Walking

No real deep thoughts or funny stories here today. Just stopping in to share a walk in the gray that was earlier this week, smiling at how differently they choose to dress these days, and feeling happy about how good Suka was on her leash.

Have a great weekend, friends.

This Moment

Sharing a moment from the week- a simple, special, extraordinary moment that I want to savor and share. 

Audrey and Henry, playing Nanny's piano without arguing... one of the same three songs over, and over, and over again. Loudly.

Puh-NAH-Noh

We were gifted a treasure this week: Nanny's piano (or as Audrey used to call it, Nanny's puh-NAH-noh). It's as if Fate has had us prepping for it for months... we have been discontent with our furniture arrangement and have been playing with our couches and side tables and rugs since before Christmas. As luck would have it, the perfect spot for a baby grand was currently wide open and vacated when we got word that Nanny wanted us to have her piano.

After some research we decided to reach out to Metroplex Piano Moving, and within 24 hours we had everything arranged. This morning, it arrived.

They made it look so easy, and in no time it was all set up and attracting the attention of the locals...

Aside from this piano being a beautiful gift in and of itself, it has so much more added value because of it's sentimentality. After all, this Puh-NAH-noh has been a part of some of Audrey's (and later Henry's) earliest memories of their Nanny, which makes it pretty much priceless.

Fifth Grade Farewell

Like so many kids right now, Audrey was cheated out of a milestone when school closed for spring break and never reopened. She was supposed to be the big fish in the little pond; she was supposed to challenge the teachers to a kickball tournament, she was supposed to get to march through the school in triumph while all the under-grades acted sad and pretended to cry, she was supposed to have another string orchestra concert... but instead she's had zoom meetings, online testing, and no real closure with her favorite teachers.

I think the teachers at her awesome school were feeling the same way about this lack of closure, and they decided that they were going to do something about it. They actually pulled together a socially-distanced parade to show some love and give everyone the chance to say goodbye.

Audrey didn't want to do it.

Then she just wanted to get it over with.

Then, when we were in line to drive the gauntlet of smiling, singing, honking, and cheering teachers, something changed...

...I think she changed her mind. I think she saw the effort, the flair, and the love that was there for her. I think she found a little closure and some warm fuzzies.

I think she was glad Mom made her go.

Yikes

Working along, notice Suka barking and running back and forth around the boulders outside my office window, go outside to check it out... yikes.

That's one way to wrap up a Friday!

Mother's Day Flowers

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day yesterday. I know I did...

A potato-egg-cheese breakfast burrito and a hot cuppa joe to start the day...
Uninterrupted time in the garden to weed, pick beans, and tie up tomatoes...
The chance to finally do something resembling a pedicure...
Steaks on the grill and a cold glass of white bordeaux...

But topping all that was a walk around the property with my girl, during which she chatted the entire time and stopped frequently to point out flowers I should cut and pick the plentiful dewberries (eating about a third of them... the berries that is). About halfway through our walk she stopped and looked at me and said, "I love you." And then she moved on.

This girl will be a teenager in just over a year and already has a habit of holding everything in and keeping the hard stuff to herself until it's a really big deal. This weekend I saw an opportunity to develop these walks into an avenue into her heart, her thoughts, and her processes.

Just me and her.

We got back to the house with about a pound of dewberries for the freezer, a nice wild bouquet, and a connection that was refreshed by our simple stroll around the field. It was the best Mother's Day gift I think I could have received, and I'm sure I'll be using it again.

Mom-A-Lee

This is a photo of my mama. It is one of my most favorite photos of her, and it has long since bonded to the surface of the glass in this frame so I can't take it out to scan it and do it justice in this space.

But it matters not, it is still a beautiful photo.

I took this photo of her when I was probably in early high school- maybe a sophomore? I don't remember the circumstances or why I felt compelled to take this photo... I don't know if I recognized then what I was capturing, or if what she was making was special. Looking at it now, however, I am so glad I snuck up on her and stole this snapshot in this moment. It's so perfectly representative of my mom... wild hair kinda pulled back, sleeves rolled up and bare hands working on something homemade, and if I had to guess, there was probably music playing, too.

I love the cream sweater, the white flowers, the white vase, the cream candles... I love the lighting and how you can see her collection of special things on the windowsill in the background (something she still does to this day). I love the look on her face- peaceful, focused, confident in the task at hand.

But that's my mom in all the things she does- in the things she taught me, in the way she tackles challenges, in the way she works and creates and shares what she loves. And even though I'm sure she gave me hell for sneaking up on her and taking this picture, I don't regret it for a second. I'm proud to say it's mine- this photo, this moment, this person.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom-A-Lee. I LY&LY.

Weekend Morning

Chilly air, messy hair, pjs 'til lunch and a some time in the late-day sun... happy weekending everyone!

Quarantine Project Status Updates

We're a week into May and almost 10 weeks in to this weird COVID-19 lock down. So far we've managed to purge and organize both kids' rooms, some kitchen storage, the laundry room cabinets, my closet, and our bookshelves.

We've completed the front yard water feature, cleared out some dead trees around the driveway, and fleshed out the rest of our landscaping design (at least on paper).

We've doubled our chicken setup, settled the peeps outside, and made plans to clean out and organize the garage and the garden shed.

This weekend, we took down the old wobbly fence around the original chicken yard, cleared out the brush, and took the first steps in making that area our new bee yard.

Yesterday our first new hive was introduced to the new bee yard, and this weekend we'll get a second, generously gifted by a dear fellow beek... then hopefully this winter I'll move my monster hive to join them and the old bee yard will go back to being a part of the hay field forevermore!

Oh, and if you're wondering why I included a picture of the piggies, I thought it was worthy to mention- amidst all the cleaning, purging, and reorganizing, we even made time to give Big Fat Charlie a really good scrub and trim, and now he's his brightest white and as light and airy as a big, fat cloud.

There's no telling how many more months we'll be kicking off still in quarantine, but one thing is for sure- I've been a little surprised by how easy it's been to find projects to do born of neglect and procrastination... if we keep this up, we're going to be in a pretty good place when things go back to 'normal'!

Here's hoping we can look at this new month through these newly-focused lenses and keep our momentum! Happy May!