to observe them, remove the top twigs of its case, give it tiny strips of flower pedals, and watch it rebuild using the blossoms. They are “underwater architects.”

*The inside of the case is lined with silk.

*The worm is not attached to the case and if you turn the case wrong side up and hold it down, the worm will flip over within it to right itself.

*An artist named Hubert Duprat collects them, keeps them in climate controlled aquariums, removes them from their cases, supplies them with precious metal and stones, and thus creates (using the worms) beautiful little works of art. Click HERE to see.

*When they are ready to pupate (turn into a fly), it fastens itself to an object in the water and seals itself up inside. Eventually it emerges as a caddis fly.

* People make fishing lures using the caddis fly as inspiration.

*If they are located in your backyard stream it is an indication that the water is clean.

*They can make their case out of almost anything including sand, stones, or even a hollow stem.

*Someone made this.

For more information you can read the wikipedia article HERE.

In fact, the more I dig around the internet studying these things, the dumber I feel! Why haven’t I learned about these before? What fascinating creatures they are!

“Little brook, so simple, so unassuming
–and yet how many things love thee!”
~Edward Carpenter

PS, I didn’t see the bear. However, I thought I heard one at one point and peed a little in my pants. Bears, worms, and snakes….oh my!

easter happenings

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Shanda

Happy Glorious Easter!

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us–set us right with him, make us fit for him–we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand–out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary–we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t be so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him.
Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shoout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!

*****

We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

*****

A whole, healed, put together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!

(from the book of Romans in “the Message” translation)

I could just keep typing and typing, copying out these rich and wonderful words! Even on the worse days, the Holy Spirit keeps ministering to God’s children. The bad days are a little better, the best days are a foretaste of Heaven!

One of those “best days” for me personally happened just yesterday. We visited Mom and Dad’s church and then I was able to ride along with them to the Otesaga Resort for our buffet Easter dinner. I felt like laughing all day, I was so happy. Even when we didn’t quite know where we were going for a little while there on the back roads……..

Our reservations were for 2 and we arrived with time to spare and were seated at two large round tables, side by side. We were in a nice open room with huge windows which opened out to the bluest lake. The weather was lovely, warm and spring like. The food was served buffet style and we all ate until we could eat no more, with laughter and fun conversations.

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We were missing Ethan very much.

(My sister and her family also could not make it this year.)

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Cassandra’s dear parents joined us though, which was a fun treat; we love this family!

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Dave was able to play a few songs on the grand piano!!! He was dying to get his hands on it.

LOVE IT!

And one last drive away photo from out the window! the parents! xo

Well then, it came out in the car that Rich was in a bad mood because of something a couple of our children did that I didn’t know about until we were driving down the road and he was able to fill me in on the details. I had wondered why he had sort of “deflated” toward the end of the meal. My poor husband, I always have complete confidence in how he handles the issues that arise in our family. Very thankful for that. However, as we drove along, his irritation was causing him to retreat inside of his own thoughts and problem solving so that he wasn’t paying attention to his driving….I did notice that he was going a little fast but what with the situation and all I decided to keep my mouth shut and not nag him about speed limits.

Instead, I took pictures out my window.

You can sort of tell by these photos that we were going 60 in a 45, right?

However, the officer was merciful and decided to only ticket us not for speeding but because our vehicle had tinted windows (I guess in NY you can only have a certain shade of tint)….and even that was eventually thrown out because after all that he wasn’t able to get his computer to work- so off we went again on our merry way and at a much slower pace, praise the Lord.

We still arrived home at just the right time; bedtime for the younger children to be exact!!! And heart to heart time for the ones who needed fatherly guidance and instruction.

All is well.

I took these photos just this morning; things are growing fast now that the snow has melted and the ground has warmed up.

April showers and all that.

I saw the first spring violet this morning when I walked Sarah to the bus; picture to follow!

You are loved, xo

~Shanda

What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. Romans 6

duck & bike & flowers

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Shanda

I love mornings. I rarely blog at night, if I did I’m sure all that would come out would be zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

It’s Thursday. 43 degrees. Sarah is outside riding her new bike and Seth is upstairs taking a bath. Caleb just woke up; everyone else is still sleeping. It’s 7:40.

Are the duck photos neat? I took them first thing yesterday morning. I stood stealthily behind a pine tree by the pond and watched this duck. It wasn’t so much concerned about anything but looking around and quacking. I guess he was looking for his female?

As I mentioned in the previous post, this is Spring Break Week for the children. Yesterday was “Buy Sarah a New Bike Day”. I left the house at 8 with her and Seth and we went to Target. On the way we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts. Sarah wanted “a donut that was filled and it would be jelly inside.” She is quite wordy.

On the way there they explained to me that they were Odie and Garfield. Sarah was Odie and Seth was Garfield. I played along and they decided I was John.

“I’m going to be John the man?” I asked.

“OH, I know! You can be Liz! Liz is in love with John and John’s Dad!”

That didn’t sound right.

“Liz is in love with John AND his dad?” I asked.

“No, John IS Dad. And you love Dad.”

Oh. Okay. I get it now.

So we played pretend for a while until I got tired of getting yelled at for accidentally calling them Seth and Sarah.

They had their donuts and we proceeded to Target and found a nice bike for Sarah and a few shirts & ties for the boys for Easter.

What beautiful tulips!

On the way home there was a garden center, a nice small independently owned one, so I stopped to buy some pansies.

Here they are sitting on the floor of the passenger side…..aren’t they beautiful? They have little ruffled edges.

Guess what? I don’t have a photo of this but when we pulled in the driveway, the duck was in the other pond with his female! 🙂

Nice big brother Jacob did some work on Seth’s bike but ran out of time. He had to go to college and work. But Seth was okay; he still had the scooter to ride.

And Sarah was so cute riding around on her new wheels.

This bike is a bit taller and it took her a little practice and a few falls to comfortably get on and off of it. She could ride her new bike for hours at a time and unlike the boys, she’s content to ride the same path over and over again. She talks and sings to herself as she pedals.

Sarah even shared her bike with Seth until he ended up crashing it and said he wasn’t going to ride it anymore. “First it went in the garden and then it crashed!” he said, without taking any of the blame. It was all the bike’s fault.

I used to watch Jacob, Ethan, and Grace play EXACTLY the same way. It’s like deja vu.

One sad note: Before I could do anything to stop her, Sarah butchered the pretty streamers off her handle bars because “they were distracting her.”

My pansies at home. I also had 3 six packs that I planted in pots. Two of them are on the front steps and one is by the side steps in the garden. They are cold weather pansies so even if the temperature drops they should be okay.

The potted geranium on my windowsill bloomed!

RANDOM PHOTOS:

My friend Lea Ann texted me this picture of her Texas wildflower bouquet!

I saved it as my phone screensaver.

Seth in the dentist chair. I was reading my book but also watching and listening. Very entertaining. No cavities!

“Mike, will you show me your airsoft gun?”

“No.”

“I’ll give you a neck massage.”

“Okay.”

water and wine at the spa

*********

Quote for today: “Faith sees even the darkest deed of all history, the death of God’s Son, as a necessary prelude to the brightest.” Philip Yancey

stop trying!

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Shanda

Hello! I’m sitting in my bed with half my face numb. I had to go get a filling replaced this morning and I did so with Seth sitting in the corner of the room watching intently. After observing the big needle go in my mouth and half an hour of drilling and filling, he is now either traumatized or perhaps will be a dentist one day.

This week my husband is away on a business trip and the children are home from school on spring break. Yesterday was a bit of a challenge, as I was on edge about several things, and as a result I spent much of the day trying very very very hard to “be a good mom” instead of forgetting about myself and just living out the day in a mature fashion. It was an internal battle of sorts and I spent a great deal of energy trying to be as polite and kind as I could and I believe the children enjoyed being home from school, but as for my mental state by the end of the day let’s just say I was pretty exhausted and went to bed as soon as possible (9pm) after several hours (6-8:30 with a trip back home to get Sarah to bed) of being at the ball field for little league practice.

So far today is much better. I’m not trying anymore. I’m going with the flow.

Ahhh, adjustments. All is well.

One of the things “I tried” to do yesterday and sincerely thought it would be relaxing was sit in a chair by the driveway in order to watch the children happily play. Caleb took it upon himself to carry up to the driveway my “favorite orange chair” (his words–I had no idea what he was talking about.) It turns out that my “favorite orange chair” was my brown adirondack lawn chair from clear over by the chicken coop. It’s true, it’s my favorite chair, but only because it was right where I wanted it…..by the chicken coop. It is now by the driveway and the chair weighs about 85 pounds, I’m not even sure how he carried it up the hill to the house, to be honest, by the groans he was making I know it was quite difficult for him. So that put a damper on things within my mind; I had to pretend that I was touched and pleased with his thoughtfulness to deliver my favorite chair but also fight irritation that it was even moved in the first place, I could have just gotten a chair off the porch even though it wasn’t my favorite.

So I sat down with my bag of books and a pen and started to read. I looked up just in time to see Caleb run, jump up and off an upside down cooler, and try to dunk the basketball in the hoop. The cooler tipped over and I had a heart attack as I watched him try not to body slam himself on the pavement. I sighed with relief. He avoided injury this time but then I had to tell him not to do it again and answer the inevitable question, “Why not?” and all that followed in that conversation.

Seth wanted his bike but the tires were flat and that took a great deal of effort in explaining why I wasn’t the one to fix bikes…….

Then he and Caleb set up an old tire against the stone wall to practice throwing baseballs at it…well, in my mind I could see them throw it right into the road (which is behind the stone wall) and getting hit by a car. We had a long talk about where else we could put the tire and then I gave up so to speak when I realized they would probably be fine so we left it there. After all that, they decided not to practice throwing after all.

Sarah was happily riding her little two wheeler around the driveway and then (as I was reading and not watching), Seth, from over on the lawn, thought it would be a good idea to throw a tennis ball at His Sister the Moving Target. After he hit her once and was scolded, he did it again, and that time I had him sit in the penalty chair, which had been moved right next to me. “Don’t get up until I tell you,” I said and then went back to reading and became absorbed enough that the next time I looked up he was completely gone. So now I had a disobedient child to find and put back in the chair.

Then, Caleb approached me (and Seth back in the chair) with a piece of moist white skin, about the size of a dime. “Guess where this came from Mom?” he asked cheerfully. “My tongue! My tongue is peeling!”

Turns out he ate too many sour Warhead candies and his tongue was peeling, the entire tongue was sloughing off. I gazed at it in horror. I had Seth run inside for my phone so I could google this situation and sure enough, it’s a thing that happens, my friends.

I was done. I shut my book and put my stuff inside. I had too much adrenaline from “trying” so hard to relax that I had to power walk myself back into a zen state. But first I had to explain how far we were going to my son and just how far the stop sign was about 5 zillion times………

Caleb, instead of walking the normal way, walked up on the curb and would periodically fall, stumble, scrape and/or lurch head first off it until once again I had to be mean mom and tell him to quit it before he tore a hole in his good sneakers.

Caleb enjoys talking and didn’t stop the entire time.

I admired the birds and the sky and this pine tree with big lush pinecones way up on top.

On the neighbor’s lawn up the road…..

Another neighbor’s guinea hens. Funny birds.

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Well then at 10:50 Sarah had a dental appointment downtown so I dropped Grace off with the boys at the playground so they could run around while we attended to the appointment. Sarah is a rather nervous patient but did very well. We left the dentist and drove over to get the kids from the playground only to find their stuff everywhere (books, shoes, and jackets) but no children. It was like the rapture had occurred. However, in one of the best moments of the day, I honked my horn and only had to wait 45 seconds before the darlings appeared running as fast as they could from way around the other side of the school.

We headed to the grocery store where they all “helped” and the boys argued about who would get to push the button at the register to see if we would win a coupon.

Seth got a foot long loaf of crusty french bread and then only offered Caleb a one inch piece so I had to mediate that next because Caleb was very offended by Seth’s stingy ways in “only giving him a crumb of bread.”

Back at home I exclaimed, “Bring in the groceries and then outside until the salad is done!”

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We ate an entire big fiesta bowl of Dorito chip salad; one of my favorite ways to get the children to eat their vegetables (spinach, kale, and other dark green lettuces). YUM.

Now that I think about it, the next few hours are a blur…..oh wait, at one point I tried to relax again down by the stream but as soon as I started reading I heard the Schwans truck pull in the driveway so I ran to the house to purchase some frozen vegetables…..

At three o’clock, we headed to Rita’s for the first time this season. Caleb in particular has been begging and begging to go so I said yes, that would be a nice thing to do on our first day of spring break and I even set the time for 3PM so that he would stop asking when we were leaving. It was a big deal, I had that feeling of joy in giving them something they really wanted to do, as a special treat. We piled in the car and drove to Rita’s. Jacob followed in his car so he could go to work after.

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They had a new flavor ice, “Peeps”, no doubt for the Easter holiday. I had sugar free peach mango.

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She’s so lovely. And NEVER can finish her ice because it’s too cold. So one of the boys got to finish hers.

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Sugar free ice makes my custard a tiny bit less caloric. 🙂

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I like to savor every mouthful, but very soon, too soon, the boys were finished and right on top of me begging to go to the playground.

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And even though I said, “not today” not once but thrice, they begged and begged, prompting internal hurt feelings on my part and yet another teaching opportunity about being thankful for the treat you did have instead of jumping straight into wanting MORE while the taste of the last one is still in your mouth!

Also yesterday, the girls planted peas and I planted radishes and spinach.

Grace was a huge help to me yesterday and she also had time to read almost an entire book.

David worked on clearing the bank over by the garage. He has this big job to do because he got in some trouble last week and is grounded off video games and electronic devices….so to fill his time his Dad gave him lots of chores to accomplish.

When he saw me taking his picture he lifted up his shirt to show me his impressive abs.

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Usually I’m looking for the first spring wild flowers WAY before they appear, so it was a sweet surprise to look down at my feet and see these little wonders already blooming.

Soon we’ll be seeing violets, too.

*****

And today? Today began with three loud honking geese visiting the pond.

Causing Parker the Dog to run around in circles, doing his own honking.

Happy National Pet day!

The side of my jaw and mouth is currently still numb but I’m shaking with hunger so I’m gently trying to eat a yogurt. Sarah’s upset because the tire is flat on her bike and wants macaroni and cheese for lunch–I just boiled up some water and poured in the noodles. Jacob is getting ready for school, Michael is here for the day and is helping with the children, (He took Grace to the library to get the next book in her series) We have two extra kids here visiting from up the road. Later on they are all having an airsoft battle outside but right now they are downstairs playing video games. Grace and Seth are shooting their bows outside.

I’m going to the spa at 2:30 to get my hair done and enjoy some quiet. (!!!!)

****

God’s grace abounds on every kind of day, as I was reminded as I read a book yesterday by Philip Yancey, “Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.”