Under clouds wreathed in sun,
We walked until we reached a run,
Feeling hearts lift joyfully
In noontime.
The big slides called to Katie June
Above us sighed the shadow moon
As chill and sunlight
Met in happy glory.
We took new paths along the way,
An adventure on a Saturday.
We walked for hours,
Breathing in the winter.
And once our footprints had been laid,
A stop for frozen yogurt we made,
A treat before some
Books and then her naptime.
Quietly the nighttime stole,
And we kneaded our naan in the yellow bowl
To eat with fragrant, yummy
Chana masala.
An now we end where we began:
The heart must have a master plan
To find delight in every
Simple beauty.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
"Follow Every Rainbow..."
Katie accompanied me to the dentist for the first time yesterday morning, as I wanted her to observe the cleaning process in preparation for her own visits (probably next year). Usually she stays with Amie while I go, but she is old enough now to sit quietly and watch and to understand the procedure. Indeed, she sat on a little padded window seat the whole time, and she seemed to enjoy herself. I am determined that Katie will not share my anxiety with respect to dental visits, and I am also determined that she will realize that routine doctor and dental exams are part of caring for one's well-being and that they are appointments to look forward to. My dental hygienist, Jan, even gave Katie her own new toothbrush and let her pick out a toy. Katie absolutely LOVES her new toothbrush. She loves brushing her teeth anyway, and always asks to do it. Going upstairs last night and tonight, she proudly was talking about "the new toothbrush my dentist gave me." I was teasing her yesterday on the car ride home that she got to pick out a toy---I teased, good-naturedly: "You even got a toy! I was the one who got my teeth cleaned and I didn't even get a toy!" Katie chuckled a little and replied, "But you got floss." My daughter often has a response for everything. :-) I love her so much.
I wasn't sure how she would do in terms of me being occupied with my mouth open much of the time, but she really handled herself and the situation wonderfully. This is my 5th cleaning since her birth, and I loved having her with me for the first time. I was scheduled for x-rays but asked to postpone them until next year due to my pregnancy. Jan poked around though and said my teeth are looking great...so hopefully there is no cavity festering that we weren't able to catch. Let's hope not.
After the dentist, we came home and the rain began to woosh outside. I have a little thing I do every January to remember my Uncle Eric, who passed away in 2007. He and I share a favorite film, The Sound of Music, and so I always watch it within a week or so of the anniversary of his passing. Some of my mom's side of the family actually went to Austria before I was born---lucky!!!! It is my dream to visit Austria and to take the official Sound of Music tour and to buy my own dirndl (a traditional Austrian dress) and so forth. Maybe someday... So The Sound of Music is one of many passions in life we share. We played "So Long, Farewell" at his memorial service, and every time I even begin to hear the song I cry. I sing every song from the score to Katie except for that one, because my throat chokes up too much every time.
The scene in the film in which the Von Trapp children sing "So Long, Farewell" is so poignant to me now.
Many of you know from either attending or reading about Katie's first birthday party that the theme was "My Favorite Things"---also a song from The Sound of Music. That was the first song I ever sang to her that first night in the hospital together, and I wanted her to feel covered in a philosophy of optimism and positive, happy thinking.
We watched The Sound of Music together yesterday. This was Katie's first official viewing. She has napped other times or not been too aware, but she followed along yesterday. It is a long film, so we took a break to make some peanut butter cookies and we also colored for part of the time. We brought out Uncle Eric's picture from the bookshelf and we talked a little about him. We set the picture on the coffee table so that he could watch it with us, in a manner of speaking.
Today we had an extraordinarily lazy morning listening to the rain and wind. I finished My Life in France, taking the time to read in bed about Julia Child while Katie finished her night's sleep.
Around noon we dressed, played a bit in the rain in our boots and went over to Amie and Boppa's for a cooking session. My mom was working on a split pea and leek soup with tomato pistou, and then we both made a banana cake together. Soups have been sounding so tasty, and my mom has been finding some absolutely delicious recipes. I took some home, and it was excellent.
Katie and I like to learn words on her magna-doodle. We have been teaching her to sight-read some words, and she can now read: "Katie" "Mommy" "Daddy" "No" "Joy" and "Amie." We have tested her many times, and she definitely knows them. She has also proved that she can spell some of those without seeing the word in front of her. We think she can also read "Yes" but for some reason she sometimes claims not to know it, so we aren't counting it as a word she can read yet. We are also working on the following words: cozy, pa, Boppa, sippy. She seems to know these inconsistently, so we hope to firm them up by next week. It appears she may know other words as we pause and let her fill in words as we point to them when we read to her, and she always fills them in. However, she may have just memorized the stories---and to be valid, testing the words has to be done out of context.
I can't wait to give her instruction in phonics, which, to me, is much more of a legitimate reading skill than is sight-reading. Only a background in phonics (coupled with some knowledge of roots) allows someone to figure out a totally new word in context---and that, to me, is true reading ability. However, sight-reading is an important start, and I am proud of her accomplishment for sure. Some words in English can only be known through sheer recognition, and so word-memory ability is also a significant step in her education. I'm just chomping at the bit to give her all the fun stuff. :-)
No doubt it will be interesting for her to grow up with two teachers, and more importantly, two people who absolutely love to learn and read and study new subjects just for fun. We hope that we always make learning fun for her... We really believe that if learning can be creative and fun, she will develop a lifelong love of studying, reading, and seeking out things to challenge her mind, just like we do. We don't want her to feel that learning is any kind of drudgery, even though we will in time let her know how high our expectations are with respect to her development of a personal work ethic. There are so many learning strategies we want to use with her that, as teachers, we were not able (for various reasons) to use in our classrooms, and that is the truly thrilling part of homeschooling!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Splashing in the Rain
This afternoon:
Surrounded by grey and icy whiteness as the rat-a-tat rain both misted and pelted, we snugged ourselves in by a roaring fire. The family room and the kitchen glowed around us. Amie visited and brought me a bowl of her rustic minestrone soup and homemade rosemary garlic and romano flatbread. Total deliciousness, warming for body and soul. We sat around the coffee table, near the fire, and Amie, Katie, and I worked on several of Katie's puzzles. Puzzles and a fire on a rainy day is my idea of cozy joy.
Right before dinner I had an idea. I asked Katie if she would like to go outside and splash around and stomp in puddles with me. I wish I could adequately describe the look of wonder on her face as she considered and realized how much fun that would be, as if I had just said something so incredible as to be the stuff of toddler dreams. She was so excited. We played outside for almost an hour, stomping and kicking around in absolutely every puddle we could find---in both the back and front yards. We were drenched, as some light rain was still coming down. We have an absolutely ginormous puddle in our backyard that comes right up to the patio, and Katie exclaimed, "We have our own beach!!!!!!" We ran back and forth holding hands, looked at raindrops on trees and leaves, caught in our hands the rain falling from the eaves, and danced and sang. She said, "This is so much fun!" Eventually we came in, and I gave Katie a warm bubble bath and put on her coziest jammies. Bill wrapped her up in all her blankets on the couch while I made dinner.
A moment of absolutely perfect happiness...
Surrounded by grey and icy whiteness as the rat-a-tat rain both misted and pelted, we snugged ourselves in by a roaring fire. The family room and the kitchen glowed around us. Amie visited and brought me a bowl of her rustic minestrone soup and homemade rosemary garlic and romano flatbread. Total deliciousness, warming for body and soul. We sat around the coffee table, near the fire, and Amie, Katie, and I worked on several of Katie's puzzles. Puzzles and a fire on a rainy day is my idea of cozy joy.
Right before dinner I had an idea. I asked Katie if she would like to go outside and splash around and stomp in puddles with me. I wish I could adequately describe the look of wonder on her face as she considered and realized how much fun that would be, as if I had just said something so incredible as to be the stuff of toddler dreams. She was so excited. We played outside for almost an hour, stomping and kicking around in absolutely every puddle we could find---in both the back and front yards. We were drenched, as some light rain was still coming down. We have an absolutely ginormous puddle in our backyard that comes right up to the patio, and Katie exclaimed, "We have our own beach!!!!!!" We ran back and forth holding hands, looked at raindrops on trees and leaves, caught in our hands the rain falling from the eaves, and danced and sang. She said, "This is so much fun!" Eventually we came in, and I gave Katie a warm bubble bath and put on her coziest jammies. Bill wrapped her up in all her blankets on the couch while I made dinner.
A moment of absolutely perfect happiness...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Good Thoughts and My Children
Katie is my darling love, and I am so excited to give her the joy of a little sibling. I love my own little brother so much, and Bill cherishes his collection of younger brothers---and we wanted to give her the same gift of a little sibling that we have treasured in our lives.
As of this moment, Katie is still unsure, however, about the arrival of a little brother or sister. When asked what we should do with Little Sib when he or she comes home, Katie's response is that we should put him/her in the laundry room, or even outside. :-) She tells me she wants to be my only baby, and when questioned further this morning, she revealed that she worries I will give all of my love to the new baby and won't spend time with her anymore. At least she is able to verbalize this. As all mothers know, however, our love is infinite and multiplying... I reassure her daily that I will always love her forever, that she will always be my favorite firstborn daughter, and that we will still have our special moments between just the two of us sometimes. She is so sweet, and refers to me as "my mommy." I think our challenge will be leading her to the understanding that I can be her mommy, as well as another person's mommy, and that my love will keep growing for both.
So far my pregnancy with Little Sib has been fairly easy. I was tired for a few weeks, seemingly more tired than I was with Katie---but then, when I was pregnant with Katie, I didn't already have a two-year-old to keep up with. ;-) I have recovered most of my energy, though, and so I am feeling great! I've had hardly any sickness. I get little waves of queasiness now and then in the morning, but it almost always passes without incident and this week it seems to clear up quickly. So in those two aspects---tiredness and queasiness---this pregnancy seems very different than my pregnancy with Katie.
I also have much more pronounced food cravings with Little Sib, and earlier in the pregnancy, too. With Katie, I craved only one item: red grapes. Bunches and bunches of red grapes, everyday, beginning later in the second trimester and extending through the third trimester. With Little Sib, though, I find myself flat-out obsessed with Honey Bunches of Oats (a cereal I haven't eaten in YEARS---I tend to eat hot oatmeal). I am also craving legumes: lentils, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, you name it. My mom gave me a lunch of wheat pasta prepared with cream cheese, lentils, onion, kale, and red pepper flakes today and it was heavenly.
And milk. One of the reasons I am craving cold cereals is partly due to the milk. I didn't crave milk as much with Katie.
However, I have this odd---and basically unresearched---theory. I mean, let's be totally upfront about the lack of true scientific study with respect to what I am about to say. A long time ago after my first miscarriage, I read somewhere online that increasing whole milk/cream/milk fat uptake helps a woman become pregnant. Yes, I confess: I read it exactly ONCE online without cross-checking sources and yet decided to apply the theory. Any former AP students of mine are probably reading this and slapping their hands to their foreheads: Mrs. McGaugh, how could you? Like I said, not very researched and not my usual critical thinking approach...You can't really believe anything you read online, especially just once, unless it is from an ultra-credible and proven source, preferrably sources. So, you probably shouldn't even believe my mere anecdotal account of what follows. I would be highly suspicious myself. :-) But anyway, I have this CREAM CONJECTURE. Both times before getting pregnant, one-two months before conception I switched from 2% milk to whole milk, increased my drinking of milk (I actually don't really like milk at all) and started adding cream to my morning coffee. I swear by it. Many months went by before conceiving Little Sib, and then I decided to add more cream to my diet....and voila!
So Little Sib has been craving milk and Honey Bunches of Oats and legumes.
After a family breakfast and a good ride on the bike today---which felt great at a high resistance---Katie and I walked over the my mom and dad's house for a baking sesh. My mom had already begun two beautifully rising loaves of oatmeal bread and homemade minstrone soup bubbled away on the stovetop. With the leftover cabbage, she made an old-fashioned and simple simmered cabbage recipe with butter, salt, pepper, and sugar that my Great-Grandmother Sadie (the orginal Sarah Matics) used to make. So yummy. I loved cooked cabbage. Once Katie and I arrived, we made the more decadent recipe: chocolate donuts. We chose to bake them and not fry them, and they were yummy little cakes indeed. But my favorite item of the day was definitely my mom's homemade bread. Few pleasures in life compare, truly, to a thick slice of homemade bread just warm from the oven. My mom sent me home with a loaf, and boy oh boy, do I have grand plans for that thing. Grand, grand plans. Those plans may involve a pat of golden melting butter and thick hot chocolate over the stovetop, but we'll see...
As an added treat, Bill took care of dinner tonight. I was prepared to make a little something, but he took care of us and so I had a free night without dishes. I so much appreciate that.
It has been a cozy, happy day, and I hope each reader has found the magic within herself or himself today and found a way to let your joy radiate out into the world in ripples that will bring camaraderie and happiness to you in reciprocation.
As of this moment, Katie is still unsure, however, about the arrival of a little brother or sister. When asked what we should do with Little Sib when he or she comes home, Katie's response is that we should put him/her in the laundry room, or even outside. :-) She tells me she wants to be my only baby, and when questioned further this morning, she revealed that she worries I will give all of my love to the new baby and won't spend time with her anymore. At least she is able to verbalize this. As all mothers know, however, our love is infinite and multiplying... I reassure her daily that I will always love her forever, that she will always be my favorite firstborn daughter, and that we will still have our special moments between just the two of us sometimes. She is so sweet, and refers to me as "my mommy." I think our challenge will be leading her to the understanding that I can be her mommy, as well as another person's mommy, and that my love will keep growing for both.
So far my pregnancy with Little Sib has been fairly easy. I was tired for a few weeks, seemingly more tired than I was with Katie---but then, when I was pregnant with Katie, I didn't already have a two-year-old to keep up with. ;-) I have recovered most of my energy, though, and so I am feeling great! I've had hardly any sickness. I get little waves of queasiness now and then in the morning, but it almost always passes without incident and this week it seems to clear up quickly. So in those two aspects---tiredness and queasiness---this pregnancy seems very different than my pregnancy with Katie.
I also have much more pronounced food cravings with Little Sib, and earlier in the pregnancy, too. With Katie, I craved only one item: red grapes. Bunches and bunches of red grapes, everyday, beginning later in the second trimester and extending through the third trimester. With Little Sib, though, I find myself flat-out obsessed with Honey Bunches of Oats (a cereal I haven't eaten in YEARS---I tend to eat hot oatmeal). I am also craving legumes: lentils, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, you name it. My mom gave me a lunch of wheat pasta prepared with cream cheese, lentils, onion, kale, and red pepper flakes today and it was heavenly.
And milk. One of the reasons I am craving cold cereals is partly due to the milk. I didn't crave milk as much with Katie.
However, I have this odd---and basically unresearched---theory. I mean, let's be totally upfront about the lack of true scientific study with respect to what I am about to say. A long time ago after my first miscarriage, I read somewhere online that increasing whole milk/cream/milk fat uptake helps a woman become pregnant. Yes, I confess: I read it exactly ONCE online without cross-checking sources and yet decided to apply the theory. Any former AP students of mine are probably reading this and slapping their hands to their foreheads: Mrs. McGaugh, how could you? Like I said, not very researched and not my usual critical thinking approach...You can't really believe anything you read online, especially just once, unless it is from an ultra-credible and proven source, preferrably sources. So, you probably shouldn't even believe my mere anecdotal account of what follows. I would be highly suspicious myself. :-) But anyway, I have this CREAM CONJECTURE. Both times before getting pregnant, one-two months before conception I switched from 2% milk to whole milk, increased my drinking of milk (I actually don't really like milk at all) and started adding cream to my morning coffee. I swear by it. Many months went by before conceiving Little Sib, and then I decided to add more cream to my diet....and voila!
So Little Sib has been craving milk and Honey Bunches of Oats and legumes.
After a family breakfast and a good ride on the bike today---which felt great at a high resistance---Katie and I walked over the my mom and dad's house for a baking sesh. My mom had already begun two beautifully rising loaves of oatmeal bread and homemade minstrone soup bubbled away on the stovetop. With the leftover cabbage, she made an old-fashioned and simple simmered cabbage recipe with butter, salt, pepper, and sugar that my Great-Grandmother Sadie (the orginal Sarah Matics) used to make. So yummy. I loved cooked cabbage. Once Katie and I arrived, we made the more decadent recipe: chocolate donuts. We chose to bake them and not fry them, and they were yummy little cakes indeed. But my favorite item of the day was definitely my mom's homemade bread. Few pleasures in life compare, truly, to a thick slice of homemade bread just warm from the oven. My mom sent me home with a loaf, and boy oh boy, do I have grand plans for that thing. Grand, grand plans. Those plans may involve a pat of golden melting butter and thick hot chocolate over the stovetop, but we'll see...
As an added treat, Bill took care of dinner tonight. I was prepared to make a little something, but he took care of us and so I had a free night without dishes. I so much appreciate that.
It has been a cozy, happy day, and I hope each reader has found the magic within herself or himself today and found a way to let your joy radiate out into the world in ripples that will bring camaraderie and happiness to you in reciprocation.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Adventures of Katie and Mommy (and Daddy the Mouse)
Snuggling together this morning, Katie and I decided to have an adventure to "Big Park" today. We like to give special names to all of the parks we frequent, and we even have a "Secret Park." Big Park is in the center of Paloma del Sol, and since we live in a different housing development, it is a bit of a trek to get there. All the pathways are delightful, though, and we pass a few different schools. We converse the whole time, and so the walk is pleasant and full of learning and language opportunities.
We spent a little over an hour at Big Park, playing and climbing and sliding, blowing bubbles, bouncing our ball, and playing with Katie's bag of figurines. She was so interested in all of the other children there, and we watched some of the bigger kids use their bikes. Katie has a tricycle waiting for her, and I suggested that it would be fun to try it at Big Park sometime. She loves climbing and is always so proud of herself. We also watched leaves blowing and spinning in the wind.
Katie suddenly began using figurative language today, specifically similes. When we were eating breakfast, we listened to Daddy taking his bath upstairs. The master bed and bath is right over the kitchen, so we can hear the pipes. Something made a high-pitched noise up there, and Katie stated, "He's squeaking like a little mouse."
Now, I am sure that she didn't use this expression knowing it was poetic or anything (although I praised her right away and told her about similes using "like/as" and that I really liked how she chose to express her thought). But I also thought it was really, really, really cool that she is thinking figuratively and using complicated language to express herself.
So that single sentence was awesome in itself, but then later we were dancing and, referencing the leaves we had watched at the park earlier, Katie described, "I am dancing like the leaf."
I do know this is technically less of a simile than the previous example. Since leaves don't inherently dance, she is actually assuming a personification of the leaf that isn't as intrinsic as a squeak is to a mouse. However, because of the implied personification, there is actually a figurative quality to this sentence as well. And anyway, I just really like imagining her as a swirling leaf. :-)
So I am pretty excited. And not just because I love English and literature and writing (which I do!!!!), but because she is showing higher order thought. Developing her higher order thought is one of the reasons we read to her constantly, and we have always had the approach that we would talk to her like an adult and not like a child. We try to make ideas accessible to her without diminishing the complexity of expression too much. When she asks questions about things, we try to give her as elevated and as complete an answer as possible for her processing. We also try to be as precise as we can in our word choice with her, no matter how big the word might be. Fortunately Amie and Boppa are of this philosophy as well, which is probably why it feels natural to me and of course they approach her in this way as well.
After we returned from the park, we made lunch and then read some books in our cozy chair and dozed off for a nap. I woke up and worked on Katie's Year 3 scrapbook while watching one of the X-Men (I love X-Men) movies. My mom gave me a bunch of scrapbooking materials again this year for Christmas/birthday, and I love them. It is now a January/February/March tradition to scrapbook and prepare the pages and mounts and accessories. I design all the pages before I start affixing pictures, so that all the mounts are ready throughout the rest of the year. Every year I have made it a goal to have Katie's scrapbook done by her birthday. So far, so good. I don't know what I will do after this year, though. Will I do a combo scrapbook of both children? Or continue to make them individual books? Hmmmm...
So we have had a lovely Saturday! Hope everyone's weekend is beautiful so far!
Oh, and there is some pistachio pudding in our near future... Better wrap this up!
We spent a little over an hour at Big Park, playing and climbing and sliding, blowing bubbles, bouncing our ball, and playing with Katie's bag of figurines. She was so interested in all of the other children there, and we watched some of the bigger kids use their bikes. Katie has a tricycle waiting for her, and I suggested that it would be fun to try it at Big Park sometime. She loves climbing and is always so proud of herself. We also watched leaves blowing and spinning in the wind.
Katie suddenly began using figurative language today, specifically similes. When we were eating breakfast, we listened to Daddy taking his bath upstairs. The master bed and bath is right over the kitchen, so we can hear the pipes. Something made a high-pitched noise up there, and Katie stated, "He's squeaking like a little mouse."
Now, I am sure that she didn't use this expression knowing it was poetic or anything (although I praised her right away and told her about similes using "like/as" and that I really liked how she chose to express her thought). But I also thought it was really, really, really cool that she is thinking figuratively and using complicated language to express herself.
So that single sentence was awesome in itself, but then later we were dancing and, referencing the leaves we had watched at the park earlier, Katie described, "I am dancing like the leaf."
I do know this is technically less of a simile than the previous example. Since leaves don't inherently dance, she is actually assuming a personification of the leaf that isn't as intrinsic as a squeak is to a mouse. However, because of the implied personification, there is actually a figurative quality to this sentence as well. And anyway, I just really like imagining her as a swirling leaf. :-)
So I am pretty excited. And not just because I love English and literature and writing (which I do!!!!), but because she is showing higher order thought. Developing her higher order thought is one of the reasons we read to her constantly, and we have always had the approach that we would talk to her like an adult and not like a child. We try to make ideas accessible to her without diminishing the complexity of expression too much. When she asks questions about things, we try to give her as elevated and as complete an answer as possible for her processing. We also try to be as precise as we can in our word choice with her, no matter how big the word might be. Fortunately Amie and Boppa are of this philosophy as well, which is probably why it feels natural to me and of course they approach her in this way as well.
After we returned from the park, we made lunch and then read some books in our cozy chair and dozed off for a nap. I woke up and worked on Katie's Year 3 scrapbook while watching one of the X-Men (I love X-Men) movies. My mom gave me a bunch of scrapbooking materials again this year for Christmas/birthday, and I love them. It is now a January/February/March tradition to scrapbook and prepare the pages and mounts and accessories. I design all the pages before I start affixing pictures, so that all the mounts are ready throughout the rest of the year. Every year I have made it a goal to have Katie's scrapbook done by her birthday. So far, so good. I don't know what I will do after this year, though. Will I do a combo scrapbook of both children? Or continue to make them individual books? Hmmmm...
So we have had a lovely Saturday! Hope everyone's weekend is beautiful so far!
Oh, and there is some pistachio pudding in our near future... Better wrap this up!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sunlight on the Grape Vines
Katie and I drove to Fallbrook this morning, super-excited for our music class to resume! We had such an awesome time: Katie remembered the songs and sang along a little, was excited when the instruments and scarves came out, played her shaker eggs in beat today, and was incredibly helpful in picking up. When the teacher thanked her, Katie got the biggest surge of pride and happiness through her whole body. She loves to please, and her smile was a mile wide. Katie was genuinely excited to see Miss Kara, and returning to class after the holiday hiatus was a happy event for my daughter. I love that she loves class.
After ten weeks of studying variations on fiddle-based compositions, our next course of study is the use of drums. We received our new CDs and sheet music today, and so the studying begins. Our task is get to know all 25 songs as quickly and thoroughly as possible so that we can participate fully in our classes. I so very much love the Music Together structure; I cannot recommend it highly enough. Katie has grown musically right before my eyes, and I am so excited for this new drum course!
Back home, we played in the backyard for an hour or so. We found some "swords" and pretended to vanquish goblins that were drifting into the yard on clouds. Katie said they might try to take our (pretend) ice cream and milkshakes. We would hold hands and hit our swords on bushes and trees and the play structure, fighting the goblins. We made an encampment that we christened "River Base" behind our little waterfall/lake. Katie said that goblins can't swim, and so we reasoned that we would be protected by the water in back of us. I taught her a couple of She-Ra moves, and eventually we were able to drive the goblins from our land.
A little while later, my mom came over to watch Katie until Bill got home, and I went out to lunch with some good friends at Ponte Winery, specifically the Smokehouse Restaurant. Oh, I felt like I was somewhere in Tuscany, with the sunlight breaking through some of the misty day and falling on the grape leaves. Six of us ladies talked about life and did a little catching up. I loved my pizza of the day: an unexpected combination of four cheeses, spicy spicy peppers, pineapple, tomato, and very thinly sliced potatoes. Another revelation in flavor-layering. Delicious! It was certainly a treat to be a little off the beaten path, looking out at sprawls of land, savoring food as art, and sharing time with women I love. Many of us remarked that we felt like we were in another country somewhere. Magical.
Home again, Bill and I shared stories about the day, and I played chase/tickle with Katie upstairs before her bath.
I am thankful to life for another beautiful day, and I think constantly about how blessed I am to share time with those I love and who love me in return. I am a lucky, lucky person and I don't take any of it for granted.
After ten weeks of studying variations on fiddle-based compositions, our next course of study is the use of drums. We received our new CDs and sheet music today, and so the studying begins. Our task is get to know all 25 songs as quickly and thoroughly as possible so that we can participate fully in our classes. I so very much love the Music Together structure; I cannot recommend it highly enough. Katie has grown musically right before my eyes, and I am so excited for this new drum course!
Back home, we played in the backyard for an hour or so. We found some "swords" and pretended to vanquish goblins that were drifting into the yard on clouds. Katie said they might try to take our (pretend) ice cream and milkshakes. We would hold hands and hit our swords on bushes and trees and the play structure, fighting the goblins. We made an encampment that we christened "River Base" behind our little waterfall/lake. Katie said that goblins can't swim, and so we reasoned that we would be protected by the water in back of us. I taught her a couple of She-Ra moves, and eventually we were able to drive the goblins from our land.
A little while later, my mom came over to watch Katie until Bill got home, and I went out to lunch with some good friends at Ponte Winery, specifically the Smokehouse Restaurant. Oh, I felt like I was somewhere in Tuscany, with the sunlight breaking through some of the misty day and falling on the grape leaves. Six of us ladies talked about life and did a little catching up. I loved my pizza of the day: an unexpected combination of four cheeses, spicy spicy peppers, pineapple, tomato, and very thinly sliced potatoes. Another revelation in flavor-layering. Delicious! It was certainly a treat to be a little off the beaten path, looking out at sprawls of land, savoring food as art, and sharing time with women I love. Many of us remarked that we felt like we were in another country somewhere. Magical.
Home again, Bill and I shared stories about the day, and I played chase/tickle with Katie upstairs before her bath.
I am thankful to life for another beautiful day, and I think constantly about how blessed I am to share time with those I love and who love me in return. I am a lucky, lucky person and I don't take any of it for granted.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Nesting and Working
Balanced with storytime, a rollicking time outdoors, and a visit and playtime with Amie, Katie and I spent quite a bit of the day paying some much-needed attention to our home and little details therein that weren't quite the priority over the holiday. I have been fortunate this week to feel a return of some of my normal energy, which has been a godsend if ever there was one. I hope that as I continue into my second trimester my energy will keep returning, as there is ever so much to be done...and to be done with all due efficiency.
Katie helped me clean the entire upper story, singing and playing alongside me and occasionally helping out with her scrub brush. I also devoted some time to fixing a drain that has recently been pesky. I wasn't sure I could do it myself, but with Katie cheering me on I found a solution, and after quite a bit of work, she gave me a high five when we finished. She is so sweet and my best helper.
We also made progess on our laundry, although some of it still needs to be put away---which I should be doing right now, but what the heck, blogging is more soul-nourishing.
For dinner, we made breakfast: french toast with keilbasa and pineapple. It seemed comforting, and everyone liked it.
I also just finished drafting the membership letter for potential new Toastmasters members and sent it to our President and VP of Membership to read/comment upon.
So it has been a productive day with moments of play and a quantity of mirth giving it value. I think the secret to real and lasting happiness is to find joy in being in the present moment, whether one is at work or play. We must give value and love to our own lives and celebrate the abundance of our own soul and the simple beauties within our own lives. No one was ever happy who compared his life to that of another. Happiness comes only from within. No one else can create that happiness for you. Unlike almost everything else, happiness is not a zero-sum proposition. Whereas many resources (food, fuel, gold, etc) are finite, happiness is one spiritual resource that never runs dry. If you are unhappy, that is not because someone else does have joy. I believe unhappy people are unhappy because they have a part of their spirit out of alignment or are not seeing life with the whole perspective available to them. If they are told, or if they tell themselves, constantly that they are miserable or that they are in competition with others, then they will be miserable. Truly joyful people never have gotten that way by wishing unhappiness on others. We must exault all souls, including our own, and wish goodness onto everyone.
My friend, Lauren, pointed me toward an excellent quote the other day. For those of my readers who may oppose the Bible as a source of wisdom (and I know I have at least two---hi, guys!), I understand your arguments and respect your position, but I also know for sure that there are truths in there about how to be a good person. If I am concerned about becoming a good person, I must overlook no nook and cranny and be open to wisdom in the many places I find it. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things." The passage concludes with the idea that only by fixing our mind on such things can we attain transcendent peace.
I do get so frustrated with myself when I focus on petty or base things, and I always have felt like it is such a waste of time. There is so much in life that we should spend time celebrating, and it does no good to get caught up in someone else's negative vibe. I struggle with that, still, though. However, the world will never totally lack negative people. I think the key is just to cultivate an ear and frequency that tunes them out and replaces their sound with the harmony of those who speak in loveliness.
So, anyway, tomorrow is a fun day: music class resumes and I have lunch with some friends. Then the weekend, and I think my mom and I have some baking plans in the works---maybe homemade donuts? Yum yum yum!
Katie helped me clean the entire upper story, singing and playing alongside me and occasionally helping out with her scrub brush. I also devoted some time to fixing a drain that has recently been pesky. I wasn't sure I could do it myself, but with Katie cheering me on I found a solution, and after quite a bit of work, she gave me a high five when we finished. She is so sweet and my best helper.
We also made progess on our laundry, although some of it still needs to be put away---which I should be doing right now, but what the heck, blogging is more soul-nourishing.
For dinner, we made breakfast: french toast with keilbasa and pineapple. It seemed comforting, and everyone liked it.
I also just finished drafting the membership letter for potential new Toastmasters members and sent it to our President and VP of Membership to read/comment upon.
So it has been a productive day with moments of play and a quantity of mirth giving it value. I think the secret to real and lasting happiness is to find joy in being in the present moment, whether one is at work or play. We must give value and love to our own lives and celebrate the abundance of our own soul and the simple beauties within our own lives. No one was ever happy who compared his life to that of another. Happiness comes only from within. No one else can create that happiness for you. Unlike almost everything else, happiness is not a zero-sum proposition. Whereas many resources (food, fuel, gold, etc) are finite, happiness is one spiritual resource that never runs dry. If you are unhappy, that is not because someone else does have joy. I believe unhappy people are unhappy because they have a part of their spirit out of alignment or are not seeing life with the whole perspective available to them. If they are told, or if they tell themselves, constantly that they are miserable or that they are in competition with others, then they will be miserable. Truly joyful people never have gotten that way by wishing unhappiness on others. We must exault all souls, including our own, and wish goodness onto everyone.
My friend, Lauren, pointed me toward an excellent quote the other day. For those of my readers who may oppose the Bible as a source of wisdom (and I know I have at least two---hi, guys!), I understand your arguments and respect your position, but I also know for sure that there are truths in there about how to be a good person. If I am concerned about becoming a good person, I must overlook no nook and cranny and be open to wisdom in the many places I find it. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things." The passage concludes with the idea that only by fixing our mind on such things can we attain transcendent peace.
I do get so frustrated with myself when I focus on petty or base things, and I always have felt like it is such a waste of time. There is so much in life that we should spend time celebrating, and it does no good to get caught up in someone else's negative vibe. I struggle with that, still, though. However, the world will never totally lack negative people. I think the key is just to cultivate an ear and frequency that tunes them out and replaces their sound with the harmony of those who speak in loveliness.
So, anyway, tomorrow is a fun day: music class resumes and I have lunch with some friends. Then the weekend, and I think my mom and I have some baking plans in the works---maybe homemade donuts? Yum yum yum!
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