More Thoughts from the last month ..
These are things that have been written down since April and include
thoughts about my favorite magazine Victoria, which is no longer
published. There are also a few other thoughts on flowers, Mother's Day
and well you can read it.
Living in such a neat little town that has quite a history there are
tons and tons of long established lilac trees. Everywhere I walk there
are lilacs mostly in that medium light purple color and white. Here and
there are some white ones which are also lovely. Earlier in the week I
had picked a few sprigs off the many trees on a walk with the children
and a couple of their friends. I had a delightful time telling the
girls and boys what all the plants and flowers were that I knew. These
few sprigs were placed in a green glass vase and put on my dressing
table. It was so wonderful to smell them. There are so many flowers and
gardens to be enjoyed as you walk around town.
I am constantly amazed and delighted for just how relevant back
issues of Victoria are for me. I always find something that just
delights me and inspires me to do something new. It could be to seek
out a local garden to visit, a visit to the Arboretum(my last one was
inspired by a Victoria article), pinning my vintage cameo to my jacket
for a week, taking a walk with my children, arranging flowers a
particular way, all sorts of inspirations. I have read books and had
experiences I would never have had if not for Victoria.
There is one particular one that really is meaningful to me. The
year that Jan Karon was the writer in Residence was a rather difficult
year. I delighted in those excerpts each month and eagerly went and
reread the whole year frequently. I was asked what I wanted for my
birthday and requested the Mitford novels. What a wonderful series of
books. I read them again and again over that next year as I was
pregnant with my 2nd child. I finally convinced my husband to read them
and he enjoyed them just as much as I did. Finally in October of that
year I asked him to take me to an Episcopal church as we did not have a
church to regularly attend. We went and have been there ever since. The
results of us going to this little church is wonderful and I experience
it on a daily basis. I have such a wonderful group of older women
friends who validate me as a mother and wife. They will come over to
watch our children so I can go out with my husband and are the
wonderful surrogate grandparents my children need. With so many
families all over the place, my children have been wonderful for my
friends to have in their lives. One of these dear friends even took my
children on their very first horseback ride. These women have
completely changed my outlook on aging and being a woman. I want to be
as gracious, as beautiful, and as nurturing as they are when I am their
age. I want to be as active and live just as full of a life! I want to
face my challenges and adversities just as well as they do. I really
could not imagine what kind of life I would have without these
wonderful mentors and friends in my life.
Saturday April 23rd Getting stuff done. We have been rearranging the
house by moving the bookshelves. This of course inspired a rearranging
of the books so that everything is easier to access. This was inspired
by the fact that both children are reading and we wanted to move the
books for easier access. We then met our friends the Jensens at Fryelands park this afternoon. We took the kites
and frisbees with us along with the camera. The wind was great for kite
flying. We had the box kite and the butterfly kite. Both did really
well and were fun for the adults and the children. At one point Devin
had staked the box kite to keep it on the ground and was flying both
kites himself. The kids all learned about handling kites and did great.
Kites seem to draw all sorts of people at that park, most people do not
seem to bring kites. The park is ideal for kite flying with all the
open fields around it and a little lake. When it was time to go Devin
had Treanna's friend help him reel in the kites. She ended up letting
the butterfly go and it traveled across the lake before landing in the
middle of it. Hopefully it will float to shore or the park guys can get
it out of the lake. At this point we are assuming it is lost, but you
never know. Treanna was of course upset but worked on being gracious to
her friend. I have some pictures of the kites that I should post.
April 29th 2:55 pm Devin and I just got back from watching the
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and it was great. It was neat to see
Douglas Adams as the executive producer. The casting was good and I
enjoyed all the changes with the plot. The special effects were
great.The song at the beginning as sung by the dolphins was stuck in my
head for a while. We enjoyed the movie immensely and were delighted
that we were able to see it.
Saturday May 7. I finished a story for the Godly Play classroom at
church. This particular story has sat inside my house for 2 years while
I avoided working on it. It took a couple of days working on it and
quite a few hours but I put the varathane on it earlier this evening
and it will be ready to go to church in the morning. I also heard from
Becca this evening and she is now Mrs. Loveridge as she got married
Thursday/Friday. Her and her husband are packing the Uhaul to move up
to Puyallup from Utah. I am looking forward to meeting him. Our local
bookstore is closing soon which is really too bad. We stopped to pick
up the books we had ordered today. We also picked up the new Meridith
Gentry novel. Plus we stopped at a local guy who does a plant sale from
his greenhouse every year. We picked up some plants for all my hanging
baskets. I will be getting those planted on Monday. The few Mother's
Day things I have seen from the kids are really cute so far. One has a
picture of Treanna and I. She is wearing a purple dress and brown
shoes. Mom is wearing a black dress and black shoes. We even have word
bubbles with her telling me she loves me and me saying I love you too.
Mother's Day was wonderful and the children were really great. They
were so excited about their presents to me and could barely contain
themselves until I opened them. According to Alaric I am a great Mom
because I teach him how to ride his bike. It even had a picture of me
and him riding bikes. Very cute.