Mid Summer Musing

Some how it is already mid July and the sultry days of summer are upon us. 
                                            

June always passes by much too quickly, this year was no different. An exceptional line up of celebrations and milestones filled it though and I find myself reflecting on all it's sweet memories. 
                                                

Our youngest child graduated grade eight, so after having a child in elementary school for 18  years that chapter has formally closed.
                                              

Our son completed his high school education and we'll wait to see what the next step is in his learning process is.

                                                      

                                       (father and son)

Also in the celebrations were a couple weddings and an array of fun birthday celebrations. 
                                           

                                          my sister,beautiful inside and out..

                                                      

                                            The weather here has been very dry, and we would all love a few days of good soaking rain.
Surprisingly the gardens are not doing too terribly,although I did notice the peonies and most perennials not having quite the luster they normally would.

                                                            

I find nature's tenacity inspiring ...whether in drought or fair sunny weather the strength of it is marvelous, and not  unlike ourselves if we  plant our roots deep into real and lasting things such as faith in God and cultivating relationships with those around us.  We too can live lives of strength and purpose regardless of conditions that seem less than ideal.

                                                         

I love summer's quiet days, actually I should clarify and say I have learned to love the quiet days this season has offered. Years past there was no such thing here, as five children of my own inevitably brought many friends and children through our doors. Countless lunches, cookies and popsicles were served, and the barn, sheds, woods and tree house were privy to many an imaginary game.
                                                        

Those days have shifted slightly, while I never want a home where children's laughter doesn't echo; I know nothing remains forever in the same place. Time moves steadily forward and children grow up. 
There is still children here from time to time, but I'm also thankful that mine are trying out their wings in various forms, knowing home is always a safe place to come back and land.
                                          

This post came together in a series of days...since than we have had some rain..yah, could use more. 
I'm expecting two of my children who were away being counselors at a children's camp to arrive home soon with a barrage of laundry...
There is a huge banana cake cooling on the counter which will be turned into my son's 18th birthday cake...and the smell of chicken roasting in the oven.
My youngest is making something with the daisies she picked from my garden, and I am off to put a new coat of paint on an old chair I found.
                                         

                   the sign at daughter's graduation is a good reminder for us too...Right?

Of Laundry and Life Left Too Long

Writing an over due blog post can be a lot like laundry...

Ideas accumulate and gather like laundry that has piled up over days of neglect.

                                             

Sometimes I think I'll wait until I have enough thoughts and ideas to make a worth while post.

Suddenly like laundry piles on the floor, the ideas have run a muck and I can't seem to make heads or tails of them any more.
                                         

Leaving things doesn't seem to lessen the loads waiting to be addressed.
Only makes the ideas larger yet

 somehow more unattainable and daunting...
                                        

A little like a weeks worth of laundry..
Simply waiting patiently as life scuttles along...
                                         

                                                       

Blog posts and laundry..one obviously necessary to the function of life here at home, 
and one obscured slightly;by life fully functioning.
                                                                      

Happy Weekend, Thanks for visiting my wee blog...

See you next week, with a 'real blog post ' hopefully.:)

Belated Love and Life

Sometimes a bouquet of tulips inspires..

Lovely in their frail vulnerability and last days...
                                                    

Purchased at the grocery store before love's official day, they seemed to want to come home with me and rest in my newest purchase from the thrift store..
                                                     

I love observing the various stages in a flower bouquet...
                                               

A poignant message of grace and beauty..

February hasn't offered too much change on the home front. My firstborn; the country girl is happily married and establishing her own farm life..filled with horses, goats and one dog. 
Second daughter is happily navigating city life...wondering which road less traveled she should choose...
Son and youngest two girls keep the nest feathered here at home and give me lots of reason to keep the cookie box replenished along with all of those we entertain in life's spontaneous moments. ( which can be many)
                                                       

I made this favourite recipe last week. As I was sharing the cookies with my Mom and sisters I reminisced a little and realized I have been making them for about 23 years! Wow! I know this because I remember taking them to prenatal classes for snack, and that would have been 23 years ago! Yes time moves along..
                                                    

Yes, I'll be nice and share the recipe..
                                      

A while ago I found this quote on love.. 
                                         

I like that. And sometimes love feels like this tree... 

                                                        

I photographed it on my ski trail about a month ago. I loved the way it was reaching out, extending its self beyond the norm..Necessary at times for all of us. 
Thank you bending tree.
                                                  

The days are certainly getting longer. This sun set was around 5:20 a month ago. Now it sets at about 6:20 and is behind those trees... Always moving in the direction of change..

                 

Growing Into After A While

When I was a young, angst filled teenager I found a poem in the Ann Landers column of the newspaper. This poem was Comes The Dawn or After A While by Veronica Shoftstall
                                           

Even then I found the poem gripping and impacting... but I was like a toddler in her mother's shoes...I had yet to grow into the full meaning of the words.

                                           

For some reason certain lines have resonated with me recently..once when I woke up a few weeks ago to see Jasmine skating before the sun had risen...you plant your own garden, and decorate your own soul..
 One  day I watched  'the end of an era' with the horses that had boarded here...with every good bye you learn..

When my daughter phones me from her apartment in the city to discuss her future plans..
you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul..

                                                      

Words that grounded and etched their mark on my life,
The other morning I sat down and penned my own After A While..because now it really is after a while...

After a while you learn that love's give and take is worth it
and even though you make old mistakes, you learn they are a bridge to new lessons .
After a while you learn to expect some clouds and you are grateful for the shadows that come into your life.

After a while you learn to risk and try.. and you learn to drive in the city, and water ski and knit, and sing loudly sometimes, and love unconditionally.
After a while you learn the only person you can change is yourself,and it too is worth it.
After a while you learn to forgive sooner than you thought possible, and you learn to treat not only others but your own soul with dignity.
                                                                          

After awhile  you learn that grace is a flame that must never be quenched.
and flowers and gardens  grow where they are planted and tended.
After a while you learn that kisses and presents can't replace devotion and communication, and that beauty found in diversity defeats the trap of comparison.

After a while you learn you can always give a little more than you thought possible...
and wait a little longer than you knew you could.
and you never stop learning the meaning of good bye, but also hello 
and you keep believing in a future brimming with  possibility.                                                                  

To read the original After A while and a beautiful sequel click here.


          

Treading Lightly

                                            

I have had a phrase repeat its self in my head this week...
It is this Hold lightly your blessings...

                                                      

It was in my morning reading a few days ago, in a book of daily devotions by the inspirational Joni Eareckson. A secret sister from church gave me the book years ago, and recently I picked it up again and have thoroughly enjoyed it's wisdom.
                                    

Blessings are exactly that, they are gifts to us, and we value them by holding them lightly...not in a clenched hand, that could easily crush their intrinsic beauty,
                                                                   

 

rather in an open hand regarding their fleeting,precious worth.
                                                     

                                             

Delicate treasures are these blessings in my life....
numerous and fragile like the leaves scattered across my front lawn, able to be separated at any given moment.

photos show tangible blessings, hearts hold intangible ones...

                                               

"He who binds himself to joy, does the winged life destroy;but he who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise. " (William Blake)

Breathless

Like a leaf that falls on lavender, some moments simply happen...
                                        

Last night my son came down stairs to where his Dad and I were watching the news and said with his mouth full of tooth paste, "I just don't know what I want to do with my life." 

I watch him for a minute and shudder a little as he swallows a mouthful of Crest, and say "Why do you need to decide right now?"  I am not ready for a statement like this at this time of night. I may never be ready for this declaration of decisions and duty, but somehow seventeen in the evening seems a little early and far too young. 

Why hurry into something that life can dictate on it's own, when we live life fully and courageously each and every day...
                                              

                                                   

Yes, I understand there are and always will be necessary measures to the path of success. But  I have learned life is way too short; and answers many times only conjure up more questions.

I realise also  my son suddenly felt the weight of the world on his growing, gangling frame shift?  Can you blame me for bluffing ? 

Life doesn't offer trite answers son. So please forgive me for not replying in black and white.  I was too busy noticing the question behind your statement, and trying to catch my breath. 

motherhood;the only job in which your skills become obsolete over night..

Adriana Trigiani- Milk Glass Moon

Back To Beginnings

         The abandoned art table in the basement says it all....                                                  

                          the quote says that's the trouble in this world, too many people grow up. (Walt Disney)

It's that time of year again. I open my eyes on that back to school and routine morning and decide rain is an appropriate synopsis for September sentimentality.  The summer in all of it's breath taking brevity always ends too soon,and ready or not that old school bus trundles it's way up the hill to pick up my children. And ready or not I accept the relentless march of time and constant motion of change.

                                                       

I watch them go with a mixture of emotions.Them so independent and ready to 'take on the world.'...

Me;  not sure how they will survive.

There is much I don't understand....
                              

Then I remember lying in the waves at the lake. Their  gentle motion soothe my spirit and I feel brave and fearless. Undaunted by all the uncertainties that are certain to blur my faith on days.

But here midst the fluid motion of the water, the ethereal blanket of sky stretched above me I feel confident and unafraid.
                                      

We were altogether as a family, a rare treat in and of it's self, but we were also by the lake and there is no place here on earth that is better than creating sun drenched family memories. We end off the summer together and I cherish each fleeting moment.

                                                        

                                                         

They are growing up; or they have grown up, and back home alone in my kitchen,that feels so clean in comparison to the woods and beach,  I bite into a juicy over ripe pear, that should have been preserved before we left. I wipe the juice from my chin thankful. 
Reveling in a summer well spent, days, moments. memories created and loved.
                                                 

I will keep my heart wide open, like the surface of a lake. Wide open like a lake. (Sara Groves)

Today

         I'd never trade the journey for knowing it all..
                      there's way too much to discover..~L.M.~

                   she learned a lot about life, from keeping her window open and listening...

Just June

I love this song, and find myself singing it every June it seems....

                                               

                         

Hello already. My favourite month is here. June is four days in and once again she has me smitten.
Not sure what it is about this month...but what's not to love?
So much beauty; birthdays to celebrate, school finishing up for the kids. Summer plans simmer and are stirred. 

No other month has such an ambiance and grace  like that of June.

It is that one dress you have that makes you feel like a million bucks. June.
It is "I love you" from all your children shouted in unison, with kisses thrown to the wind. June
It is a bouquet of flowers picked and ready to open. June
That door ajar just enough to invite you further. June
                                         

I recall the days when my children were all in elementary grades and June was a blur of school trips, piano recitals and graduation celebrations. Now with one left in elementary and two in high school, I have time to watch it a bit more, time to reminisce even though that word scares me a little! :)

                                               

I press those days into the pages of my heart, like flowers kept and dried beautiful enough to last.
And as I revel in all that June has to offer, I do so as one who knows the brevity of everything. Isn't that what is enchanting?

     As I pass my perennial border I see the peonies are almost blooming.
       

If I am missing for a while, you'll find me either riding my bike into sunsets, or sitting on the porch reading a book, or maybe chatting with hubby while he works on fixing the boat that is in our barn right now.
Maybe I am listening to my youngest relay an incident at school, or marveling at how tall son is now.

                           

I might be 'puttering around' outside in the gardens, or baking a pie. I may be thinking about a year ago,  and counting my blessings for the way we were and still are.
So if and when I'm missing; know that I'm not. I am really here.
                           

             Do you have a favorite month?