Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hyatt Lake, Oregon

We had a lovely weekend celebrating a birthday and fishing! 
Hyatt Lake is a great place!

Lots of laughs and fish!
We were all having too much fun to take lots of pictures. 
And some subjects were not cooperative!
Hunting, fishing, drawing and music occupied my every moment. 
Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them. 

~ John James Audubon





Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Oregon Garden

We enjoyed a beautiful Tuesday at the Oregon Garden. What a lovely place!

I had hoped to walk downtown Silverton and swing into the Mt. Angel Abbey for a breath of peace, but it was not to be. That's okay.

You don't choose your family, 
they are God's gift to you, 
as you are to them.

~ Desmond Tutu

 Blessed is the servant who loves his brother  as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and can be of service to him.  And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face.  

~St Francis of Assisi


The richness I achieve comes from Nature, 
the source of my inspiration.

~ Claude Monet

There is no peace that cannot be found in the present moment.

~ Tasha Tudor

Changes are afoot around here. More details soon, but we are actively seeking peace in the present moment, and it's good.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Voting?



In the car yesterday:

Brother: Mom, what do the signs with peoples names on them mean?

Mom:
It is an election year. They want you to vote for them in November.
 

Brother: Who will you vote for? 

Mom: I don't know yet. I don't really like either choice. I'm ready, to just not vote.

Sister forgets her book and pipes up:


I'll tell you what! We need another Teddy Roosevelt...and that means we'd eventually get another Eleanor Roosevelt. We need an Eleanor. 

Teddy was Eleanor's uncle and she was raised by the Roosevelt family after both her parents passed away. She met future President Franklin when she was just two years old and he four years old.

Mom: Exactly.
 

Brother: ...and that means we'll get to sit on the roof and own a green snake. 
 


I had to do some research to figure out brother was talking about in regards to the roof and snake. The kids read more books than I do these days! This is what I found out:

Eleanor's Diary June 29th, 1940

Several hundred young people were sitting on the roof ready to go off in search of jobs. Job hunting in pairs is a new technique. It is easier to do when you are covering stores and factories in the neighborhood, with the idea of soliciting jobs for the whole group, for you are talking for all and not yourself alone.

Teddy Roosevelt, uncle to Eleanor, had a green snake named Emily Spinach she very much enjoyed.




Looking for a book this election year? Recommending:

Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne



Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of 

Celestial fire Called Conscience.

~ George Washington









Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart. Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints on your heart. 

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

If only this were easy to do! 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Weekend Wanderings

Will you come with me, sweet Reader? 
 I thank you. Give me your hand. 

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood




Friar Tucks Forest awaits...
Overheard from a green and brown clad 7 year old Robin Hood:
I'd rather be at Lego Land.
Not these two boys....
Nor, apparently these two young gents.
 
This is the oath of a Knight of King Arthur's Round Table and should be for all of us to take to heart. I will develop my life for the greater good. I will place character above riches, and concern for others above personal wealth, I will never boast, but cherish humility instead, I will speak the truth at all times, and forever keep my word, I will defend those who cannot defend themselves, I will honor and respect women, and refute sexism in all its guises, I will uphold justice by being fair to all, I will be faithful in love and loyal in friendship, I will abhor scandals and gossip-neither partake nor delight in them, I will be generous to the poor and to those who need help, I will forgive when asked, that my own mistakes will be forgiven, I will live my life with courtesy and honor from this day forward.

Thomas Malory
Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table 





Saturday, September 8, 2012

Pay Back Time...

I put my parents through many seasons of rain on the sidelines. I guess it's time to pay my dues. Brother had his first soccer game today and he loved it all. They lost, but they won. They really won.







I know I'm his mama, but I'm awful proud and he's a natural if you ask me!

Friday, September 7, 2012

Fish or Cut Bait

We had us a week. I cannot fully describe it, if I were to try. School formally began. We suffered school. Thank heavens for Friday.

In spite of myself, I hauled us fishing. They should have been bent over a desk this afternoon for the week we had.

We didn't catch a thing; it was 93 degrees, but we had us some sorely needed laughs.


 The phrase "rebait" rang out often. 
Sister is not willing to handle fish eggs. 
Brother obliged.

 They practised casting all afternoon. 
Surprisingly, they are quite good at it!
Nary a bite.
 A fishing fairy?
Then it was time to cool off and eat corn. Thank heavens for Friday!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Acedia, Kathleen Norris, Me and a New School Year


I'm not into depression. Don't have much patience for it. I'm more of a “I think I can, I think I can” girl. So what's a girl to do when joy ain't coming around much and she has no name for what she's experiencing?

I will ponder Acedia and Me for a long while yet. It took me a month to chew through it. Digest. Ponder. Question. Norris speaks what we do not know how to say and are so rarely willing to ponder, much less discuss. Darkness. Sin. Death. Loss. Grief. She reminds us our anger is often caring about the wrong things. Acedia? Our lack of care for the right things.

For a seed to propagate it must rupture, and in the words of the prophet Isaiah, only those who truly mourn are able to receive “a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.” Isaiah 61:3

For grace to be grace, it must give us things we didn't know we needed and take us to places where we didn't want to go. As we stumble through the crazily altered landscape of our lives, we find that God is enjoying our attention as never before. And maybe that's the point.

I'm embracing a new tomorrow. A new school year is beginning. I'm praying to set a table morning, noon, and night for loving attentiveness to God, to my spouse, and to my children. To cultivate listening. She who listens, loves. She who loves, learns. She who learns has wings, to soar.

We need John Bunyan's pilgrim to remind us that we have access to the tools that will set us free. We need Dante to lead us through the dark wood, and beyond.

The dark wood of our souls. Humanity at its' worst in you, and in me. But there's hope. There is a gift that is useful, and there is a grief that is destructive. The first sort consists of weeping over one's own faults and weeping over the weakness of one's neighbors, in order not to destroy one's purpose, and attach oneself to the perfect good. But there is also a grief that comes from the enemy, full of mockery, which some call accidie. This spirit must be cast out, mainly by prayer and psalmody. ~ Amma Syncletica

Fear and anger stalk me on my worst days. They consume and wipe me clean of energy and joy. I become hyper aware of those who can hurt me. I desire to embrace stillness. I want to tend time. Attend time. Daily living, what needs to be done. Rising above. Living below.

Perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning “do it again” to the sun; and every evening “do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. ~ G.K. Chesterton 

So let me embark upon this new year endeavoring to never tire of living, loving, and learning. But, when days arrive and my spirit is filled with the temptation of accidie let me remember: Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer has become impossible and (my) heart has turned to stone. ~ Thomas Merton

I will most certainly be filled this year, to the portion that I'm willing to be emptied out.
  Devil's Punchbowl at low tide, Oregon