Leaves

In the deep fall
don't you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of air and the endless
freshets of wind?

~ Mary Oliver, excerpt from Song for Autumn
in New and Selected Poems, Volume Two

I know that Christmas season is here in full swing, but I need to reflect one more minute on leaves.  You know, the billowy pile of Maple, Oak, and Sweet Gum leaves at your curb or in your neighborhood.  Yes, the ones you walk by or run through or kick or leap into shamelessly.  Wait, you don't?  It's not snow, but oh I have a weakness for leaves.  The smell, the crunch, the colors, the appeal.  And piles of leaves are one of the best sources of entertainment that should have been included as item #6 in this article.
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Alex and I spent many a day in Pennsylvania in the past month tending to family.  One warm sunny Saturday, we took a break by going on a nature stroll.

I expected that we would return with pockets billowing of leaves and gum balls, rocks, twigs, and berries.  But how I love to watch plans change into unexpected adventures.


Speaking of love, I love this view. This tug. 

And prancing down a quiet street full of a fading sun.

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Our adventure took a shift when we found a small pile of leaves that gathered by itself at a curve. Then Alex gave me the Cheshire grin and came straight at me with an armful of giggling ammo. 

And in that exact moment of Cat & Mouse, we decided to create our own pile of leaves.  And what I discovered while I raked leaves?  We didn't need to wander far to have hours of fun.

Exhibit A: Rock. Rocks are fun.  Seriously, a seat, a jungle gym, a launching pad.

Exhibit B: Glorious leaves.

Understand the community where my in-laws live pays to have the leaves gathered and removed, so making a pile is absurd.  (Our absurdity had nothing to do with disposal people. Get over it.)


Pounce

And in that moment of rolling, jumping, burying, and chasing, time stopped.


She reminds me that I need to be idle and blessed, especially during this Christmas season.  

And I am. 

Hooky

A few weeks ago, I played hooky from work in order to spend a quality day of goofing-off with my dear friend Shannon at the Maryland Zoo.  The timing was perfect: a) It was my first day in weeks to walk away from work without the overwhelming pressure of deadlines, b) I was given free admission tickets by my local Managing Partner, and c) God gave us a day full of sun, blue skies, mild temperatures and space to run wild.  

Nate is growing up so fast.  He's no longer a baby, but a partner in crime.  Alex enjoys the shift.

::The zoo is full of the obvious, but it's a pleasure to see the excitement through a child's eyes.  There's a fascination of watching your child timidly feed a giraffe some lettuce, observe a baby elephant lumber around, or yell at the polar bears in hopes of waking them up.  It fills you with joy and pride.

And somehow, the smallest inhabitants of the zoo, the frogs, left the two of them speechless.

I will admit that I have a fondness for the primates, which must be a result of spending days of my childhood at The Philadelphia Zoo (they still have the most amazing primate section!).

:: Discovery comes in all sizes.  A pinecone catches Nate's attention in the petting zoo.

My friend Christina and I recently agreed that we feel more aware of life, more grateful of the changing seasons, & appreciative of simple blessings since bearing children.  

As if the clarity and brightness on each picture of life is sharper and bolder.  

My heart is thankful every day for this journey.

~this moment~ letting your hair down

Make over, comb over.  It doesn't matter.  Just enjoying each other's company.

{this moment} -  A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via SouleMama

Bring me a Bucket (List)

I came across a post entitled "You are Already Naked" on the blog Dig This Chick, and Nici talked about how Today's Mama is challenging people to come up with 15 items on their bucket list. So, I took the bait because honestly I like lists.  Not shopping lists, but goals.  I like to think about goals, to work towards them, to achieve them, and more importantly to change or remove them.  I'm a big believer that life is an adventure in evolution, and a bucket list is one of those ways to help us become who we want to be.  So anyway, here are 15 items off the top of my head in no particular order:

1) Get a culinary degree. (This has been on my list since college, but I'll take an overall degree instead of an emphasis in fine baking.)

2) Visit New Zealand with my daughter and husband and good friends who are from the country.

3) Get a motorcycle license.

4) RV in a retro Airstream across the country.

5) Learn to play guitar.

6) Learn to crochet.

7) Try snowboarding.

8) Go to a lodge in the middle of winter.  Exhaust myself with the best sledding/tubing around and then recover in front of a roaring fire with a good book or good company.

9) Visit Salzburg, Austria and sing "The Sound of Music" while twirling on a green mountain top.

10) Continually find inspiration in the everyday.

11) Take Alex back to Baker, Oregon and show her the family house still on the Oregon Trail. Teach her about our heritage as settlers, cowboys, and gold miners.

12) Learn to preserve food.

13) Make Cheese from scratch.  Feta & Mozzarella. 

14) Learn to weld. Yes, I want to learn all sorts of ways to fuse metal. 

15) Always feed my desire to constantly learn and grow as a person, as a human being, as a mother and wife, as a friend and family member.

Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Interested? Head over to Today's Mama to get the details.

~this moment~ my fairy

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via SouleMama

Boo

Halloween.  I always liked it, but when you have a kid, it's like having a hall pass.  Everything is fun - seasonal crafts, baking, picking pumpkins.  I'll admit that I'm bad about the candy, and Ben and I have been "training" our bellies for weeks.  When I was first pregnant, I remember putting on 13 pounds like that (snap!).  It might have been the hormones, but I think the cauldron of candy 10 paces from my office door had something to do with it too!  Moving on...


Alex was in to Halloween this year.  How could she not, seeing that she dresses up every day?  Of course, I had a premonition that she would not wear anything that I would make from hand. Alex is three with a decisive thoughts, and her #1 dress flexes with the tide.  I just knew if I slaved over a costume and she didn't wear it, my blood would boil and next thing I would be "bad mommy."  And you know what, my hunch came true.  


We were rushing to dress her before the neighborhood kids arrived at my house.  New Dorothy shoes arrived on time - check.  Rufus in the basket - check.  Clean Dorothy dress that someone else made and I scored at our consignment shop - check.  Argument about having to wear a leotard and tights underneath to keep her warm - check.  And that's when it got really messy.  


All Alex wanted to wear is a well-loved, ratty fairy dress with missing sleeves. And if I won the battle about the leotard, I knew that I had to sway with her.  It was loud, but I caved.

As you can see, Rufus (her dog playing Toto) and the basket were left at home in lieu of Greeny and the Dorothy shoes made the cut. 
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In our neighborhood,  we have much more than just houses. 

We have the dock neighbors too.

Thanks Dave for making the dock a special place to visit!

It's was a new experience to walk your child around at dusk on a dock without a life vest. 

Ben and I felt insecure watching them toddle up and down the docks - it's like shoving your kid in the car and not belting them into their car seats on purpose.  The sensation gnaws at you.  We made jokes.  And I thought about how we all survived with our parents letting us roam around the back of cars and how they drank and smoked during pregnancy.  And I knew that it would be fine.

Of course, it was a neighbor's stoop, not the docks, that caused Alex to tumble face first.  


And for only visiting 6 boats and 10 houses, these kids' buckets were brimming.  I guess you could say that the neighbors are thrilled to have a younger generation around. 

 Happy Halloween you silly goose.  I think you'll love the dress-up dress I'll make you for Christmas.  xo

Falling

I was reading my friend's blog the other night, and thoughts lingered on her desire to extend October for a few more months. I get it.  I'm right there.  I'm digging my heels in at the end of each day, hoping to pull back on progression.  The month is the last thread to mild days, to this past summer, and to my child's innocent growth - the time where she's no longer a baby, but not yet a student. Alive, interactive, present, and engaging. I am living in the now. 

I love fall.  It stretches way beyond the shift of the season - beyond the squirreling of treasured acorns and leaves (and if you could see my front table, you would see our building treasure).  There's something frenzied and busy about the fall activities.  And I simply love it.  It's exhausting, distracting, but so enticing.  My mind stumbles away from each weekend, dizzy from the sheer pleasure of it all - making me want to go back again and again. It's a twisty swing ride. A hangover of joy.

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Only preserving going on in this kitchen is bottling up a bit of this - My girl.  She loves the kitchen, especially being right under my feet, in my business - Measuring, cracking, rolling, creating.

And does it make her happy.

Our kitchen is hopping - soups, pumpkin bread, carmel apples, warm cider, and shaped pancakes. The pancakes are a huge hit, and it's really easy if you use a squeeze bottle with thinned batter; just outline your shape and fill.  

It's a tradition that Ben's dad started way back when, but I remember my first cake.  Ben made me bunny cake back when we were first dating, camping in Florida on spring break; I was hooked on the tradition but more so on the boy.  What a charming sentiment. I get why Alex now wants pancakes every day.

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We have visited a lot of local festivals this fall.  The first one at Kinder Farm Park.  Their festival included a petting zoo, hay rides, moon bounces, pumpkin painting, square dancing, and corn chucking.  Yes, a piece of corn is hurled out of a pressurized pipe cannon, intending to hit targets far in a field.  

We were there for hours, relaxing, letting the kids float between the events and the multi-level playgrounds.  I got a hand cut silhouette of Alex, Nancy noshed on funnel cake, and the kids got high on sugar.

They were ridiculous.

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Next festival was in south county at Greenstreet Gardens.  It didn't look like much when we rolled up to the garden center, but HOLY.  I want to go back!

It started with a hayride back to the fall festival area. This sign set the mood…

And after emerging from a haunted barn and ride through the woods, we came to a scenic mecca land for all things fun.

What you're looking at is a beautiful hillside that hides a large, underground slide.  And as each kid descends, they yell just to hear their voices vibrate in unison to their bouncing bodies.

And in the valley below, there is a corn maze, a hay maze (for the smaller kids), a pumpkin patch, sandboxes full of corn kernels, and the most amazing moon bounce I have ever experienced.

It was a 20'x30' rectangle that rose from the ground - no sides for protection - and everyone - little kids, larger kids, and adults - got a turn.

It was so much fun that Nancy and I laughed the entire time.  And if you had an adult jump right near you, you launched high above the surface; and usually came down in a graceless fall.

Enzo and Alex fell in love with this oversized sandbox (15' square) full of corn kernels. 

They were jumping, swimming, pouring, burying, burrowing, and laughing for a sold hour.  Who knew corn could be so much fun?


After 3 hours, the kids were so tired that they could barely stand or talk.  But it was FUN - fun like you remember as a young kid - vivid, challenging, sweaty, belly aching.  


Ben and I chatted about the experience all the way home about how Greenstreet will be a part of our ritual.  Alex will have crazy memories of going to this place year after year.  Have I convinced you to go yet?


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Lastly, I have to take the space to commend my Dad for being a strong man for the past 30 years, for testing himself, pushing his limits, sacrificing, and learning through loss.  I know that the journey has not been easy, and some days may be longer than others; but you're doing it a step at a time.  Thank you from the deepest corners of my heart.  Our lives forever changed because of you.