Of Corn and Other Tragedies

                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                 

The phone rings and I answer it. I have just come inside to grab a knife for the corn I am husking for the freezer. 
I assume it is my Jasmine wanting to let me know about pick up time for the high school introduction day she is attending.
It isn't. It's my oldest daughter Brittany, the one who was recently married here. 















"Hi Mom,
 I was making cinnamon buns and when I took the pan out of the oven just now, it shattered and broke into a million pieces."
I listen to her and offer my sympathies as best I can. We discuss how and what made this happen; to not much avail. (I can only reason that the pan was either cracked or something because it just seems too odd!)
 I understand how terribly frustrating something like this is, especially when you are at the end result of something that is SO labour intensive as yeast baking is.
I advise her that No it likely is not wise to eat them, no matter how delicious they appear, glass could have still gotten in there somehow. 
I know she knows this, but in catastrophic moments such as this sometimes good judgement calls are waned.
                                              

We hang up and I head back out to my lawn chair in the sun. This afternoon has provided me with some rare time alone. 
This is not a natural commodity in the summer.  My  kids have all left for some time with friends before school and routine. I welcome the quiet even if it means I am stuck husking corn by myself.

My sister's daughter moved away to school yesterday. My thoughts have been with her and her family much today.
 I recall the day three years ago when my eldest left for school. The empty spot they leave and the way their vacancy is not easily replaced.
Now my daughter has graduated. She has married and moved on. Heart strings have expanded and stretched in all sorts of amazing ways.

I am glad for this time alone to be introspective. 

My knife cuts off all of the sweet,juicy kernels  that we will enjoy when the snow flies.

                                                                     

  




I think about mothers  and daughters. The tenacity that this relationship has. I send my daughter a text to console her as she cleans up shattered glass and resists the urge to sample warm cinnamon buns. 
Back outside in the warmth of the August sun, I can't help myself; I laugh!



                                                           

Hydrangea Harmony

         Welcome to Hydrangea Cottage.                                        

This is what I think when I pull into the driveway at my house lately. 
My front door usually visible, is obscured by a hydrangea blooming with vim and vigor.

                                                                               

          I love it, and even tho it may look a little unkempt this large, it is lovely;
    and I will observe each and every stage of it's burgeoning blossoms.

             Summer time brings with it much coming and going. 
                Last week I cooked at a camp that my children are involved with.
                         I love being away and then coming home. 
                     My gardens have  grown profusely.

                                                   

I knew I had a potential gardener for a daughter when one of them said, "Mom, look at the vine on the arbour, how much it has grown!"
So between our comings and goings and the having and holding.
 the breathing and bearing, praying and believing.
I am here.
And HE is there.
Bestowing earthly heaven in home and hydrangea.

                    And we are put on earth a little space,
       that we may learn to bear the beams of love.                                               ~William Blake

     

The Relic Reveal

                             

Definition of relic (n)

• rel·ic
• [ réllik ]

1. old thing surviving from past: something that has survived from a long time ago, often a part of something old that has remained when the rest of it has decayed or been destroyed
2. old custom: a tradition, practice, or rule that dates from some time in the past, especially one that is considered out of date or inappropriate at the present time
3. keepsake: something that is kept for its interesting associations, e.g. with somebody famous or with a historic event                                                                              

Once or twice each summer our trusty, vintage camper is hauled out of the driving shed and spiffed and shined a bit before we head away to a camp ground.

This camper vintage 1972 (hmmm a few years younger than myself... yikes!)   was purchased from Uncle Vernal who used it for his family memories...

                                     

Now for 13 years it has been a part of our summer memories..

Believe it or not when my kids were small we all slept in here! 

                                   (pull down bunk not visible)                                                                  

         we painted the inside when we bought it...the curtains were tea towels I sewed.

                                                                               

                                               (my two youngest humoring me:)

Now we take a tent or two with us. We have had so many wonderful moments with family away from the technological world and together in nature.                                                                 

Time brings with it so many changes. Life moves forward, 
      and children grow up. 

                            Summer vacations are tenacious memories.

                                          

  I hold each one close; like shells gathered by the waters edge.

                

                                                       

                                       Unique, fragile,and beautiful.

                      Safely stowed away with the relic.
                                           

                     

                       

Happy August

                                  

                                                         this calendar page makes me smile...

         We are heading away this weekend...camping and beach...

Let's hope it is not this busy! :)

                                             

                                                               ( Image is a photo of a picture I saw recently)

more like this....

thinking about this verse this morning....

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness there of....

the world and they who dwell there in.

Psalms 24:1

came back to add the view outside my window...

flocks of sea gulls...meeting together..

I wonder what they are planning?:)