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today. three years ago.
Today we went on a field trip to Connemara, home of our poet friend Carl Sandburg. (Sherry – can you please tell me again about how I am sort of related to him?) And then we had Book Club this evening. It was an unusually full day of activity. I was pretty prepared for the day, surprising myself with my efficiency. Lunches packed the night before, mainly by London Eli. Quinoa Chicken Taco Soup prepped and slow cooking in the crock pot. (It’s a good recipe – check the Pinterest board. Maybe I’ll write about it one day soon.) Book Club book finished by all three of us. Tonight after…
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in pictures …
I think everyone in our home is finally feeling better. (Mostly. Thank goodness. It’s been rough.) Friday we headed out on our first group hike of the season. Moore’s Cove Falls in the Pisgah National Forest. London and Mosely stayed behind – they were better but not well enough to hike. It was an easy trail, a beautiful day, a lovely waterfall and great hiking companions. Except one. This guy kind of had a bad attitude. (That’s a kind of nice way to say it.) But trying out a new-to-us ice cream place on the way out helped his spirits a little. (That is, until he dropped his ice cream…
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Keigley CAMPaign: Central, South Carolina
If you stay at one campsite long enough without day hikes planned and you aren’t propped up beside a stream or a lake and all you have is earth and sun and grass and one another and time, sweet time, something lovely happens. You get silly. You get relaxed. You play games and you make up somethings out of nothings. Those are absolutely some of my favorite moments. Such as this. Nightfall. Chairs pulled up around the blazing fire and quiet talk. Littlest sitting in big sister’s lap and the kids having conversations with the sparks from the fire. Chatting to the tiny red blazes drifting into space. Congratulating the…
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the road to adventure.
“I hope adventure finds you today.” That’s the text my friend sent out last Tuesday morning. Several of us were scheduled to attend a class about wolves about Pisgah National Park. The weather had other plans and snow on the mountain caused our class to be cancelled. We all joked about our day’s schedule being altered and she sent that text. “I hope adventure finds you today.” I had already planned the day as a field trip day. Lunch was already packed. Water bottles were filled. Shoot, I’d even baked homemade pita the night before. I looked at my kids – dressed in field trippin’ attire – and I said,…
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ripple. we’ll be expecting you.
Many months in the planning, the women in our homeschool gathering had a bit of a grown up slumber party/retreat/call it what you want this weekend. And, frankly, I’m at a loss for words to describe the simple beauty of the few days spent in comfortable camaraderie with like-minded moms. (All you mothers out there – schedule one for yourself as soon as possible. It’s the anecdote to loads of concerns and troubles.) We started tossing the idea around probably five months ago and picked the weekend at least four months prior. That’s how you have to roll when five mothers represent eighteen children. (Thank you husbands for staying home…
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Asheville. 40. All good.
I’m celebrating and chatting more than typing and writing today. But here’s a few snapshots of the adventures thus far. We’re enjoying the cabin. And one another. Eating. So many choices. Shopping. Walking downtown streets. Paying a skinny man in a puffy jacket on a street corner to write a birthday poem. Which turned out to be a remarkably beautiful piece of written word. Thinking about trying to convince Kevin to stand on a street corner while I write poems about people and the kids draw pictures for them. Would you pay for that? Sharing old stories about the Beth Babes. Crashing a closed party in a downtown restaurant just…
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simple math
A drive south. plus A date night in Decatur. plus Good food at a cool restaurant that has what has to be the world’s coolest door handle ever. plus Dessert at a restaurant that perfectly fits Kevin and I. Cake & Ale. I loves me some cake and Kevin loves him some craft beers. plus Watching our buddy Tyler perform in his second ever live comedy show at Eddie’s Attic. equals A perfectly lovely way to spend an evening.
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field trippin’
If you live within an hour’s drive of Brevard, North Carolina and you have never visited the Pisgah Wildlife Education Center – you have been missing a jewel of a place. Tucked in at the base of two mountains and surrounded by streams and the lovely Davidson River, the Center has been one of our family’s favorite field trip destinations for several years. Can you ever really go wrong with mountain air, sunshine and outdoor education? Oh – and all of the classes are offered at no cost. No cost! Because of life and circumstances, this week was our first trip up there this school year. And to add to…
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Keigley CAMPaign: Huntington Beach
Lately it feels as if all forces conspire against me in completing a blog post in a regular or timely fashion. And I’m missing my writing consistency. But it’s early (ish) morning and I’m pounding the keys for a few quiet moments. Huntington Beach. I think it’s the state park farthest away from our home. Are you kidding me? That’s all I kept repeating. Otto was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. (And eventually only his underwear.) I was thinking about sunscreen and Kevin and Mosely were flying a kite. (A really cool box kite that we found completely intact in the sand dunes.) It’s November. No.vem.ber. I think we just…
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driving home (the beauty of an iPhone and modern technology)
Today we are leaving this. And to leave the ocean is always bittersweet. But to have even touched the waves in November is pure gift. It was our November camping trip. The one we almost didn’t take. Because it’s cold. Because our second car died last week. Because it’s a busy busy month. But we did go. All the way to the ocean. I think we’re all glad we took the risk. And tomorrow I’ll tell you all about it.
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A Day in the Life: Part Two
I warned you last time. This will probably be anti-climatic. Cliffhangers are not my strong suit. So. Here I go anyway. The day was glorious. The sky was beautiful. Snacks were tasty. School work was being done and complaining was at an all-time low. I was considering crafting a make-shift tent from our picnic blankets and sowing our apple seeds for future meals and fashioning new clothes for the kids out of leaves and bark and never returning home again. It was that divine. Jump Off Rock is a public park. People were coming and going. That was no big deal. But around 1:25 an elderly man accompanied by his…
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A Day in the Life: Part One
The forecast for the entire week was glorious. Warm afternoons. Cool mornings. The type of day designed by the creator of days to be spent out of doors. No climate controlled, temperature regulated kind of day. (Not that those days even exist when you live in a one hundred and eleven year old farm house.) I looked at the week’s forecast and I knew three things. 1. These days are an unadulterated gift. Cold weather is coming. 2. Cold weather is particularly disheartening at our home where last winter we could see our breath in our kitchen on a regular basis. 3. I need to stockpile good days of warmth…
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How To Enjoy A Corn Maze
1. Bring along a lot of your pals. And the children of those pals. 2. Approach the barn area so indecisively and scattered looking that an employee intercepts your gang and asks why you look so out of place. 3. Underestimate the vastness of the many acre corn maze before you and allow children free range to run as they please. 4. Realize the corn maze is larger and more complex than at first was recognized and try to run to catch up with your wayward crew. 5. Leave behind the one mom with the stroller to push through the rough dirt paths. 6. Toss the weakest link on your…
