Monday

Last night our home was full of friends and food and music and conversation.

The salad I made - my new favorite salad - got rave reviews.

Earlier in the weekend we watched An Education and found it thought-provoking; lots for us to talk about as parents.

Enjoy your day!

Sunday

Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. - Thomas Merton

THE weekend

Our weekend started early, as Thursday and Friday were inservice days at school. Alexi took the week off. Thursday Cal learned to ride his bike; yesterday he wanted the safety rails removed from his bed (bed is lumpy because he leaves his stuffed animals in bed when he makes it). (Tomorrow, shaving?)

It feels nothing like summer yet, but I'm enjoying our garden, and I'm amazed at how well it's doing this year. Working outside the past few weeks I've had conversations with neighbors I haven't talked to since trick-or-treating. Gardening is a worthwhile endeavor if for no other reason than the sense of community it provides. Discussions now about the growing; sharing the results as the summer progresses.

In my childhood school was out the Friday before Memorial Day. My boys have several more weeks of school and I prefer it that way. It's nice to be off when the weather's good and June is never that great around here. August, September are remarkable.

Hoping the sun will come out; if not, we'll still enjoy more gardening, and baking, and time together and with friends.

Wishing you a fun weekend! xo Lecia

at the park

I've had a love/hate relationship with parks since Abbott was born. I find them boring; the kids love them so that's the love part (happy kids, happy mom). In the spring I'm not yet sick of hanging out there and it's not too hot, so the outing tends to be pretty good in my book.

Yesterday Cal really took off riding his bicycle without training wheels, at long last, after practically being forced by me. I'm planning on lots of outings on our bikes this summer, and he needs to be ready. He's been much more interested in his scooter, rollerblades, playground equipment, puddles...anything but the bike.

And in case you're wondering the boys wear their boots everywhere. It's a laziness thing - boots are faster than sneakers. And, you never know when you might encounter a puddle.

Happy Friday!

abundant splendor

I had acupuncture yesterday morning. One of the points I got needles in is called 'abundant splendor' - isn't that great? I think we could all use abundant splendor in our lives.

I love how all these pictures I took yesterday evening are silvery; how light colors everything. That's just the kind of thing that makes me love photography - a detail revealed that I might not notice otherwise.

What's catching your eye today?

at this point in time

One thing I love about blogging is the record keeping it provides for me. As I was walking down to the beach yesterday I noticed the blackberries in bloom. I wondered if it's a bit late for that; we've had a cold spring. When I searched my archives I found this post and saw that in fact they weren't even this far along at this point last year.

Incredibly wonderful (via Andrea):



Happy Wednesday to you!

you get what you get

Yesterday I took portraits of Abbott and his classmates and it was the most fun I had all day. For obvious reasons I can't share them here, but I am really happy with the results. I appreciated the opportunity to interact with Abbott and his peers on the playground, and the practice at taking pictures of children on the move.

I can't stop thinking about this.

I roasted shrimp for dinner - generally our favorite way to eat shrimp; for some reason Abbott didn't like them. Spent a lot of time shelling english peas and both kids put ketchup on them.

We planted a few more things in the garden before bed - it felt like summer.

Happy Tuesday!

the weekend

It was a great weekend.

Among other things, we had our very first sleepover. I assumed the kids would sleep in after being up so late; as a friend pointed out this was a rookie miscalculation. I believe the whole neighborhood may have woken up with us at 6:30am Saturday when the kids inadvertently set off the security alarm by opening the garage door to play street hockey. So we were all quite tired.

Still, we ate pancakes and bought lego with allowance money. We gardened and played baseball and spent time at the park for the first time in 2010. We went to church. Baked and built and watched movies.

The weekend may be over but I know I'll carry the sense of togetherness with me as we go our separate ways this week.

Happy Weekend!

The scent of watermelon is so evocative of summer, isn't it? I was a bit overwhelmed when I cut this one open; it's been a while.

The boys are having a friend sleep over for the very first time tonight and there is great excitement in the house.

I wish you a wonderfully relaxing weekend! xo Lecia

on my mind

My hair is the longest it's been since right after my wedding in 2000. A few days after returning from my honeymoon I cut it short and it's been short - at times very short - until about six months ago. The man who does my hair told me I needed to grow it out, and who am I to argue? I like what he does, and so I let him do his thing.

One of the boys came to our bed last night because of a bad dream; he ended up having an accident so I was changing our sheets at 1am. And wow do I feel it today. However did I live with sleep deprivation for years on end (our sleep troubles lasted well beyond infancy)?

Yesterday I made lemon poppyseed olive oil cakes - my first gluten free baking! - and they were enjoyed by all.

I'm taking in our car to get serviced today, so I don't know if I'll get more done than exercise and take a few pictures. Between you and me that's all I ever want to do while the boys are at school. Too bad there is so much more to do to keep a household functioning.

Missed Connections is wonderful (via Molly).

Happy Friday!

dreaming

Yesterday began as a gloriously beautiful day; it became bitterly cold and wet and windy by mid-afternoon. I am so eager for warmth! I've been cleaning our decks and outside spaces in hopes of being able to enjoy them sometime soon. These images from my archives will allow us to at least dream about summer. They were taken while visiting friends at Sunlight Beach on Whidbey Island. The black things in the water are sand dollars.

The upside of the rain and wind was that baseball was cancelled, so instead of eating sandwiches on the side of the field, we had a cozy fireside meal. And, Abbott was able to get his homework for the week done a day early.

I hope you are well. Happy Thursday!

Wednesday

Hello!

Over the weekend we stopped to buy halibut for our evening meal. As we were waiting for the fish to be weighed and wrapped, Cal started whispering to me, "let's get shrimp!" "let's get clams!" "I want some mussels!". I love having a kid who finds the seafood counter as good as a candy counter.

Crossword puzzle aficionados - a food crossword! Love.

I'm hoping for a productive day - I've been on a bit of an organizing frenzy this week. I'm using some of these ideas for my garage. Knowing that school's out in a month (ie won't get anything done again until September) has been a great motivator for me.

What are you up to today?

full circle

Last night a friend told me she planted tomatoes over the weekend because she had enjoyed the taste of mine so much last summer. Such a wonderful compliment, don't you think?

Thank you all so very much for your comments, emails, phone calls, facebook messages and good wishes that poured in all day long yesterday; I feel overwhelmed by your love and friendship. Everything in my life seems a bit brighter with the knowledge that the medical problem I've had, whatever the cause, is not life-threatening. (I felt fine all weekend and Monday; Alexi thinks it's arthritis. My doctor started me on a medication trial for reflux.)

I wish you a happy Tuesday!

a scare

Saturday I had a CT scan and an MRI. Over the past month or so, I've intermittently been awakening in the middle of the night with pain in my sternum. I've been worried and not worried, mostly taking my cues from my doctor; I trust him with my life. Friday he decided I needed to have some tests done. Having been through a lot at the medical center where I receive care, and having worked there for years until Abbott was born, people are prone to moving heaven and earth for me - in this case, squeezing me in on Saturday after deciding Friday that I needed to be evaluated. Not having to wait long was a real gift - anytime I get scheduled for a workup, I start fretting and getting panicky until it's over. I'm happy to say the tests did not show any cause for alarm - no cancer. I'll see my doctor later this week to discuss other possible causes of my symptoms.

In graduate school as part of my nurse practitioner training, I took a course on death and dying. Among other things, I had to write a will and get it notarized, and plan out my funeral (!). At the time of the course I had few possessions and didn't yet have children, so my will consisted of things like which relatives and friends would get particular books and earrings and other sentimental possessions. This was a couple of years after I first had cancer, and I was very uncomfortable directly facing my mortality; in general, I try not to think about it.

Throughout the close to an hour I was immobile in the MRI machine, I had very concrete thoughts about my mortality. I kept thinking, my life may be forever changed when this is over because of the information I'll receive. I may not be able to think of myself as a healthy person anymore. I need to think about what things I haven't done yet that I hope to accomplish before I die. Hurry.

hello weekend!

Enjoy! I'll see you next week. xoxo Lecia

a big change

A couple of weeks ago we got an email from Abbott's teacher letting us know he told her the board is 'blurry'. I was surprised and not surprised not to hear it directly from him; sometimes it's like pulling teeth finding out about goings on at school. I felt badly about not somehow noticing he couldn't see very well. Anyway, he saw an optometrist last Friday and indeed needs glasses. It feels like a bit of a loss to me - I won't be able to see his face in the same way most of the time, ever again.

I remember well my first pair of glasses. I was eleven. The frame choices were slim, and I ended up with a blue plastic pair that I hated. It was a love-hate relationship: on the one hand I could see; on the other hand I was self-conscious about my appearance. I remember the dramatic car ride home from the optometrist's office: the leaves on the trees had such definition! By the time I reached middle school I took them off (a different pair, but I didn't like them any better) as I walked down the hallways at school, inadvertently snubbing people as I couldn't see them to say 'hello'.

Happily Abbott is taking it all in stride; perhaps because two of his classmates already have glasses. Mostly he's impressed by how well he can see.