For later

I haven't forgotten about you today! It has just been one of those days. Two sick little ones, rude person behind me in line at the post office, not enough time to get to the things I needed to get to, etc., etc.

Anyway, I'm thinking a lot right now about making foods that can be frozen and pulled out on just such a day as this. Foods that are comforting, warming, and nurturing on a chilly autumn evening, or after a day that was just too much for everyone.

Yesterday I made this yummy Sausage and Bean Casserole. It actually yields two casseroles. We ate one for dinner and froze the other. I'm looking for more suggestions! What are your favorite make-ahead meals?

One of our favorite places

Last week we were able to go to our favorite little farm & pumpkin patch. We've been going to the same one for many years now and we are always so happy to be there.

It's a beautiful place, not too flashy or fancy, and the kids love visiting with the animals, playing in the hay bale maze, and, of course, choosing their own pumpkins right out in the field where they were grown!

What are some of your favorite autumn traditions, places to go, and things to do?

Trick-or-treat!

Thank you for your sweet comments about our wild cat costumes! They were fun to make and much more fun to wear, I think!

Today, I have two more Halloween sewing projects to share with you. I have made each of my children's trick-or-treat bags, and this year I made one for Fiona and one for my little niece, as well.

Fiona's -- so perfect with the happy little kitties! I love the fact that the jack o' lanterns are sitting on steps with leaves falling, too.

My niece's -- my sister chose this fabric from my stash (blue is my sister's favorite color)

The ghosts have little sparkles on them!

The bags measure about 10" wide by 11" high (not inlcuding the straps). (They are all the same size -- I don't know why James's, in the center, looks so much smaller in this picture.) When I made Elisabeth's (on the left), she was 18 months old and it was an easy size bag for her to carry. The added benefit was that it didn't hold too much candy (at least, that's what I thought). However, I've since discovered that these bags actually hold a deceptively large amount of candy and I wouldn't want anything bigger than these at all! (They might hold up to three pounds or so -- luckily we've never filled them up beyond about halfway, but also believe me that we have more candy in this house right now than any of us know what to do with!)

I have quite an array of Halloween fabric because I usually pick up a half-yard when I see some I like -- I always figure that there will be more trick-or-treat bags to make, if not for my own kids, then for someone. It was nice that I had everything on hand to make the two bags this year, because I ended up whipping them up at the last minute. (Hmm. No surprises there, I guess.)

Anyway, these are a quick little project, but sometimes quick projects are the best kind, don't you think?

Wild cats

So, I realized this week that I have made 16 Halloween costumes in the 8 1/2 years I've been a mother. I can rattle them off in chronological order for anyone who's interested. (I'm fairly impressed with this feat.)

True to form, Elisabeth decided what she was going to be (a cheetah -- don't let those pointy ears deceive you into thinking she's a leopard -- that was purely my oversight in following the pattern rather than looking at an actual picture of a cheetah -- which led to some very real disappointment, but I was impressed by the maturity and positive attitude my very high-intensity daughter showed despite this tragedy), and her siblings obliged her theme concept. (Well, Fiona didn't have any input into the decision.) I guess someday, someone will decide that they don't want to do the whole matchy-matchy thing, but for now we're really enjoying it. (My siblings and I did theme costumes several times and those are the years that stand out the most in terms of costumes. So, it's worth it, I think.)

So, to go with Elisabeth the Cheetah were James the Nice Lion and Fiona the little Tiger. Oh, they had so much fun rolling around in the leaves in their costumes. We have some new neighbors up the street, and when we trick-or-treated at their house, they commented on how joyful it was to see our three wild cats rolling around and frolicking out front.

Fiona was especially excited about her costume in a way neither of my other two were at one-and-a-half. Her costume was ready last, so she had already seen Elisabeth and James playing around in theirs for a day or two. When I finally tried it on her, I wasn't sure what she would think of it. But she was so excited, and so obviously aware of the purpose of a costume. She immediately started prancing around. It was so cute! She was a lot of fun trick-or-treating, too. She was so excited to point at all the other costumes we saw, skipping along in a funny little way. She had a great time, which was such fun for everyone.

The cheetah and lion costumes were made using McCall's 6106 (also labeled MP373 or 8953), although I used the yarn mane shown on the pattern for Fiona's costume, which was Simplicity 3594. (For the tiger, I made the lion costume, view C, but omitted the mane and added pointed ears instead of rounded.) For the lion and tiger, I used fleece as the main fabric, and for the cheetah, I used a light-weight faux fur. I saw some cheetah-print fleece a week or two after I bought the fur, and I do kind of wish I'd used it instead (it's a softer, warmer costume, and easier to sew), but the fur worked out just fine.

Like so many crafters, a lot of my sewing skills were learned and then polished on Halloween costumes. In fact, I used to only sew once a year. But many of our costumes have been made from commercial patterns, and I have to say that I find that to be a good way to learn how to sew -- even the easier ones use skills like undersewing and stay-stitching. I think I'm a better sewer because I've used a lot of commercial patterns than I would be if I had only used more casual ones (not that there is anything wrong with the patterns and tutorials online!).

Another thing I realized when making these three costumes this week was how much I love sewing garments. They are like a puzzle, so fascinating to assemble and see come together. I need to remember how much I love this, and do more of it! There is a satisfaction for me in garment sewing that just doesn't seem to be there in other kinds of sewing, but I often forget that.

I think I'm going to set a little (hopefully attainable) sewing goal for myself in the new year, to sew more garments. I do well with some structure, but I don't want to create a lot of deadlines, either. Anyway, it's something to mull over during the next two (hectic) months.

In the meantime, I'll just smile as these cat costumes are pulled out day after day for lots of play. It makes me so happy.

PS: You can go over to My Sewing Circle to read more of my comments about the patterns. And don't be shy about leaving comments! It is so motivating for me to get through every single day of NaBloPoMo if you are all joining in the conversation! (Plus, I know that lots of you are stopping by -- please say hi!)

Pumpkins!

{Elisabeth's design and work}

{Also by Elisabeth}

It should come as no surprise, really, that I would be sentimental about something little like carving pumpkins. And I am.

Pumpkin carving was a favorite ritual of my family's growing up. My parents did a beautiful job of celebrating holidays in a very child-oriented way, and we all took great delight in decorating. There were a couple of years missed during college, but by the time I graduated, I was married, and I took a job as a bank teller (my degree was in music performance!) while my husband went back to school. It was at this job that I met my friend Rebecca, and we formed a work friendship. That fall, there was a mandatory pumpkin carving contest at our branch, and she and I collaborated on the pumpkins for the teller team. I remember ordering my Martha by Mail pumpkin carving kit with glee (it has served us so well every year since then), and we had a dinner of pasta, bread, and salad -- a tradition firmly set now.

That was ten years ago, and the beginning of what has been a never-missed tradition -- and a friendship that has been one of the most important in my life. So even though carving pumpkins is a small thing, a thing that most people do at some point and in some way each year, for me, it marks the beginning of this friendship. (I wrote about this last year, too. But with it being our 10-year anniversary, well, I just wanted to share more thoughts on it this year.)

This year, we started much earlier in the day than usual (we try to do it as close to Halloween as possible, so it's normally a week night), and James joined in the fun for the first time. He was so exuberant and so prepared! He dove right in with scraping his pumpkin, drawing its face (he knew just what he wanted), and even handling the chunky, child-sized serrated pumpkin knife on his own. I was across the kitchen preparing dinner, and before I knew it, he had finished carving his own pumpkin. What a joy! Here are more pictures of his process:

Tomorrow I'll be back with costumes! And I've decided to do NaBloPoMo again this year, so you'll be hearing a lot from me in this space once again!

For her feet

As you know, I'm a big fan of hats on babies. Another thing I'm pretty zealous about, not just as a mama, but as a person, is warm feet. I think cold feet negatively impact all sorts of different aspects of life, so it's not uncommon to see me wearing my shearling slippers in the summertime!

I try to keep my little ones' feet toasty, too, though sometimes bare baby toes are too yummy to hide.

In the week or so before Fiona was born, I knit her a pair of the stay-on baby booties from the book Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. (Details on Ravelry here).

Can you believe she was ever that wee? Amazing.

These were so lovely (and stretchy) that they became a huge favorite for almost the whole first year of her life. So I decided to knit some more (using slightly bigger needles and yarn) for her first birthday. (Back in February! See, I told you I was behind!)

Elisabeth actually did some of the knitting on this second pair, so they were a gift from both of us. (Details for these here on Ravelry.)

I love this pattern so much that it'll probably be the only baby bootie I knit in the future. I may even cast some on soon for a gift or two!

And now that the weather is chilly once again, my baby is wearing these almost daily. I love those (toasty, cozy, snug) little feet!

Some of the reasons I love this month so

I know I promised more knitting posts, and they really are coming, but I almost didn't post this week because I was sidetracked by trying to get some decent pictures of one of the projects, given a toddler who is all over the place, overcast days, and a lens that is too slow. (My best and most versatile lens broke, for a second time [I'd had it repaired last November], on the day Fiona broke her leg. I need to get it repaired, but it's expensive to do so, and the previous repair isn't under warranty any longer, bla bla bla.) Anyway, I'm working on it.

Onward....

Today was a perfect October day. It was rainy, and then drizzly. We're at a point now where more leaves have changed than haven't. Looking out the window to leaves falling is so heavenly.

I daydreamed about some knitting, which will have to wait a few more days.

I spent some time, with a lot of "help" from all three of my little helpers, tracing patterns for Halloween costumes (all done with that! thank goodness! I hate tracing patterns!). I'm a procrastinator, for sure, but I'm still optimistic that I can avoid last year's all-night sewing catastrophe. (Wherein I started sewing at 9pm the night before Halloween, sewed for 7 hours straight, slept for 4 hours, got out of bed and sewed for another 8 hours without breaks.) I think this year's costumes will be easier, and I'm going to start sewing on Monday.

After we finished the tracing, we headed out to the knitting shop to get some needles, walk around our little downtown, and get some ice cream. We sat on a bench (in our handknit sweaters) to enjoy our ice cream, watch the leaves blow, and people walk by.

When we got home, the mailman was just arriving with some goodies. We all love to receive a little package in the mail! When daddy got home, we made a yummy black bean tortilla pie (sorry, no link, but it's from Everyday Food October 2003), and snuggled down in jammies and woolies with stories and cuddles.

I was thinking, "This is the life."

These beautiful things, in one day, so perfectly encapsulated so many of the things I love about October. Home comforts, cool, crisp weather, costuming, knitting (or dreaming of it), busying ourselves with preparation for winter, with thoughts of warmth, and comfort. All amidst the amazing loveliness that the season offers.

{No, my life isn't perfect, and I'm not always as good at recognizing the good that there is as I should be. But this was one of those days, which had actually started out kind of badly, that managed to turn around into something that was simple and extraordinary all at the same time. And I know that I'm so incredibly blessed, in spite of the times when things are hard, or I'm grumpy, or the kids are misbehaving, or whatever. I'm not abnormally lucky -- I have very real struggles -- but I surely do appreciate the opportunity to slow down and recognize the goodness that is always there, even in small ways, if I allow myself to be open to it.}

Knitting!

I haven't posted about any knitting (besides a few teasers here and there) in this space in a really long time! It's not because I haven't knit anything in almost a year, it's just that I've been so bad about photographing them and getting them up on Ravelry (and here).

So, this is going to be the first of several knitting "catch-up" posts that are really long overdue.

I cast on and completed this cute, cabled, very pink hat within just a couple of days at the beginning of June, right before Fiona broke her leg. I intended it to be the first of what I hoped would be a series of knitting projects to be completed in our many hours at the pool over the summer (between swim team and swimming lessons, we were at the pool about 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus 6-hour meets on Saturdays!). Instead, when Fiona broke her leg and needed constant holding and care, my husband and some friends took over the pool duties, my plans were set aside, and this was the only completed knit for the summer.

The pattern is the Cabled Greenspun Beanie from the book Nature Babies by Tara Jon Manning. I knitted it using Green Mountain Spinnery Cotton Comfort (peony colorway), which is a favorite yarn of mine (it's also the yarn called for in the patttern). I really like that it's mostly wool with just enough cotton to give it a lighter, cooler hand, and an interesting texture, without losing any of the stretch of the wool.

When I made it, I intended it for Fiona, who didn't have a well-fitting hat at the time. With outdoor swim meets to get to by 5:30 in the morning (it's still very chilly at 5:30, even in the summertime!), I thought it would be useful. However, it ended up being way too big for her. I actually knit it a bit smaller than the gauge called for in the pattern (I'd knitted it before, so I knew it ran big), and it still ended up being huge. It could be because we are a family of small-ish heads, or it could just be that the pattern runs really, really big. Anyway, it fits Elisabeth much better than Fiona, so it ended up belonging to her instead. And she did get a lot of use out of it this summer at meets.

I decided to knit the hat in the round this time rather than seaming it. I liked the way it came together so much, even though it leaves a barely visible line up the back (no more visible than the seam would have been, in my opinion). I just cast on two fewer stitches to make up for the fact that there wouldn't be a seam. It was so easy and looks great.

Anyway, I have a pile more knits to share with you in the coming days. Yay for handknits!

Oh, and one last thing, the cookies that I did this week were these Halloween Whoopie Pies.

They tasted great although mine baked kind of flat compared to the picture. I think that's because I live at altitude and didn't make any adjustments (I don't always need to, it really varies). But the verdict on these was "yum!"

There is no season....

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." -Nathaniel Hawthorne

{fiona's shoes by livie & luca}

{that golden october sun!}

October is, by far, my favorite month. I wrote about this last year, but I'll say again -- it is such a perfect blend of enjoyment of the moment, and anticipation of what is yet to come. (A perfect example, to me, was last year's snow in October.)

Here in the midst of a life that can be so crazy and challenging at the moment, it's such a welcome thing to settle into October and the pleasantness it offers. Last night I watched MacBeth on PBS and enjoyed my hot chocolate spiked with a little rum (thanks to Melissa for that idea!). I stayed up late doing some handwork, while a cold drizzle of rain came down outside. Today it's sunny and a little bit hot -- but the breeze is an October one, and the leaves are beginning to fall. I'm so happy that my favorite time of year has rolled around once again.

{hard to tell in the picture, but these are the tiniest, cutest little cookies. though the dough was too dry for me and I ended up adding more butter, in case you try them. I'm taking a page from Leslie's book this fall and trying to bake a batch of cookies once a week, just for a little treat.}

{at the trunk of a tree}

What pleasant things are you finding to enjoy this October?

Steps

About three weeks ago, Fiona became a walker. It was just barely more than two months after her cast came off. The funny thing about it, now, is that those two months seemed agonizingly long, as she worked, in her thoughtful way, to regain the strength and skills she lost during the time with a broken leg. And then she started taking a few steps -- 5 or 6 at a time -- in the last weeks of August, finally taking off and replacing crawling altogether during that second week of September. I had pictured in my mind that it would a big, grand thing, but it was so slow, and so gradual, that it didn't occur to me until after she was really a toddler, that it was "happening". It's funny how things go, isn't it? There was no parental papparazzi of camera and video camera snapping shots from every angle (as I imagined there would be) when she transitioned, ever so quietly, to walking. It just unfolded, like the unfolding of a flower.

I'm learning that this is the way with our Fiona. She has her own soft way about her, always unfolding, sometimes imperceptibly, until you realize that she has opened and grown, ever more toward the light.

It makes me ache with delight.

Nourishing

Whew! Last week was a hectic and overwhelming one. Some people thrive on activity, and I have to admit that I am not one of them. I prefer a lot of space to my days. But as my children grow, they have more things to do outside the home, and I have more commitments of my own. This fall has presented an entirely new level of complexity as we've piled on an all-day homeschool enrichment class for Elisabeth, swimming, CGS for both children, a real class (entailing lots of reading and actual homework!) for me, and a long and varied list of volunteer commitments.

{the beginnings of roasted vegetable soup}

With all this going on, I'm finding my reliable home rituals to be all the more important -- and soothing. One of these is the meal planning so many of you asked about. It's so simple that I'm almost embarrassed to share it with you, but here goes.

I do a once-a-month meal plan. I started this when Elisabeth was four and James was a little baby. We had some class that was in the late afternoon, and I knew those days (Tuesdays at that time) needed to be crock pot days. I sat down to make a week's meal plan, and realized that I had (at that time) four favorite crock pot recipes, or a month's worth. So I made a sheet of paper with the days of the week written across the top, and plugged those four crock pot recipes into each of four weeks of Tuesdays. Then I thought, "I could fill this out pretty easily." So I put things my husband could make onto my teaching days. And so on. Pretty soon, I had planned for a whole month's worth of meals. I've been doing it every month since then.

{two different angles of the same thing -- sorry, that's all the relevent pictures I had for tonight!}

I've been a subscriber to Everyday Food since the first issue. I have a low cupboard on the backside of our kitchen island that I store my back issues in. (I am a back issue saver. I know they say not to do that; it wastes space; bla bla bla, but it's just what I do.) So now when I do my meal plan, I pull out my entire stack of back issues for the given month. Many (though not all) of the recipes use seasonal ingredients, so that's been helpful to me. I make notes in the pages of my magazines about what we've tried, what we liked, what worked, what didn't. I use other sources for recipes, too, but Everyday Food is really my staple recipe source.

Since a lot of what goes on in our home is repeating -- every Monday I teach cello lessons, two nights a week my husband is home late, once a month I have a church council meeting in the evening, etc. -- I can easily determine what to make based on our schedule. Another thing I have added to my meal planning sheet is a list of various "types" of meal -- beef, chicken, fish, pork, and vegetarian -- that I can cross off so I don't repeat something in a week (like chicken three nights in a row or something!). We used to eat more meat, but now a little more than half of the meals I make are vegetarian, so that's a little less important than it used to be. (We used to be a strictly vegetarian family, and gradually added meat back into our diet the year before James was born. Now we've reduced it a lot and feel really good about that choice.)

Anyway, I find that planning for a whole month doesn't really take very long -- in the end, it probably saves me time over planning once a week or more -- I usually spend about an hour doing it. We shop once a week or as necessary. It takes setting aside the time and having the right tools on hand (the recipe sources, the family calendar, a meal planning sheet, and a pencil!), and a little bit of discipline to actually follow though and finish, but I now find it just as nourishing to have this little ritual in place as the food itself is to my family.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And for you: a copy of my meal planning sheet. I hope that my little ritual proves helpful to you. 

Love, Grace

Oh! Also, I've updated my much-neglected reading list up there to the right. You'll find lots of great autumn reading there!

Some days, you need a reminder

Today this popped up in my Flickr contacts (Cathy saw it here), and it was just what I needed today.

So, I'm passing it on. Hoping that the person who needs this reminder will see it here today, and remember.

We all need to remember. Thank you, Cathy, for being my reminder today.

Have a great weekend, friends. (See, two posts this week!) I'll see you next week with your request for meal planning tips, such as they are. ;) (Don't get too excited, they aren't that fancy!)

September

So, September, huh? Wow. I'm a bit in denial about it. The truth is, I'm an autumn -- maybe winter -- person at heart. October is my favorite month. Followed by December, November, February, and January (in that order). So ... I'm feeling a little bit baffled by my current feelings -- a lot of reluctance to say goodbye to summer.

I have a monthly meal planning ritual that I follow (it's kind of silly, but I'll tell you about it sometime). And I'll admit that when I sat down to do this month's plan, I even found myself feeling a little bit resentful of my (seven) September back-issues of Everyday Food. Such autumn-y fare they presented for September! Still, I plugged through and filled my September menu with creamy lima bean soup (sorry, no link), earthy orecchiette with sausage & roasted peppers, roasted vegetable soup, and other warm comfort foods. Tonight this was on the menu (with ground turkey instead of beef, a bit of extra cayenne, cinnamon, and almonds, and a bit less lemon juice).

I'm working on it. I'll embrace autumn.

For now, here's a bit of what can be seen around here, in September.

Beautiful September skies.

The colors of late summer.

The comforts of home.

(Here's a funny thing about this picture. I almost always make my bed now -- a new begninning & habit I'll share more about soon -- but for some reason, these cozy unmade bed photos always appeal to me.)

Evenings are my favorite time of day in September. The twilight has such a particular, special quality to it. And the crickets. Oh, the crickets!

A day of squeezing in every last moment of laundry possible. (I did so many loads that day. With all our own laundry, plus some for our church ... well, it can be a lot!)

Pumpkins ripening. (We have had miserable luck with our garden the last two years, but I'll take success where I can get it -- our pumpkins have done beautifully both years!)

What beautiful things are you seeing, to usher you into this new season?

{Oh, and I fully intend to increase my posting beyond just a paltry once a week(?!). I'm just getting into our new rhythm, with classes, and new volunteer responsibilities, and lots of little things.}

Summer is ... Lessons learned over a summer "on the line"

Our clothes dryer broke at the end of April, and although my husband has had the best of intentions to repair it all summer, there hasn't been a whole lot of motivation because we've been drying on the line. This has been my first "real" line-drying experience. Most of my adult life has been spent in apartment/condo situations, so I've always used either my own machines or laundromats, but never a line. This summer we finally got around to putting up a line (we got an umbrella clothesline, which wasn't the handcrafted wooden clothesline that I've fantasized about for 10 years, but has been quite serviceable). {be sure to follow those links, they're photos of a 10-year-old issue of MSL that had the most amazing clothesline ever! unfortunately it's not up on their website}

And here is some of what I learned, as a line-drying novice.

I really love hanging clothes out early in the morning. It's a refreshing ritual, a time to be alone with my thoughts while my children are otherwise engaged, and the days' squabbles haven't yet heated up.

(Sometimes it can get tedious. And sometimes I don't manage to get things out as early as I should. But mostly, I don't mind too much.)

It's not that hard to get used to crunchy towels, bathroom rugs, or even diapers. Even though it can be funny to hold up a hand towel that is as stiff as cardboard.

It's nice to feel environmentally virtuous.

Clothes dry just as fast on the line as they do in the dryer (at least in my climate).

The aesthetics of a clothesline are just as priceless as everyone keeps saying.

So, there are lots of "pros" to drying on the line. There is pretty much only one significant "con" that I've discovered:

It's not an economic savings. Let me explain that.

A couple years ago, a friend of mine did a summer of line-drying. She said that she saw a $10 savings on her energy bill per month. I thought that this was pretty significant, because it's about 10% of a monthly energy bill. My friend said that she felt that her experiment had not been a success on an economic level because of the work involved.

Now that I've spent my own summer line-drying, I'd have to say I agree with my friend on the economy of it. We've seen our monthly savings to be about $10, as well. At the beginning of the summer, there was the purchase of the clothesline, and clothespins are surprisingly expensive. With breakage and loss, we've actually had to replace them a couple of times, as well. Between these costs and the work involved, it's already not a "savings".

But the other factor that I wouldn't have considered before was the overall wear that our clothing took this summer. I noticed a really significant amount of fading to all of our clothing, as well as thinning. Because I've always dried in a dryer before this, I was really able to tell the difference in a way I might not have been able to if I'd always done a combination of line-drying and using a dryer. Given the hard wear on our clothing, I would say that overall, it was a financial loss to dry exclusively on the line.

We'll need to finally commit to repairing our dryer before the colder months set in anyway, so by next summer, drying on the line will be a choice and not a necessity. I will definitely do it again, but I think I'll appreciate having access to my dryer for things that I don't want to wear out as quickly. In all, I really enjoyed this summer on the line, and I would say that I'm mostly a clothesline convert, though I now believe that judicious use of the dryer isn't all that bad!

Do you use a line? What are your experiences?

Summer is ... Swim season

Here at the very end of summer, with so few posts from me in the last couple of months, I thought I would visit a few of the highlights of this summer.

The most prominent aspect of this summer (after Fiona's broken leg, I suppose) was swimming. We have always done swimming lessons for the whole summer, five days a week. But this summer, specifically, was Elisabeth's first swim (team) season.

At the beginning of the summer, she was one of the weaker swimmers on our (fairly large) team. She couldn't dive off the blocks, and had a fair share of "DQ's" (short for disqualifications). But as the summer progressed, she improved extremely rapidly. Her times kept jumping down by several seconds at each meet. She started to practice in the "harder" group. By the second week of July, she had qualified for the League championship, where she placed in the top ten in backstroke, and ultimately ended up making the State championship, as well. She was named our team's most improved girl, a title she really deserved.

For me, it was hard not to swell with pride at her accomplishments over the summer. Now, with our swim season behind us, I can look at it from another perspective. I'm proud of her, but not just for being fast, and qualifying for championships. I'm proud of her for working hard, and not complaining when it was tough. I'm proud of her for trying her best, even in the midst of being new -- to the team, to the sport, and to competition -- and not knowing what to do, and the disappointments of disqualifications. I'm proud of her for working with, and being respectful to, a number of different coaches with very different styles. For being a true teammate and friend. For rising to the occasion, working hard, learning, growing, and showing much character.

Swimming is fun. It's exciting, fast, and thrilling when your body hits the water at the start of a race.
But in the end, I shouldn't be surprised that the swimming itself was only a part of the whole; only a means to an end in what became a priceless experience.

(photos here from our state swim meet a few weeks ago)

Has it been so long?

Oh, friends, I'm afraid I've been away for so long that many of you don't remember me! A few people have expressed concern about my absence. In reality, nothing that exciting has happened here. The summer has been racing by and I've been overwhelmed and exhausted. My husband returns to work in just a couple of days, and the first month or so after he starts back is always a hard one for me, so I've been trying to steel myself against that. And the computer we bought just two years ago has completely called it quits, and my husband's laptop is very low on disk space, so we need to find a better option. I've wanted to be here, but I'm low on ideas. Let me get situated and I'll try to be back with some regularity very soon!

July 4, a tale in photos

{a dinner of fried chicken -- secret ingredient: baking powder!, corn & radish salad, potato & herb salad, watermelon, soda in bottles, beer, my grandmother's cherry pie, and my best scratch brownies}

 

{rain, rain, rain!} 

{sparkling} 

{in the driveway after dark}

Not pictured: over-excited children taking breaks in the afternoon, best friends, laughs, municipal firework show in the rain.

There may be nothing better than celebrating our fortune, gratitude, and ... summer. Hoping that those of you who celebrated this weekend were as blessed as we were.

(Tomorrow the cast comes off and then we'll be camping for a few days!)

A new habit for July!

Many of you may have heard by now that there is something special going on at habit this month. For those of you that haven't, Emily and Molly have opened a public flickr group and they're inviting everyone to participate in habit this month. They will be choosing a few each day to post on the main habit site. I've been spending some time each evening going through the flickr group and adding many, many photos to my faves! There is so much goodness there. Something about the habit format lends itself to such intimacy ... there are some beautiful thoughts being shared.

And lots of green. And red. And flowers. And kids. (Click image to get photo credits.)

I plan to post to the habit flickr group every day this month myself. Go check it out! (You can follow my contributions here.)

PS: Happy 4th of July!

Planning

Fiona's cast comes off on July 6. We have been counting the days since ... well, since day 1! Anyway, we have just 9 days to go (including today)!

I've been spending some time planning what we'll do when the cast comes off. First "big" thing? Camping!

But before we even step into the campsite with our newly cast-free girl, I will be dressing her at the doctor's office. And I even have that planned out.

I knitted her a new diaper cover to celebrate being back in cloth diapers!

More pictures will follow, along with details (teaser, sorry! I'm doing that to make sure I actually share pictures later).

Also, in "getting by in the cast" news, we have found the best invention on earth. The CastCooler.

This strange-looking device wraps around the cast (torso or leg, or even foot & ankle), and attaches to the vacuum hose. It pulls fresh air through the cast. It is amazing! We ordered it after 10 days in the cast, and we have been so happy to have it. It helps to cool Fiona down, and keep the cast dry. It's been wonderful!

Things could be worse. There has been lots of unhappiness, that's for sure. Sometimes we've got an inconsolable girl on our hands. But we've also done so much reading with her, which has been a delight for everyone. And we've taken lots of walks. It helps that we live fairly close to our small city's downtown (a 30-minute walk, at least at a 4-year-old's pace). Yesterday we walked into town for ice cream. So, it could really be worse.

Lots of you have complimented me on my grace during this situation. Thank you for that. I assure you that I'm not always graceful under pressure, and there have been plenty of "bad" moments during this ordeal. But I also practice: I practice letting go (that's the big one), looking for positives, and being as graceful as I can be. It is not easy, and it's not some "lucky" thing about me in particular. It is something I have worked on, and will probably continue to work for the rest of my life. But thank you for your kind words, for noticing the hard work (and progress, although I know that most of you didn't know me 10 or 15 years ago, when I was much worse at this) I've accomplished in this area. Not so easy for a classic type A personality. :)

{Oh -- some of you wrote to me about a post that appeared and then disappeared last week. Lots of you have shared anecdotes and advice. The post you're wondering about was from last May. I'm not sure what made it reappear briefly, but I immediately took it down when I saw it, because it's actually an old post. (It's here.) I wrote it when I was just two months postpartum, when emotions were running high, and I was feeling sentimental and a little freaked out about my oldest being so far away from being a baby herself! Since then, I've realized that we were farther away from the "end of magic" than I thought, and also that this type of belief will gradually slip into something else. It's not so scary as it seemed almost 14 months ago.}

A Little Celebrating

We have a tradition in our family of celebrating Midsummer Night. Tradition holds that if you prepare a party for the fairies on this night, they will leave a small gift in return. (I've written about this one other time.)

Elisabeth and James happily prepared a tea party, complete with tiny pieces of cake (left over from Father's Day the day before) and fruit.

They awoke early the next morning to find the tea party devoured, a ring of rose petals in its place, and some small gifts, all covered with a smattering of fairy dust (superfine glitter is great for this!)

What fun it is to see their excitement as we celebrate these treasured traditions. And what a nice respite these things are in the chaos of our current situation! (Less than two weeks to go....)

PS: The book is Mudpies and Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow, and I've had it set aside for almost 8 years, waiting for a time when Elisabeth would be a fluent reader and be able to use the book on her own. I never felt like my reading it with her was quite right.