Spending Time

The "living at home" portion of our family spent Labor Day weekend at our favorite haunt for vacationing, a quiet, snug cabin about an hour Northeast of home, where the air is filled with pine scents and the freshness of the river. Craggy rocks add character and immense beauty to the softly dark green mountains--I like to admire them from the vantage of the porch swing just on the other side of Opal Creek, with a big mug of a spicy, hot tea (mountain mornings do tend to be chilly). We had a rich, chocolatey ganache cake both evenings after our special Trader Joe's dinners, while we watched Little Dorrit (Friday night) and The Croods (Saturday). Me and Ladybird worked up hearty appetites swimming in the icy cold, crystal green water and going on inspirational hikes in the rain and dew-glinting sunshine, and spent a bit of our time reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (we're making not very much headway in the series, although we both love them). I also got to go on a wonderfully stormy, 9-mile run with Daddy, read my own fun book, The Eagle of the Ninth, and play Ticket to Ride with Ladybird. Mama may not have had as relaxing a vacation as I: Gavin woke up at 4:30 on Sunday morning and could not be convinced to go back to bed. We finished our trip with Sunday dinner at Olive Garden on the way home (I thoroughly enjoyed my Garlic Rosemary Chicken and mashed potatoes, and am now determined to recreate the delicious concoction, with a valiant attempt at those garlic cloves, chewy, whole and caramely sweet). And then Daddy had to drive all the way back to the cabin to fetch his laptop, forgotten on the antique stove in the corner of the kitchen.
I spent my real Labor Day catching up on school reading, which was actually very pleasant, putting my room to rights, watching Doctor Who with Ladybird, doing push-ups with Daddy, running for an hour along my home roads... it was good. And in the afternoon, when everything else was happily accomplished, I slipped off into the woods, found a resting place, and lay there letting time slide by while I watched birds and dancing fir boughs, felt wind and fir needles wafting around me, and thought contentedly about life and health and beauty.
P.S. Happy September!

Up and Running

It seems a little early to start back to school, but I'm doing it, and it's not bad. Especially because my strategy this year is considerably less rigorous than in past school years: I'm going to grow and enjoy. That's it. No up at five, run in the dark, work till I drop schedule for me this year, just a simple succession of good days. Work days, true, but good days with lots of sleep, lots of running in the fresh air, plenty of geometry and music, Spanish, philosophy and writing, and hopefully a bit of spare time to devote to cooking and scrap-booking, gardening and bird-watching. There's no reason for summer to be over because I'm starting up another school year; it has just become even more full and beautiful!
P.S. I know it's not always that easy--I just happen to have a delightful junior-year curriculum and am very pleased with the prospect!

Goodbying

Funny how words work: I thought of the title "goodbying" to write about Lavender Girl heading off on her grand adventure, thinking "Autumn Rain might have written something like this before", only to find that Mama titled a goodbye album the same way. I suppose it makes sense that we both use Mama's words--she taught us to talk!
Our big family is spreading out even more now. With Lavender Girl, Cassio and Lulu on their way to build a life in Colorado we have shrunk to a house for five: just Mama, Daddy, Ladybird, Gavin and I. And Autumn Rain is home for a visit; impeccable timing.
The house is a little sad and quiet, but we will get used to it. For now we need to eat German Chocolate Cake (the leftovers from Daddy's birthday celebration yesterday) to cheer us up.

Summer Days

One partial week of quietude before the next roller coaster. It's going fast.
We started off with a trip to Ocean Shores for my cousin's graduation retreat. The next week cousins from Mama's side visited. The next one we had a reunion with Daddy's family, followed by a week with cousins from that side. It has been tiring, but fun, and I'm looking forward to another family reunion this week (this one a gathering of Mama's family at my grandparent's summer property in Idaho).
I spent Saturday recovering from the last spurt of busyness (including a wonderful trip to the ice cream parlor and the park with my home family). Yesterday I rescued my garden from the onslaught of thistles, chamomile and bachelor's buttons--chamomile and bachelor's buttons are lovely flowers, but far too quick to propagate in my tiny garden, and tall enough to block the sun from my gladiolas. I also cleared out the circular paths between my flower beds (these, too, had been taken over by bachelor's buttons and a host of thistles) and made vibrant plans for next year's garden, when I will be the one to plant and keep it. I'm thinking fruit trees and blueberry plants in addition to the vegetable and flower beds.
Today has been thoroughly summer-ish, even marked by a little bit of boredom. Tomorrow will be a bit more productive because I'm going to make a few car-drive/picnic snacks to take to Idaho on Wednesday--spiced pecans and almond-coconut energy bars. I love to cook and bake, so between a garlicky green side that I'm making tonight and the snacks tomorrow, I should get my fill of kitchen creativity for a few days.

A soft orange light rested across the track--orange light to temper the rough red rubber surface and smear the treetops, and grace the fields with shimmering wonder. 5:00 AM. Running with Daddy. We warmed up in cool grey light and balmy air, did breathtaking speed work in the building glow of sunrise, and one last mile to cool down as the light grew bright and yellow. It was lovely.
Amid several days of busy fun with cousins, involving late nights and too-late wake-ups, it felt wonderful to get up so early and run (especially having gone to bed early with such a good excuse). And having done that, I was able to have a quiet hour, shower and eat, and practice piano before any other project got too far underway. This is summer break at its finest :-)

Bubbles in the Rain

His small, round face is tilted upwards,

His mouth is open in abandoned delight:

There are wonderful bubbles flying by;

Mama's magic with wand, soap and breath.

This little boy is delighting in wetness:

Liquid sunshine, streaming rain,

And a myriad of brilliant bubbles swirling

Their blue and pink, silver and gold souls.

There is so much life out there--

Mama and her boy, blowing bubbles in the rain.

I can see the love and sweetness

There in the soap, sunshine and water,

And before my eyes a memory is created.

~Faerynn M.

The lilacs are in full purple bloom, and the rain is rushing down their stems and leaves and clustered blossoms to the ground. It's sliding on the windows too, and melting into the ground. Attempting to look out the south windows, it's as if the field and the trees and the valley are only part of a vague painting, blurred and softened by the wet sheen across the glass. But the lilacs, just outside the east windows, are perfectly visible.
Chicken curry soup is heating on the stove for lunch. Behind it is a covered sauce pan of just-made pudding, cooling for tomorrow's Easter dessert, and on the warming rack is the torte crust, a crispy thin mixture of pecans, butter and flour. There are egg-decorating things laid out on the counter.
For today, these things make up my life, and it is good.