Eight is Great!

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/31/2010:

 ~Happy Birthday, Baby Girl~

 Eight is sure to be Great!

Naturally occurring solid aggregates of minerals and/or mineraloids

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/30/2010:

Where beauty is, then there is ugliness;
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.
Since olden times it has been so.
How could it be otherwise now?
Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other
is merely realizing a scene of stupidity.
Even if you speak of the wonder of it all,
how do you deal with each thing changing?
                                                                                            -Ryokan-

Eat carrots and chill baby

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/29/2010:

 ~Perspective~

~Non-attachment~

Hmmm, I see a need for me to be working on these today and for many days to come.

I had a strong "cross my fingers and hold my breath" urge today as I read that tonight we find out who will be the principal and assistant principal at my child's school.  My temperature rose, my breathing became shallow, my heart rate increased.  And then a friend who didn't know to what I was referring responded to my crossed fingers and held breath with loving concern and hopes that everything is OK.  

(Sound of scratching record.)  

What?  

Everything is fine!  

Better than fine, really!  

Her concern made me realize how very seriously I was taking this thing.  It shot me through with some perspective.  Really, who cares?  Well, I care, but really - our simple lives are so rich and full and wonderful and even the bad and ugly parts of school - of life - are no match for the swirling of love, life, and 

energy we've got going on. 

So, no crossing fingers and holding breath - no one is sick and awaiting 

a life or death diagnosis.  

Instead:

Breathe, Relax, Smile.

Because, it would be nice to have a new principal and assistant principal who align more closely to all that is right and true about education and human learning (woops, this detachment is not so easy!), but if we end up with more of the same - so be it. 

So be it.  So be it.  So be it.

  

Breathe, Relax, Smile.

Play, Hug, Bake.

Photograph, Sing, Celebrate.

Sew, Read, Nap.

Bead, Travel, Listen.

Sit under trees, Watch clouds, Enjoy birdsong.

Really.

Eat carrots and chill baby.

Be napping

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/28/2010:

 While Emma is away in Lake George with Paul's parents and our niece, Annie and I spent a relaxing, lazy summer day together on Monday.  

Bliss!

We dubbed the day "Beading, Baking, Blanket & Books" because we love to name things and...well...we beaded, baked, picniked, and read together.  

How clever!  

We even took an official "Break" with homemade 

iced tea and Paul (who was Busy gardening).

 

 When I tried to fit napping into the schedule I was told it wasn't possible because napping didn't start with the letter "B".  I'm too tired smart for that though -- I called it "Be Napping" and caught some zzzzz's.

 Funny that no issues were raised when we decided to go to Lake Compounce in the evening and that starts with "L".  

We had a Blast there, so I guess it's OK ;-)

I love these days.

Ant bully...

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/27/2010:

 As I was prepping a work area so Annie and I could do some baking yesterday, 

I found this ant, now dead, taped to my counter top.

Yep.

You can't make this stuff up!

Taking a step back

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/26/2010:

 Deep breath.  

Stepping back.  

I feel like I'm made of glass today - broken at the slightest touch.

Trying to keep from being shattered.

Keeping above the surface.

Breathing, waiting it out ~ the anticipation worse than the anniversary.

Keeping busy, delaying the inevitable ~ because, 

in the end grief does not allow herself to be denied. 

And, then I will piece back together ~ for another year without Nathan, 

a year filled with blessings (both counted and taken for granted), 

a year wrapped in moments filled with emma, annie, & paul.

a different angle

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/25/2010:

looking for sunshine

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/24/2010:

 

Grief kicks my butt sometimes, especially this time of year

...looking for sunshine today.

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/23/2010:

 

~nothing to say today~

Not in the mood...

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/22/2010:

 

 Not in the mood today.

 

 Really.  Just not.

Sun and smiles and much needed snuggles

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/21/2010:

 Much fun and cooling off took place recently when we visited 

Walnut Beach in Milford, CT.  

Mostly likely to go down in Bogush Family History as "The Terrible Day of the Jelly Fish" - it was so nice to put the camera memory card into the computer 

and see all these fun photos pop up.  

These were taken before Annie swam through a school of jelly fish.  Both Emma and I had also been stung earlier, but Annie's multiple stingings were particularly bad and brought the beach visit to an end (no vinegar in site).  

It was heart-breaking to hear her cries!  

But, again, much fun was had prior to that 

and I hope these photos help us to remember that!

 A sandcastle building tip: 

Paul cut the bottoms off of some 5 gallon buckets.  

He and the girls dug and dug and dug - building a small city on the edge of the waves.  

Once they finished much giggly effort was made to 

protect the city from the encroaching tide. 

 

 

 

 

 Our next beach adventure will most likely be in Rhode Island on an Atlantic Ocean beach rather than on Long Island Sound.  We were given a tip that the jelly fish might not be as abundant on an ocean beach vs. the sound.  

In any event, 

I will remember this day as a day of sun and smiles and much needed snuggles.

We three

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/20/2010:

 

 The girls and I went to Mystic, CT for an overnight.  The trip is Annie's self-selected birthday gift.  Last year it was just she and I who went (at her request) and this year Annie invited Emma to join us.  I snapped the above photo on our way into one of the exhibits.  The three flowers, the three of us...it resonated with me.

Most of the photos from the Seaport show the girls squinting into the hot, hot sun,

 but, here's Annie in the boat building building (hee-hee):

And, Emma swabbing the deck:

Here they are at our dinner table at the S & P Oyster House.  

That's the drawbridge in the background.  

After dinner we walked across the bridge for delicious ice cream followed by lots of swimming at the Hyatt Place's outdoor pool.  (Booked on hotwire for a great rate!)

Poolside we met interesting and lovely people from South Carolina 

who like to play games in the water and 

I had a lively conversation with a teacher from the 

Chicago Public Schools about the alphabet of atrocities that is 

NCLB and PBIS (RTI, DIBELS, blah, blah, blah) and how great teachers can still teach and learners can still learn while mired in all of that nonsense. 

Topped off with some shopping, stories told to alleviate lightning and thunder fears, and giggles, the overnight was lots of fun!

Thanks, Mom

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/19/2010:

This past Saturday, I woke up next to 

Annie (due to a dog puking situation, she and Paul switched beds, don't ask!).  

As we lay snuggling, she whispered to me, 

"Mama, thank you for helping me to understand the world."

Sigh.

It's not silver, but I don't care, it mentions underwear!

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/18/2010:

 

A bug sat in a silver flower
thinking silver thoughts.
A bigger bug out for a walk
climbed up that silver flower stalk
and snapped the small bug down his jaws
without a pause
without a care
for all the bug’s small silver thoughts.
It isn’t right it isn’t fair that big bug ate that little bug
because that little bug was there.

He also ate his underwear.

                                                                                                     ~Karla Kuskin

How would it be?

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/17/2010:

Butterfly Wings
How would it be
on a day in June
to open your eyes
in a dark cocoon,
And soften one end
and crawl outside,
and find you had wings
to open wide,
And find you could fly
to a bush or tree
or float on the air
like a boat at sea . . .
How would it BE?
                                    —Aileen Fisher

A little Wordsworth

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/16/2010:

To A Butterfly
By William Wordsworth 

I've watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!---not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again !

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wing when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

Jatropha Integerrima

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/15/2010:

A whole lot of sharing has been going on...time for some flowers!  

And a butterfly!  

Who doesn't love a good Spicy Jatropha and butterfly combo?

The one above is from the Butterfly Garden at the Boston Museum of Science.

Boston

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/14/2010:

This photo is one of my favorites.  

Here, Emma and Annie have a volunteer docent at the Butterfly Garden at the Museum of Science, Boston bent over a bench discussing how the Garden handles the bodies of deceased butterflies. 

The photo captures my girls doing what they do so often and so naturally - engage others.  They just do it, they breathe it.  They are so curious and in love with the world and everyone in it.

 

Subways and SillyBandz

As much as I could not stop myself from "shushing" Emma on the "T" - her vocalization of her wonder and excitement made at least one rider say how refreshing it was to see the subway ride with new eyes.  Both girls engaged people, offered their seats, 

and seeing them trade Silly Bandz with complete strangers was 

one of the highlights of the trip for me.

The open roofed pool at the Sheraton was another highlight. 

This photo shows the view of it from our hotel room. 

It was so beautiful to float under the city sky at night.

We hit Quincy Market (photos stuck on my phone) and the Children's Museum...

 

 

 

 

 ...cheered on Boston Fire as they put out a 2-alarm fire in Copley...

 

...ate out...

And, had a great time!

 

Girls on the Town 2010 was awesome!  

And, of course, we can't wait to go back and do it all again with Paul!

Signs of Life, Does the Tooth Fairy come if your tooth's been pulled?

Creative Every Day/Flickr Project 365 photo for 7/13/2010:

 

Does the Tooth Fairy come if your tooth has been pulled by a dentist? 

Annie wasn't sure...

 ...and took some extra measures, just in case.

So, does the Tooth Fairy come if your tooth has been pulled?

 YES she does, sweet baby, yes she does.

Bliss!