We got back from our trip to California tonight. I wanted to write something profound and beautiful and surprising-- even worked for awhile on some ideas connected with We Three Kings and New Mexico and a dusting of snow in the desert and for He is like a refiner's fire and the Year of Jubilee... But nothing came of it except the desire to work on it more or delete it altogether.
I am not feeling beautiful or profound, or even surprising. I just feel very tired. We all put up with each other well, and even had some fun on the way home, playing in the spots of snow as we stopped for gas or food, laughing at Popeye and Andy Griffith, and analyzing each other's personalities. (Surprisingly, I am a Relating Director and Mr. Honey is a Socializing Thinker. I thought I was a Thinker, but evidently I only play one on this blog.) The kids took their dolls on a cruise in the backseat this afternoon, and I got some crocheting done.
But California to Texas is Really. A. Drive. And not a task for the feeble.
I am so glad we are home.
Note to self: When leaving for an extended Thanksgiving trip, please remember to throw out the decorative pumpkins before you leave. And please triple check that everyone has their thick jackets. (I thank the Lord for Triss, who brought a matching sweater and/or jacket for every outfit she packed this trip. She is the only reason Mariel and Cornflower stayed warm through the wind and the snow.)
(By the way, if anyone is looking for a way to resign themselves to the high price of gas in Texas, I recommend a trip to California. A few days of paying upwards of $3.40 per gallon, and you will think nothing-- nay, rejoice-- at paying $2.88.)
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thanksgiving Happenings
Hi, all!
We travelled over twenty-five hours this past weekend in order to be with Mr. Honey's new nephew and my 83-year-old grandparents this Thanksgiving. Thanks to the wonder of laptops and WiFi, I am able to make a blog post from beautiful Petaluma, California. We drove through San Francisco and had lunch in Sausalito yesterday. The weather was perfect, sunny and clear and in the 60s.
This past Sunday we attended church in Niles Canyon, at the meetinghouse I was raised and married in, and got to visit with all the wonderful church folks there. It is a precious thing to know beyond a doubt that there is a place where you are loved and made much of simply because you are there. The warm hospitality of these lovely people is demonstrated through love that is maintained regardless of your action, inaction or wayward thought-- unconditional and abundant. Ahhh. This is what I mean when I tell my children I will always love them no matter what. I am not nearly so good at it as my folks in California, though. A very nourishing and reassuring love. I am taking notes.
Our drive out was uneventful, unique in the fact that each contingent had its own entertainment. We had a dvd player in the car for the first time in our little family's history. I have always been adamantly against tv in the car (I really don't even like it so much in the home), but this time I reluctantly agreed, knowing that one of the kids began dreading the drive out from the moment we began talking about it early last summer. So the kids had their movies, Mr. Honey had his radio with headphones and I had The Silver Branch and How The Irish Saved Civilization, along with a blanket I am crocheting. It was a rather lonely trip, to tell the truth. And we barely sang at all.
Cornflower and I developed colds on the way out, and are still nursing our snuffledy noses and scrubbing down every few minutes to keep others from getting sick. (I wondered if we ought to call the trip off, but we were already so many hours down the road, I just couldn't see it.)
Our new nevvie is the sweetest and most remarkable boy ever (of course), and we have the whole rest of the day to play with him and visit with his parents. We are taking him to the park so he can gaze up at the light glinting through the leaves on the trees. Good times!
Tomorrow we will be having Thanksgiving with four generations of my family in my aunt and uncle's home, which they have completely redone on a large scale and barely finished in time for Thanksgiving. And then we will go home. Twenty-five more hours. I wonder if I can hide the headphones and dvd player before we start out again? I don't know if I can bear silence across four states more than once.
We travelled over twenty-five hours this past weekend in order to be with Mr. Honey's new nephew and my 83-year-old grandparents this Thanksgiving. Thanks to the wonder of laptops and WiFi, I am able to make a blog post from beautiful Petaluma, California. We drove through San Francisco and had lunch in Sausalito yesterday. The weather was perfect, sunny and clear and in the 60s.
This past Sunday we attended church in Niles Canyon, at the meetinghouse I was raised and married in, and got to visit with all the wonderful church folks there. It is a precious thing to know beyond a doubt that there is a place where you are loved and made much of simply because you are there. The warm hospitality of these lovely people is demonstrated through love that is maintained regardless of your action, inaction or wayward thought-- unconditional and abundant. Ahhh. This is what I mean when I tell my children I will always love them no matter what. I am not nearly so good at it as my folks in California, though. A very nourishing and reassuring love. I am taking notes.
Our drive out was uneventful, unique in the fact that each contingent had its own entertainment. We had a dvd player in the car for the first time in our little family's history. I have always been adamantly against tv in the car (I really don't even like it so much in the home), but this time I reluctantly agreed, knowing that one of the kids began dreading the drive out from the moment we began talking about it early last summer. So the kids had their movies, Mr. Honey had his radio with headphones and I had The Silver Branch and How The Irish Saved Civilization, along with a blanket I am crocheting. It was a rather lonely trip, to tell the truth. And we barely sang at all.
Cornflower and I developed colds on the way out, and are still nursing our snuffledy noses and scrubbing down every few minutes to keep others from getting sick. (I wondered if we ought to call the trip off, but we were already so many hours down the road, I just couldn't see it.)
Our new nevvie is the sweetest and most remarkable boy ever (of course), and we have the whole rest of the day to play with him and visit with his parents. We are taking him to the park so he can gaze up at the light glinting through the leaves on the trees. Good times!
Tomorrow we will be having Thanksgiving with four generations of my family in my aunt and uncle's home, which they have completely redone on a large scale and barely finished in time for Thanksgiving. And then we will go home. Twenty-five more hours. I wonder if I can hide the headphones and dvd player before we start out again? I don't know if I can bear silence across four states more than once.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Bloggy Thankfulness
Mama Squirrel is encouraging everyone to nominate some lesser-known homeschool blogs, and I want to get involved. Unfortunately, I cannot figure out where to place my nominations. (How someone as computer illiterate as I ever came to blog is one of the wonders of this desktop publishing world. I quite impress my friends, you know. I cannot function in Excel, I cannot open attachments, but, yes, this girl can blog. After a fashion.)
Oh, okay. I decided to try one more time, and realized this post is the form. Light dawns on Marble Head. You scroll down to the bottom of the post and leave your nominations in the message, right? That's what I have now done, so hopefully that is correct.
Here are the blogs I have nominated:
I have a Bloglines account and currently have 63 feeds on it, so these are just the tip of the iceberg. It's safe to say that these and a few others are the blogs I read every time I see that they have been updated. And sometimes I look at the unhighlighted blog name on my Bloglines list and wonder, "Is everything going well with them? I haven't seen a post in awhile." I don't comment on posts very often and, yes, I read from my feeds and not the blogs themselves a lot of the time. It's quicker. I do like to comment, but then I get stymied about writing just exactly what I want to say, and a lot of times I cannot figure out just exactly what I want to say in less than ten minutes. So I limit my comments to when I really cannot resist or when I know I have quite a bit of time (that happens rarely).
I really appreciate the ladies who take the time to share thoughts and ideas with the rest of us. Thanks so much for blogging!
Oh, okay. I decided to try one more time, and realized this post is the form. Light dawns on Marble Head. You scroll down to the bottom of the post and leave your nominations in the message, right? That's what I have now done, so hopefully that is correct.
Here are the blogs I have nominated:
Best Curriculum or Business Blog: A Brave Writer’s Life in Brief
Best Family or Group Blog: The Common Room
Best Cyber-Buddy: Dewey’s Treehouse
Best Encourager: The Beehive
Best Teen Gal: The Heart of Flame Therein
Best Crafts and Projects Blog: The Heart of Harmony
Best Homeschool Mom Blog: Higher Up And Further In
Best Variety: Take Time To Smell The Coffee
Best Artistic Content Blog: Wittingshire
Best Unschooling: In a Spacious Place
Best Homemaking: Mrs. Happy Housewife
I have a Bloglines account and currently have 63 feeds on it, so these are just the tip of the iceberg. It's safe to say that these and a few others are the blogs I read every time I see that they have been updated. And sometimes I look at the unhighlighted blog name on my Bloglines list and wonder, "Is everything going well with them? I haven't seen a post in awhile." I don't comment on posts very often and, yes, I read from my feeds and not the blogs themselves a lot of the time. It's quicker. I do like to comment, but then I get stymied about writing just exactly what I want to say, and a lot of times I cannot figure out just exactly what I want to say in less than ten minutes. So I limit my comments to when I really cannot resist or when I know I have quite a bit of time (that happens rarely).
I really appreciate the ladies who take the time to share thoughts and ideas with the rest of us. Thanks so much for blogging!
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