as cozy as spring

Close Enough

It's almost September, right?  OK then. 

Friday morning I woke up here:

I had my coffee here:

I hiked here...

..with ferns and mosses and wildflowers and a cold mountain stream.

I spent my evenings here....

... laughing with my husband and my children, my parents, my brother, his wife and their 20 month old daughter.

And I could actually wear all my hand knits because it was freezing cold.  My dad said it was 28 degrees on our last night and we were in a tent.  Hooray for wool!

We rafted down the Rio Grande, our first time as a family (my baby did so well y'all!).  And, like Margaret, we star gazed.

List o' things that need to be tended to...

• The pillows on my couch are decidedly summery.
• I need to order fall bulbs and bluebonnet seeds for spring.  
• I need to start our fall vegetable garden. 
• Switch out seasonal books   
• I have not made panzanella this summer.  This is a problem.

Tomorrow we begin the autumn phase of our school year meaning outside lessons and a slightly more intense schedule.  I'm both intimidated and excited about this.  I'm armed with big plans and new printer cartridges.  

Dated Material

My daughter has a personal goal of reading her way through all our Childcraft books this year. Our set is from the late 70s or early 80s.  She's reading About Us right now.  She excitedly called out to me this morning, "Mama, it says, 'Some people paint flowers on their cars because it pleases them!'  I'm going to do that!!".  Also Pluto is still a planet and the environment is discussed in much more optimistic tones - just one tiny chapter on the danger that is man.

And with that, I really am off for a blogging break.  

Internet friendships are so vague and intangible.  There are people I count as friends when, frankly speaking, I couldn't pick them out of a crowd in real life.  Mary Ellen is one of these people.  We are in the same quilting group.  We exchange the occasional political cartoon. I admire her strength and courage  in speaking her mind. She was one of those bloggers I liked right away.  But again, I've never met her.  I've never even spoken on the phone with her. 

Despite this, I continue to be heartbroken for Mary Ellen, for her family, for Ryan.  She is facing a pain, a reality, I cannot imagine.  I don't feel comfortable writing here about feelings or really anything remotely serious.  But this is constantly on my mind.  I know I'm not alone in feeling this way.  I'm sure if we could divide her pain and each bear a little for her, we would all do it in an instant.  But I know there is really very little I can do.  All I can do is pray and ask my friendly readers to do the same.  

Chris linked to two charities in this post that I am copying here:

The outpouring of love for the Barrett family has been amazing. Many people who don't know Mary Ellen, Dave and their family "in real life" have come to know and love them through the sharing  of Mary Ellen's gift for writing on the internet. All have been touched deeply by this family's tragedy.  Many are asking what they can do.

The Barrett family has requested that anyone who would like to make a memorial
gift in Ryan's name to please give to one of these two charities:

- http://www.autismspeaks.org/
There is a donation page at the website where you can opt to make a memorial
donation. By doing this, they will send the Barrett's an e-card so they can
acknowledge any gifts made in Ryan's memory.

OR

- You can make a donation to The Friar Suppliers* in Ryan's memory.
Checks can be made out to "Friar Suppliers" and mailed to:
Rich Garbe
108 N. Greene St.
Lindenhurst, NY 11757
Please include a note on the memo line that this is a donation in Ryan's memory.

*Friar Suppliers is a non-profit organization which is a fruit of our Friday Night Family Rosary group. People from all over the country send a monthly donation to the above address and volunteers buy food and supplies for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.  The Renewal is made up of Franciscan Monks and Sisters who are totally commited to living a life of poverty and service to the poor according to the Rule of St. Francis.  Ryan had aspirations of one day becoming a Friar and often visited their friaries in the Bronx where he prayed with them and played music with them.

Please feel free to link to this page to spread the word. Thank you.

And Alice shared a few words from Mary Ellen here.

I'm not so active (or competent) on Facebook, but there is a page on Facebook dedicated to Ryan.  And I'm not sure that link will work.  Again, I don't completely understand FB.

The outpouring of love for the Barrett family has been amazing. Many people who don't know Mary Ellen, Dave and their family "in real life" have come to know and love them through the sharing  of Mary Ellen's gift for writing on the internet. All have been touched deeply by this family's tragedy.  Many are asking what they can do.

The Barrett family has requested that anyone who would like to make a memorial
gift in Ryan's name to please give to one of these two charities:

- http://www.autismspeaks.org/
There is a donation page at the website where you can opt to make a memorial
donation. By doing this, they will send the Barrett's an e-card so they can
acknowledge any gifts made in Ryan's memory.

OR

- You can make a donation to The Friar Suppliers* in Ryan's memory.
Checks can be made out to "Friar Suppliers" and mailed to:
Rich Garbe
108 N. Greene St.
Lindenhurst, NY 11757
Please include a note on the memo line that this is a donation in Ryan's memory.

*Friar Suppliers is a non-profit organization which is a fruit of our Friday Night Family Rosary group. People from all over the country send a monthly donation to the above address and volunteers buy food and supplies for the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.  The Renewal is made up of Franciscan Monks and Sisters who are totally commited to living a life of poverty and service to the poor according to the Rule of St. Francis.  Ryan had aspirations of one day becoming a Friar and often visited their friaries in the Bronx where he prayed with them and played music with them.

Please feel free to link to this page to spread the word. Thank you.

And Alice shared a few words from Mary Ellen here.

I'm not so active (or competent) on Facebook, but there is a page on Facebook dedicated to Ryan.  And I'm not sure that link will work.  Again, I don't completely understand FB.

Please Pray

From Alice:

Please pray all day for Mary Ellen Barrett's son, Ryan.  He is autistic and went missing from a father-son camping trip yesterday at 5 pm.  A desperate search is being conducted for him right now.

Please pray your hearts out for this beautiful 14 year old boy.

__________________________________________________________

I'm copying this from Michele's. 

We are so very sorry to have to share the devastating news that Ryan Barrett has drowned.  Our heartfelt love and prayers are extended to Mary Ellen and Dave and all the Barrett family. Words cannot convey the depth of this sadness.  We pray that God will grant them strength and peace in this horrible time of loss.

See you in September

Summer seems to be winding down quickly and there is still so much we haven't done.  This blog sort of exists as an overflow for my creative energy, whether it manifests itself in knitting and sewing or gardening and education.  Right now, all my energy is going into all of those things.  We're pulling together our new fall schedule, revisiting all those questions I ask myself every August (gymnastics or volleyball? soccer or football?), and dreaming of cooler days and a fall vegetable garden, all with a notebook and a sharpened pencil in hand.

I do feel a vague pressure to write something here frequently, but I'm letting myself off the hook until the end of the month.  I hope all my friendly readers enjoy the last bit of summer.  We'll be at the pool.

It's like camp

I cancelled lessons this week.  My dad asked if it was because Lucy needed a break or because I did.  Lucy replied that it didn't really matter.  The important thing was that she got the week off.  (For the record, I was the one who needed a break.)

So it's art projects all day now.  Drawing and painting, legos and beads.  My sister was kind enough to give Lucy basket weaving kits.  So fun!!  We tried it out this morning.  It was a bit of a workout and I'm pleased to say that I didn't mutter anything offensive whilst weaving wet "reeds" and "spokes" every which way.  We actually both had smiles on our faces the whole time.  The basket?  Well, it's not polished, but it is beautiful (to me at least!).  And I'm oh so glad we have one more kit to perfect our technique.  Thanks Kathy!

See?  It's sort of basket-looking.  I messed up around the bottom.  When they say to bend the spokes upward, they mean it.  I was a bit too gentle.  

We also mean to follow, if only by acknowledging it verbally every couple of days ("Not there yet!), Columbus's journey which began on August 3rd.  I'm reading the Columbus selections from The Harp and Laurel Wreath: Poetry and Dictation for the Classical Curriculum.  We'll use these as copy work or memorization.

And we finally have the Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers in our possession.  I hope to try to work on these with my baby today.

That's what on the plate for this week.  My children are hidden away in my son's room, the coolest room in the house it seems.  I'm going to join them with a bit of knitting.

New Picture Books

I recently ordered S Is for S'mores: A Camping Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Alphabets) for my children.  I love the layout of these books - the main text is suitable for all ages and older children can peruse the side sections for additional details.  There really is a lot of good camping advice included. I immediately liked this take on the alphabet book because it so fit with all our camping experiences.  It's beautifully illustrated as well.  A hit all around.

 I Took the Moon for a Walk - This was a gift from my sister for my son.  He has strong opinions on what constitutes a "morning book" and a "nighttime book" and when we can read either.  This is definitely a nighttime book.  It's a lovely read, very peaceful and quiet with charming illustrations. 

And life just started for this morning so I must go.  But I would like it noted here that I did not cry yesterday.  My eyes did fill with tears once in the kitchen whilst hugging my husband and talking ever so briefly about our lovely little family, but I was able to pull myself together.  My sister brought us rosaries from her recent trip to Rome and I ended the night with my daughter lying on my shoulder as we progressed through our prayers.  I glanced down at her for a minute and noticed she had her new rosary beads in one hand and a Polly Pockets doll in the other.  This stuck me as completely inappropriate but also quite fitting.  She's still a little girl after all.

Life Snippets (and a winner!)

My daughter is nine today.  She asked for three things, chief among them: "Mommy, please don't cry on my birthday."  Is this hilarious or really, really sad?  I can't decide.  I do know I've been scolded several times this morning for even looking wistfully at my baby girl.  A new year begins for us all today as we start to look forward instead of back.  

That's all for this morning, but I did draw a winner promptly at 9:00 CST, using the random number generator.  And the winner is Marcia!  I'll email you in a minute to get your address.  Thank you everyone for the comments.  Happy Monday friends!

 

Snippets Quilt (and a giveaway!)

My Summer 2009 quilt.  It's made from the American Jane 'Snippets' line and was my (sniff, sniff) very last order from Bee Square Fabrics.  It was a challenge to put this all together because it's quite vivid and I wanted to get away from pairing everything with white.  So simple squares it was, reminding me (a bit) of colors reflecting on the water.

We broke it in yesterday at my parents' home way out in the middle of nowhere.  My mother hosted a barbecue to celebrate my sister's brief visit to Texas.  Several family members were caught in a sudden downpour in the middle of the hay field and had to run for cover under the front porch.  We sat there and watched the rain pour down, everyone amazed that such a storm could happen in July.  It eventually became too windy to watch from the porch and my soaking wet daughter curled up on the couch and warmed herself in this very quilt.  And I will remember that every time I see it now.

I have some Snippets snippets (ha, ha!) leftover and would love them to go to a grateful home.  Leave a comment here if you would like to enhance your stash.  I'll chose a random winner Monday morning, let's say 9:00AM.