Thinking of Hearts

I was lucky enough to have had a wonderful cross country journey this past summer with my two daughters, I still want more.

Facing mornings here with struggles to get sleepy girls to school, and afternoon games of the fox, the chicken, and the grain figuring out how to get the girls where they need to be while I'm teaching after school art classes, the call of the open road is too loud to ignore. 

We all try to figure out our paths. My path is unclear to me now because so much of my life is filled with the dailiness of living: the key doesn't turn in the ignition (I didn't mean this as a metaphor, but it certainly works as one!); the 11yo broke her glasses, and her spare pair (another metaphor!); the 8yo suddenly hates school; teaching art doesn't earn me enough money to support my family; and on and on into the night.

I am thinking a lot about the methods we all use to make choices. 

Unbound confine. 

And really, it all makes a life.




♥




Peace.

My Kitchen

An old friend of mine brought her family to come visit last week. I hadn't seen her in more than eleven years, and our children had never met. We all had a wonderful time together, spent mostly at the local beach.

One of the fringe benefits of having visitors is cleaning the house. As I told my friend when she arrived, I almost made it! I didn't get the whole house clean, but it got pretty clean for me.

She sent me this picture of my kitchen this week.

Look how lovely it looks when it's clean.














Peace.

A George Bailey Moment

I went to the tax office today, because I don't have enough cash right now to pay my property taxes. They went up by $583.74 this year -- thank you so much override yes voters. I was a bit teary as I thought about George Bailey, and realized I don't even have life insurance, so I'm worth about the same dead or alive. 0.

The ladies at the tax office were very nice about it. They assured me that I'm not alone and told me to pay a little at a time as the money comes in until it's paid off. They said don't let myself get upset about it.

I wish I could refinance -- my 30 year fixed rate is still the 7.25 it was when I got the mortgage in 2001. The local bank I have my mortgage with told me I don't earn enough money to pay less on my mortgage.

It's a wonderful life.






Peace.

I'm Baaaaccckkk!!!

I am very grateful for the generosity of family and friends.

Two weeks ago, I read a piece by James Sturm about how he was giving up the internet for a while. I was inspired to try my own modified version of internet cut-down. Knowing that I couldn't give it up entirely, I was going to give up in-home internet access. Then fate stepped in and said, "Oh, really?" And right then, my computer died.

So I have been two weeks without a computer, without my internet friends. And I learned two important things:

1) I get a lot more done without the internet.

and

2) My internet friends are real friends. I don't want to let them go.

What happens next is anyone's guess! For now, it's good to be back.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Names

More from Maggie

We know a lot of men named James. So there's Uncle James, Jim, Jim--Matthew&Amelia's dad, JB.

Then there's Bec and Rebecca. Pedal Katy and Katie--Finn's mom. There's Dave from the Music Store; Dave from Arcadia; David from Vermont; Fancy Dave.

Now we've started calling our baby magnolia, "Maggie." This is the first time we have to distinguish between a tree and a friend.

The girls and I take a tour of the garden every morning and evening these days to mark the rebirths and blossomings. Several times a day we remark on how lovely Maggie is getting. Since the naming is still new, one of us inevitably thinks first of the first grade friend of the 7yo. Then there are garden giggles at the confusion.

Just as we nurture and treasure our friendships, we nurture and treasure our garden. May they continue to grow and flourish.





Peace.

They Say A Witch Lives Here

For Hecate

When the girls and I went out to play on the playground the other day after school, as we do most days, I looked over at the flower bed and saw this broom. I have no idea how it got there behind the daffodils.

I have been spending way too much time online lately in the land of the social networks. Because I am a slow reader, this means I haven't spent as much time reading the blogs I love. Hecate's blog is one of my favorites. I miss hanging out there.






Peace.

Schoolyard Sketches, 2

All of these sketches are ink pen drawings, with color pencil added later to the portrait of Adam. I think I need to change my drawing utensils goody bag that I always carry to include some color pencils.

I apologize for the sloppy photographs, someday I'll learn to work the scanner. For now, I just wanted to get these up because it's already a new week for drawing.



Peace.

I called him Al Weisel

The internet is a strange bird.

Al Weisel was a good friend of mine in college. I completely lost touch with him and didn't know he blogged as Jon Swift (but that explains why I didn't find him when I googled in the past).

Jon Swift, aka Al Weisel

Al was on his way to his father's funeral in VA when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis. He had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke.

I gasped when I read my friend Libby on twitter today write that someone named Jon, aka Al, had died. I gasped again when I clicked the link and saw his picture, looking exactly the same as he did when he used to make fun of me for comparing beautiful moments in nature to paintings.





It's good to read that all who knew him as a blogger thought he was as sweet and funny as I did.


May he find his way to the Summerlands. May his friends and family find peace.


Update: I am finding comfort in reading others' remembrances of Al. Here is a collection of links to posts. This one is particularly beautiful, and articulates a lot of what I'm feeling for "my long lost pal."