An early evening walk, with a thunderstorm rolling in. I wasn't really up for it (tired from the day, planning and packing for an out-of-town trip, and every other acceptable excuse) but was so glad we pressed on and experienced this wonder.
An early evening walk, with a thunderstorm rolling in. I wasn't really up for it (tired from the day, planning and packing for an out-of-town trip, and every other acceptable excuse) but was so glad we pressed on and experienced this wonder.
I finally got my camera back after sending it away to be repaired, so that means I can blog again. Because I simply can't blog without photos. I will try very hard not to drop my camera in the ice rink parking lot again.
Our small garden is producing nicely, now...
and that made for a late morning snack today.
We are inundated with butterflies, and having fun photographing and identifying them. It's fun when they perch on your hand and probe your skin for something tasty...
Here, two of them flitted around the open butterfly identification guide. Can you see where one landed right on the page? Look closely at (or click on) the second photo, lower right hand corner. These are some sort of Crescentspot, maybe a Gorgone. Butterfly identification can be tricky!
We're making scones. These are blueberry and they were heavenly...
Exploring interesting things growing on the property, and trying to avoid the rampant poison ivy...
Rediscovering favorite games when it's just too hot to play outside...
Reading. Lots. Maggie, Jacob, and I are working our way through The Tripods...
Actually, she's a newspaper box wren, and she was very insistent about this particular nest location.
I discouraged her at first, pulling out the bits of moss, dried leaves, and twigs for a couple of days. Then one day I was away from the house for most of the day. That evening, when I checked the newspaper box, I found this:
I didn't have the heart to interfere with the carefully crafted, dense, tunnel-like nest. After all, she might be ready to lay her eggs, and I know just what it is like to be close to delivery and just barely having one's nest prepared.
The newspaper delivery man must have seen the nest because he has kindly bagged our newspaper each day, whether it was raining or not, and deposited it on the ground under the mailbox.
Isn't that kind?
One of Katie's birthday gifts was a set of Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, a gift which each child gets when he or she reaches the age of not oversharpening and thereby utterly destroying one half of a high-quality pencil in moments. (Some of you might know that improper sharpening can disintegrate one of these soft-leaded pencils.) Oh, and an adult, real sketchbook in her favorite color, red.
Not that we haven't had a communal collection of better quality colored pencils for years (I tell you, I indulged in a big, expensive set when my oldest was only five. It seemed like the Charlotte Mason nature study thing to do. Shhhhh. And she learned to care for them. As we added children, I added pencils, and taught them to care for pencils.) But there's just something about owning your very own set.
It was high time for Katie. As a third child, she's experienced a good share of using and enjoying the collective family's games, crafts, and other supplies, but she needs things that are her very own, as we all do.
She'll treasure the pencils and the sketchbook for a long time, and when those are used up, they'll be replaced.
I'm not sure how to blog again after so much time away, but something about it being my Katie's birthday today and feeling like I'm waking up again after a long relocation process puts blogging on my radar.
It's June, my third child turns *nine - 9 - NINE!* today, I'm feeling more alive than I have in months (16+), and reclaiming restoration places for myself. This is one of my favorites.
The home, property, and surrounding local in which we've landed is a restorative sactuary for me (and my family). I'm amazed at God's forethought about every detail, and that in itself is healing.
This day we're soaking in birthday goodness and celebrating our sweet Katie's day of birth.
In the coming days, I might just find myself back here tidying up and loosing words that have been contained for so very long.