all girls

Every now and again, I turn the camera around and aim it this way. Yesterday's photos were not that bad so I am posting them here to help record my thirties.







And what were the girls doing while I showering and taking these pics?

a January Sunday

It is a cold, but sunny Sunday afternoon where we have fresh snow on the ground and beautiful blue skies overhead.
The house is quiet right at this moment as everyone is on bed-rest. Shane came home from church this morning with the onset of a migraine so he has gone off to bed. The girls are having their normal naptime and Seth was told to read in bed and try to sleep as he has gotten the cold too. Part of me would love to nap as I stayed up very late writing last night since Shane was at Joel's house watching a UFC fight night leaving the computer free and the house quiet. But nothing gets done when I lay down and the slightest sounds disturb me and ruin my attempts at drifting off. So instead I make some tea and munch on the rationed sweets I'm allowing myself during this scratchy throat thing which are some Pepperidge Farm cookies brought back from the States. They are mint Milano, a variation on the Milano cookie that my Mom always liked. I was just thinking as I helped myself to the last two cookies in the paper cup how glad I am that after all these years, Pepperidge Farm still packages their cookies in the same vertical paper bags with levels of cookies nestled in paper baking cups, one on top of the other. It occured to me to wonder if they hand pack those bags or they are done by careful packing machines. Then I thought of how many bags they must produce and clearly it must be done by machine. After watching several episodes of Undercover Boss it is amazing to see the complex machinery that runs America's production lines. The episodes sometimes remind me of when Mr. Rogers would take you to factories to show how stuff is made and those were always my favorite ones.
I put some ribs in the crockpot this morning and made some rice in the rice cooker and added steamed and seasoned broccoli to make a yummy Sunday dinner. Too bad Shane's migraine was just getting underway as I know he would have seconds. But there is plenty of leftovers for him to have more once he feels better.
Seth is up from his imposed bed rest and is doing some maze work in front of the quartz heater. He is anxious to play Wii and I am not. Guess who wins? :)
I'm sleepier than I thought so perhaps a quick rest here on the couch will refresh me. The house is clean and the dishes are done so I can afford a few minutes without worry.

home

This fence is along the side of our row of condos. I rarely walk around this way, but on the off-chance I do, I usually get a little thrill of having to step through those two fence posts as if I have just gained admittance to a whole new world, like through the back of a wardrobe into Narnia or just maybe into our backyard. There was that one time I was not thrilled at all when I got to those two fence posts, mostly having to do with not being able to get the girls' big red wagon through that opening and then having to walk all the way around to the OTHER end of the condo row to get to our gated backyard. But now I know the wagon doesn't fit, so it should be smooth sailing through those fence posts from here on out.



This is our welcoming front porch light which was here when we moved in. We replaced the back porch light and I'll show that one off another time. I just love porch lights, even though we really don't have a porch. It's just a concrete block of steps with a wrought iron railing to keep you from plunging off into the gargantuan bleeding heart plants that bloom each spring. But the light is charming and I often picture that style of light on our next house with a real front porch and a real hanging plant dangling underneath it but Shane has insisted that looks tacky. I'm biding my time. Some day we will find ourselves in a charming historic town or district and I will casually mention how lovely the houses all look and the hanging flowers and he will innocently agree and then I will smile triumphantly as I head off to the local nursery to pick out my hanging planter. It's a good plan. I'm confident it will work. He won't see it coming.

Speaking of front porches, this is my parents' front porch taken a few years back which currently looks mostly the same minus that hemlock on the left.



Actually, I wouldn't know a hemlock from a douglas-fir but I have a vague memory of my Mom calling it that, so we'll leave it at that. And actually there is another front porch just to the left of that now non-existent questionable species of tree that we all consider a fake front porch because we've never used it. Actually we did twice. Once for my wedding rehearsal and once for my wedding day. But that's it. I'm sure of it. And come to think of it, I think that fake front porch is slated to be tore out of there, which should be the fate of all fake front porches.

I love coming home to my parents' house with all the bright candles and pretty curtains in the windows. So inviting and since it technically is still my home, I can just invite myself right in to enjoy this delightful fire.



Whenever I lament how much I would enjoy a nice roaring fire in our bedroom, Shane invariably says "I can do that, but only once". Funny guy. The bed and breakfast that we have stayed at a couple of times on the coast of New Brunswick has a fireplace in the suite which I just soak right up, and which is why I no longer like regular hotel rooms.

Our next house will have a real front porch with a charming porch light above a lovely hanging plant and a fireplace in the master bedroom. Another good plan, I think.

snowy cedar

During a snowstorm, I love when the trees look like they are standing around in snowy overcoats. Or more wishful thinking: bearing layers of powdered sugar on chocolate branches. Think Willy Wonka.

the beginning of the middle

This is a new space specifically designed to leave day to day memories of the moments that pass in the regular rhythms of each day but are forgotten the next morning as new ones take their place. I was inspired to do a better job recording the mundane when I read these words from Alicia Paulson at Posie Gets Cozy:

I was struck by something Amy said the other day about documenting and organizing life as a way of participating in it (she said it much better, as you'll see). It would not in a million years occur to me to take a picture of my cabinet. But as I snapped this one, I remembered how my dad always encouraged me to take pictures of the places I live in. (Actually, I think he was more yelling at me for not having any pictures of somewhere that I'd lived.) But I think he was just talking about how to . . . acknowledge . . . and mitigate . . . the fleetingness of time and the unreliability of memory.

My memory is proving to be very unreliable and I don't want to lose the stories and memories as the weeks pile up into years. So I will post the everyday stuff that may not mean much to you, but is part of my life now and forever.
Right now, I have a scratchy throat and Kate has some swollen infected eyes. I have spent the day with Anne of Green Gables The Sequel movie playing in the background as I browsed the internet and took care of Kate's eyes amongst other necessary tasks. As my throat is sore and my sinuses are hurting, I simply had no thoughts of trying to do our regular lessons today since I do a lot of reading and talking with Seth.
It occurred to me a day ago when I was looking for something inspiring and beautiful to read on the internet that I should go to the beginning of two of my favorite blogs(Posie Gets Cozy and Lanier's Books) and read from the beginning which for both is way back in 2005. Good times.
The weather changed from freezing rain to snow in the afternoon and Seth went out and shoveled the walkway at lunchtime doing a wonderful job. I told him that Daddy couldn't have done it better.
I am starting to mind the winter darkness, especially in the morning as I find it is hard to get motivated until the sun is really up. I'm also minding my nearsightedness more than I remember so often I put in my contacts before I even get my shower.
As I write, a new sight is unfolding and taking some getting used to: Kate walking around the corner from the hallway into the living room. Granted she fell before she actually crossed the threshold, but she's spending much of her day taking steps and practicing. By spring, she will be able to walk outside with us and how different her play will be then!



We have our birdfeeder out in the cedar tree for the birds and those rascal squirrels who take more than their fair share. Yesterday I grabbed the camera and tried to get some good pictures of all the little birds swarming around the feeder.

I am determined to figure out what all the different little birds are this year. One has yellow around his throat and neck and a very small one seems to have red and brown around his. The star of the show is definitely the cardinal. His red markings are so cheerful at this time of the year and the white snow is the perfect backdrop for him.
I finished reading The Phoenix and the Carpet by Edith Nesbit earlier this week. It is a sequel to Five Children and It which I do not have yet. I do struggle a bit with the fantasy nature of some of her novels. It's like I'm saying, "really, that's how you want the story to be like?".
As I am trying to read through all the children's classics that I have never read as a child, I picked Pollyanna to start next. Oh, I am loving that little girl! Of course the story is somewhat predictable, but I like how it highlights character flaws and how a heart of thankfulness can change a person for the better. Pollyanna's heart of thankfulness is contagious to those unhappy souls around her and even to those reading her story.