Advent is moving swiftly! We put the tree up yesterday and will finish decorating the house today. Jacob, Elizabeth’s fiancé, is coming for the weekend and I’m going to try to get a group picture of all nine (including AJ, Eleanor’s fiancé) tomorrow. Rain and perhaps thunderstorms are moving in by midday but it gave … Continue reading Advent Updates
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The beauty and necessity of negative space.
Humans have a fundamental need for shadows, for negative space, for blank space on the page, for silence. We just aren’t wired to be at our best in a situation in which everything in front of us is brightly illuminated and noisy. Some of us have a higher tolerance than others, but we all have … Continue reading The beauty and necessity of negative space.
Living life
We’re firmly into summer here which means a lot of staying indoors except in the early morning or evening. It’s just too hot. Yesterday afternoon the temperature was 98 with a heat index of 108. It was like a sauna. The little girls have a wading pool in the back yard but they’re only permitted … Continue reading Living life
Appliance HR Guide
Appliances have personalities. Now, there’s not one person out there who disagrees with this. Think about your own appliances. Mmhmm. Here’s the Human Resources file on mine: Washer/Dryer Unfailingly Annoyingly cheerful Plays Schubert’s The Trout when a load is complete. Naive Refrigerator Long-sufferingGenerously makes room for items when Mom needs it toNot vain about appearance … Continue reading Appliance HR Guide
Scenes from around the house
Nothing much; just how the house looked the other afternoon. It’s feeling quite comfortable. There are still some things to be done, to be sure, but we’re mostly there.
New Week
Yes, this is Tuesday and not the beginning of the week, but sometimes I get a late start.* There’s always so much optimism in the beginning of a week. I imagine how productive I will be, how I will stick to the diet, how I will wear my step-counter and exercise more, how I will … Continue reading New Week
The past week
My heart is heavy and I couldn’t get past it to write any blog posts. Just now I decided to face up to it and just post and get it over with. Friday we lost Smokey. He was hit by a car. I found out through a neighborhood post about a grey and white cat … Continue reading The past week
Big Day
Today is the big moving day. It started a few hours ago and already a big box truck is full. They're putting furniture on a pickup truck now and will then drive 0.35 miles to unload it all. And come back for another load. It's exhausting, and we've been doing this (minus the heavy furniture) … Continue reading Big Day
Scenes from the end of Advent and Christmas
Preparation
Advent always seems to be a particularly busy season. This is easy to explain: it's the busiest time of year for my shop, we're beginning preparations for Christmas, there is a lot of hand-made work going on by multiple family members which requires my help, and we're still doing schoolwork, of course. This year we've … Continue reading Preparation
