The Impatient Gardener: 10/01/2005

Darden Bridge.

Darden Bridge.
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

Great weekend!!
Parties don't seem to be the same grandure they used to have as in the past. Lives have changed, children get older and have activities and functions. We are all in a different way now. The big laughs and rolling parties will have to wait when the kids are in college and we have a little more free time on our hands. Then it will be "remember when" parties.

Tonight is Halloween. Dad of course is behind all the costumes for the girls. so much for the budget.
We all have that little kid inside us. There is no value to bring that out..... Priceless.

As usual, we will get no trick or treaters. I didn't even buy candy knowing no one will show up. If they do, they will get an apple thanks to Annie, or maybe some apple-rosemary bread from Corrine. These treaters have no idea what they are missing.

I have two weeks to produce and send in a necklace for the Holy Cross Auction as my donation with hopes of getting some orders. If not, I'll just move on to the next area of interests in chain maille. I want to manage the byzantine and celtic styles next. Yes, greg, I am thinking of you.

My Sister and brtother-in laws are wanting the family to come for Thanks giving this year. They bought a new house in Stevenville and want the family to come and check it out. This is the family whose 16.5 year old is pregenant. They have sent us pictures of her exposed stomach at five months. I don't want to see this? Please don't send us these pictures. I can't be all "aww" how sweet is that". I don't see how we can even show up for thankgiving. We have no desire to go because of this. How do you get beyond it? How do you embrace it and do you? Just put on a face and move through it? I don't like my hand being forced obviously. I guess I would want my extended family to embrace any of my girls if they found themsleves in
that situation, but, I don't want to have to think about that right now. why should I.....We? should we rally around as a family? should we support one another no matter what? But I was thinking in sickness and death and weddings, not teenage pregnancies. They have sent a second request to us for an answer to their original question of two weeks ago. All I want to do is make an excuse not to go. How immature is that?

Acorn delight

Acorn delight
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

The funny thing is, Mackinaw is too busy in the front yard barking at the school busses to know there are deer in his backyard.

Amy has her first Volleyball game this Sunday. I love this game. It is so hard for me to sit and watch the practice and not get up and help support the motivatation of these girls. It took me three days to find knee pads for Amy. They were either none for youth or they were as big as her head in style. $25.00 later we have a pair. How come I didn't realize we have a Dick's in town? Man, I need to get out more. I guess not having kid active in sports is the main reason why I didn't know where togo to get sporting supplies. Now I am out to find shorts of all things. Amy wore capris all summer so we don't have one pair of shorts for her to wear for the game or practices. Trying to find a pair this time of year is nuts. we've even tried the boys sections, but they are all silky and baggy. shocking! maybe I better get online fast and order a pair. sucks.

Our furnace is not working. Luckily it hasn't been too cold so far. Too bad I tossed all my ratty old sweaters with hopes of buying new ones this fall. Fat chance now. I must call a repair man to come and fix the old lady. I hope they don't dick us around. we really don't want to put out anotherr 3K this year. Lucky for us, friends of ours left an old space heater Tom was able to fix.

I can not believe there are five deer in my yard!

I can not believe there are five deer in my yard!
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

I know this photo is blurry. but if I had the flash on I would have scared these skiddish five away from their breakfast.

pumpkins 2005

pumpkins 2005
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

We had a very nice 'Family" weekend. First we started out with a Benefit on Saturday Night to raise money to help defer the cost of treatments. A good friend of ours from Holy Cross is going through chemo and radiation for cancer found in his mouth several months ago. The evening at the Charles Martin Youth Center was one of entertainment from muscians to poets. Howard is a writer for the Tribune and a respected local film maker. This will be one of many benefits to come for Howard. Having cancer can be very expensive.

Sunday was sleep in until 10am. what a treat. breakfast and the sunday paper, phone calls from people I haven't heard from in months and in years.

We went to see a friend of ours in a play called "Arsenic and Old Lace" performed by students from St. Joe. It was very funny and very well done. The stage props were amazing!

We needed to get our pumpkins this weekend in order for Dad to be a part of the whole carving thing. Tom found this farm south of town and was the pumpkins hugh and cheap!! So worth the drive.
On our way back into town, we decided we would take our girls out to dinner to Bruno's on Prairie avenue. This is the place of our first dinner date 18 years ago. How romantic.

Home the carving pumpkin and roasting seeds. Life is very good indeed.

~A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold. ~Ogden Nash

pumpkin seeds 2005

pumpkin seeds 2005
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

The best part about carving the pumpkins are the seeds. Also, I love the smell when the candle burns the lid of the pumpkin. mmmmmmmm!

Kelsey is nuts about pumpkin seeds. Her patience was surly tried this year waiting for them to roast. She loves the feel of them when they are soaking in the salt water. Nice and slimy!

Diamond Bells with Crystals Choker

Diamond Bells with Crystals Choker
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

Chain mailing is where I am at these days with jewlery making. I can't seem to get back to beads since wire work has been in my life. I am waiting for new tools to arrive that will make the job easier. I love making jump rings by hand. I must be nuts, but there is something satisfying about doing it your self.

bird bath

bird bath
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

I acquired this aged birdbath through permission given to dig up plants on a property that is to be flatened in a few weeks. All that was left was this abandonded birdbath. I took it home. You can't buy this aged look in the stores and I've been wanting one for years. My consolation for not having any plants to 'save'.

Why did I was three long weeks to finally start "The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd? I started Friday night along with my reading buddy Kelsey who was reading another "Chicken Soup for the Soul" that she already finished.
I would like to share a bit of my book.

...."His car door slammed, and I felt the vibration move through the walls. ...the years between us seemed accumulated everywhere, filling the house, and it seemed strange to me, how love and habit blurred so thoroughly to make a life."

...."Where did all this sexual longing come from anyway? I used to imagine that women had a little tank they'd come into the world with, and that I had used the entire contents of mine on Hugh those first years we were together. I'd recklessly emptied it out, and there was nothing I could do to refill it. I told Hugh once that I'd gotten the quart -size tank instead of the gallon -size, that it was like having a small bladder-- some women had them and some didn't. He'd looked at me like I was crazy."

......"I was an accomplished practitioner of delayed gratification. Hugh once said people who could delay gratification were highly mature. I could put off happiness for days, month, years. That's how "mature" I was."

~Love It!

It seems that just overnight that the leaves have taken on their fall color with a vengance . Like a snap of a photo it was there when I opened the door to let Mackinaw out this morning.

There is something pushy about this season that makes me want to hibernate. withdraw a bit. Like an undertow, I should relax and flow with it. Eventually it will bring me back to the surface.

Cattails

Cattails
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

My ability to multi-task has only improved. Knowing when to 'kick it' in order to have time for myself and keeping everyone happy is ultra key to having things run smoothly and have peace. This simple life I am leading is so fullfilling these days. I feel a great sense of accomplishment with running the house and the small businesses on the side and still having free time to just be.
Am I allowed to have this?
Isn't it funny that I still think this could all be gone in a blink of an eye?

This weekend has slowed down since we decided not to go to Manchester for Tom's Homecoming. Instead, we'll finish the small strip pieces for the soffits and develop some much needed family time outside of this house.

Tonight, Amy has a sleepover at a friends, so Kelsey and I will go out shopping for clothes for her, NOT me. She is so frustrated with trying to find clothes that fit her body style. She's getting to the point where she doesn't want to go shopping at all! Sounds familiar?
I have my own personnal frustrations with that topic as well. But when my friends took me out shopping after I had purged my closet to the point where I had nothing to wear. literally!!! They had me trying on.........like..forty pairs of pants!! I was breaking out into a sweat! They just kept coming and throwing them over the dressing room door. I had to stop and ask, "Do you guys have to do this everyime you go shopping?" and they said "YES". I was shocked. I thought everyone else in the world could just walk in a pick up a size--- and back home they'd go with their new favorite pair of pants. Well, after forty pairs and chaffing on my outer thighs, I was able to come home with two pairs of crop pants that I love and fit me well. Needless to say my purging has lead me to yet another needed shopping spree with the shopping gestapo!! Lord have mercy!

This was the story that has motivated Kelsey just enough to keep trying to see if there are truly items of clothing out there for her.

~Wish us luck.

hereafter

hereafter
Originally uploaded by macrophile.

Life is moving along nicely these days. No big stir ups. Just the routine. wishing for more time and money as usual. Church keeps calling wondering what is up with us. I've stopped answering the phone. I let Tom do it now. He has to know how difficult it can be to talk to the church people. maybe we'll get some motivation one way or another. more like another. Our lives seems to flow much smoother without the addition of church life. we need the down time as a family. the world and it's problems and treasures will be out there when the girls are no longer at home. I think we'll just hold on to what we have left and not let guilt consume us. consume me.

The girls are doing very well in school. Better than we could have dreamed. Kelsey is getting a bit more vocal in her opposition to school life, but I know she'd be lost without it. Her life is full. Amy is in her element. She is grasping all horns. That's my girl!!!

I've managed not to spread myself too thin in the Volunteer areas of school life. the school has a new non-optional volunteer program, where every family needs to accumulate ten hours in one way or another as their 'time' served. This way the same old people are not being overly taxed. I don't know if there is a penalty or not. but seems like you don't have a choice. Ahh!

I just called some big wig at Cressy and Everett to see if I could 'legally' go in and dig up shubbery and plants before they flatten the house for new development. I cannot tell you how many residents have been flatten this summer before I could get there to save the landscape. I hope for positive results. If not. I must go on a caper to save a awesome Rody! any volunteers?

I woke this morning to the sun kissing the hickory tree

I slept like a rock last night. I had one of those head spinning days yesterday. Just busy trying to cover too much ground in a short amount of time. Normal eh? I am amazed on how well I managed to pull it off. Not that it would be something I can do everyday; not unless I had to. It's nice to know I haven't lost my ability to juggle several things at once. The key is not to loose it!! For me anyway.

Kelsey's Birthday is this week. Big plans for her 'friends' gathering which is tonight. She had a Survivor theme she found on the internet. Camouflage scarves and silicone wrist bands that say 'peace'. Teams to form and T-pees to built. Baked her own chocolate cake with chocolate chip frosting. It will be a very chilly night in the treehouse. All week has been getting into the groove of routines and collecting the items needed to make her party everything she needs, for she IS turning 13. A teenager. I'm not going to put too much emphasis on the fact that she is a 'teenager' I can't do that. There are too many negative stigmas attached to it it seems. That's my issue. I'll just roll with the punches and go along as normal, what ever that is.

One of the many things I did last night was to go to a Pampered Chef show at a friends home in an old old old neighborhood of Corrines off of Woodward. It wasn't about purchasing items to get the ultimate hostess gift. It was bout having a mom's night out. Some brought their kids with them. I personally feel they need a break from their busy days and not dragged around to every function offered but that is my thing. Makes for crabby kids and parents. What's the point?

The Halloween decorations are popping up everywhere, ever since the first of October. I don't think people should have Halloween decorations that are as big or bigger than their house! These continuous air decorations are out of control!

I am close to being finished with the necklace that has been ordered by Mrs. O'Brien. I meet with her today to 'fit' it to her measurements. She is very petite.

Making my own clasps and findings has been very rewarding. I will post the finished necklace sometime this weekend.

~I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.
~Jewish Proverb

WALNUTS!!!!!

Our Cabin
Originally uploaded by merelyhere.

Walnuts, Panther scat, Pregnant spiders coming out of the couch and bats in the screened vent. Great hikes, great food, plenty of headboard, music, wire work, beading, stamping and a massage.

*(me talking to me while lying on the massage table)*

"She's killing me!!"

"No no, just breath, your alright"

"She's killing me!!"

"No, no, she's just hitting all the right spots"

"She's killing me!"

"Just breath through it, your fine"

still sore, but worth it!

There is a very goods reason why cabin #5 was the last to be rented out!!! Your were risking your life with the drop of walnuts speeding through the canopy of leaves like baseballs heading straight for your head!

The chick weekend had a different flavor this year. small and somewhat quiet. OH PLEASE......... I was there, how could it be quiet?

Next year will be diffferent as well with Annie being in Wales for next years chick weekend. I am so excited for that family. what an opportunity!!

Thanks for a great time ladies and Cindy , you need to Simmer!!!!!
we missed you Corrine and Kim. Lucky for us we have many years to come.