New Season Daybook
/Outside My Window
The yard is neat and tidy and the front beds are newly planted and mulched. The big hope is that when Mike steps outside our door to leave for work (for the first time in a really long time), there will be no little details that cause him to say, "Please tell {insert boy name here} to {insert yard chore here}."
I am Listening to
Ann's blog. I'm sitting at Panera early on a Sautrday morning, trying to get some posts written and ready for the week. Ann's blog, coming through headphones, is blocking the Panera noises and shielding me from the sounds of all the people ordering breakfast. It smells heavenly in here and there is absolutely nothing I can eat. Note to self: write to Panera about offering just couple gluten freen options at breakfast time.
I am Wearing
Jeans, a pink printed corduroy shirt, black flats, glasses that fit, headphones.
I am so Grateful for
A yarn swift and ball winder. They were a Mother's Day gift from Michael. I appreciate the sentiment behind the gift. I know he really doesn't have the funds for such extravagance. I appreciate that he is thoughtfully encouraging a hobby he knows is bringing me joy. Most of all, though, I appreciate the whole idea that he risked anaphylactic shock just going into our local yarn shop and staying long enough to acquire an education in swifts and winders and purchase them. Michael has the worst wool allergy I've ever witnessed. In appreciation for the gift, I promise him a sweater worthy of the Connecticut winters in his future. Made of something other than wool:-)
I'm Pondering
How beautiful it is to behold a person destitute of all attachment, ready for any act of virtue or charity, gentle to all, indifferent as to any employment, serene in consolations and tribulations, and wholly content if only the will of God be done. -- St. Francis De Sales
I am Reading
Review copies, upon review copies! If you sent me something to review, please trust me that I am indeed reading your book or magazine. And if you like to read reviews, stay tuned. There are several in process:-)
I am Thinking
quite a bit about how life is going to work around here in the very near future. Mike has been gone all but 4 nights or so in the last 7 weeks. Really, it's been almost a year of absolutley intense work travel and long, local hours. On Monday morning, all that changes. At least I think it does. We made a decision to jump off the barrelling train and change direction a bit. I recognize that there are several people in my household (myself included?) for whom change is difficult. Even good change. And the next few weeks will see all kinds of change. Patrick will come home? For how long? I have no idea. Truly. Michael will leave. Or will he? I have no idea. And Mike. Mike will be here on the weekends. How strange is it that I honestly cannot imagine what that will look like? To have another adult in the house on Saturday morning? To not be solely resonsible for Saturday home and yard maintenance? To not be the only one waiting up and wondering if it was a good idea to grant permission to that teenager for whatever has him out of the house? To not be solely responsible for getting everyone to church and soccer and dance and whatever social things crop up? Social things. ... There's a concept. I wonder if now we will have date nights? If I will go to gatherings with other couples? Yes, thinking. I'm thinking.
I am Creating
and I'm promising myself time this week to sit with the user's manual of my sewing machine and figure out why the tension always messes up and I never get going with sewing. If you have words of wisdom to offer, I'm all ears. Except. Don't say "Bernina." I have to make peace with my Brother.
I will say this, though. My recent experience with knitting has taught me how much difference the right materials and a steady, patient teacher make. If I'm ever to sew, I'm guessing I need the same for sewing.
First to figure out the tension thing.
On my iPod
Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales
Towards a Real Education
Have I mentioned that Patrick is coming home? I wonder how that is going to work? A teenaged boy who was still quite young when he left. He has spent nearly a year away, managed his own business, been highly disciplined, stuck to a very strict schedule, and attended a prep school. He's gotten much bigger and we all recognize that his time away and the experiences he's had have matured him beyond imagination. Now he's coming home to the same unschooly home-ness that he left. Wonder how that's going to work. Stay tuned.
Towards Rhythm and Beauty
I think I might just be a little nervous about what this job change means to my rhythm.
To Live the Liturgy...
Playing this song over and over these days.
I am Hoping and Praying
for Elizabeth deHority. She is constantly on my heart and in my prayers. She needs you now. Please, please pray with me. We've begun a novena to Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity for her intentions. You can find the text at the top of the Prayers and Devotions page. Click the hyperlink or click on the tab at the top of this blog. That tab is always there; please pray early and often.
for the soul of Ty Lewis and for his family and for the countless soccer families who grieve his loss.
for Sarah and her family as they grieve the tragic loss of her sister-in-law.
for Michael upon his graduation; Joseph on his Bar Mitzvah; Brian on his first communion; my mother on her 70th birthday; Paddy as he travels homeward. We have quite a weekend ahead.
In the Garden
We planted the front bed with salvia, and tiny petunias and some buttony blue plant whose name evades me right now. I found the kind man at Cox Farms to be really really helpful. And it was fun to be there to see the alpacas and the llama and some baby goats that were just hours old.
I'm holding off on the veggies until Patrick is home to plant with me.
Around the House
I'm sort of uninspired. We need new furniture. Truly need it. usually, when we need new furniture, someone in my extended family moves or redecorates. We inherit furniture when they buy new furniture. My whole house is furnished that way. Everything has a history. I am truly in need of couches with histories:-)
From the Kitchen
Strawberries, not yet local but so truly amazing that I will relent on the local thing and just be grateful for trucks that bring me deliciousness from California
One of My Favorite Things
Matthew 6
[28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
[29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
[31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
[32] For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well
~friend who has the perfect little black dress hanging in her closet
~sister who is sad because her "little" girl is graduating, so she shops for my little girls and sends a box of pink amazingness
A Few Plans for the Week
~graduation. Michael graduated in December, but the official ceremony is this weekend.
~Brian, our nephew, receives our Lord in Holy Communion for the first time.
~Joseph, also our nephew, has his Bar Mitzvah (has it? not sure how to phrase that ).
~70th birthday party for my mom.
Lots of dressing up. Lots of fancy parties. Lots of celebrating.
~Patrick might be in Philadelphia to play. I'd really love, love, love to see him play before this residency year is over, so if we can squish that in around the above, you better believe we'll make a road trip. No dressing up required.
Picture thoughts:
