happy easter

It was a simple, sweet day, complete with hunting for baskets and a later additional egg hunt that included papa!  The kids love to trade sweets, and everyone shared with Shawn because he found fewer eggs.   We ate Sky's homemade sugar cookies all day long and had a vegetable pie with homemade herb gravy for dinner.

this moment, the boy

 

{this moment}  

A Friday ritual. 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, ordinary, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama

getting around

I just booked two flights for our summer trip.  It took me several hours to do.  We have two visa cards for two different airlines that have accrued miles this year and it just so happens that both of these airlines now offer direct flights for parts of our trip.  I saved us a BIG chunk of change and it was so worth the time.  Out of ten tickets we got five free tickets and one discounted ticket.

To illustrate contrast, for the last few nights I have been reading to Shawn from Little House on the Prairie.  At first he didn't want me to read it but once I got him to listen to the first chapter he was hooked.  All he needed was to hear a few stories about grandfathers and black panthers and how Ma slapped the bear, thinking it was the cow, and how Pa had to hunt so they could survive the long winters. 

Sometimes I can't help but long for a simpler time when a trip involved making sure the horses were fed and watered, packing a wagon or sleigh with a picnic and a few small bags, and leaving when people were good and ready, on their time, moving at a slow pace where they could enjoy the beauty of nature.  Because only maybe twenty miles away was a whole other world of different people that had rarely, if ever, been seen. 

But "it is 2011 Mom," as Annabel told me last year, and I do love the magic of jumping on a plane, having time pass, and being somewhere totally different, and very far away, all in one day.  Not to mention traveling to foreign places.

But secretly, between you and me, I would also love traveling at a slower pace by covered wagon.

corner view~work and play

Recently I have considered that everything we do is just activity, and how amazing it would be if I could find peace in all activities, regardless of whether they are work or play.

Does doing something repeatedly make it "work," like washing dishes every night?
But doing the dishes while chatting with your best friend you haven't seen in a year is not much work at all.
The key is to have as much fun as you can no matter what you are doing.  And to learn to do the work you dislike efficiently.  When it comes to the kids, novelty helps.  Like letting them try baking, or making an egg sandwich, or washing a car by themselves for the first time.

Yes, at our house a carwash, cooking and baking, arranging food, making maple snow, and even homework can be playtime.  That is, if the homework involves a phone call on Mom's cell phone where you get to interview both grandparents about what life was like when they were children.

papaya harvest

We have been getting fruits from this one tree for 11 months!  It is a little hard to believe that this tiny plant grew so quickly into a tree (and it's a dwarf one).  The fruits are extra large with this variety.  I am talking some that are longer than a football.  Luckily they don't fall off, like some fruits do.  If they did any small child would be in danger playing beneath the tree!  We harvest them one, sometimes two at a time.  We pick them when they have a slight bit of yellow showing and then they ripen indoors.  It only takes a few days for them to be sweet enough to eat.
We share them with our neighbors, and yes, they are very happy with this arrangement.

this moment, annabel

{this moment}  

A Friday ritual. 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, ordinary, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama

community service rocks

Thanks to our local charter school little Miss Annabel had to put in some service hours over the break, and we can do things for our families Mom, I was told.  

We need photos Mom, I was told.  (I was more than happy to oblige).  Then she had to interview us and write about it.  How did the people feel about you doing the work?  How did you feel?  

What a great assignment.  I am really impressed with the charter school this year.  There was a presentation night a few months ago where the kids (seventh graders) had to present in groups on various projects they had done.  They were so intelligent, they used lots of eye contact, they were sweet and funny.  And I thought, how great is it that they are not only learning these math, science, technology and engineering concepts, but that they can teach them.  I had no public speaking experience until college and by then I was quite nervous.  But these kids will sail through those challenges!

corner view~self portrait, where i live

Here it is customary for girls and women to wear flowers in their hair.  While I almost never do this, I did one day when Sky took some shots of me.   It is a beautiful and fragrant white ginger.

hope you are having a good weekend

We are.
I am feeling better, hooray!
This weekend...
Gary and the girls and I went to see the Hunger Games.  Intense.
Our kids got to see Ron, their adopted grampa, yesterday.  He has just returned from a trip.  He is such a special friend to us all.  He really cares about each of the kids and encourages them in school, and in life. 
We had a day with friends at a local pool with waterslides today, plus lunch out.  Fun for all!
Gary and I are going out tonight for dinner.
The kids are all in school starting on Tuesday.  Spring break was great but it will be good to get back into a routine.

forest with friends

This was a while ago, back in December actually.  I am posting now because spring break is almost over and although mommy intended to take the kids on all sorts of adventures, we never got to go further than Jamba Juice and the local beach (not too shabby, actually).  This was because mommy was sick and this put a damper on things.

And so now I owe the kids a trip to the forest and the roller skating rink.

There were some spring break accomplishments despite the coughing mother:
The tulsi got harvested.  A few of the plants died though.  Boo hoo.
Annabel and Shawn started novels.
Sky recorded some songs.
I cleaned out most of our storage room.
We cleaned out the kids' rooms.
We read through the kids' old school journals from grades one through three, and looked through lots of old photos and videos.

corner view~hindsight

 21 years ago, as an art therapy intern

We have all heard the expression, hindsight is 20/20.  If we could look back on our lives and the choices we made and where those choices have led us, would we change anything?

Or are all of the choices we made the perfect choices that have led us to where we are?

Certainly we make mistakes.  I am not talking about foolishness.  I am talking about major forks in the road.  Do I attend this college or that one?  Do I take this job offer or look for another?  Do I move across the country or stay put?  Do I move my family to this new place?  I remember a point in my young adulthood where I was distinctly aware of the fact that my life choice would lead me down a path, and how it was frightening because I so wanted to do the right thing.  

Years later I asked a wise person's advice to guide me when I was faced with another huge life decision.  He told me, God guides you where you are.  I was hoping for something more concrete.  He repeated he same thing.

God guides you where you are.

So much of life is based on making somewhat blind decisions and trusting fate.  Otherwise we would be able to see our future.  We can only do our best with the information we have, knowing some things will make more sense in time. 

thoughts on team sports

Our third grader Shawn finished his basketball season today.  

Wins: 2

Losses: 9

His team was of mixed skill.  They played five other teams, of which two had several superstar sixth graders.  And it was the coach's first time coaching basketball.  This was Shawn's first time on a team, any team.  Many of the kids were still learning to play the game.  Shawn had a lot of fun, and he learned to play the game, to cheer on his team, to be a good sport no matter what.  But he hated to lose.  In fact he cared more about winning or losing than he did about getting a lot of playing time in.  (He was on the second string).   The parents had to confront the assistant coach for yelling at the kids and being unfair.  One mom screamed at the head coach about it.  Later I spoke to him respectfully.  The mom who lost her marbles pulled her kid off the team, too soon to see that the assistant coach (who apologized to me for being disrespectful to my boy), completely changed his tune. 

I learned a lot about being a mom, dealing with a son in sports, and what to do and what not to do, to help your kid get the most out of the experience. 

And we met some sweet families.  Most of the parents were great.  

Shawn's team was given participation medals after today's loss.  I didn't love the idea, but was glad they didn't get trophies.  I am of the school of thought that you get a trophy for winning, not participation.  

But I didn't throw a fit about it.  And luckily, neither did any of the other moms.  Phew!  Of course, Shawn liked it.

All in all, this was an excellent experience for our boy.  And me too.   Next week he will resume Taekwondo.  He has missed it.  

corner view~every day

Every day it is important to find something that makes you smile.  Today, after having been really sick with a bronchial infection for over two weeks starting the first day of spring break, (now on the mend) I find myself thinking about what makes me smile: my kids, their sense of humor, and how sweet they are and how much I love them.  And my husband.

Thank you Gary, my love, for taking such good care of me and the kids since I have been ill.  Thank you to my kids for helping out too.  All three of them made me at least one meal.    

These shots were taken last spring, I never got around to posting them.  There are a lot of Sky, we were doing promo for her show.  These are some of my favorite shots.

Happy weekend friends!

welcome to the world

Little Putu Lantana,  daughter of Annie and Made.

You are a lucky girl to have them as your parents.

Really hope to get to see you soon.

Love, the Marks family

corner view~monument

My kids have grown up listening to Aesop's stories.  I hope he wouldn't mind them having a little fun with this statue of him.  We stumbled upon it in a park last summer in Paris, while Gary was across the street, inside a museum looking at paintings.   

new artwork

oil pastel, paper

acrylic paint

silence

orchid tree in our front yard

See how nature-trees, flowers, grass grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… we need silence to be able to touch souls. 

~Mother Teresa