September Catch Up

Hello, hello, little blog!  I'm so sorry for neglecting you.  Our last month has been so jam-packed, its hard to know where to start.  How about at the beginning?  

We took a trip to visit Andy and Alicia.  It was a wonderful trip.   So wonder full, in fact, it was more like three trips in one.  The first part was our drive to New Jersey, to Andy and Alicia's house.  On our twelve hour drive I learned where the Poconos are, that Pennsylvania is beautiful in August and Ohio has the BEST rest stops.

Then we got to spend three with Andy and Alicia.  It had been a year since we have seen them and was special to get to be with them before their wedding next year.  The kids loved the time with them!

We spent two days in New York City!  We spent a lovely afternoon in Central Park and didn't even see half of it!  We toured Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and spent some time at the 9/11 memorial.  Then we heading home, just in time for Audrey to start her first day of preschool!

More of the catch up to come....

Time And Tide

Here we are in August.

I have heard people say recently that the summer is going too fast, but I can honestly say ours has not.  Besides our two trips (and one still to come), our days have moved slowly.  We've circled from park to beach to park to library, home again and out again, as our day and desire takes us.

But time is moving on. Colton will turn three years old.  Audrey will be starting preschool in a few weeks.  I am excited for the experiences the fall will bring, but I'm also sad to leave our schedule free days behind.

As for today, we are heading to the beach, again, to soak up the freedom of these days.

Up The Coast

We traveled up the California coast last week, north on Highway One, to my family's property.  This is the land of my grandmother's mother.  Its story is as long and winding as the road to get there.  It is wild and fierce and soothing to the soul all in breath.

Fog can hug the coast for weeks at a time, but we were lucky to have four days of glorious sunshine. The black sand was hot enough to scorch my bare feet, but the Pacific cooled them with aching waves.

Audrey and Colton are just the most recent children to discover H Creek's secrets.  My cousin's children, and my younger cousins, and my brothers and I, and my older cousins, and my dad and my aunts and uncles and their cousins, and their parents, all explored the meadow, the creek, the pond, the sand and the sea.  The generations pass and still H Creek remains unchanged.  For that I am so thankful.

(Yes, I wore my lonely sea here.)

Housekeeping

As much as I love a clean house, I'm pretty lazy about cleaning it.  Recently, I've reduced my chores to keeping the counter tops clean (which I do pretty well) and the clean laundry put away (which I don't do well).  I have to disassociate myself pretty hard from the gritty feeling under my feet as I walk through the house.  My parents came to visit a few weeks ago and I didn't even clean out the fridge.  I just moved the food around little to scrub the  stickier spots.

Dinner, you might imagine, has gone the same way.  Thank goodness its summer, so that "Hot dogs for dinner!" again sounds almost legit.  Just so you don't loose complete faith in me, know that I have 6 jars of strawberry preserve made from family-picked strawberries in the freezer.  The preserves are amazing over ice cream, buttermilk biscuits, and truth be told, straight off the spoon.

When my parents were here we drove around to the Michigan side of Lake Michigan and climbed the Warren Dunes.  Then we continued north to Mackinac Island.  There are no cars on the island, so people and things travel by bike or horse drawn carriage.  It was beautiful.

Keeping up with blog has obviously been on the back burner for a while.  I hope to get back to posting, although I feel a little like I've lost my voice.  I've been reading a LOT lately and hope to share some good reads soon.

Here We Are

Trees in our yard, last month.

Well that was an unexpected break.  But here we are.  Our last month has been:

Sunny and warm, and sunny and cold.  

Park days and park evenings.  

Getting back in bike riding gear.  

Sick kids and sick parents.  

And then sick kids again.  

I hope to be back here more regularly.  See you tomorrow for This Moment.

Circle Swim: Because I Am

Even though I wake up tired this morning, and all I want to do is sit on the couch and let the kids run wild, I pack my swim bag and the kids and we head out.  Even as I drop Audrey and Colton at childcare, I tell myself it's ok to just get a coffee and sit in the lounge.  But I go to the locker room and change, and think "I'll just sit in the hot tub for a while."  But I walk across the pool deck and watch the still water as I tuck my hair into my cap.  "Just swim a 50," as I slip into the cold water.

I swim 50 yards, then 100, then 200, then 1,000. I swim. I swim. I swim.

Even though I took a twelve year break, I swim, now, because I am a swimmer.  Even though I am recover from a shoulder injury, I swim because I am a swimmer.  My shoulder is weak and my arm hesitates and seeks the path of least resistance and cannot keep up with the rest of my body and I push forward because I am a swimmer.  Its cold outside and cold in the water and I swim.  Nobody watches and nobody times me and I swim.  I swim because I am a swimmer.

Thinking Spring

Even if it feel like winter outside.

I thought about getting my bike out, but it is still way too cold for riding (for me. There are lots of people out riding.)

I went though the kids summer clothes to see what they had that fits, even though we are still wearing mittens and hats.

The only thing making me excited right now is re-watching the first season of Downton Abby. It is, I think, even more exquisite re-watching the beginning, knowing how it all unfolds.  Mrs. Patmore's first lines are so prophetic for the series and the dreamlike, dusky lighting mark it as the enchanted season, before the war, before the painful losses to come. Just hearing the theme music makes me happy.  Hopefully season one last me until warmer weather.  

If you need a smile, you might want to check this out:  Upside Downton Abby by Sesame Street.    

Yellow And Green

More Color

Artwork by Audrey