A family holiday

Posted: December 16, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 365 Meditation Challenge, Autumn, celebrations, Earth, fall, family, Fire, grandparenthood, Gratitude, holidays, home, Love, nature, Photography, pond, Quotes, Spirit, Walking, wandering, water, weather | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments
Maddy's flowers

Maddy’s flowers*

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

~ Frederick Buechner

*Dandelions are blooming like crazy across the lawn, on the pathways, in the meadows, and around the pond.

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275: Family

Posted: June 25, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, Adventures in Life, Earth, family, Fire, goals, home, nature, Photography, pond, Quotes, Spirit, Summer, water | Tags: , , , | 22 Comments

Blades of grass of all ages mingling together by the pond.

The family.  We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo. borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

~ Erma Bombeck

A family of day lilies blooming together on a summer day

This is the promised scheduled post to help me meet part of my commitment.  The outdoor part will be easy.  There is a zoo outing planned as well as some fun around the pond (fishing, swimming, and barbecuing).  I stocked up on chalk for driveway drawing and bubbles for making magic appear with one little breath.  There are balls (including the Big Red Ball that the wind brought to us one stormy day) and rubber duckies to throw into the pond.  And there are all sorts of magical worlds to explore in the garden, the meadows, and the woods.

Wishing you a Saturday filled with magic and childlike fun.

Eeeek!

Posted: December 25, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: holidaze, home, Quotes, weather | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment
(Picture from EnchantedLearning.com)

Our home in the Bogs has been invaded. By mice. I keep finding signs of them in various places throughout the house. They seem to have mostly stayed in the basement, but there were a few droppings in the bathroom closet on the main floor.

I’m thinking about asking one of our friends with cats to drop her cats off for a day or two to clean the place out.

I’m amazed at how quickly the mice moved in. The house was empty for only two weeks between the time we moved out and M the Younger moved in.

We’ve put out traps and hopefully that will take care of things. I should remind M the Younger to check the traps once in a while. Dead mice can stink up the place.

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration on Saturday. My sons, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were all here. M the Younger’s girlfriend joined us. She’s a lovely young woman and it was nice to finally meet her. There was lots of good conversation, laughter, and fun throughout the day.

Today was quiet. Just the M&M’s and myself, hanging around, not doing much of anything. We opened gifts this morning. I really like this scaled down version of Christmas. Not only did it cost less, I think the gifts were appreciated more.

It’s been raining here in the Bogs. Dreary weather. Snow is arriving tomorrow, just in time for our departure. It’s time for us to head back east. I wouldn’t mind staying here another day or two, but M the Elder has to get back to work. I need to start settling into our new town a little more, too. Besides, we should get out while the gettin’ is good. You never know what the lake effect machine might kick up in terms of snow. It could be a few inches or a few feet.

I’ll be back when we get settled in, with photos. I took hundreds of them. I’m sure there must be one or two good ones in the batch.

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck