{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{pretty}

I was thinking that I wouldn't have my "pretty" photo be of flowers this week, but I couldn't resist. Our garden is looking much more colorful after we planted some new flowers over Easter weekend. And by "we," I mostly mean my husband. Though Pippo and I did play in the grass and offer valuable moral support.

I needed an Easter garland.

Just before Easter, my dining room seemed so...Lenten.

I could picture something colorful...something bright...white...colors...floaty....

Easter snapshots.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ Holy Week Edition!

Not that there's anything particularly "Holy Week" about this post, it just is Holy Week!

 {pretty}

Given that it's spring, the pretty has to be flowers. I went all over your posts like a crazy woman last week telling you I just love daffodils, and these are some teensy ones that my mother planted out on the hill. It's hard to tell the scale by the rocks, because they could be boulders, but think -- those are mother of thyme and lambs ears on either side. Itty bitty.

Yarn Along and some {phfr} notes.

Thanks to Ginny for the Yarn-Along!

This is one of those little skeins I got on sale last month. I must say this 110 m. is giving me a headache.

Dear Auntie Leila: I don't know what to do for Easter.

 Dear Carrien writes,

Dear Auntie Leila,

I don't know what to do for Easter. Seriously. I'm flummoxed.

I finally understand Lent, and being the type of person who won't do something unless I understand the why behind it and think it's a good one, that's saying something, arrogant though that may be. (I prefer to think of it as curiosity combined with an intolerance of the ridiculous.)

So we're keeping Lent, in our own way, with reading and talking and putting the whole story in context of the grander story that it fulfills. But Easter Sunday... well, I don't like egg hunts, because that gets so confused with a certain rabbit... and our church doesn't do much that's different. I want to create an occasion, as memorable and joyous as the event it remembers requires, but I'm stumped.

(We've always made a big deal out of passover before and the fulfillment, which is why I'm not all that prepared.) I remember you talking about this once, I think.

Do you have any ideas that could be executed on sort notice?

With love,
Carrien

 

Library Sale

Our local public library has a quarterly book sale, and this time around I not only remembered to put it on my calendar - we even remembered to go!

I love library book sales, don't you? There was an epic (semiannual?) one at the library where I lived in Virginia - they had twenty-five-cent paperbacks and signed first editions, and everything in between. It would go on for a whole weekend - Friday evening was for "friends of the library" only, Saturday was for everyone, and Sunday everything was discounted. For three book-loving gals in a little two-bedroom apartment, it was a dangerous place.

This one was more unassuming - it started with just a few dozen boxes of paperback fiction on folding tables outside a little outbuilding. But there was more! The books went through the building and then outside again. A lot more to look at than we initially realized, which was exciting.

(I sort of meant to take pictures, but forgot. I'm sorry. Not that it looked so very interesting or anything. But I did take a picture of the art festival going on nearby in the town center. Mostly because I still can't get over the palm trees and the ocean!)

The Reasonably Clean Bathroom.

If you visited me, as opposed to looking at my photos, you really would not think I'm that great of a housekeeper. I'm the kind of person who never even gives a thought to whether there should be toothbrushes in the downstairs bathroom (you know, the bathroom your dinner guests use), because to me it's more important that I'm able to brush my teeth when I want to go to bed than whether the guests see my toothbrushes.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

{pretty}

$2 worth of (6-inch tall) farmers' market blooms brighten my sideboard, and my week.

Collective Memory: The growth panel.

Here's a little archeological/anthropological artifact that sort of represents my ambivalence to the whole enterprise that is keeping family memories.

See it there on the left? Just inside the room? For some reason I forgot to tell you about it that time I gave you a pantry tour.

It's our kids' growth chart. Even from here you can tell it's a mess.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

In that competence post I talked a lot about figuring out what God's will could be for you, and not a ton about competence, but honestly, my posts are getting so long. It's a bit horrifying.

And anyway, I have an idea.

Visiting.2: The Dog and the Baby

For one thing, he smelled so interesting! And in different ways at different times!

(She is pretty skittish, and generally hides in Bridget's room when little kids come to visit, so this was really the closest she'd ever been to a child, I think!)

For another, he commanded the humans' attention so completely. She couldn't decide whether to protect him or be jealous of him.

Visiting

The Lt is often out training "in the field" overnight, sometimes for longer than others. This time it was a full month of cold-weather training in the mountains, which is why little Pippo and I decided to leave sunny Southern California for some cold-weather training of our own in Massachusetts.

When traveling in the wilds of New England, it's best to bring a lion for protection. Or maybe two.

We almost didn't go: I have a real mental block when it comes to flying (my husband, mother, and sister can attest to this, as they have all witnessed the basketcase that is Rosie Buying Plane Tickets. It's pathetic). It's just not my favorite thing. For one thing, it combines two things I really don't enjoy: committing to a schedule long in advance and spending big chunks of money.

The 12-year-old girl: Six thoughts.

{May I encourage you to read my boy post as well? Both these posts have something for mothers of either sex.}

Bridget, age 12

I forget...

I had the funniest April Fool's post idea.

It was going to be so funny.

You were going to be so fooled.







Then I forgot it.