this moment {in the downpour}

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

this moment

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

this moment

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

this moment

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

this moment

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

90 minutes

This morning:

And this is a bit of what it looked like:

Bypassing the dirty cups on the counter.  Making a fresh pot of coffee instead.

Shower and drying my hair.  Uninterrupted.

Stepping over dirty laundry.  Going outside instead.

Some inspiration I've been savoring.  (And some tears which means it is hitting home.)

Listening to the birds.  And trying to spot them in the trees.

A walk on the trail.

Discovering the unfurling of plants all along the way.  So many I didn't know would show their beauty this spring.

Adding a twig to St. Seraphim's nature table.  And a prayer of gratitude for his watching over our woods.

Placing a prayer for today at the base of the Peace Pole.  Feeling the breeze like the soft hand of God.

Refreshing my coffee. Breathing deeply.  Clicking "Publish."

 Ready for them to return.

this moment

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

this moment

Joining SouleMama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

remembering Tuesday

It happened yesterday, it was our first day.  Outside more than in.  Let's celebrate!  Bring on the party hats people!

I didn't once think of the vacuuming not getting done or laundry not being washed or even making dinner on time. The hour upon hour outside, adding up to many (7!), smoothed out the raw, rough edges of a very difficult Monday.  Tuesday, instead, was a continual sigh of remembering how glorious fresh spring air can be.  Darn you winter for layering on forgetfulness.  Or thank you.

Toys, chalk, bikes spilled out of the garage, as if in a big yawn, awaking from winter.  Squeals of play echoed about the neighborhood as kids gathered in short sleeves.  Mud was sloshed, stubborn ice broken apart with baseball bats and golf clubs were swung at remaining piles of snow. Gardening tools were handled, and handfuls of pachysandra was pulled up to show lovely hardscaping underneath.

Party hats for sure.

This morning the whir of the washing machine is our background music, I am noticing floors in need of sweeping.  This morning it is raining, and we are waiting for the wintry mix that portends the big storm to come.  A foot of snow, they say.  We'll see.

In the meantime I am remembering yesterday.

this winter, these kids

Three of the coldest, snowiest winters on record occurred smack dab in the middle of my childhood.  My recollection of winter always included mountains of snow, layers of socks, and days upon days of winter white that became the backdrop for our play.

As I grew older winter never seemed quite so cold. So snowy.  So magical.  I wondered if my memory was betraying me, my recollections inaccurate.  Now I realize that the winters of my youth were as I remember, and were the exception.  Lucky me.

So while many have complained about the weather this winter (and I haven't been without a complaint or two of my own) I mostly have welcomed this winter knowing that it is giving to my kids the magic I've deeply known.

The magic that happens when you step into snow and it comes up past your knees, you find icicles long enough to be swords, you laze away snow days in your pajamas, you build snowmen that last weeks, you build tunnels and mazes and trails and forts, you come to know your back yard for its various sledding paths.

All of it magic.

And this Mama will happily endure the piles of wet snow clothing, chilly noses, frozen car doors,  cabin-fevery negative degree days, and mud that is sure on its way as the snow piles melt, in exchange for all of that magic.

Absolutely.

this moment

Joining Soulemama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

Wishing you a weekend full of goodness!

{fall} weekending

Fall.  Fall. Fall.  It's all about fall, and discovering this season in a new way in our new home.

Morning walks in the woods, coffee in hand.

Afternoon walks in the woods, wet with rain.

Evening walks in the woods, spotting deer.  Always deer.  (And for the first time wild turkeys!)

A first family clam bake.  A first for our family, not the First Family, cool as that would be.

Organizing the garage.  Hooray!  (And please don't tell my 22 year old self that my 42 year old self gets excited about organizing the garage.)

A bit of laundry.  Always laundry.

Laundry and deer.

And then there is gladsome.  It is soon.  12 days soon.  So details are being attended to here and there, every chance I get.  The women attending are in for a very, very special weekend.  And it is a comfortable knowledge that gladsome is becoming part of my very own fall landscape.


{Weekending with the wonderful Amanda.}

this moment

We are planting our peace pole this weekend.  You can be part of this special occasion by leaving your message of peace here to be planted with the pole.

 ~~

Joining Soulemama, and many others, in this moment. 

In Amanda's words: "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."

Please link to your moment too -- I love to see what you are enjoying this week!

Wishing you a weekend full of peace!