One Part Inspiration...

It takes a village to marry off your daughter.  It takes friends and loved ones to volunteer to offer to host showers. It takes friends and loved ones to attend the shower(s) and join in the fun and games; to bring snacks, and gifts and spend time celebrating the upcoming nuptials. Marrying off your daughter requires input from friends to decide on the flowers, and then further, let themselves be talked into shopping for the ribbons, and wire.... and then going the extra mile (or a thousand) to agree to make all the corsages, boutonnieres, and arrangements for the sanctuary. The village of people who come together to marry off your daughter includes friends who offer their beautiful garden of flowers for the pickin' so the arrangements will be one-of-a-kind and oh-so-beautiful. It means that friends agree to get up early and wear matching boots to pick those flowers on a 'just-after-the-rain' morning. It calls for friends to go to a big-box store a...

The question of the day was " What One Word Describes Your Life Today ?"  My response was immediate. "FLUX". For the first time, I am not able to anticipate the rhythm of family life.  One day, the boys are home. The next they are not.  My daughter is  adjusting to married life, and checks in occasionally, but not predictably. My days have gone from keeping a"Mom's Calendar" -where I had to monitor everyone's schedules and keep track of which child I dropped off where and when- to hoping that the kids will lock up after they get home, because I have gone to bed long before they arrive home for the night.  Sometimes I don't catch sight of them for a few days.  I only know they have been home because there are dishes waiting to be stacked in the dishwasher. It is a very weird and wonderful place to be in.  If I want to pick up and go, I can.  My husband and I do not have to plan ahead to go on dates.  We can just spontaneously ask each...

It is Thanksgiving Monday.  Time for my annual foray into a recounting of the cornucopia of blessings I enjoy.  I cannot start the list without thinking of our final move to The Pokeaway, which happened three years ago today.  So many changes have happened in the house and around the property, but I now feel at We enjoy so many fringe benefits that don't cost anything.  Sunsets, birdsong, neighbours who wave when we pass each other on our walk-abouts. I have been blessed with cupboards (INSTALLED!) which are new to us, but have been reconfigured to fit our space.  I cannot even begin to describe how much simpler my life has become to have drawers to open and close, and shelves to store pots and pans.  I love the colour as it makes my kitchen bright and cheery and a welcoming place to prepare and clean up meals. An added bonus is the Butler Pantry and small dishwasher which surprisingly holds lots of dishes and makes my life so ...

Fall has arrived.  The summer, with it's busy schedule has been put in the drawer, along with the shorts, and t-shirts and bathing suits.  Mornings are darker, evenings are shorter, and there is a drawing in of sorts. The arrival happened quietly. One day the summer sun and whispering breezes enticed us to the beach, and the next morning, the fog had rolled its carpet of mist upon the fields. Left behind are the memories of the milestones we celebrated during the spring and the summer, and just ahead are days which have ushered in another season in our lives. Just as the fog obscures our view, the coming season of our life is shrouded by mystery.  It is only by walking towards the concealed that the reveal will take place.