At one point in this week I was like, “What?? It’s only Tuesday?  No.  I have lived more than two days already this week.  It must be Friday.”  So now here I am at Friday and I think this week took two weeks instead of one.

What I’m saying is, friends, I don’t know how your house is faring, but it’s been a long week over at my house.  I’m pulling into the weekend with an empty tank but hopeful for rest at the end of this week.

 

 

FUNNY

 

You might think I’m the funny one in my family.

What?  Someone might think that.  I AM funny, you guys.  Sure, I have to verbally remind my children of this fact from time to time when they do not find themselves laughing as readily as they should at my jokes, but I AM funny.  Jane thinks I am.  (Although at dinner last week she admitted to laughing at me as often as with me.  Which, now that I think of it, feels wrong.  Nah.  Jane thinks I’m funny too.  That’s what I am choosing to continue to believe.)

Anyway, I’m not the only funny person in my family.  (And I’m also talking about my own birth family too.)  Actually – I definitely am the funny one in my birth family.  (Sorry the other brothers.  You are great, just not hilariously funny.  You’ve got other talents.)  Growing up, my only competition for funny was my older brother Danny.  He’s funny too.  And also, he was born with the great curly hair and this charming smile and eyelashes for days and dimples too.  It was really quite unfair and I spent a decent portion of my teenage years resenting how pretty my brother was.  He’s still a good looking fellow and he carries this enviable charm and schmooze around with him wherever he goes.  (Also – he has more hair on his face and head currently than he has ever had in his entire life.  He’s recently retired from the Marines and I think he is making up for all those years of being told to cut his hair and shave his beard.)

My sons think Uncle Danny is some sort of fishing demi god.  (Are there fishing demi gods?)  (Wait.  What’s the difference between a demi god and a regular god?)  Whatever.  Uncle Danny catches a lot of fish and Berg and Otto think that makes Danny the coolest.

My brother has recently moved to a home where his front yard is a lake and he’s spending literally all of his days in a little boat on the water.  Now he’s got a camera to keep him and his dimples company and he’s started his own YouTube channel.  (Which, is funny all by itself, for a man who despises Facebook and Twitter and all things social media related.)

Now you too can watch my brother catch a colossal fish on a lake, grow out his massive beard and say a cuss word or two.  (He’s up to 98 views you guys.  Make his day and add a few more.  Maybe you can even comment so the only two comments are not me and his daughter in law!  He won’t even know I sent you because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read my blog.  Shoot, I don’t even know if he knows I have a blog!)

 

 

FASHIONABLE

 

This week I have had no time to consider fashion.

Well.  That’s not entirely true.  The kids and I did step into Mast General Store recently and as we walked up the steps there was a sign, glowing and calling my name and beckoning me forward.  I looked at the children, “Guys, can you just humor me for a minute?”  They all had a piece of candy from the barrels downstairs in their hands that I would soon be paying for for them so they felt more obliged to respond, “Sure.”

This sign, you ask, what did it say?

Frye Boots Half Off.

Half.  Off.

I did what anyone would do.

I told the employee my shoe size and tried on a pair of half priced Frye boots.  Grey ones.  Very tall grey ones.

The half off price was still $200 so the half off tall grey Frye boots still currently live inside their dark box at Mast General Store on Main Street, but I wore them for about three glorious minutes.

Also – my thirteen year old got a haircut and I think it makes her look even older and it felt significant because I remember getting a “styled” haircut around her age and it was a legitimate shift in the way I viewed myself so I guess this haircut reminded me that I better buckle up.  Here we come, puberty and teenage and hormonal fluctuations and stuff like that.

 

 

FLAVORFUL

 

Easy-peasy this week.

I”m not a broken record, I promise.  But Instant Pot helped me create a fast BBQ chicken that was quite popular at our kitchen table.

 

 

(Note to self: 1.3 pounds of chicken is not enough to feed my children and my son-in-law.)

 

FAITHFUL

 

It’s just cool how God sometimes answers secret little dreams you never even quite knew you had.

When I taught high school English in a little town in Virginia more than a decade ago, I had a special class of students who were dreamy.  They were such a great group of kids that I planned a gigantic field trip from Virginia to Flat Rock, North Carolina to visit the home of poet Carl Sandburg.  The students memorized his poems and stood in front of his home, reciting his words to the trees and the birds and the assorted guests at the national park that day.  I fell in love with Sandburg and his gorgeous home.

Then, years later, we left our Virginia home and moved just twenty minutes south of that incredible beauty of a farm, Connemara.  I started trekking my children up the hill on the trail by the lake to visit the farm and read Sandburg poetry.  We’ve hiked the highest trail half a dozen times and picnicked near the goat barn on oodles of days.

And this week we added another layer to our connection with this beautiful farm.

Bergen became a volunteer at Connemara.  A bonafide youth volunteer.

 

 

He was so excited and I think it shows such growth – a fellow who has spent years being afraid to communicate with strangers, and sometimes friends, requested the opportunity to volunteer at a goat barn and shovel goat poop and sawdust and meet and greet strangers.

And none of this was my idea.  Not a bit.  He requested it.  He reminded me to contact the coordinator.  He reminded me again.  And again.

I’m pretty thrilled to partner with the Carl Sandburg house in this way and to have more excuses to head over the mountain and to walk up that incredible trail.

 

FEELS

 

That weekend three of my friends and I drove six hours to Kentucky to hear Wendell Berry, we spent most of those hours together in the car.  We listened to a lot of songs and sang loudly and listened quietly and laughed about our varied musical tastes and shared favorite songs and important songs in our own personal histories.

Jo shared one song that I brought back to the kids and we have just loved. It’s encouraging and just the right amount of loud when you need loud and a little shouting too and I find it to be a kind of perfect “fight” song.

I looked at four videos for this song – one where they sing it on the Jimmy Fallon show and one that is the official music video and one for the NPR Tiny Desk series and this one with just the lyrics.  In the end I picked the lyrics only one.  Because the lyrics are good.  And because  the Jimmy Fallon one was too distracting with the one singer’s excessively high waisted green pants.  And the actual music video is a little kooky and I like this song and didn’t want to embrace the odd.  And the NPR one is just too long.  I’m always looking out for you guys.

 

 

“I could surrender but I’d just be pretending.  No, I’d rather be dead than live a lie.”  

 

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