Luck and Gratitude

Bear with me for a rambling post, please. Lately I've been feeling a bit down. So many friends and loved ones are getting bad news all the time and we've had our fair share of it too. While ours isn't earth shattering, it does seem to add up rather quickly to one big mess of troubles.  Taken on their own, these things aren't really problems, more annoyances: One plumbing problem after another at our house, fleas on the cat, ants in the kitchen, broken this and that, root canals, and other literal and figurative lingering headaches that never quite seem to be solved.

It is so easy to wallow in the irritations of life. But that's why I'm so grateful for a day like today. I had some real heartfelt moments of contentment today and I want to remember that feeling, so I'm going to to write them down here. This way when all those troubles re-surface, and more bad news comes on it's way as it inevitably will, and the boys are stuck in a morass of bickering and complaining, I can look back at today and remember it with gratitude and love.

I've been thinking a lot about an important milestone in my life. Some of you might think it's the kids, or my marriage, but truth be told I think it was on July 4th, 2000 that my life veered into another direction. On that day I was heading out on a bike ride for a fun picnic with my then-boyfriend Paul and I got into a terrible bike accident that left me with an injured jaw, stitches in my chin, broken molars and serious road rash. I spent the next several years in and out of the dentist chair and recovering in various ways mentally and physically from the event. But what I have been reflecting on lately is what the ER doctor told me that night as she was stitching up my chin. She said I had just done the "Christopher Reeve" fall over the handlebars and it was basically amazing that I hadn't become a quadriplegic at that moment, or bitten off my tongue with the impact.

I'm not one for believing in fate, or angels, or anything of that sort but this ER doctor has been on my mind lately. What a different story these last 12 years would have been if any of those other possibilities had transpired.

Realizing how lucky I am to even be here, I want to really remember the wonder and joy of these simple moments today:

-- Spending  the afternoon in the garden while the boys climbed the bursting nectarine tree to pick those ripening fruits off the tall branches.

 -- Driving up to meet Paul for a work event and listening to Owen and Elliot playing Rock, Paper, Scissors in the back seat, giggling and laughing and enjoying each other's company the way only brothers can.

 -- Spending the afternoon in the park with all 3 of my boys.

I feel so lucky today, I'm going to ignore that pile of problems mounting up and enjoy this moment. Here and now.

Stone fruits

We moved into our house last August, and are just now beginning to reap the literal rewards of our mini-orchard of stone fruit trees in the backyard.

A couple of months ago, we ventured into the amazing world of canning and learned all about making apricot jam.

Ingredients: Apricots. Sugar. Time.
Result? Delicious.

Our apricot crop was a little small. But we are fast approaching maximum yield on our nectarine tree! Our first harvest yielded this.

And so I made a quick nectarine cake.

The tree is fairly bursting with more.  Thank goodness Owen and Elliot got me some canning supplies for my birthday!

Anyone have a recipe to share for nectarines? I'm taking suggestions from any and all corners....

Summer UnSchool

We have been doing all sorts of fun stuff this summer.  It's been structured and free-form all at once, with lessons, reading, projects, adventures and activities scattered here and there throughout the long sunny days here in San Diego. Sort of the ultimate Summer Unschool.

I'm usually up at 6 am in order to have a brief moment to myself, then it's off to the races for the rest of the day. I'm letting the kids guide the direction of the day to some extent -- even though I've got organized activities in my back pocket -- but we get excited about something and then follow through with it to learn all about it. In that way we are discovering Greek mythology, learning Spanish, reading a ridiculous amount of books, playing games, going swimming, going to the museums, learning about food production (more on that later), going to the beach, watching movies, picnicking at the park, spending hours at the library, listening to audio books, etc. etc. etc.

In between all this there are errands and chores and meals and playing with friends.

All in all a kind of perfect summer. I hope the kids remember this summer well. Just today as we saw a "Back to School" sign in a store window we all had a sort of jolt.  Not ready for it to be over yet, please!!!!

Tonight after dinner, we sat out in the back patio to watch the sunset while Owen and Elliot made up some sort of trampoline game involving golf balls and jumping  -- it had bizarre and unteachable (to me) rules that the boys seemed totally cool with. You know that sort of childhood game-making where a new rule simply adds another deeper layer to the already multi-layered confection that is the game?



Birthday #9

My baby is now 9 years old!

 We celebrated in our favorite way, starting the day with present opening in pajamas, pancakes for breakfast and then a long day at the beach playing with friends and family. Then pizza for dinner and playing games and reading books before bed.

It was a full day filled with love and joy and celebration for my wonderful, amazing, incredible Owen. I thought my heart would burst with happiness seeing him so happy. What a day!