In my Jersey youth, Summer lasted longer than it does now. I mourn that every August. It seems unfair to be back to a schedule when there is still so much summer left. But, c'est la vie...I need to suck it up and whine less, and wine more beer less, embrace routine, unpack the suitcase, keep food in the fridge, put the piles away that accumulated while I was home for one or two days at a time and just threw things on any horizontal surface, get some new pens, do laundry since bathing suits are not appropriate daily wear now that we are scheduled, clean out the car, mow, get a haircut, get up to an alarm because someone needs to get to team practice, navigate around people I do not want to see, sit in the car and wait for everyone else, blah blah blah blah blah.
But this new year will bring me back to some good things routine provides: I will be writing and visiting blogs again (I've Really Missed You!!!), adding new pieces to my Etsy shop, exercising, seeing my kids shine when they do what they love at the end of the school day, going to farmer's market and the apple orchard, enjoying sushi Wednesdays with The BirdMan, and who knows what all else.
It all started yesterday. I kept the schedule I needed to keep during the first half of the day. Then I looked around at the mess around the house and declared "We are school shopping today!" and shut the door to the mess. Re-entry in baby steps. Too hard to dive right in. After getting clothes and shoes for the kids, I got a computer for myself~you all heard about my woes at the start of the summer~I did a lot of research this summer and settled on a Chromebook. It seems like it will fit the limited ways I use a computer. Here's Hoping!
Trying out a few things here...testing my computer after getting it "fixed" (but still getting something new sometime hopefully soon!)...and taking photos from my phone and putting them on the computer. Radical, I know, but I have never done it before.
These are pictures from Trout Lake, St. Lawrence County, NY. (I caught the biggest fish of the trip!). Those windows are our bedroom for the week. 10 windows all around the bed. Paradise!
I cannot believe how much I miss blogging! Thanks to you all for helping me feel that way :-)
That I am here at all is a challenge met...still no computer. Begging, stealing, borrowing wherever I go, just to check e-mails and post occasionally on Facebook. I am done trying to make sense again of the old and ready to buy a brand new something...Asus, HP, maybe venture over to Apple? The timing of my computer's demise is good, though...I always like to unplug in the summer, so I have that going for me :-) This was my only official summer blog obligation, so after this, who knows when I will be back. Ahhh, the sweet lure of Summer...a time to tune out and check in with nature. Kayaking, swimming, lounging, sleeping, reading...long lazy days of summer :-)
But I digress...The Black and White Challenge Hosted by Sally...Thanks for the push, Sally!
I cannot figure out how to edit on the computer I am currently borrowing so I cannot crop or rotate the photos. C'est la Vie. The black rows are square stitch. The center white row is peyote. I added the pearls and laced them all together. I really like how this turned out!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Here is a list of Participants...go check out their B & W goodness!
My computer is kaput. I am not entirely sure how often I will be blogging because of this, so I will see ya when I see ya.
I will check in on FaceBook once or twice a day (because I am an addict)...and will check e-mail once a day too...thankfully the girls have a computer I can use for those purposes. It took me too long to write this so I am not so sure I will use theirs for blogging.
I think there is a glass of Whiskey with my name on it!
Summer is here which means I won't be on the computer all that much. I will do my best to post once a week, but even that might be too much for me. Just the word "Summer" conjures up childhood and carefree days. It evokes the thoughts of long journeys and wide-eyed exploration. It means never knowing where you might wake up in the morning because of the lack of schedule. And it feels like that good weary waterlogged sensation from so many hours spent in the water. There were several summers, after college, that I worked out in the real world. Those summers were tough. We made the most of those weekends, though :-) Then came this stay-at-home-Mom gig and Real Summer came flooding back into my life. I enjoy every moment of this seemingly open-ended time of year. So to kick off the down time, I am featuring a necklace I had no idea meant summer to me until I wrote all this just now. I made it on Tuesday. It is a spiral rope of greens and gold and purple. I was sure it was going to be plain...no extras. Then a bulb went off...Lampwork! I looked through my stash and found several beads to go with it. But I found that I could not commit to any of them. Then I thought in an odd unsure voice, "Polymer?" And these Gypsy Trade Beads ~ from the hands of Erin Fickert-Rowland of Elysian Studios Art~ slid onto the thread and it was a very unexpected but truly welcome choice. The word Gypsy and the colors of the meandering rope all seem Summer to me...with a slight hint of very early Fall, but let's not worry about that yet!
*Appreciate what you have. Want for less...unless it is beads or music.
Rain. I guess today is a day to be thankful for it. The state I love the most is on fire again. And here we are getting hit with wave after wave of rain. But today, I am ok with the rain.
And I am ok with my speck of a house. Because I have one and it is still standing. It has not burned in forest fires or been sent into splinters by tornadoes.
*Appreciate what you have. Want for less...unless it is beads or music.
My house is itty bitty and only has one bathroom but it has a front porch, so that is all that really matters to me.
Manhattans, coffee, guacamole, ice cream, red red wine, pancakes, beading, reading, deep conversations, funny stories, long deep silences, The Bug practicing her violin...it is all so much better on the front porch.
When I was growing up, my family had a summer bungalow with a fantastic screened in front porch, 8 rocking chairs, a glider and a chaise lounge. The perfect time on that porch was in the rain with a book. I would rock for hours and read and listen to the rain. But really, any time was the perfect time when I was on that porch. The back porch was screened in as well and had a huge table with benches. I am not sure how many people we could cram around that table. It seemed like it extended and shrunk according to how many people were there. It had a door to the kitchen, and a great serving window to the kitchen. My bedroom had a window which opened onto the back porch...most convenient since there was a bed on the porch too and my boyfriends would sleep on it when they were staying over. I could go on about that house and those porches, but it is a tender subject for me and I have a lot to get done today, so I do not want to get too emotional right now.
When I first heard this song in the early 90s, it instantly took me to the front porch I grew up on. It is still a favorite of mine. Oh Lyle...you know how to do it for me ;-)
And during the winter months, when porch season seems so. far. away., I listen to this exact version while I make dinner and sing it LOUD. Lyle's co-writer on this one, REK, has a totally different take on the same exact song. And it is the version I need when the weather is 20degrees, snow and ice...fun, lighthearted, pickin' and grinnin'.
What is your favorite, comforting place in your house, or houses or your past?
*Appreciate what you have. Want for less...unless it is beads or music.
