fall-ing

and love-ing it.

the food. the colors. the sunlight.

watching my children. cheeks rosy. gathering leaves for the mantle. chasing crickets.

a chill in the air.

but with warmth in our hearts.

because Our Lord is so generous in the gifts He gives to us each and every season.

the swing of things

funny we should end our first week of school in the same place we started.

only this time we brought friends.

and shared some of our favorite things with them.

and they shared some of their favorite things with us.

there was lots of good food and music.

but just when we were really getting into the swing of things. it was time to come home.

sometimes it is hard to bring yourself back from moments like these.

to face real life.

the dishes. the laundry. the schoolwork.

the repetition. the monotony.

it can be such a pain.

especially with all of the stuff we’ve got going on ’round here lately.

however….

“when the Divine LIFE came to this earth, He reechoed the lessons of the Thrill of Monotony. St. Peter asked how many times we should forgive. Peter thought seven times was enough. Our Lord said, “seventy times seven”. there were three sweet monotonies in His Life-thirty years obeying, three years teaching, three hours Redeeming. He passed on to us the thrill of being born again, which was made a condition for entering into the Kingdom of Heaven.

because God is full of life i imagine each morning Almighty God says to the sun, “do it again”; and every evening to the moon and the stars, “do it again”; and every springtime to the daisies, “do it again”; and every time a child is born into the world asking for a curtain call, that the heart of God might once more ring out in the heart of the babe.

LIFE is full of romance and thrill when it has one overall purpose, namely, to be one with a LIFE that is Personal enough to be a Father; one with a Truth that is Personal enough to be the Wisdom from whence come all Art and Science; and one that is Personal enough to be a Love that is a “Passionless Passion, a wild Tranquility”.

life is worth living when we live each day to become closer to God. when you have said your prayers, offered your actions in union with God, continue to enjoy the “Thrill of Monotony”, and “do it again”!                  

~Fulton Sheen, Life is Worth Living

and so off i go…

to “do it again”!

shallow

05 may 2010. lovely day. good food. cool breeze. sangria. lunch guests. crafts. little girls making homemade tortillas. a little bit of knitting with a friend on my comfy-slipcover-less sofa. playing tennis inside the house with laughing children. praying the litany of the Blessed Virgin with those same children before bed. all lined up. youngest to oldest on the church pew in my living room. the soft glow of the dim light making their beautiful. clean faces shine.

all those sweet memories and no pictures to share. there was never a “moment” to go and get the camera.

some moments just can’t be captured.

and so hopefully those few words will be all that i need. in the days and years ahead. to recall the beauty that was today.

somehow i titled this post shallow. because i thought i was going to ramble on about shallow. senseless things. like how i am catching up on LOST. and how i was so upset when the locke-ness monster pushed desmond into that well. i’ve always liked desmond. brother. and …just in case you are watching this season of american idol, who you think is going to win? and did you think that the disturbing lady gaga’s performance look like something out of the lower depths of hell? and what about harry connick jr.’s beautiful blue eyes ….even if he didn’t sing very well tonite.

but i think i’ll stop.

not trying to be holier than thou or anything.

i just feel a strange peace tonite.

and for some reason i don’t need to hear myself speak.

for once….

maybe i’m not so shallow as i thought…

sometimes i just wanna talk about cool stuff too. i try to be a little cool for my kids’ sake. they already think i act too much like a granny. knitting while telling them whose behaviour is going to land them in hell if they don’t straighten up and fly right. 

so i’ll leave you with that image of me. a bible-thumping. crazed. shallow. granny. with blonde-highlights…..

somebody. stop. me. please.

i rambled anyway.

pleasantly aloof

to virtual things right now.

pleasantly entranced by the living. breathing. awe-inspiring. touchable. kissable things of my very real life.

the weather is so fickle these days. one minute we have cold noses and layers of clothes and blankets. the next we are outside flirting with the sprouts in the garden. sweet peas by the dozens. zinnias and sunflowers. will they flower? who knows. we just love watching anything we’ve planted grow! we just as easily become distracted by interesting albeit dead leaves that have fallen to the ground as we do the sprouts. i’m telling you that afternoon sunlight has a way of transforming everything it touches. it is almost bewitching.

lost in yarn the same colors that draw me outside i am ridiculously working on a pair of knitted handwarmers. really they are a big fat joke just waiting for me to put them out of their misery and unravel each and every stitch. my husband politely noted yesterday that he always sees me knitting but i never make anything. i remained tight-lipped about all the progress i’ve made. about how i can now recognize knits and purls just by looking at them. and i know how to knit 2 together. increase and decrease. giant leaps for someone who only ever dreamed of even being able to hold 2 needles at the same time.

i had a funny experience with circular needles this weekend. let’s just say i’ve put them away for a while. we’re both better off. 

i have been wading through biology curriculum for my high-schooler. trying to figure out what is overkill and what is necessary. making jello cells and pretty notebook pages seem sufficient to me. but what do i know? i feel like someone should come up with a living high school curriculum. just the same way we do with the little ones. why do we “throw” all that goodness out the window when the kids get a little bigger?

tonight i went shopping for all the things i need for my mama’s birthday dinner. i will be fixing it for her tomorrow. it was just me and my girl and together we perused the aisles of the store. talking to each other in fake english accents. laughing at the silliest of things.

we’ve been having a sleepytime tea with stories a few times a week. just me and the two little ones. they get in their jammies and robes and we sweetly sip our tea out of pretty cups while i read. it is a rather relaxing little ritual and i can see it becoming something we’ll remember forever.

anyhow, i hope you too are taking some time to be pleasantly aloof of all things virtual and experiencing things that you and your children will remember forever….these are such precious. precious days. hours. minutes. but who’s counting? certainly not me….