Where did the time go?

Last rides of the season

2009-11-08T13:29:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-08T05:56:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-11-07T06:46:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-05T05:40:00.002-05:00

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

Lao Tse

The Wall

2009-11-04T06:47:00.008-05:00

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...

2009-11-03T08:49:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-30T05:46:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-29T05:36:00.002-05:00

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.

Yes, We're still here...

2009-10-28T04:58:00.004-05:00

Life is life these days. I am seriously considering putting a revolving door in the mudroom. And the icing on the cake is I'm sick. I know, moms aren't allowed to get sick. But this germ didn't read that rule. As of yesterday afternoon I seem to be winning the battle. And I'm seriously considering buying stock in whatever parent company makes Nyquil.

Seriously, that is a lot of serious consideration for one mom in one day. For being such a stern word, serious is pretty funny looking.

The Party's Over

2009-10-26T05:30:00.002-05:00

A mountain of dishes and a tub of pumpkin guts are all that remain.

A Question

2009-10-24T09:46:00.007-05:00

Every year we have a party around this time. Oh how I wish it were an adult party, for my friends, but it's for the kids and they invite 6 of their friends. Fourteen -- for the house plus the parents that stay, and we are almost to the sardine state.

And each year as classroom buddies ebb and flow, the invite list changes. This year there is a new girl. I called the house. I invited the girl and the mom replied, "Do you know she is a twin?"

I answered back, "Yes, I had heard that." Her twin is not in any classes with my child.

Silence.

Finally I add, "Please get back to me if your daughter can make it so we can make sure to have a pumpkin for her to carve and enough mini pumpkins for the pumpkin hunt."

Weeks pass, then this week I hear through the grape vine that they need our phone number, so I call. "Can your daughter come?"

"Yes she can. I'll drop her off before I take my other daughter back to college."

"Oh, I didn't know you had an older daughter."

"Yes, I have three; the twins and one in college."

She then has the whatever to ask, "Is the whole classroom invited?"

"No, our house is not that big, and each of my girls invite six friends."

Okay so I have a case of the guilts. Do I squeeze in one more? Really when chaos rules, what is one more...

But on the other hand, if one of my close in age daughters gets invited to a party I don't try to weasel an invite for the other. And there have been tears about who gets invited and who doesn't. "She's been to more parties than I have this year. Why can't I go too."

What I want to say is, "Sorry you had twins but... what..." Those of you who really don't know me and perhaps think I am always oh so nice and laid back, not quite. I don't like being bullied, especially when pumpkin carving is involved.

I think I like stained glass because it is a lot like writing.

2009-10-22T20:06:00.003-05:00

Tonight while I was cutting up the sky that surrounds the gulls, I was thinking about how much stained glass work is like writing.

Both start with a plan or at least a rough idea. Both have flexibility in plot and design. For writing the story takes over and the writer becomes the implementer of the pen. In glass the idea is there, but the color, the curve of the cut, and how it all fits together is a product of the process.

For both the first draft or cuts are rough, and only after rewriting and grinding away does the book and the stained glass creation come together. I think that is what I like about writing and stained glass, that something so rough and disjointed can come together and flow from one topic to texture to the next.

Kris -- do you recognize some of that glass...

Sometimes it's all pointy inside

2009-10-22T05:36:00.002-05:00

2009-10-21T18:22:00.006-05:00

It's up. It's down. It's back. It's forth.
Good, bad, in, out, day, night, asleep, awake, one, zero, winter, summer, hot, cold, happy, sad, birth and death.

Why is reflection more colorful than life itself?

It's all about tomorrow

2009-10-21T05:01:00.002-05:00

All year I've been planning the meal for tomorrow, my husband's birthday. For the entire summer I horded the rhubarb harvest to ensure there was enough for his birthday pie. My stash hidden in the freezer under the leftover seeds. I have been eying the last of the venison steaks with visions of candlelight and wine. Soft music playing in the background and a relaxed meal at the table. Tomorrow night I know what we are having for dinner: venison, "old rotten potatoes", salad, and birthday rhubarb pie.

The only problem is I have to come up with something for tonight's dinner before then...

Call Me Stupid

2009-10-20T04:34:00.003-05:00

I have this computer to set up for work. It's a high end hand me over. Tons of computing power, a monitor the rivals our TV and our neighbor's TV combined for size. Makes me feel a bit like Yurtle the Turtle.

In preparation of my new to me hardware I cleared off my desk, moved the laptop to the kitchen table (Yes, you're right. There are now two computers in the kitchen.), and dusted -- a miracle, but I digress.

This weekend the man and I took a stab at setting up the new digs: box in place, power plugged in, network, speakers, mouse, keyboard. It's all plug and play. Match the plug of one to the socket in the other and your up and running. And we would have been, except for the monitor. Call me stupid, but for an entire day I sat and looked the cabling from one and the connector on the other. They don't match. I even looked at the cabling for my old desktop; no go.

At first I thought, well maybe there is a hidden socket somewhere. Nope. Then I thought well maybe it's a universal or a morphing kind of socket and when the cable gets close it will just fit. No such luck. And then I thought I must be stupid. After all computers are constructed so anyone 5 to 95 can with a flick of the wrist get on the internet in 6 seconds flat. In fact there should be a game show where people race to assemble computer components striving towards the finishing line by accessing google. Ta-Da! But no.

Tail between my legs I emailed the new boss, "I seem to be missing a video cable..." Seven seconds later, (their six month old was tasked with putting their new system on the net, so it took him a bit longer), the email came back, "The cable is in the bag."

So I laid all the cables out. Attached all the ends I could to where ever they would go, and still the monitor is not talking with the computer. I went to bed... feeling stupid... Imagine me, a computer person can't get tab A into slot A. And I'm to do this for a living, again.

So this morning, quite early, feeling a bit beaten up before the official contract is signed, I decided to give it one more go, with a little help from my internet friends. Searching for the make and model of the computer, I found out there are no set video cards with this set up. When ordering the owner is asked, "How many monitors would you like with that computer?" When I got my first computer it came with a black and white seven inch screen, and I was happy. I think this puppy's last owner picked the number 2, and I'll tell you why. Because the video card has a DMS-59 connector which supports two bigger than my TV screens. Talk about Yurtle the Turtle and lording over all that you see.

I then searched for the make and model of the monitor. Yup it looks like an adapter is in order. Go figure. Trying to sound like I haven't been out of the computer work force for ten years, I sent out another email, "It looks like the box prefers DMS-59 and the monitor is putting out DVI. Is there an adapter that didn't make it over?"

I know the answer that will comeback, "No worries on that contract. I'll be over for the equipment right after the school drop off this morning."

Really, maybe I should listen to my kids and stick to making their lunches for a sense of total satisfaction.

Mine Mine All Mine

2009-10-19T05:09:00.003-05:00

Today, (excluding 4PM to 5PM), is all mine. Insert maniacal laugh here. There is joy coursing through my veins. Once the chitlins are out being educated I will be home alone. Now for a stay at home mom you would think that is no big deal. But for this stay at home mom, I'm not home all that often. I know it's my own doings. And most doings I embrace whole heartedly with reckless abandon. Still when a day of nothing appears, there is quiet joy. I can set up my work computer, read the white pages, confirm an upcoming meeting or two, practice the banjo, work on the stained glass, prepare for the upcoming Girl Scout meetings, and if there is still time -- clean the kitchen.

Yesterday I sat at my kitchen table and cleared up two to dos: a digital slide show and the parish calendar content. I sat down at 10AM and stood up at 4PM. Honestly I didn't think those projects were going to take all that much time. All the while I am gazing at Pleco who is using semaphore to tell me that her tank is well overdo for a cleaning. Typing away, I nod and say, "No worries, your next on the list."

And she was.

Rocking Out!

2009-10-18T13:35:00.006-05:00

How did the Catholic religion get such a bad rap? When did the whole worship thing crawl into a rut, left to die a thousand deaths -- years ago? And of course the sex abuse scandal didn't and hasn't done anything for worship-ship.

Yesterday I had the utmost pleasure to rock out with Ike and his band at the Catholic Middle School rally. Chris Padgett was the icing on the cake. He spoke about being broken, empty and lonely. And how these three attributes bring us all into sainthood.

Lisa had the youth take pieces of pictures and copied them onto larger papers. The resulting reassembled artwork, though not perfect, showed us all that in the imperfections there is uniqueness and beauty.

The rally climaxed with Adoration and Mass. Ike rocked us through it all.

This was not an event to be missed. It was worship at its most high.

What is it with the shower?

2009-10-17T06:10:00.001-05:00

I get the best ideas while in the shower. The only problem is, I don't have anywhere to write them down...

Hour by Hour

2009-10-16T04:38:00.005-05:00

Today is one of those stuffed to the gill days. Friday folders, but before that swing by the church to gather the calendar info, meeting for the new job (it starts), swing by knitting, Girl Scout meeting, birthday sleepover, which will be a Halloween party for four. Maybe cut out a few more pieces of glass, if I am lucky.

Yesterday after dinner, I picked up the track star from school, took the middle one to her flute lesson, came home practiced my banjo, then flew off to ARISE. As I stepped through host's front door she said, "You are always so relaxed. How do you do it?" I laughed. Relaxed, no -- dressed relaxed -- read slobby here, yes.

Right in front of my desk, where I can't help but see it from my computer, is a picture of my mentor and dear dear friend, Marty Schrier. In the two short years I knew Marty she taught me a lot about slowing down and how not to suffer from craned neck syndrome. Marty did not survive her bout with cancer. Seeing her picture stands as a reminder to embrace life, and to love those around me. And if the little snap shot doesn't do the trick, a pastel potrait of her is hung to look over my shoulder while I work. I have Marty coming and going. How lucky can I be.

Today, right now -- it is snowing outside. Of course, it is outside... what am I thinking.

Tomorrow is the Catholic Middle School Rally at Xaverian High School. I get to chaperon. I can't wait. Despite the forecast of rain, or will it still be snow, it should be a rocking good time for these kids.

Evening is better.

2009-10-14T19:38:00.003-05:00

With the laundry momentarily done, I started my next stained glass project. It is a picture of my middle one flying a kite on the beach. When it is finished, I'll either send it off to college with her, or hang it in our kitchen window.

Welcome to my morning

2009-10-14T06:26:00.003-05:00

Picture a mother, dressed in her bathrobe and wool socks, sitting at the kitchen table, cutting last week's coupons. The phone rings. It's a call from the bus stop, a quarter mile away.

"Mom I left my SAT prep binder somewhere in the house and the bus is here."

Mother's pulse quickens. "And where would that binder be?"

"Upstairs in my room, in a white box. The bus is here."

Mother runs upstairs. "It's not here." Then mom remembers seeing a white box in the archeological dig called the dining room table. "Could it be downstairs?"

"Maybe, mom the bus is here."

"What do you want me to do?"

(No answer.)

"I have it, start walking home, I'll meet you and drive you to school."

"Mom, the bus is leaving, I have to go."

"But how and I going to get this to you at the school?" Remember mom is in her robe and socks.... not much else. And there are several thousand students at the high school. Mom is not going to walk the halls dressed like she is.

"I have to go."

"Start walking home."

Now yelling, "The bus just left, I'm walking."

Mother throws winter jacket over robe, yells to other children to get up, then storms out of the house to drive to bus stop. Of course daughter will be walking on the other side of the street, so a silent prayer for an easy pull off and crossing is put forth.

Sees daughter, beeps to daughter. Picks up daughter. Drives daughter to school. Praying for no accidents at home or on the road.

Sorry JFK, it's been one of those days

2009-10-13T21:15:00.003-05:00

Ask not what mom will do for you, but what you can do for your mother.

I can't even type about how busy today has been. Yes, I went to my stained glass class from 10 to 12:30, but besides that I have been up and down, in and out of the car all day long. Tomorrow is no better. Neither the day after.

My husband has the habit of taking the day after a vacation off. Today was such a day. I left and he was watching movies. I came back and he was watching movies. Maybe one of these years I will take a true day of rest. No dropping off at school. No making lunches. No laundry. No running to tutoring. No leaving a check for a rally at the church, or picking up a library book. No cooking dinner, or picking up after dinner. No cross country pick up only to be informed that there is a pasta party -- and oh can I drive.

My newly nine year old is having a sleepover birthday celebration this Friday night. The house looks like a camping Halloween bomb has gone off. I need to clear enough space for a few sleeping bags. I'm tempted to just toss it all in the trash.

Truly I would fall over if anyone lifted a finger.

A question...

2009-10-12T18:30:00.003-05:00

This weekend found us camping down at Nickerson State Park with my aunt and uncle. As usual, when we hiked past a can, or bottle, or flip top, I was quick to pick them up and stash them in my pocket or backpack; all for the church youth group or for Ronald McDonald's House. My Aunt commented, "Where would the church be without you?"

And the bigger question, "Where would I be without the church?" flashed into my mind.

It was a great weekend. Cool air. Fantastic family. Excellent eats.

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

2009-10-08T03:24:00.004-05:00

Last night I ventured into the big town to delight in Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers playing at the Wang Theatre. What a night. Music laced with comedy. Comedy spilling over with phenomenal music. Dave Barry warmed up the crowd, interviewing Steve Martin on any topic at all as long as it was not relating to the banjo or to Steve Martin. The evening ended, according to Martin, after they played everything they knew, to the total delight of the two standing O, toe tapping crowd.

In an interview that was printed in the Metrowest Daily News on Sunday October 4, 2009, Martin was asked if he ever imagined he'd be playing professionally? He answered, "No. When I first started practicing, I'd be particularly frustrated. I would say, 'If I just stay with it, one day I'll have been playing 40 years.' And I think it's good advice to people who get frustrated with instruments: just play a little bit everyday and one day you'll be playing for 40 years and you'll be pretty good."

I wanna be a real banjo player when I grow up.