Wednesday, September 11, 2013

All Good

This is the week we look forward to all year.

Good friends, good food, good times.

Sitting by the fire, or the lake, reading a book or chatting with Ralph and Amy.  Playing Settlers of Catan every night.  We even have a list of who wins that dates back to 2010.  Seeing and hearing our children play with each other in the woods, in the lake, in the cabin.

We have our routines.  Games in their cabin, eating in mine.  Archery two times during the week, the voyager canoe at least once, swimming whenever it is warm.

It really is a highlight of our year.  A most relaxing, enjoyable week.

Good friends, good food, good times.

Friday, September 06, 2013

Silence

In the last week or more I have become aware of the silence.  No, not from my children, although they are old enough now to understand Mom's need for quiet sometimes and therefore tone down their "conversations" or take them outside.  That is, once I get their attention and remind them to do just that.

No, the silence is early in the morning when I awake.  There are no birds singing to me anymore.  It made me sad.  Although fall is my favorite season, I realized that morning when the migrated birds no longer were singing their wake-up calls, that I do not like that part of fall.

Our goldfinches still visit, but they are year-round visitors.  We will enjoy watching them change from their bright summer colors to their more muted ones of fall and winter.  We also still see hummingbirds come and feed.  I keep wondering when they will head south for their winter retreat.  I'm glad they are filling their tummies from our nectar.  It is fun to watch them flitter and fight with one another.

Well, for a time, morning silence.  Then in the spring once again I'll enjoy the songs and chatter of my returned feathered friends.  It reminds me of our liturgy where we bury the Alleluia for a time till it bursts forth in glorious splendor on Easter Sunday where we cannot sing or say it enough.

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Thinking and Pondering on Siblings

I used to wonder how people who grew up in the same house could be so different.  But I have five offspring of my own and it is quite clear to me now how this can be.

They are different individuals with their own likes, dislikes, tastes, and distastes.

Yes they have the same parents, but those parents aren't the same parents to each child.  They are different to their first child then their last child.  They are different to the child who is more responsible by nature than to the one who needs more supervision.  To the auditory- learning child, they tell them how to clean the toilet, while having the visual learner watch them clean it the first time in order to learn.  They are more cautious and worry more over little things with the first, but generally not as cautious as much with the last.  Worry stays, but changes with the child.

The house is different too, even if the family never moved.  More children often mean moving and rearranging to make the best use of rooms.  Or it just means there is more stuff and time management becomes an issue.  The neighborhood isn't the same either.  One child might not have any neighborhood kids his age while a younger sibling seems to be invited over all the time.

And the siblings.  The oldest never experiences having an older sibling and all the joys and pains there-in.  While the youngest never experiences having a younger sibling to teach, pester, and love.

Why, with all this, did I not understand how people who grow up in the same house can be so different?  Probably because I just never thought about it too closely.  But parenthood makes one think about a lot of things.  This just happens to be one I've been thinking and pondering lately.

Monday, September 02, 2013

Memories

Some days I miss Germany.  The places, the walking from here to there and back again, the sights, the smells.  Today it is this that I miss:



Doner Kebabs were one of our favorite lunches.  One day we will get back and enjoy another.  Till then, I'll just sigh, and remember how utterly delicious and filling this sandwich was.