My mother's garden

Today my parents (and their beloved pets) drove off to return to Houston. It is very quiet now. They took refuge from Ike up here as their town near Galveston usually floods at the drop of a rainfall-filled hat. They came worried about all that was left behind - including my brother and sister-in-law who opted to stay it out. But Bailey the dog (geez. now I have to vacuum - that dog is a virtual hoover with crumbs!), Hidey the cat (who fulfilled her name and hid in the garage), and the brand new unnamed canary (Piper? Curly? Moe? what a singer! what a weird hairdo!) added to our family menagerie.

It was a relief to have them here. At the very least - they were here! THEY were safe. It was hard to watch the storm unfurl at TV's length and not wonder and worry.

With great sighs of relief, news from friends and my brother came in - my parent's house was intact, our friends were okay. The hated hackberry tree in the back took down the fence, blocked the road and was also in the pool. These were expected. But there is a lot of work to do cleaning up and clearing out. It will still be pretty sad. My mother's garden is a place of quiet delight. Little clumps of flowers, even some "wildings" (you and I know them as weeds) are enjoyed. She works so hard at it, loving it. It is different every time I come to visit. Will it ever look like this again?

Houston, We have liftoff!

My friend Lisa has described the feeling of leaving the house, leaving the children, being off on one's own as being like a helium balloon - once let go, one drifts up and away feeling lighter and lighter.




Today as I bid both boys adieu at the gates of school, the feeling was more like a rocket had launched from my chest. and e x h a l e . I had been looking forward to this very moment often (remember this gentle reader?)

I now have some time and space alone for myself. Before now I could probably count the number of times I've been in my house alone on one hand (and Smith clicking and gabbing away in the home office is going to be ignored right now for sake of argument.) It feels good.



I ran into another person who was having the same feelings, but she was feeling guilty too. Somehow I am not. It can be painful to watch them grow up and away from me, but I am happy for my kids - they are going off on the next adventure of their lives (albeit with much less ME in it.) It is good for them. And I am happy for me, for I too am going about the next adventure in my life!

What I did this summer

We are nearing the end of summer and I have to admit with giddy glee that I'm glad that school is soon. GLAD! I'm not counting days or anything, but okay. I am. Jbird starts school too this year and he is SOO ready for it. It is also a wise person who chose the boys to be in different classrooms, if this summer is any indication as to how they get along in the same room. Since we moved to the new house at the start of summer, I allowed some time for settling in, transitions, etc., before the throes of summer camp and running here and playdates there and vacation absorbed all that free time. Well. Note to self: these kids do not need a lick of settling in time. In June I looked longingly at the camps and swim lessons that were earmarked for July and August. And the swim lessons? Totally fell through - all 4 of them. SO. Yeah. School's starting soon.

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The bright spot of our summer ended up being a bit of a surprise. And I feel guilty admitting that it IS the bright spot --- because it was my grandfather's funeral. My amazing grandpa passed away in July at the age of 94. He lived a full life, more able-bodied and able-minded than any person I know. At his memorial service, my aunt reminded me that it was only a year and a half ago that Grandpa was up on the roof, trying to figure out that funny noise (my aunt quips that he probably heard the ghost of my grandma telling him to get off the roof...) To be honest, he was perfectly comfortable up on the roof. He was a telephone pioneer - installing the very first telephone poles and telephone service throughout New York state. I also remembered he they had the first "mobile" phone; sometimes on the way somewhere, Grandpa would get out of the car, climb a pole and "dial in" to phone ahead to let whoever know they were coming.




So we went to my hometown, to say goodbye. And there was room for us to stay out at the lake. This is the lake that I spent many sunny Sunday mornings; the topic of my stories to the boys after lights out and they beg me to tell them stories about when I was little. So it was very cool for them to actually be there. We shared the lake house with a whole gaggle of my relos - from all over. So at any given moment there was at least 3 adults to amuse the children - who needed no amusing since they had a LAKE to conquer from their beloved pirate float - complete with an entire artillary of water weaponry. (shh. don't tell our montessori friends!)

Our day:
Smith would arise at the crack of dawn to kayak around the lake and take pictures like this:





He'd come back and make coffee and eventually the rest of us would drag ourselves from bed and somebody would make breakfast. And here is where I should mention that one of our hosts is a chef. so. yeah. yum! and the eggs? bought from the farm down the street... the carton full of feathers fresh.

And then we would swim for awhile. And then sail for awhile. Or gather wild blueberries for awhile. And then take the boat out and swim in the middle of the lake. And then we would scrounge for lunch from the fabulous leftovers from the night before and swim some more. and play games. fabulous games! because the other host? my cousin? used to have a game shop. And sells boats! so boats out the ying yang. Then we'd make cocktail drinks for "elegant hour" and sip and nibble as we made the rounds of the lake as slowly as possible. Then dinner and up till way late playing games and telling stories by candlelight outside.

We also made a family outing to a place called Salt Springs. I remembered it as being a wonderfully cool place when I was little so I wanted to see if it lived up to grown up splendor. Yup. My first discovery was some jewelweed/silverweed/popweed/touch-me-not. There was no consensus on what we actually called it. I guess I called it popweed because when you touch the tiny pods of these plants, they explode. Nature's bubblewrap. So I found a patch of them and let the kids loose. Next we walked up to the creek and began our hike through the creek and up the 3 waterfalls. My memories are full of the happy feelings of splashing and climbing through waterfalls, they did not disappoint. Everything was so green and lush and I sent the boys off ahead - free from the fears of fire ants, scorpions, snakes and lurking nasties that make me cautious back home. I heard later that my cousin spotted a snake on the trial after us and they high-tailed it out of there. Maybe it was just a little garter snake, because in my gentle mind, that's all there could ever be out there in those beautiful woods.






The trail back is along the banks of the creek where we discovered pennies hammered (?) into the rocks. tons of them. who knows why?



Me and some cheese. Who doesn't love cheese?





So it was good. And all at the same time, so sad. To say goodbye.





The squeaky lounge - in all her uncovered splendor.

Since We Last Spoke... (entry #2)

MOVED.

Yes. We MOVED! Like we didn't really have anything else going on this month. Let me also say that it's our goofiest move yet. This from the folks who are used to moving across several state lines when we up and decide to change our address.

We moved across the street.

Sometime last year we bought a house in our neighborhood, tore it down (sadly it had too many little things that needed updating that it was best to just start over), built a new house and put it up for sale. She's lovely, but she has some challenges in our neighborhood (size, cost and location being just a few.) We hemmed and hawed back and forth about what we should do. Did we want to live there?



So we made the list (we are big list makers in our marriage) and ended up wanting to stay put: our house has a lovely yard, great shade and we've spent the last 4+ years customizing it to how we live and want to live. I even had the perfect plan for the veggie garden and a fence. FINALLY.

As time wore on though, the money side of the list really started to overshadow the emotional side. So POOF we decided to move into the new house and sell our old one.

HUGE thanks to my mom who came and watched the boys while I loaded up the Honda, backed it out of our driveway and drove up into the new driveway to unload. I packed not a single box. I made do with laundry baskets and the ubiquitous Whole Food shopping bags. Load after load. We did rent a trailer a couple days to move the really big stuff. Sounds tedious, eh? The upside is that when I unloaded, I just put it away in the new house - pack and unpack all at once. In two short weeks, we said goodbye to this:


The house when we bought it, in all its 1950s splendor (classic car undercover not included.)



This is the house now.


This is Nbear (!) when we first moved in. He's enjoying one of the favorite features of the house: the mail slot. Favorite item #2? The ramp. Both went by the wayside when we added on.




This is the day they knocked down the wall between the old house and the new when we added on.




This is a hug from the beloved Miss Aimee (with Nbear) on the sidewalk where they used to draw... before it was ripped out for planting things.




This is our perfect red kitchen. Smith and I were in total agreement on the color. An absolute first. Smith made the cabinets, I sanded, we stained and wiped and polished and hung. I will not miss the cabinet that opened by itself with its small piece of paper wedged in to keep it closed just so.



Here you can see the small table next to the window where neighborhood cats, birds and squirrels could be watched with intensity. It's also a spot to show off the tools. And apparently the perfect spot to plop my purse.



This is one very small kitchen. But, Smith made the cabinets big. Can you believe all of this stuff was in one cabinet?! If you look closely, you will spot my oldest.



Jbird on the non-code passing heart attack steps. (but aren't the lovely?) And that shade of green - "halcyon green" ahhhh.




The concrete countertop that Smith made THE 5 days prior to our house being on the cool house tour. You can even see the impressions of the sycamore leaves from our yard.




We've have good holidays and get togethers here.











We will miss the yard with its incessant leaves and pure shade.










A glimpse of the foyer - one of my favorite spots in the house. It made me feel welcome with its shiny mirrors, egg shaped light and its umbrellas (and shoes. there were always a lot of shoes in here...)




And here's the namesake of this very blog... the front porch. It's huge, completely shaded with the perfect hint of a breeze.






It also had one of these: