Last rides of the season

Took the girls for a spin on the bike. I would have loved to go further but they got cold and needed to come home for a hot chocolate. Being that there is two of them, I got two rides in today. It was nice to be back on the bike.

Bugaboo Creek

I believe we have eaten our last meal at Bugaboo Creek.

After raking and teaching a lovely group of Brownies how to knit, I decided to "pull myself some slack" (a saying from the littlest one), and have us go out for dinner. The email delivered a Bugaboo coupon so off we went.

My litany:
The food was too salty.
They sat us at a table that had one of those obnoxious lights that would periodically shine. If there had been a talking animal to go with it, I probably wouldn't mind. But all that happened was the scowl on my husband's face creased deeper.
The noise was deafening.
My children are no longer part of that noise. My children were very well behaved and didn't even need parental help coloring or with the word search. Darn!

The ambiance was so horrid, before the girls finished their dessert I walked out to the car to wait.

When I mentioned going out to dinner, the girls mentioned the Melting Pot. I laughed at them, yeah right. I should have listened.

27 bags and raking...

We have a small front yard; maybe 40 feet across and 30 feet in depth. And even if I let the kids out there to play, it's not big enough for kickball or baseball, or even tag. Small. But what we do have out there is one gigantic pine tree that, so far, has dropped 27 lawn bags of pine needles.

As I was out there raking, a little bit each day for the past week, I was wondering when did lawns became vogue. When did some intelligent person have the notion that planting and then manicuring a monocotyledon was the way to go. And what group of individuals said, "Hey that guy, (it had to be a guy), has the right idea." Why not leave all these pine needles where they fall? If you kick away the sticky pine cones, they are soft underfoot. And no mowing...

I have a little bit of front yard left to clean up. Probably another 9 bags worth. (Without taking any seats out, I can fit nine bags in the back of my Suburban.) Then it's on to the big fenced in backyard. Where once the lovely maple leaves fall from our wonderful sugaring trees, they can't blow out. We mulch and composite the back 40. I would hate to think about how many bags that would be, annually; probably hundreds.

Kindness

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tse

The Wall

My middle one had the homework assignment to write a poem for Veteran's Day. A bit stymied, I joined her on the kitchen floor for a brainstorming session. A bowl of Halloween candy between us, we talked about imagery and what I believe the whole writing process is about. In the end, I came up with a poem of my own. The funny thing was... in the end, she was done, her assignment completed and I was still sitting there working away.

Carved into God’s own earth, the black end scar that will not heal.
Adrift, a soldier, in faded ‘form, pauses;
reflecting an honor honed in his brothers’ black blood.
Their names etched before him.

Bombs silent for an age, rain down on this soldier’s dreams.
An unwelcome war, an ungrateful nation.
Grandchildren beside him, the yellow rose of peace extended.
Burned, he cannot enjoy its sweet scent.

His wounds for freedom, caustic and taught,
camouflaged by society’s canvas, do not heal.
Bent and worn, the black scar pierces God’s own men,
Forever Defenders of our nation’s freedom.

And Happy Birthday to me...

I am so tired. Not from celebrating the big 49 event, not by any means. The day came, and the day went running from one appointment to event to the next.

Just tired... run here, pull that argument apart there, crazy stuff. But today is stained glass class so in a few minutes I'll head out and try not to cut myself handling the sharp edges of glass, and all those pointy bits. Glass is a lot like life. I think I need to spend sometime at the beach being tossed by the surf. Maybe then some of my life's rough edges will be smoothed and bearable.

Happy Birthday - To My Baby

The moment I saw you, I loved you.
More than life itself, I love you.
And I love you more and more each day.

Happy Birthday my precious precious girl.

Drop Off Pick Up

Today is a early release day, (school is out at 1 instead of 3 PM) made earlier by a doctor's appointment in Boston. I sent an email out yesterday to the little one's teacher:

My lovely will be picked up at 9:45. Yes that's right 45 minutes after the official start of school.

But the truth be told she has Chinese at 8 AM so really she will be at school 1 hour and 45 minutes before she has to make the trek with her sister and me into the big children's hospital in the city.

Yes, I know I could have arranged a playdate, so when the early release bell rings and I'm not there to get her, she would have a place to go. But today she'll get to meet her sister's doctors, see the pretty art work on the walls, and maybe if we make good time go out to lunch.