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A Running Collection

I'm collecting. Collecting oxygen on runs, toys from the floor, voices and laughter from my children, music from my husband, veggies from the garden, stories to write, and friends to share it all with. Here is my collection.

A Snapshot Of Life

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October 27, 2016

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Listening

March 11, 2012

Listening is hard for me. It often seems to be the case that I listen to fear and doubt and worry and whines and tantrums, and a crying child. And the sizzle of burnt food and the ring of loud dogs and banjos. And when that isn't what I've tuned to, then it is myself. My sore throat and sore ears. My inability to get anything accomplished, my disorganization. What a terrible sound this is. It rings in my ears and it is death to my joy. Today, it is quiet. George took the kids on an adventure to let William and I heal a little from allergies and lost sleep. We walked through the neighborhood and returned home. He is still sleeping in his stroller and all seems silent. Wait . . . I hear a woodpecker drilling, birds singing, chickens squawking, the bristle of the wind in the long grass, a few voices in the distance, the rattle of tin. The flap of the birds wings. Yes, the flap of a wing. What a sound! It is usually lost to my ears, but if I listen . . . I will hear it. The sound o...

The Cattle Are Lowing

December 24, 2020

We’d waited since February for her to calf. By November 20th, all eyes stayed on mama cow - Trahlyta. Her due date was close and we were more than ready. The waiting wrung our patience. October was wet and boggy and Trahlyta looked sick. We discovered rotting flesh in her foot. Foot rot set in from standing on soggy ground day after day. George and the children tended to her around the clock as they cleaned out oozing infected sore and cared for her hooves. We’ve had her since she was a few days old. The children raised her. She’s part of our family. And, she’s our first cow to calf. She held the keys to our own dairy supply and to our tender hearts as we watched her stay under the weather. All we could do was wait and make sure she stayed healthy and it wasn’t as easy as we expected. But now, her hooves were healthy and her belly was swollen and we were waiting. On the morning of the 24th, I rushed to the window at the first day light. Down by the creek, I saw Trahlyta and ...

Love Them. Feed Them. Talk To Them. The Rest Is Icing On The Cake.

March 23, 2020

We've been homeschooling for ten years. At LEAST once a week I think that homeschooling is the worst possible thing on the planet. I look at my kids and think, "I've got nothin'!" It is scary. It is hard. How many hundreds of times have I called my extremely patient husband and yelled, literally screamed into the phone, "I CAN'T DO THIS!" There was a day, in the middle of a lesson that wasn't going well at all, that I walked out the back door, walked to the pool, jumped in fully clothed and yelled as loud as I could under the water. I got back out of the pool, calmly walked inside, changed my clothes and continued with the day feeling much relieved. George, my husband and biggest cheerleader - also a major part of our homeschooling life, is diligent to walk me off the cliff of homeschool despair. When I feel like I am failing our children, he offers me this morsel... Before I give you his advice, I would like to mention at this poi...