These Days...

I have been slowed down by an icky summer cold. However, out of this cold I had a really, really great day. This great day was brought to me by that beautiful soul above. Her big sister is out of town, and I have found that when she is on her own she changes and really shines. This little person gently asked for my attention. She wooed and she comforted and she worked and she imagined and she made me completely melt. She told me "This is the best day of my life I am so glad you are home, oh sorry I mean I wish you weren't sick but I am glad I got to spend the day with you." I didn't cry!! There is my year's miracle. How can taking some time and making some time make such a big difference?? Well that is what I thought. But it truly does to one very important little soul who really makes me feel like I am Queen of the world. Thank you my little sage for your care and understanding and for making me a better Mommy!

Relay

This weekend we Relayed. We came together as friends and family and worked to raise money to end Cancer. We remembered, we celebrated, we cried, we smiled, we walked and walked some more, we worked, we met new friends, we came together as a community to share an experience. And once again we all left closer and more touched than we were when we arrived, and more tired and sore! But we made a stand and said enough is enough and I am here for you all. Now we rest and recover and brainstorm for next year what else can we do. We are always open. We will take your donations of time and product for next year. Thanks to every single one of you who helped us on our journey in whatever way. No way is ever too small!! Wishing much peace, healing and love to all those effected by this disease.

Why is it going soooo fast????

Why is summer flying by at the speed of light? Why is it all those things "we will do this summer" have not yet been done? How come we haven't made the day trips we had in our heads? How come the kitchen isn't finished and the girls room still has carpet? How come there hasn't been a yard sale? How come there haven't been more bike rides and picnics??? How come there hasn't been more time on the porch??? How come there hasn't been time with girlfriends sipping mojitos or wine?

Summer is on fast forward. I have begged it to stop but it has it's fingers in it's ears ignoring me like a small child! I had grand plans doesn't it know?? I had wanted to visit a couple new beaches this summer. We had Ann Arbor visits to make. We were meant to go to Mackinaw and visit a lighthouse. I was supposed to finish that whole playing in the dirt brick and reclaiming of the flower beds thing that got abandoned. I was supposed to be making more food with more local produce. But it is racing me to that finish line of back to school! I have this niggling feeling that I am going to lose this race!

We have had lemonade stands for Relay for Life, we have had bug camp, and gardening at Dow gardens, there has been one week of wanna be an architecht camp, two weeks of nature camp for two very tired girls, one runaway with a girlfriend up north to be a grown up on a beach, then another runaway up north to explore and play in the sand and climb huge piles of it with my two lovely ladies, and there is the ongoing painting then tiling of the kitchen project, there has been our CSA deliveries, there has been fresh berries eaten cold from a cooler by Lake Michigan, there is still Relay for Life which is tomorrow (yikes), a dinner sail coming for me and the ladies first concert coming quickly, there are hopes for an Anniversary outing and maybe one more escape to the beach...but really and truly what happened to it??

It slips past soooo fast any more. Seems the older they get the faster it goes as I try to hold onto a few more moments and memories and chats. But I intend to keep trying!

I love me some dirt!

I love playing in the dirt. Since I have had kids I have lost sight of just how much. However this summer, I am finding my groove again. Getting out there digging and reclaiming my space till my muscles all happily ache. Finding ways to incorporate old bricks and new plants and finding things we can grow to eat. Trying more containers (still working on this one). Reading gardening blogs, looking at gardening pictures...daydreaming about dirt and plants and statuaries. (I sooo want one! End of this month there will be one added!) Watering, reading books, figuring out how to grow up and be a good little organic gardener. Time is lost when I am out there. Two hours is lost in a blink of an eye and leaves me ready to pout and stomp my feet when I have to come in. Coming in with dirty grubby toes and grass stained heels, dirt scuffs on my forehead, and plant matter in my hair...oooh how I love it. My therapy. Dirt time. I wish I knew more but right now I will keep going with my trial and error style. Planting stuff and watching it be eaten by Peter Rabbit and his Chipmunk friend. The garden is open!! Now for my goal this summer is a dinner party out back. Have to get it all finished so I can work on this...maybe early fall?? Hmmm I am thinking it is the year!

Good Days

We have been making some good days here. We have been keeping it simple and visiting places nearby. We have been making simple things seem more like an adventure. We all mount up the bikes and wander out into our little world. We have been swimming at the Community Center, sketching at Dow Gardens, planting in the yard, and riding downtown for shakes and iced coffees. Our days are good. They bring us together as a family. They give us time to relax and breathe and feed each other. There is reading and cooking and chatting and movies...yep I think this time of summer practice is good. Summer you are welcome we are almost ready! A week and a half of school to go and a porch to clean and we are all yours!

Tuesday Nights

Tuesday nights make me sad. It makes the weekend seem so far away and brings to light all those things I didn't seem to accomplish. I sigh with dread of the work week to come and the busyness of it all. Don't get me wrong I am very thankful to have a job to go to in this day and age. In fact I DO love my work. I do not love the environment it puts me in and the schedule it demands of me.

I sat on the porch this evening with a glass of wine and tried to soak up all the remaining goodness I could get of this very good weekend. Then I gave a huge sigh and brought myself to the couch.

My life is sooo very good. I so very much love being home. I love our home. More than love really. I feel truly blessed to live in such a great old home that makes me smile. However, there is never ever enough time to make it what is should be. No time to get the weeds pulled, the dust bunnies banished, the soap scum unscummed, the piles tidied, the clothes put away, the dinner cooked, the closets organized, the basement tamed...sigh...all this leaves me feeling spent and a tad melancholy as my weekend NEVER seems to be enough to get me ahead for the week to come...does anyone ever have it all balanced? Is there ever time enough for self care and home care? I am doubtful...

I had a fantastic weekend...I played in the dirt, I cooked, I thrifted, I spent time on the porch, I spent time with my Irishman, I rode bikes with the kids, and I got the deck on the way for the season...it was full and wonderful. So here is to a quick week so I can make it full circle for another lovely weekend!!

Recipes

I was thinking as I made dinner this evening, that recipes are like scrapbooks. They bring back people and thoughts and memories. They make sure people are not forgotten even if it is just for that moment in which a meal is planned.

For instance this evening, I spent time with a dear foodie friend who has moved away, an old Junior High School friend, and thought fondly of a fabulous cook who has passed on. All these ladies touched me in some way. They were there at different phases of me. And at one point we shared a meal. We said to each other "this is great" and say it with me "Do you have the recipe?" At some point the answer to that was yes. They took time out of their lives and jotted them down.

Food is connecting. It brings you together as nothing else can. It says I love you, I care about you, let me feed you. I think that is big. So next time you are making a meal be sure to send some love to those who have inspired that meal. And next time someone says "Do you have the recipe?" know that you are leaving a footprint...a very memorable, important footprint.