medial // caesura

This year when decorating the house for Christmas, the boys assured me they were much older and could handle the fragile ornaments usually relegated to adults.  So I let my seven- and eight-year-old take the delicate beauties from Mawmaw, who had retrieved them from the boxes, and hang them on the tree.  The result was a Bermuda triangle front and center where we had a parade of antique wooden ornaments, angels clumped with angels, and snowman families happily hanging together.  Individual beauty was lost, but the arrangement told a story of their imaginations and accomplishment at being able to hang the eggs handblown by my mother when I was their age.  The problem was the tree leaned forward, tilting toward their eager hands and busy minds. So once they went to sleep, I did what my mother always did and redecorated the tree.  They were dismayed (when I read this to the older one, he corrected me by saying they were actually appalled) upon awaking the next m...

"Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless." Thomas Edison In yesterday's daily phone conversation, my mom was disappointed because I had not posted pictures of Knox and Ben in costume from Friday night trunk-or-treating.  Let me preface the photos by explaining that Knox made his costume.  He was Yoda, and he colored a sheet of yellow construction paper for his mask, making jagged holes by hand for eyes and mouth.  He used curling ribbon to secure it to his head.  He even picked out clothes that looked like something that Yoda would really wear-- under his Jedi robe.  He did it all himself without instruction or help, AND he hated it. "It doesn't look at all like I wanted it to!" was his lament and then the question, "Why don't things turn out the way you planned?" That, my son, is the million-dollar question. I saved the mask before he scrapped it in the trash, and with the hel...

  Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.  Oliver Sacks "Boys, tell you father what you did today," I offered casually over the dinner table, hoping to hear descriptions of nature that resonated with my recollection: sunlight shivering the yellow of the elm and sugar maple, the wind shaking out the leaves to compete with the waterfall's melody.  "We climbed a broken wall and jumped over a brick wall that had fallen into the water." And that is how they will remember today's field trip.  What I'll remember though are their expressions, their laughter, the way Ben said, "I love homeschooling.  This is so much fun."  and Knox, "We've had three side trips and we've barely started the trail.  This is great!"  I'll remember the picture Ben took (below right) of the trees and his "ladder vine" and how Knox described the trees...

"In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.  Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for eyes to see the sun."  Ecclesiastes 11:6-7 I'm sure you've seen the Hampton Inn commercial advertising the breakfast buffet--the staff member watches a guest make a waffle with the flipping waffle iron:  "You did a good job.  That looks great."  Just one of those feel-good moments one experiences at the Hampton Inn. We had the occasion to stay at the Hampton Inn twice this summer.  And one morning I attempted to use the waffle iron (I had not yet seen the commercial and didn't know that it must be rotated for the timer to work).  The staff member came over and cajoled me.  "You didn't know to flip it.  Oh, no.  I bet your young child here could make a better waffle than you.  Here out of the way.  I will cook it for ...

  Sometimes you have to wait & see what it is going to do, but with time you learn the weeds from the flowers.  --Mama Judah I have enjoyed gardening at our new home; the soil is crazy fertile, and the climate is conducive to both flowers and vegetables.  Our corn and green beans shot up with little effort, and I've had jars brimming with zinnias brightening my kitchen all summer long.  Since the gardens were filled with beauty before we moved in, I've had to wait a bit between growing seasons to find out if some perennial planted before my time is sprouting or if the leafy seedlings I'm witnessing with anticipation are just weeds. The news is filled with various perspectives, mostly disturbing with often alarming predictions.  Each news outlet has its own bias about who is to blame for what.  With so much going on right now,  in Iraq and Syria, mysterious plane crashes, escalating tension/violence in Russia and Ukraine, what does one make of i...

Psalm 131:2 "But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." "Mommy, I would say these are the best cookies that you ever made, but every time they get better, so your next ones will be even better than these."  Ben, age 6 What an encourager our youngest son is and so kind-hearted.  I love being around children.  I see why my teacher friends do what they do despite all the red tape, the testing, the headaches.  I see, too, why Jesus said, "Let the children come to me for to such belongs the kingdom of God." This week of Vacation Bible School has been so much fun.  Watching the children enjoy praising God has fed my soul.   As we watched the video of Yancy, the performer, on our VBS DVD, one of the little girls said, "She really loves God, you can tell."  I wonder if that can be said about me by those observing me when I'm not on "display" leading t...

Day 1 is 3 gifts I love :  water, adventure, my boys Knox is petting a brown-banded bamboo shark Day 2 is 3 gifts I've read:       1.  the power of language and beauty from Crow by Ted Hughes the poem  "Crow Goes Hunting" Crow Decided to try words. He imagined some words for the job, a lovely pack-- Clear-eyed, resounding, well-trained, With strong teeth. You could not find a better bred lot. He pointed out the hare and away went the words Resounding. Crow is Crow without fail, but what is a hare? It converted itself to a concrete bunker. The words circled protesting, resounding, Crow turned the words into bombs--they blasted the bunker. The bits of bunker flew up--a flock of starlings Crow turned the words into shotguns, they shot down the starlings. The falling starlings turned to a cloudburst. Crow turned the words into a reservoir, collecting the water. The water turned into an earthquak...