corner view~rain

2008:  I wrote about this day a couple of years ago.  We had just started homeschooling the girls and one winter day, it rained.  A big deal in our parts.  Quite rare. 

I let them go outside with umbrellas, and eventually it turned to just playing in the warm rain.

What a fun time.  The freedom they felt with their new lifestyle was evident on their faces.

I personally love when we get rain.  It cools everything and my plants seem to vibrate with happiness.   After a good rain I can see their growth overnight.

Next week we will write about "improvising."  This idea comes from Anna.

Please give me more ideas of what you wish to write about in your comments.  Happy December to you all!

ernie's incredible illucinations

Community theater - Annabel was in a show with a group of home schooled kids.  They performed at our local library.  It was about a boy named Ernie.   When he imagined something, it became reality.
Sometimes I wish I could do that...

happy thanksgiving

Hope you enjoy your day.  Here we will appreciate "God's painting in the sky." (to quote one of my daughter's songs).  I am so grateful for all of my blessings, near and far.

Also please check out Gary's newest YouTube video, here -- sure to put a smile on your face.  The song is called, "Sunrise Blinding Way." 

I will be doing a giveaway of his new CD this holiday season, so be sure to check back. 

corner view~taking a different perspective

I love knowing people from different cultures and countries, and how I learn from them.  I am struck by the connections I have made with people all over the world, just in the last few years, both in real life as well as through the internet.  I have gotten to know many people through this blog as well as through facebook, email, and now YouTube.
The internet is changing all of our lives.  I wonder what we will think in fifty years, what strides will be made because of how quickly we can interact with one another now.  I remember when email first became popular, and I said I didn't want a computer!
   
But peace is peace no matter what the language.  Here's hoping you all have a peaceful week, wherever you are!

Thanks to Dana for this idea.  Next week's theme is "rain," and it comes from Susanna.

a day at the beach

We were all there

But only two of us showed up on film

corner view~anything goes

I made this painting a few years ago, after a ten year hiatus from painting.  I woke up one morning with Shawn still a baby and decided if I didn't paint then, I might never paint again.  Later when Shawn was taking a nap, I grabbed our art supplies, and I included my girls that day along with our babysitter, Annie.  They each made their own paintings, and we all had so much fun.  

This painting came from that day.  I worked in warm colors, which was new for me.  

I really love how it turned out, like a rosebud waiting to blossom, but beautiful as it is.  Isn't that the goal?  To be happy with the process of our lives, and enjoy every stage, including the rosebud stages?

It is for me.

This painting was then chosen to be in a book about artists who are also poets.  I also had some poetry published.  I will share one of the poems, written about our son when he was a baby.

First Boy

My wondrous child

with bright red wavy hair

resembles the great grandfather

he never knew-

who tinkered and built

gadgets of all sorts.

"A man needs a workbench"

was his motto.

This boy is on a mission.

Just today,

he unloaded the dishwasher,

drawers and all,

pulled a painting off the wall,

and joyously dumped

a box of three hundred toothpicks

on the kitchen floor.

Someday he will learn

from his grandfather

how to repair a door hinge,

refinish an antique,

grow a green lawn.

He may build a rock path, a fence,

and maybe, just maybe,

fix something for me.

This is the book.

Thanks to Ninja, for this idea.  Next week's theme is "taking a different perspective" and it comes from Dana.  And please feel free to leave me ideas for more corner views.  I like to include you all in this, if possible.   

lunch out with me boy

After a swim on a school holiday.
We went to our favorite little local health food cafe where I love the Thai peanut tempeh and veggies wrapped in a collard green.  Shawn always gets the plain veggie wraps, no sauce.  This time I let him get the key lime pie for desert. 
The lady who works there is a big fan of Shawn.   Every time we go there she yells out his name and lets him come behind the counter and talk to her while she makes the food.  He refers to her as "my friend."

When the kids are grown I often wonder what they will remember of their childhood.  I remember the one-on-one time with my parents, because in a big family it was pretty rare.  I try to spend alone time with each of my kids every week.  Some is built in:  Bedtime they usually get some time with me.  Shawn and I read.  Annabel and I read, or sometimes she sings for me and I give her feedback.  (She thinks of these as lessons.)  Skylar likes to show me funny short videos, or just talk.  There is never a shortage of things to discuss with any of my kids.
But when I take one of my kids somewhere in the car, it's a really big deal.  So today was Shawn's special day with mom, and it was special for both of us.

remember my lemon tree?

Harvest soon.  Already got one.

corner view~autumn

 

We called it fall.  Growing up in upstate New York, autumn meant apple cider from local apple trees, thick hats and sweaters and boots, crackling fires in the fireplace from wood scraps gathered in our back yard, raking leaves with a pile left at the foot of our gigantic swing that grandpa fashioned, final garden harvests, and faded, soft blue jeans.

Where I live now, autumn is much more subtle.  She walks to the top of the mountain with her lasso, throws it high in the air, and captures clouds, pulling them down to blanket the sky.  Sometimes she throws them to the sea, where they stay to greet the setting sun.  After months of sun and heat, these hovering clouds are a welcome sight.  And quite stunning to look at I think.

My husband likes to watch American football.  We still have football here.  Listening to a game on TV brings back memories of my dad and brothers.  And it feels like fall. I will never tire of that.  

Thanks to Skylar and B for this idea.  Next week the theme is anything goes, we shall write whatever we feel like, because Miss Ninja thought it would be fun.  And we all know how much fun she is.

a boy with his nose in a book

Means a quiet house, at least for an hour or so!  Isn't it so great when kids discover a love of reading?!

some local flora

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

annabel's makeover part three

 

Our happy girl.  No more braces!!!!!!! 

See her blog here.

corner view~famous

This week's topic came from Don, who is one of our newer members, and a wonderful photographer.  I looked at his website today and realized he is a fantastic wedding photographer in northern California!  (where I was married)

lifelike statue of Marilyn Monroe, Avenue of the Stars, Hollywood, California

It seems that some people are destined for fame for their talents, their contributions and achievements, like Albert Enstein, Mother Teresa, William Shakespeare.  And some are remembered for their mistakes. 

In Hinduism fame is considered one of the six characteristics of divine personification, along with rulership, valour, auspiciousness, knowledge, and dispassion.  

The question I like to ask myself and my children is, "How do you want to be remembered?" 

Next week's topic is autumn, suggested by Skylar and B.  B, are you back yet from your wedding?