I’m starting to see glimpses of Halloween decor, conversations around back to school, and I am no where near ready or frankly willing to let summer slip by so quickly. These days are feeling suddenly very sweet and manageable after June found me out of sorts. We love summertime here in Stillwater. The Queen Anne’s Lace is starting to appear along the ditches. I’ve noticed some sunflowers here and there. Our days are still long. I wake to bird song or Astro rearranging himself, and even at five thirty there’s a faint lightness in the sky.
I think we probably over scheduled ourselves a bit this summer. I talked about this in my entry about summer homeschooling. I certainly overdid it on camps this year. The kids complained that the VBS they attended in June, “forgot the sign of the cross.” They crack me up, and I am so grateful to their excellent religious education, Catechesis of The Good Shepherd (CGS). We’ve had many beautiful conversations about God and Jesus this summer, sometimes the depth of their inquiries stump or surprise me. I love their wonder for the Divine.
I’ve been abuzz thinking about revamping our family vision and values statement. Five years ago, Seth and I created one as prompted by The Marriage Journal. I recently finished reading a great book called The Family Virtues Guide by Linda Kavelin Popov. It’s excellent, and goes through many individual virtues in depth. I’m hoping to draw on it heavily as we work on shaping our statement. I find deep meaning and intention in these exercises and working to create a home rooted in healthy culture which includes the teaching of and passing down of imperative values. I’m thinking we might choose a specific virtue each month to focus on during the school year. I’m also starting to plan Priscilla’s homeschool term celebration dinner and our annual back to school feasts. These little celebrations bring me such joy. I love that they often are so simple, but are the things our kids tend to really, truly remember.
We’ve started attending our local farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. We like to walk, scooter, and stroller on down there. It’s just a very charming market without lots of fuss. I like that they can walk around on their own visiting with vendors. The kids love the homemade ice cream bar stand, and we usually get a treat at the end. Surprised by my energy this pregnancy we’ve been cooking our usual delicious summer fare: BLTS on thick sourdough with homemade mayo (after many frustrated attempts I realized I was attempting to make with cold eggs from the fridge, lesson learned!) with the fixings lined up on my enamel serving dish, chicken Caesar salad with thick dressing (also homemade, my emulsion blender comes in handy these days), custard-based vanilla ice cream that is delectable, steak date nights with mushrooms with meat from our favorite Wisconsin food emporium, I’m using the ends of sourdough to make croutons for lush salads, homemade trail mix with dried strawberries and pistachios that sometimes doubles for granola, and tons of eggs. Everyone likes their eggs differently these days: LJ still wants an over easy egg white, Teddy prefers hard boiled, and the boys love sharing a big pan of just barely done scrambled eggs with me. I’m lamenting that our beloved chickens, Tupac and Biggie, have gone on to glory. On the eve of Penny’s birth two years ago they became victims of the semi suburban predator, a red fox. When Seth had finished cleaning up after Penny’s home birth he snuck outside to smoke a cigar in the early hours of the morning and watched the fox sneak back, looking for more. I love that story so much, Seth always seems to have these fun adventures, storytelling moments really, hours after we have a baby. I’m wondering what will occur after this little one’s birth. The veil between human and natural world, God and man seems oh so thin then. I just love it.
Likely I’ll go into more depth about this later, but I’ve started sewing this summer. I am finding so much joy in it and after remembering patterns so unbearably frustrating as a teenager, I am loving them now. So far I’ve made the girls each a dress, and am working on jumpsuits for the boys now. I also sewed up the birthday crowns for Priscilla and Penny’s celebration. My biggest issue is finding affordable, well made and beautiful fabric. I can sew pretty quickly, and patterns are very reasonable, but my taste in fabric is in line with my taste for everything else: high quality. Oh, the burden of cultivating good taste. I’ve heard the best source for affordable linen is to just get a linen flat sheet. If I attempt that I’ll be sure to bring you along on the journey, dear reader.
As of today (July 23rd is when I’m writing this), I have just over one hundred subscribers– thank you for being here, and mostly for reading. I’m so certain that all of us, especially me, do best with more distance from the over stimulating, somewhat troubling “socials.” I’m relishing in this revival of Web 2.0 even if it’s an endeavor I’ll take alone. Leaving you with a delightful quote from my Mother Academia reading:
“So her life was full of sunshine, for in toiling for the lord and had found the hidden sweetness that in common things lies stored.”
-Francesca Alexander
