Writing and Driving and Life E. L. Doctorow once said that “writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This passage from Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird came to mind while driving with my 15 year old last night. We were talking about growing … Continue reading Like Driving a Car at Night
I love how much art and music envelop us at every turn, and how the boys have learned to channel their own feelings through art and music to take the edge off of some of those overpowering emotions. They know they are not alone in their highs and lows, because they listen to musicians who can speak their pains or their joys and allow their listeners to feel the connection and the parallels. Continue reading “Can Music Save Your Mortal Soul…”
My mood is always more settled, almost nestled in and snug and happy, when I am tending to the needs of my soul. Continue reading Body in Motion
And it dawns on me. The lesson. These things happen sometimes when something someone says intrigues me so, that I want to ponder it, mull it over, hold it in my hand and carry it like a talisman until its wisdom breaks open for me. Continue reading In the Silence
We talked about the power of nature to heal our souls, to refresh them, and cleanse them from the dust of every day life. Continue reading Nature’s Cathedral
My 13yo son asked me a question last night. He turned to me and asked, “What does it mean to be a hero? Do you have to save someone’s life to be a hero?” Continue reading What Does it Mean to be a Hero?
Do you listen intently to the words of songs your kids listen to – the stations, the kinds of music they like?
Continue reading They Don’t Want What We Want, by Asking Alexandra
Always the lists. Give me too much free time between calls at work, and a fairly slow day with no nearby neighbors to visit with, and I used pages and pages of scratch paper to make lists for the New Year. Lists about working out, and menus, and lists of chores and how to rotate them. Lists about writing and making time for the things … Continue reading Learning to Laugh
I have gotten out of the habit of writing, and my world is suffering. The walls start closing in on me when my creativity is on hiatus. When I am drawn like a moth to bad news, and the marching feet of the demise of our civilization, I sit stoop-shouldered and spineless and terrified – sucked into more and more bad news and my head … Continue reading Books will Save Us
My boys and I see pictures in the sky. We see big, bold, ridiculous, pictures sometimes, and we laugh and point. This is beginner imagination building that we have been doing since they were tiny. Now, they can create a story out of thin air. (The picture here looks a little like Olive Oil, from the Popeye cartoons, doesn’t it?) Some of my favorite spottings … Continue reading Imagining Pictures in the Clouds
Last night at dinner, we got into a conversation about music lyrics, and my husband and I were both telling stories of growing up in a time when we had to guess at half the lyrics. We had to listen over and over when a song came on the radio, or try to record it with our little tape recorder, if we happened to catch … Continue reading Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles
Because Ben and I are both artists, and experience a large range of emotions, we’ve had to learn about anger and how to handle it, manage it, subdue it, understand it and live with it. We each have a tendency to fly off the handle and we’ve had to study the Primitive Brain otherwise known as the Fight or Flight part of the brain that … Continue reading Primitive Brain – Fight or Flight – and Homework
What a completely blissful day. These are the new rockers we picked up at a garage sale this weekend, and this is the view looking out onto our back field in Southern Oregon. It goes on and on and we end up with stunning sunsets all summer long. I sat out here and read the first chapter of The Conscious Parent for a new reading … Continue reading Endless View from Rocking Chairs
Yesterday, on the way to music lessons, there was a lively conversation in the car between my six-year old and my nine-year old about whether the word muzzle and snout could be used interchangeably. Ben is a huge reader, and he was saying that a writer will use muzzle instead of snout sometimes, and then other times talk about a snout. At first I … Continue reading Muzzles, Snouts or Beaks
Gears are at the heart of so many things around here. Scott is building a race car for the Drag Strip that is around the corner from our house. Both boys like to build motorcycles and bikes, and finger bikes, and scooters and anything else with wheels, really. I can see them going into fields like engineering or design or drafting. They are artists. Anything … Continue reading Gears, Math and Contrary
The other night at dinner, Scott explained to the boys about The Mom Flower. He told them that moms need hugs and kisses and sweetness from their children to survive, and that being cross with a mom makes her wilt. Ben said, “So, if we’re nice, she gets prettier; and if we’re mean, she’ll turn into a raisin?” Essentially, yes. “You’ve seen your mom when … Continue reading The Mom Flower
Today, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday with a couple of videos* specifically tailored for children’s understanding. When we were done, my six-year old announced that he was going to color a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ben joined him in coloring on the living room floor, and I printed out the “I Have a Dream Speech,” to read to them as they … Continue reading Majestic Heights of Soul Force
The way I am learning to meditate, is to be still and quiet, and allow my mind to settle onto something, whatever it wants to settle onto, and keep breathing. It is a very low-key, no stress kind of meditation. I don’t beat myself up for doing it wrong, because there is no wrong way to do it. I read somewhere that given the opportunity … Continue reading Gratitude, Grace and Green Beans
Whatever you may believe about the formations of crop circles, whether they are made by pranksters or by some other means; to put any time into studying them, proves they are not easy to dismiss as silliness. In the book, Sacred Geometry, by Stephen Skinner, the author shares that most crop circles are based entirely on Euclidean geometry. A quick Google search of the phrase crop … Continue reading Bird’s Eye View, Crop Circles and What Aliens Must Think of Us
We were out later last night than ever before, I’m pretty sure. Somehow after our afternoon chores, we ended up going out to our Goat Mentor’s place – way over in Applegate. It is always a several hour adventure to get there, up the crazy bumpy driveway, deal with the pack of dogs, get to the barn, pick up supplies, hug Sue a few times, … Continue reading Here’s to Hilarious Late Night Snacking
We started with Dessert First, because Bean won a Gift Certificate to Dairy Queen from our local Credit Union. He had answered the kid’s quiz about which Presidents were on which bills. He was very proud to be able to take his brother and I out for ice cream on his very own little credit card. Over dinner, tonight, Bean said something hilarious, and Ben mimicked … Continue reading Lucy, Ethel, Conveyors of Chocolate and Family Mechanics
“Long, long ago, in a village far away…” And so begins a story, that holds our attention all through dinner. Benjamin, my 8-year old, told a story that he’d heard at school, with such skill that I was on the edge of my seat, wide-eyed and crying at one point. Such heroism. Such love. He just waited patiently for me to stop blubbing and … Continue reading “We are all, Despite Ourselves, Drenched in Narrative”
The plan was to look at Oxymorons because they are hilarious. However, the best thing about our outlook on learning is that we can change on a dime based on the interests of the kids. Ben’s mini-bike underwent some modifications and enhancements over the weekend, which allowed him to go faster and jump higher. When he and his dad stopped at Motorcycle Madness over the … Continue reading Victory Speeches – Including Everyone in the Win
Over dinner tonight, I was informed that the boys had been watching The History Channel‘s show, American Pickers, and were introduced to a flag with a Swastika on it. Sharp intake of breath. My husband explained that he paused the show and had a teachable moment with my 5- and 8-year old to explain (again) the idea of planting seeds of hate vs. planting seeds … Continue reading The Red, Black & White I was not Expecting This Season
We started our dinner out with a question from Ben. He asked “If having a baby is the most painful thing a woman can do, what’s the most painful thing a man can do?” Scott started with a very respectful and cautious answer about how men can never fully understand it all, but they can offer support and love through the whole process. But then … Continue reading The Boys Want Stories of The Days They Were Born
