Sunday thoughts

I read or listen to the news only once daily, and try never to hear the White House briefings.  I do listen to our state governor as I respect him and feel that he is doing a very good job in very challenging times.  I am realizing that much of what I am missing are the small things that I took for granted.  In my daily life I did not recognize the magical of the minute.

I miss going to the Dunk's on our way to church and getting the kids their "second breakfast" while I get a cup of hot black coffee. Yeah, I like my coffee black.  And routinely my order would get messed up because I think most people order with cream and sugar. But seeing the familiar counter staff, waiting for the first sip of the hot brew while conversations swirled around me--I miss that.  I can make coffee here.  I do make coffee here.  (and it never has cream and sugar in it LOL) but I miss those moments when I would chat with the kids about their food choices of the day and get their input on which donut their big brother would like most.

I miss going to the library.  No lie, it was hard to fit in library trips this year.  The kids had so many activities that sometimes I felt stressed getting there.  I went mostly for Chet who likes to hold a "real" book, and who has all ready destroyed one Kindle.  But even though it was stressful to get there, I loved seeing the librarians. Most of them have known my kids their whole lives and watched them grow.  I loved the conversations. I loved wandering through the stacks choosing Chet's books.  He is still able to read during the pandemic. We have a large collection here at home and he has adapted to using a kids Kindle that has parental controls that will hopefully help keep him from destroying it.

I miss sitting in the sanctuary at church.  I usually sit in the same pew and there is a high window up to the left of where  I sit.  Our church has a very modern architecture.  Frankly it is not a really pretty building.  But I have spent years looking out that window as I meditate and listen to the music, the readings and the reflections.  There is a single branch from a tree that goes across in front of that window and I watch the leaves bud, green color and fall off. I watch the clouds scud behind it on windy days.  There are trees outside my windows here and I look at those too.  But there is a sense of absence and loss for that particular time and manner in which I marked a time in my week for over 20 years.

These are little things.  I know that.  And my post is not expecting pity or pats on the shoulder.  There are others facing much greater losses, and I hope that if I am truly blessed, losses such as these may be all that touch our family.

Rather, this is a reminder to myself. To never ever take for anything for granted again.  To embrace all the small joys I am offered and to offer as many to others as I am able.

Mellow post yoga posting

Today was back to work but in some ways I still feel slightly like I am in vacation mode.  The dance school and Scouts don't resume until next week, so re-entry was definately easier than it would be otherwise.  Homeschool work got done quickly; I have a boat load of work at my job but I always do.  I can go in early tomorrow and whack down a fair bit of that. 

Because there was no taxi service needed from me to get kids to and from dance tonight I was able to take an evening yoga class.  Hopefully in February my instructor will start Saturday classes again. Those are my favorite as i enjoy starting the day with the practice.  But for now, she has evening ones in a new location that is super convenient to my house.  So I will normally go on Monday evenings but took advantage of the free night tonight for a class. 

It is different doing yoga at night.  Opening my eyes after the final meditation to find the studio essentially in full darkness is a new experience for me.  But I am so glad that her studio has reopened and that yoga can once more be part of my life on a weekly basis.  I know people do yoga in solitary practice at home.  I have a great mat.  But I don't have great body sense and can not tell if my body is properly aligned. Since I have scoliosis it is important that someone see when I am rounding a back that should be straight or listing to the leeward when I think I am straight and tall. LOL

What I do at home is my on line exercise program which is great for calorie burn and cardio.  Exercise and keeping my body supple and fit remains important to me.  It helps that I enjoy it too!  It releases stress and keeps me more mellow.

I didn't make official resolutions this year, but I am making an effort to be more intentional about doing things that are good for me--whether that is emotionally good or physically good.  I think as parents many of us get so used to putting the kids first that the habit of self care is easily lost.  I don't need days at a spa, I just need a bit of time each day to move my body and/or enrich my mind.

This has been sort of a work in progress resolution over the past several years.  The first thing that I made a priority was to do more pleasure reading. Several years ago I realized that all my reading was either for work or for homeschooling.  I have made reading goals for several years on Goodreads and last year read almost 50 books.  It is fun to keep track of my progress and it is fun to find new authors.  I am a total Kindle lover.  Being able to down load a book from the on line library is the best thing that ever happened to this busy mom!  So this year, I hope you all find something that you enjoy doing, that makes your spirit sing, or heals a tired soul.

Book Games

Apparently when your kids get to a certain age it is increasingly less cool to take pictures with/of them.  However KC was ok with me taking a picture of a game he worked hard to create.  He assists with our library boys book club every month.  When he started helping he decided that cooler games had to be introduced because the kids were sick of trivia games. 

He did Jeopardy, a board game of his own creation, a matching game, a home made Headbans knock off and a couple others.  However the final game of the season should be, in his words, so amazing that they would all want to return in the fall.  He decided to create Book Opoly. 

KC is creative and really good with the big picture concept stuff. The how to get it done stuff?  That usually still needs a fair amount of my help.  However he had a really clear vision of how to turn Monopoly into a book themed game.  We found blank property cards in a fillable pdf on line and made them the titles of books.  We renamed EVERYTHING on the board. We made cards.  It was a big job.

However he saw it through and it was honestly fun working on it with him.  Best of all, his group LOVED it.  So much so that 10 minutes after they were supposed to be done they were all still playing the game.  As the librarian said when she came out to talk with me--this age group (8 to 12 year old boys) is pretty unforgiving. If they don't like something you will know it.  The fact that they were still playing when they were supposed to be going home spoke volumes.

I could tell KC knew it too because when he finally came out he was positively glowing.  I don't have a picture of the giant grin on his face as he came through the door but I think it is imprinted on my heart forever.

Land of the Free?

When I finish my latest mystery novel I plan on reading a book I just took from the library today.  It is called The Heritage  by Howard Bryant and focusses on black athletes, and the politics of patriotism in the sports world.

I am deeply disturbed by the recent NFL ruling that players on the field must stand for the national anthem.   White folks are telling POC once more to do what they are told. The "yes massa" mentality reeks in this decision.  These men can be paid highly for their skills but this decision makes it clear that they are performing at the whim of white owners.  White owners can make them wear pink accessories for breast cancer month (and frankly, I think there is nothing that looks stranger to me than guys playing football with pink socks and gloves) They can wear things to honor our veterans.  None of these are bad.  My point is that they are expected to put forth the agenda of the owners and the NFL. They are not allowed to use their positions to put forth respectfully, an agenda of their own.

The rise of nationalism in our country all ready scares the be-jesus out of me.  I have friends who have been stopped at checkpoints while on vacation in the Northeast.  They were stopped strictly because the family "didn't match."  They were relieved they carried birth certificates showing they were related.

Really?  In 2018 in the USA we need to carry papers.  There are no words for how this chills me.  The "real ID" license also chills me.  I will have to get one.  I need to get into federal buildings for my work and as of 2020 I can't without it.  But the whole national data base things runs counter to the foundation of freedom that exist(ed) in our country and which I interpret as the intent of the much touted founding fathers.  "Having papers" sounds a lot more like Nazi Germany to me and makes me worry for my children and their future.  Somehow all this feels intertwined to me and I hope that reading this book will be part of helping me sort out my feelings and opinions more cogently.

High Summer but I'm thinking Home Schoolin'!

We're eating fresh local corn and our tomatos are starting to ripen in our garden.  The days are long and lots of them are hot. I am loving every minute of it.  But there are signs.  Signs that the wheel is turning and that inevitably, fall will be arriving.

First, there is Fantasy Football trash talk in our house!  Rob and I compete against each other in the NFL Fantasy football. We never wind up in the same league so it isn't exactly apples to apples anyway, but it makes fall a lot of fun.  My "draft" is tonight at 8:30  His is on Monday night.  We have been researching our players, sharing notes, talking about who is on our "excluded" lists etc

And then there is homeschooling preparations.  I decided that I was unhappy with the English Lit curriculums I could find and I have decided to do what I did for Chet--build my own curriculum.  Last night I chose the books that I will work our year around.  I have classics--The Scarlet Letter and Grapes of Wrath  Both of these will be if not interesting reads for Rob per se, interesting in looking at societal issues that are key to these works.   I have several plays, Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun.. I have fantasy and sci fi :  Dragonsong  and Farenheit 451.  I have books written by African Americans, Black Boy  and I Know why the Caged Bird Sings.     I have books from a list specifically geared toward high school males, Feed  which I have not read and Sunrise over Fallujah  which I have also not read.  There are others too, but it was so much fun cherry picking books.  A book is a treasure to read and an even bigger treasure to share.  I am looking forward to lots of sharing this year.

Skulduggery Pleasant book review--Guest Post

At my eldest's request, I am giving him blog space to review the latest in the Skulduggery Pleasant book series. I don't give my blog space lightly, but he loved this book as much as Rob.  This is book  4.

" I thought that this book was scarier than the other 3 and about 10 times more awesome than the previous books. Valkyrie was more reckless but extremely loyal to her friends.  Tanith keeps getting hurt, isn't anyone going to give her a break all ready?!?  Skulduggery became more mysterious and more confusing, which is probably what you would expect of a skeleton!  Valkyrie seems to lose more and more of her humanity as time goes on as well. 

This book is rivetting because the excitement is so high that I felt in full blown panic mode, wanting to find out what happens next.  There is another book in the series but it isn't available in this country yet, and I hope it is soon!"