Home.....

We had a nice time visiting The Grandparents this week. The girls enjoyed spending quality time with their Gran and Pop, and I will share adventures and pictures soon. Suffice it to say that they had a great time - and didn't want to leave. I bribed them with candy in order to get in their carseats.

But as a teaser to the soon-to-come post and pics - - - some highlights:

- baby birds
- bushowwing in the pool with Pop
- surprise 1/2 birthday!
- Japanese steak house not going as planned
- family treasures
- and they no longer will they say think that Pop is the only person on Earth who can make something out of wood. (Even though they have historically said everything wooden was crafted and magicked out of his hands.)

But for now I'm just glad to be sitting at home, with a glass of wine, talking with Mike about nothing, picking at the guitar and playing the same chords over and over. In other words, status quo.

Thankful for.....

.....playing music as a family - and listening to Lela make up a song about a moose.

.....full rainbarrels.

.....being about to go all day without coffee. Why do I crave something that makes me so grumpy and snappy? Well, because it is a drug and a delicous one at that!

.....a sweet husband who came home at lunch when my mind was exploding. He cleaned the house while I took a nap, and wrangled children so that we could have a peaceful and delicious dinner. It's a good day when you can get a maid and a therapist to visit your home.

I think he's a keeper - chainsaws are such a turn-on!

But so is playing dress up.

"...Caught a Firefly in a Jar"

Well, firefly sounds just as good as dragonfly!

For the past few weeks, I've been wanting to have the girls catch fireflies in jars. I can remember doing it at my NC grandparents' house as a kid, going to sleep with the mason jar full of glowing magic. Their beautiful suburban neighborhood, with its lushly landscaped yards, was a firefly haven!

Our neighborhood has proven to be similar.


I put tulle and a yarn string handle under the ring of the mason jar. I put a slit in the tulle, with the thought that they could slip the firefly through the slit without having to stop and unscrew the lid. Their attention spans are so short as little babes, so I felt that something that would streamline the process would leave them with a better experience. Certainly the jars were just beautiful!



It worked okay - the fireflies were good at escaping though. Perhaps burlap next time? Or just the tried-and-true lid with holes.



After about 30 minutes of catching and watching their jars glow, the fireflies stopped lighting up. They were sending us a very clear message that they were ready to go! So we found a dark nook under the hornbeam tree to release them (mostly) unharmed. I feel like a couple of sacrificed fireflies is worth the experience. That's what it's all about, right?



As an extra treat today, we got to visit the newest friend for a couple hours. Lela, Laurel and Liv enjoyed visiting with the older boys and playing with all their great toys. The mommas got time to swoon over a precious new life.

Camping Redux

What follows is a mammoth post - if you want to scroll down to the dashed lines where the pictures begin, feel free. However, a quick summary of the text is that Friday night we tried to camp, had a bear in our campsite while we were awake, left our fishing bag at the campsite and made it home after midnight.

Last weekend we decided to go camping again. Newly outfitted with sleeping bags and a plan to put everything in the van overnight after our bear incident last time, we set back out for the same campground in Pisgah National Forest: Curtis Creek.

We arrived, the kids played in the creek and we set up the tent. After forgetting a lighter, I made a fireless dinner of sandwiches and fruit. I made the 20-minute trip down the mountain for said lighter while Mike stayed behind with the girls. Happily, by 9pm we were sitting in the twilight with the fire crackling and the kids easing into sleep. I had just gotten into the tent with Laurel and Olivia when.....

THE BEAR WALKS THROUGH OUR CAMPSITE!

WHAT?!?!?! Bears aren't supposed to do that while you're awake and about!

Mike saw it before he heard it - it was so quiet even though it was just 30 feet away from us. He let out some profanity and the bear broke into a run, straight for the coolers.

Mike threw Lela in the tent with me and the little girls. He picked up a large rock from the campfire ring and runs screaming at the bear. He hurled the rock at the bear, now standing beside the coolers.

For a heart-stopping, blood-chilling, pants-soiling moment, it does not move.

Then he trotted into the woods.

We quickly (and loudly) put the kids into the car. I stayed with them, Lela nearly in tears from fright, while Mike broke down our entire campsite and put it into the car. It was 10:30pm before we left - making that after midnight when we got home. Thankfully the girls never woke and slept most of the night.

The next morning we discovered that in the darkness, our tackle bag had been left that campsite. With no phone there and the Ranger District office closed, we had no way of inquiring about it. Our contact information (via fishing licenses) is in the bag, but we do not expect to ever see our 2 favorite Orvis reels, extra spools, two flyboxes with many favorite dry and wet flies, fishing tools, leaders, tippet and years of memories again.

I think the flyboxes are the saddest loss.

- PMD spinners and emergers we bought in Yellowstone, WY. Never caught anything on those damn things, but no fly box is complete without them.

- Caddis droppers we caught enormous western rainbows on in Specimen Creek, Yellowstone, WY. Single best day of fishing ever for us.

- Scraggly yellow Rapidan Man flies - the Rapidan is one of our favorite VA creeks.

- A bead-headed stonefly nymph that landed me the biggest brook trout of my life in Ramseys Draft, VA - and the only trout I have ever caught on a wet fly.

- The little mayfly that I caught my first and only brown trout.

- Shad flies from Mike's adventures with Captain Ryan on the Nottoway in VA.

- Woolly buggers I tied myself the summer after my first year of teaching, when I spent the entire months of June, July and August by the lake catching every bream and crappie in Bear Creek Lake, at the state park where we lived.

- Steelhead flies from more of Mike's adventures with Ryan "snagging" king salmon outside of Buffalo, NY.

- A "whole mess of" parachute Adams. Their bright white tufts make them easy to see.

- A couple of "humpies" - flies that look like mating mayflies. How cool is that?

- colorful saltwater flies, flies that looked like crayfish, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, salmon eggs, shad eggs, yellow and black stonefly nymphs.

So, I suppose all those memories are there and the flies can all be replaced. But opening those boxes and stroking all the beautiful and intricately tied flies, remembering all the fish and special times with Mike - that is what I will miss the most.

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I digress, very far.....but we recovered and went to Lake Norman State Park on Saturday morning.

We quickly set up our campsite.

Then headed down to the beach for some swimming! Lela loved it!

Laurel in a rare moment not being held.

Liv looking adorable as usual in a bandanna.

One quick trip to the public beach was enough to make us seek out a quiet little cover behind our campsite for more swimming. We went down there 2 or 3 times.

We had some nice hop-toad hikes - there was a trail down to the lake just behind our campsite. We found and safely released this tiny little one on Sunday morning.

This picture of Laurel is just precious.

Liv too.

Finding an awesome branch for playing horsey horsey.

"Wheeeeeeeee!!!!" squeals Lela.

"Gotta get in on this action!" thinks Liv.

"No thanks!" says Laurel.

On Saturday night, Liv fell asleep by the fire, and Laurel and Lela fell asleep in the tent quickly as well. Mike and I were looking forward to the evening by the fire. Earlier I had meticulously gathered materials and arranged them for cooking our meal of venison, potatoes and zucchini. I love building fires from scratch! No white gas needed!

Now we sat holding hands, peaceful breathing in the night air. In the distance, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled. We sat there for about 20 minutes, before the bottom dropped out - probably got about 2 inches of rain in as many hours. I am happy to report that our tent stayed perfectly dry! However our fire was short-lived in the torrent. (Picture by Liv.)

Returning home on Sunday afternoon, we were decidedly in need of a vacation from the weekend! However, we were so happy to find out that dear friends welcome their first baby into this world on Sunday morning. It was a sweet cap to an otherwise fun, hectic and memorable weekend. (I had a birth candle burning for her all day. I lit it Saturday morning when she let me know her birthing time had begun. It rode, lit, with us to the park. It sat burning on the picnic table all day and evening. But sadly it was drowned out in the rain!)

Sweet sisters splashing their feet in the lake, watching the Sun go down. I sure do love those little girls!

Food and Gardening

Life revolves around food, nourishment, Energy. Life is Energy!

So naturally, a lot of time is spent in its cultivation, preparation and eating!

A delicious meal of all local food from our Farmers' Market: ribeye from Mr. White's farm, squash from Mr. Wilfong and snaps from Jenny. Delicious!!

Another wonderful meal of local food: ground beef from Mr. White, tomatoes from the Farmers Market, Mr. Wilfong's sweet potatoes as fries and lettuce from our garden in the front yard!

Speaking of food, our garden is coming along so nicely. Better than I expect for our first real attempt. Lots of good looking green tomatoes, cantaloupes are taking over the yard, sunflowers courtesy of squirrels, cucumbers and summer squash getting their first blooms, lettuce still giving, eggplant not dying.....

Our first cantaloupe just seemed to appear overnight! She is just so sweet nestled down below the mother leaves.

FINALLY a tiny flower bud from our bell peppers - they have been in the ground for 6 weeks and while they haven't died, that haven't grown much either.

The beautiful star of our compost-pumpkins. At least that's what I think they are! The girls love to see them open in the morning, then close again when the Sun hits them, just like real stars.

Meeting a New Friend

Sunday before last, Lela and I had the special privilege of meeting a sweet new friend, only two days old then.




I wonder what amazing adventures this little girl will have with mine! I know that Lela especially is happy to have another female in her circle of friends.

Happy Birth Day

A dear and beautiful friend had her sweet baby girl today. They are such a nice family and we are all so excited and happy for them.

We lit her birth candle when we found out her birthing time had begun. The girls were so excited! After saying a little prayer and blessing, we spontaneously decided to create a birth altar for her and decorate it with open flowers. Lela was especially involved with choosing and arranging the flowers. We chose 3 of the most beautiful lilies, petunias, impatiens, rudbeckias, clover blossoms and leaves, cosmos and the first blossom for our butterfly bush.

We love you all!

music of my life

Even wild and crazy (read:bad) days can end on beautiful, blissful notes.

Today was one of those days. After a day punctuated, even dominated, by discord, the melody of our lives found a peaceful way to resolve by the end of the last measure.

By 3pm everyone was angry, bitter and tired. Especially me. So we snuggled upstairs and finished reading a book. It was actually the first book that I've read in pieces to the girls. Over three nights we read _A Water Snake's Year_ and it was such a treasure. To close the book and tell them they'd find out what happened next was magical. Even more magical was how quickly they hopped into bed to find out what the next page would bring! I'm so proud of my little chickens - even the littlest ones happily sit through a long book where there aren't many pictures.

In the last hour before Mike got home, I frantically cleaned the disaster that was our house while the girls splashed in the pool. Somehow dinner was going and the kitchen and mud room were orderly by the time he arrived. The four of them road bikes and skateboards outside while I finished up dinner.

After such a wild day, I decided that dinner should be almost an apology - well, rather, it should be a reminder that things aren't always so bad. So the table was set with many treasures - the 3rd and 4th lilies blooming from our Asiatic lilies, candle and the following loves from my grandparents' house after they moved into their new retirement community - crystal coasters for our drinks, lace doily to adorn the table, sugar bowl and spoon, dessert plates that were the perfect size for the girls. Dinner was meatloaf made from ground beef from our "meat man" at the Farmers' Market, brown rice and broccoli from our favorite family farm, Creekside Nursery.

Here they are just arriving to the table. We often now put the food on the table, because they love "serving themselves".



We had a fun blessing of our food, then while everyone was serving themselves (generous helpings!) I lead them in a discussion of where everything had come from.

ground beef from Mr. White's cow
spring onions from Mr. Wilfong
brown rice from Earth Fare
broccoli from Jenny (at Creekside Nursery)
water from the Catawba River (Mt. Island Lake) by way of the City of Gastonia

After that a special thing happened. While they were finishing up their food, Mike told them their birth stories. It was so spontaneous and beautiful - he is so sweet and loving to all his girls.

Here's what they were, briefly:
Laurel was at the bottom of a basket of rotten potatoes he bought at the Farmers' Market. He picked the roots off her feet so she couldn't turn back into a potato. But that's the reason she loves to dig in the dirt so much. If she digs a hole deep enough, she may crawl right in to be with her potato family.

Liv was a monkey he caught at the zoo. He shaved her, and taught her how to talk. This is why she is so wild. And if she is every near a tree, she may try to climb it and become a monkey again.

Lela was a little fish that had washed up from the bottom of the sea. He found her while picking up seashells. He cut her tail to make legs and taught her how to talk. This is why she loves the water so much. However, if she is ever near the ocean, she might try to jump in and change into a fish again.

Here they are enjoying the stories. (Lela says "Daddy, we all came from Momma's belly!")



Lela listening to her "birth story".


Liv making a monkey face.


Liv deciding she needs another helping of ketchup.



The view from my lap. Laurel finally decided that she needed to sit with me to finish her meal.

It was a beautiful meal together!

Henna!

I've never, ever EVER colored my hair, save a spritz of dilute lemon juice as a teenage lifeguard. My hair was blonde then, so it just made it slightly more blonde. And the chlorinated water helped it along too.

Of course, now that I'm no longer spending so much time in the sun or pool water, my hair is brown. See?

Or should I say - WAS brown!

Now with the henna, it is a fluid reddish-purplish-brown. By fluid I mean that the color seems to change with the lighting. The more light there is, the more I see the red. I'm excited to see it in the sunlight tomorrow.
It is darker than I was expecting - I was thinking I would just have some reddish highlights. But it is way darker. Still, I really like it. It has a very nice sheen that my hair has never had. It was relatively painless to apply too - took me an hour start to finish. There is some dye on my scalp, but more carely application should help with that.

(I hate the way the pictures are cropped when posted! I can't figure it out!)