Peach Coglo

Eastertide and Patience

Spring is slowly showing itself around here.  I have heard a lot of frustration with the weather lately.  I am not a hot weather person, so I am having no problem with the weather lately.  However, the weather is providing a good, even if it's unwanted, lesson in patience.  In watching the world around these parts wake up slowly, I am reminded to slow down and appreciate the here and now.  I am trying to apply this to other aspects of my life, where I am much, much less patient-not enough time for this not enough time for that, yet another meeting or another phone call from the school nurse.   I also might need some of you to remind me of this post, when I have had it up to here with blisteringly hot weather. 

As we spring into a season of busyness, I am going to remind myself to try my best to patient and if I don't succeed to try again.  I can't remember who said it, but I love this quote, "Shift your attitude and watch your day shift."   So as I am fighting a cold which almost feels like bronchitis, and head off to the first of three conferences today, I am going to shift my attitude, and remember the beauty and fun of the Easter holiday spent at my mom's house.  Two of these beautiful things included a bowl of Easter candy corn and a mom-made martini.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

 

 

Huddled Masses

October and the bulk of November seem like they were forever ago.  Let's see there was Halloween, Open Studio, and Thanksgiving just happened.  Whoa!  I am planning on digging my heels in on December despite eight Nutcracker performances and the ordinary hustle of the holidays.  Recently Heather mentioned how much she wanted December to be a slow month.  I am right with her on that one. 

At the tree farm . . . Elijah and I are equally picky about trees.  I find this to be pretty funny.

So as always,  I am planning to slow down the Advent and holiday season as much as I possibly can.  We started by putting up our tree.  It is our tradition to pick one from the tree farm a day or two after Thanksgiving.  Our tree is still getting decorated here and there (it's really never done especially when you can make cinnamon ornaments and the like), and I have yet to start on the house.  Unfortunately, it seems like we all have to work, or go to school and rehearsal, as well as eat and sleep.  I have almost made peace with the necessity of incremental decorating that goes on around here-almost.  The good news is that I found my bottle brush trees and my Nativity from Mexico so I am dancing a jig over those rediscoveries.

A "gingerbread" ormanent my mom bought in Germany for the kids.  I depend on her to keep my ornament stash somewhat "classy".

My Thai fish that I bought from the U.N. gift shop when I was sixteen . . . .

"The Sock Monkey" made by Julie . . . .

But what I have made complete peace with is the end result of a child-decorated Christmas tree.  I was once on my way to becoming turbo Martha Stewart-like.  I have been rather Martha-y since childhood.  I arranged the birds, roses and bows just so on the tree.  I mean I was six.  Man, how I enjoyed a themed and neat tree trimmed with white lights.  Well the white lights bit the dust a while ago and our trees always sport white and muticolored lights that twinkle.  All is still well.  For a while though I had an interesting time dealing with the huddled decorating style of my children-ten ornaments on two branches while a big "bald" patch surrounded the crowd of Santas, bells and other ornaments.  Oh well.  I don't know if it is age or a desire to put my energy elsewhere or seeing how much they enjoy decorating (perhaps it's all three), but now I am cool with the huddled masses.  I used to crave order on the tree.  Now my eye doesn't even twitch when I see the tree and I am actually enjoying it.  Elijah, however, is another matter.  I believe he is a bit into the themes and order too.  He proclaimed our tree to be "messy".  I think I will leave it to him to negotiate ornament placement with his siblings; I will be hanging out on the couch enjoying my tea and knitting.

My girl loves her Christmas tree almost as much as she loves "candy canns".

How about you?  If you celebrate Christmas, is your tree already up?  Does yours sport huddled masses of ornaments too?  ;-)

 

Mysterious

A couple of weekends ago (um yeah I am that far behind in my blogging, moving on now), I participated in my local art league's juried show.  I checked out the art, helped man the psychic table (that was one of the most interesting volunteer jobs I have had in a while).  We participated in some traditional Chinese dances.  The kiddos painted panels for an art mural and made ribbons.  That was definitely fun, but it was also fun watching my girl do her thing with sidewalk chalk. 

On a whim, Helena entered a chalk competition.  She named her piece Mysterious.  She didn't have much variety in the way of chalk colors, but I thought she rocked it out.  Apparently the judges did too because she won her age division.  Sweet!  The prize was a gift certificate to a local Mexican cafeteria-style restaurant.  The best thing was seeing how proud she was to win.  Helena treated the family to some tasty Mexican food.  We had a fun celebration.  I think she is still shining from that win.  It's cool to watch her feel competent and able.  I never would've tried entering an art contest at her age.  Cheers to the next generation!

Happy Monday friends!

Weekending~May 20, 2012

Joining sweet Amanda for weekending . . . .

This weekend beautiful and fun and eye-opening.  That is a lot for one weekend.

My dancing girl danced in her fifth recital.  I cannot believe she has been dancing for five years.   She really loves it.  I hear parents say this a lot.  I have heard kids say they love something.  It's hard for me to remember being 7 and loving something so much.  It looks like I have two seven year-olds who have their passions. 

Our weekend was full of clay, wood and dance.

Elijah made his first clay figure that I think is pretty awesome (I am his mama so I know I am super biased).  He took it to school before I could snap a shot for this post.  Elijah has been obsessing over clay for months now.  He loves making stuff with his hands and has asked for a Leatherman for his birthday.  This weekend he chisled a canoe.  I need a shot of that too; Elijah tends to make off with his creations, so I'll grab him when he returns from school today.

Helena danced her ballet this weekend and declared she wants to be a professional dancer-"definitely ballet, but if not ballet then other kinds of dance.  I just want to dance all of the time."  She had a wonderful time at her recital and her brothers rallied around her (Eden was asleep which was probably for the best).

Somebody enjoys posing.  I call this her Lena Horne pose.

As per tradition we hit Dairy Queen afterwards.  That is always yummy and fun.  Then we came home and Helena danced some more, leaping everywhere, practicing her form.  I think she has discovered what incredible things her body can do.  It's a wonderful reminder for me.

Last night almost ended in a few tears as Helena was already missing her ballet teacher and not looking forward to a summer without dancing.  So here we go looking up ballet and art workshops and  stockpiling more clay . . . .

How was your weekend?  I hope your weekend was grand and that your Monday is treating you well.

 

 

 

 

First Communion

I can't believe my two middle babies just celebrated their First Communion.  Where has the time gone?!  It was a wonderful celebration.  Helena and Elijah knew what was happening too thanks to those many Meditations held by the religious education director.  We talked about many things during those programs-forgiveness, kindness, open hearts and minds, seeing God/Spirit as a woman, compassion.  I could go on.  It was a very positive experience in which the children had a firm hand.  I love that Fr.  Tom had the children sit up on the altar steps with him for the majority of mass.

We had a wonderful and raucous lunch with my parents and brother after the service.  So now I am beat.  I didn't realize how worked up I was during this whole process.  But as quick as a flash it's over, and now onto the rest of the busyness of May.

How was your weekend?

Eleven Years

How this boy got to be eleven years old I will never know.  Eleven super speedy trips around the sun.  I can't believe his growing independence and ever-increasing determination and 'voice'.  He has a 'voice'; he has himself and now he shares himself with us.

He thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate cake.

This year he told me what he wanted for his birthday-such a change. I can even tell what he might like-hence the yoga cd and giant Twix bar I gave him.  Doran is a big fan of what he calls 'Zen and spa music' and the boy just loves himself some Twix.  

What a young man he is turning out to be despite autism and despite all of the "nevers".

Doran even likes a little girl in his class.  I guess this is the age.  He shows his affection by calling her "poopy head".  Rude, but it seems on target for typical 5th grade boy behavior.  We do have to help him refine his approach.

So yesterday, he was celebrated with chocolate cake with a blue balloon (Doran's request), his favorite music (BB King), gifts, kiwi, iced tea, birthday flowers picked out by Eden, hugs, inspiration and wonderment.

Happy Birthday my Sweet!

Easter Weekend

Super duper late, but I am joining Amanda for weekending . . .

 

Another fast weekend . . .

This one blew by me, despite having Good Friday off, but it was a good one

We took our first true family bike ride as I finally procured a bike-thanks Greg!  It felt great to be pedaling along again.  I was lucky to get this bike, as a neighbor was selling it at a low, low price.  His wife rode it only once.  I think he left her behind on a bike trail - in the woods, and that was the end of that.

We planted a willow tree in 0ur oft flooded backyard in hopes that it would absorb the excess water we get so parts of our garden would be less soggy.  Except this year, we don't seem to be getting enough rain or snow.  Go figure.

I had to give up my fantasy idea of attending certain services holiday because things were getting scrunched.  So perhaps next year, we'll make it to the Requiem on Good Friday and Easter Vigil.  This year was a bust for both, but it was okay.

I made two peach cobblers this year (one for my family and one for a dear friend and her family), and potato salad.  Unlike previous years, I wasn't up until 1am making them.  So there is some progress on the organizational front.

The kiddos received their yarn balls and promptly lost two in my mom's house, but they enjoyed them.  I knitted up some super tiny and regular eggs, but of course I forgot to take pictures of the tiny ones.

There was egg dyeing and hunting, good company and a whole lot of Easter food.  I won't have to eat for days.  My mother cooks marvelously so there was brunch and then there was dinner: biscuits, ham, deviled seafood eggs, mac and cheese, candied yams, roast chicken, collards, green beans, cornbread biscuits and brisket.  I don't know how she does it.  I can barely make dinner every day.  Speaking of which I need to find her recipe for roast drumsticks.

I hope your weekend was wonderful and your week started off gently. 

 

Weekending~March 25, 2012

Joining Amanda for weekending . . . .

 

It was a wonderful one.

My mother gave us the birthday treat of live theater!

While my parents watched the kiddos (thank you!), Greg and I went to see Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in Boston.  After wandering around the Prudential Center lost for a second, we made it out into the night air and down the street to the theater.

The performances were spectacular.  We saw an actress, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, that we saw last year in another one of August Wilson's plays, Gem of the Ocean.  Wilson's work is incredibly powerful and can be difficult watch at times because he relates pain in such a skillful and poignant manner.  He also portrays life's joys and silliness too.  It was amazing.

Oh and talk about range, Yvette Freeman was tremendous.  You may remember her from the show ER.  I never really realize how limiting these hit shows can be for actors, until I see them in live theater.  Wow.  Not to harsh on ER or anything, but I can see why, as an artist, she left to do other things.

We celebrated Greg's birthday (the first go-round as his birthday is tomorrow) with a wonderful  dinner made by my mom and a fruit tart.

I finished knitting my last felted ball.

I made a decision to push through the exhaustion and paint something everyday, no matter how small.  I am almost done with my color exploration charts as a result, and I am feeling calmer about getting my hands on my brushes.

And to top it off, I saw an inspiring documentary about a man and his topiaries-no joke.  If you get a chance, watch it.  It is unbelievable the art this man created.  He was 70 when the documentary was made.  I promise you will be inspired.

How was your weekend?

Happy Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!  Since we can't be in New Orleans for at least the family-friendly celebrations, I decided we would have our own up here in CT.  I have made my first ever red beans and rice, gumbo,  and King Cake for our Mardi Gras dinner.  I don't dare try the etouffee or beignets.  I think next year we'll have to invite some folks over.  This party needs more of a crowd.  I do wish I could find my 1979 era beads.  I loved those things-the newer beads don't do much for me.  At least I have my old dubloons, yay!  I did pull out my green Halloween lights.  Turns out, I can use those for Mardi Gras  and St. Patrick's Day.  Sweet.

The day has been fun and busy so far with the kids stealing King Cake filling and helping me prepare.  Eden has been running around with her Halloween basket wishing everyone "Happy 'Olidays!", and looking for candy.  Hmm.  Now it's on to my bread pudding and fried chicken.  I have to put at least one vegetable dish in there somewhere.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day my friends.  Now off to make some Valentine's magic . . . .

 

love rocks by Helena