Seven Quick Takes: Smack down edition

One: In accordance with the cosmic law that Low Must Follow High (I know it’s not true, but it feels true), I am here to report on the smack down that followed my last message of hope and encouragement.

“That’s right.  It’s not true.  It just feels true.”

Two: It happened on Monday, when we had one of our worst homeschooling days in a long time. There were tears (not just mine, which the children have come to expect so that they [the tears, not the children] make less impact than they might), and by the end of the day- when the work was still not finished- I locked myself if my room saying, “I don’t care what you do now, but I’m going to do some yoga.” I don’t think I slammed the door.

Three: We spent Sunday pulling out the garden, since it was going to freeze anyway.  You may recall that I had planted mostly butternut squash and a tiny bit of carrots and broccoli, since everything else we get from our local CSA. I felt pretty boss when we brought all that squash inside. Also, we harvested a broccoli that was almost as tall as Phoebe.

Four: I made pot pie this week and thought I would be smart and put in some of the broccoli stem for extra bulk and nutrition. It seemed a little tough when I peeled it, but I figured it would soften up as it simmered.  Spoiler: it did not. It remained the consistency of wood chips, and we had to pick it piece-by-piece out of the pot pie.  And then it snowed.

Five: We spent the morning after the snow pulling out snow clothes so we could make a snowman and play outside, which was extremely fun for 17 minutes, and then the snow melted and I was left with snow pants or boots on every available surface. I will keep tripping over them until I put them away next May, when it will promptly snow again.

Six: I went for a run a few hours after the above photo was taken. I wore several shirts, my hat and mittens, and wool socks and dissolved a puddle of sweat after approximately eight minutes. But at least the view was stunning.

Seven: Now it’s Friday, and I cleaned all the old food out of the fridge. Look what I found! (I rock at this housekeeping thing.) I’m thinking that’s Aspergillus growing on what might have been cream cheese several years ago. I may have to feed my family actual wood chips later, but at least we’ll have a good science class first.

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In which I remember what I forgot

We had an 18-hour turnaround time between coming home from the beach and leaving for the mountains for a weekend with friends. It would have felt like more time except that my Instant Pot (which I bought on Prime Day) had arrived, and I used six of those precious hours making Roast Potatoes, Pork Carnitas, and Beets. (For the record, they were all delicious, but the time it takes the pot to decompress at the end of the cooking time needs to be written down for all recipes, instead of a vague and nebulous “allow a natural release to occur.”)

Here are my daughters in our boat. Can you spot what’s unusual about this photo? (Answer below*.)

The weather forecast for hours and hours of rain. We were grateful that our friends loaned us their house for the weekend. Sleeping in a beautiful, dry house is much better than sleeping in a wet tent.

Saturday morning, we laid around for a long time before we finally drove five minutes to the lake and the boat launch by our (dry) campsite.

We unpacked the boats and realized I had forgotten to bring the sail*. This isn’t the first year I’ve forgotten a key piece of sailing paraphernalia. From past years, I have learned that the blue sailboat works as a canoe if I leave the tiller in it, so the girls were still able to paddle across the lagoon to “discover” the peninsula. That seemed really cool until we let the boys paddle significantly further to an island, but I promised that when they are 14 and 17, they will be allowed to go to the island, too.

Again, their competence was a shock to me. I know that coaching my children into competence is my job, and I spend a significant portion of my life doing just that. But their growing abilities still catch me off guard.

Sunday morning, I took advantage of the amazing weather (not a raindrop in sight, either day!) to take a run.  The path headed down from our friends’ house, across the road, and then along the lake. Again, I let myself stop whenever I wanted to admire the view (with or without the camera).

The farther I ran, the better it got. Until I turned around and realized that now I had to run the same distance uphill. The view was still incredible, if lacking in oxygen.

And now I’m home. Ten days away served their purpose to help me see home- with all its joys and responsibilities- with fresh eyes.

But next time I’m running uphill first.

Hello, friends. I’m back.

Well, hello there.  I’m glad to see you.  It’s been awhile.

You may have gathered from the sporadic nature of my posts in May and June that I was drowning a little bit. Drowning is too strong a word, but I was definitely treading water as fast as I could and couldn’t stop to write about it.

Now I’m back from a week on the beach and a weekend in the mountains, and I feel more like myself. Hopeful. Mostly content. Like tackling the mountain of laundry won’t quite do me in.

I’m here to ramble a bit about our vacations and how good it is to be home. Will you have a cup of tea with me?

Our beach trip was preceded by a panicked email from our rental company. Repairs on our unit (from last fall’s hurricane) weren’t finished, and they needed to move us to a different house. I spent a few days mad that they were moving us half a mile from the rest of Sam’s family and further from the beach… and then I got over it. The space worked well (good beds!) and we still were able to spend every day on the beach in way form or another. What was I all worked up about?

We spent the week:

feeding seagulls…

burying cousins…

walking at night…

with the kids…

and without…

It had been 2 years since our last trip to the beach, and the kids were so much more independent than before.  It made for a much more relaxed week. I tried a few new things this year:

I bought flowers for our house. Every day I looked at them on the table and felt happy.

I ran more.  And instead of focusing on how far or fast I was running, I stopped and took photos.

I worried less about how many episodes of Friends the kids watched, and spent my time reading instead.

I polled everyone in our family before we went about what they wanted to do while we were there, and then we made (most) of those things happen early on. The only thing on the list we couldn’t do was spend a day at the National Seashore, which was my item. And you know what? That was okay, too. I allowed myself a little time to grieve it, and then I enjoyed what I had, which was pretty incredible.

Next time we go- whenever that is- I plan to rent this bike and ride around town all week, except for when I’m reading books or walking on the beach.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the final weekend of our trip, which we spent two thousand miles further west with more water.

phfr: moving into March

Pretty: there are all sorts of signs of spring around us: budding trees, tulips and crocuses coming up (I’ve counted 34 of my tulips poking up into the light), birdsong coming back, blue skies, and children climbing said trees.

Happy:  Despite February fatigue, I capitalized on a field trip to drop in on my parents for a morning.  The girls turned it into an impromptu tea party with Papa.  I am really grateful for my parents.

Funny: On one of the days we were trying to beat the February blues, I took the girls to the outdoor ice skating rink downtown.  We ran into some of our friends from the girls’ former dance studio.  They had a blast skating around the little, melting rink and running into the walls.

Real: Feeling my age in my bones (and more when I’m sitting a lot), I’ve been trying to walk more.  My phone automatically counts my steps, so I’ve been shooting for 10,000 a day.  10K is harder to get to than I remember it being… which might me a clue why my clothes aren’t fitting as well as I’d like.

The happy upshot for the girls is more time in the parks.  We like to borrow our neighbor’s little dog and take him with us.  Turns out he has a taste for carrots and rice chex.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}: It’s finally Summer!

Pretty: With all the rain we’ve had, Colorado is more green than I can remember.  This was especially evident when we went camping last week.  Between the green meadow and blue sky, I was overwhelmed.

Happy: My baby is fifteen. Seriously?   How can that be?  Despite a torrential storm, we managed to have a birthday dinner with hamburgers, cake and paper hats.

Funny: The girls had a great time paddling around- in the lagoon, and in the bigger lake (with a bigger boy) to discover an island. (I’m sure no one had landed there for at least 15 minutes before they “discovered” it.)

However, when the kayak tipped, SweetP raced her godfather out to rescue it. Guess who won.

Real: I rode my bike to work for Bike to Work Day.  I felt pretty smug about it until I realized I had no nice shoes, so I had to look like a clown all day in my linen pants and running shoes.  The good news was that most of my patients were under the age of seven, and they didn’t care.

For more {pretty, happy, funny, real}, go check out Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Daybook: mid-May

Out my window: gray.  It has been so wet here this month.  The snow picture was Mother’s Day, and the snow was so heavy, there are huge tree limbs down all over the neighborhood.  But I do love the green it leaves behind.

In the kitchen: I put lots of good salads on the food calendar and even bought the ingredients, but by five o’clock I’m so tired I’ve been skipping the salads.  My goal this week is to make the dinner salad at lunchtime.

In the school room: standardized testing this week… and lots of read-alouds and park time. Hopefully a hike, if the rain hold off tomorrow.  Here are my thoughts on testing, if you’re interested.

In the garden: my roses all have tons of buds on them. The hail and heavy snow destroyed my lettuce. But I have 3 iris blooming that will have to satisfy me for now.

In my shoes: yesterday my PRP and I ran the Colfax Urban 10-miler.  It was such a blast.  I think my favorite part was running through Mile High Stadium.

Scratch that.  My favorite part was stopping at the end.

On my reading table: Still working on Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country.  It’s such an amazing book.  But it’s hard, so there have been lots of companion books read along the way.

On my mind: we met our refugee family this week.  Even my one-hour glimpse into their lives was eye-opening.  I’m looking forward to knowing them better.

Grateful: for Sam.  For my kids’ hearts.  They truly are very kind people.  That our school year is almost finished. That Sam’s back is better.  For legs and joints to run 10 miles on. For the Church. For my niece’s high school graduation.

Praying for: our friends serving overseas. Tonya. Judy, Mandy, Lois. Dawn. Jen. Pam. Lisa. Mark. Heather. Kristin.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: April

Pretty: Spring cleaning this week! After so many years of feeling like the kids’ cleaning didn’t help me much, we’ve reached the point where 30-45 minutes of our working together really can accomplish a lot!

Of course my photo of that is not a sparkling kitchen, but the cleaning rags and the bathroom rug drying. Hmmm…

Happy: We have a tradition of going out for pizza our last night of spring break. The paper-covered tables and crayons work well for the whole family, from 7 to 77. We play “guess what I’m drawing” to “lightening-draw” to “hangman.”

Funny: While Moriah and I skied, Phoebe and Sam (or Phoebe and her grandparents) toodled around town looking at all the sculptures. Being the sculptures.

It was an extra bonus that all the bears were dressed up in pink for the town’s American Cancer Society fundraiser.

Real: We arrived early at dance class. Probably they should have been practicing their dance, but… but no. Apparently it was time to fence with sticks.

All right, friends– a blessed Triduum to you all, and may your Easter be full of joy!
For more [p,h,f,r] go check out Like Mother Like Daughter!

Daybook: Mid March

Out my window: darkness.  I don’t love the early-morning dark, but I do love the evenings that are bright and warm enough to take a walk after dinner.  There are so many signs of spring around here, most notably that the birds have returned.

In the kitchen: We had lots of guests this weekend, and I did lots of cooking – chili and cornbread, chicken pot pi and peach pi, make your own pizzas- but alas, we have very few leftovers to show for it. The children will be happy, but I do love leftovers for lunch.

On my book table: The Monument Men (Edsel and Witter). How to Read a Book (Adler and Van Doren). (This one is very dense, and I’m learning so much!)  I’m making a stack to take on vacation, too. Any suggestions?

In the school room: Goodness, it’s been hard plowing here lately.   I’ve planned a lighter week with some breaks and lots of good reading.  We finished with the Armenian Genocide and Great Depression and are now into the cheerful days of WWII. Ahem.  I need to order our standardized tests, but I think we’ll wait until May , when SweetP is out of her cast.  All those little bubbles to fill in would just be too much for her left hand.

On my mind: I am so grateful that I’ve gotten to shape the conversations we have about hard issues.  There is a lot of political discussion at my kids’ once-a-week school, most of it at the middle school lunch table and much of it not very nuanced (hard to imagine, I know).  Last week I fielded questions from my kids about capitalism and totalitarianism, abortion, gun control, immigration, infant baptism, the shooting in Madison, adultery, and fiscal policy.  I really want my kids to be able to look at a question or issue from many sides, and I want them to listen to the heart of someone else’s experience before they make judgments.  I know that snap judgments and either-or thinking is very developmentally appropriate for children, but I believe that the art of listening (truly listening, not just nodding while I formulate my own opinion) is a skill that has to be taught and practiced.  So we’re practicing.

Grateful for: Spring!  Spontaneous and well-planned get-togethers.  Deep conversations.  Our church. My friend’s new job.

Praying for: Mandy. Judy. Clare. The people of Vanuatu.  The Simons and Neals.  My patients.  Patience.

{p,h,f,r}- February 2015

Pretty: Our lemon tree is blooming again.  We have one lemon ripening on a [very dusty] branch, and many blossoms.  We’ll see if they can survive in the desert that is our living room.

Happy: Owen celebrated his birthday.  I lost count of the cakes and dinners we had, but they were all good, and he was definitely happy about it all. However, he has asked me not to post his face here, so…

His birthday was the first celebration we had in our home, so its anniversary was significant for me. I’m so glad we are here. Together.

Funny: This may count as doctor humor, but it has me chuckling.

Real: Alas, reality is all too familiar to us.  We took a walk on Monday and stopped to play at the playground, where SweetP fell and broke her arm.  Again.  [Same arm but only one of the bones this time.]  This time I couldn’t tell just by looking at it, but she knew by how it felt.

We’re back to ice packs and one-handed board games.  And no handwriting for the rest of the year.

For more everyday contentment in the form of {phfr}, go check out Like Mother, Like Daughter.

this moment