Little Linen Bags

Just so you know that I still craft, and thus can still claim the word “craft” in my blog title....I am posting pictures of little gift bags I made for my girlfriends that came from my hometown to spend the weekend a few months ago.  I had a lot of fun making these linen drawstring bags that I put sample shampoos, tooth paste, etc....they loved it.  I free motioned embroidered their names on the front of their bag, and then put “My vocation is Love” with a nod to St. Therese, one of our collective favorite saints.  I also made each trim with fabric that had roses in it.  We all love our Little Flower.  I think she truly smiled on us the whole time, it was a blessed weekend.  FIve women spending the entire time together, and everyone got along splendidly.  It was fabulous.  I am so thankful for their friendship and love, and grateful to call them all my friends.

Heard in My House at 12am.....

In a tree, wondering how to be nocturnal.

Lily has a real hard time going to sleep if she has had a nap during the afternoon....so at nearly Midnight, she is still up, and having a bit of a whiny session in the floor of her bedroom as I am sitting in her chair, trying to conjole her to sleep....Older brother comes in and says, with great compassion “Oh, Lily, what’s the matter??” She blurts out in her best indignant almost four year old whine...”I want to be NOCTURNAL!! I want to stay up all night and sleep all day, but I am TIRED!”  Oh MY.  I asked her if certain animals were nocturnal...like possums vs dogs kind of thing...and she got them all correct.  Who is teaching this kid these things????

Poetry Friday

Tattoo

What once was meant to be a statement—
a dripping dagger held in the fist
of a shuddering heart—is now just a bruise
on a bony old shoulder, the spot
where vanity once punched him hard
and the ache lingered on. He looks like
someone you had to reckon with,
strong as a stallion, fast and ornery,
but on this chilly morning, as he walks
between the tables at a yard sale
with the sleeves of his tight black T-shirt
rolled up to show us who he was,
he is only another old man, picking up
broken tools and putting them back,
his heart gone soft and blue with stories. 


--Ted Kooser


So, Karen is hosting Poetry Friday, and I had to post one of my favorite Ted Kooser poems that was short enough to post here....if you aren’t familiar with Mr. Kooser, please go get one of him books....now.  He is a past Poet Laureate and amazing.  I sent him a few of my poems, I got back a handwritten postcard saying, “Hey, you know, I am sort of busy being a poet here...nice of you to write, but read my book, and you’ll hear what I would say to you anyway....read and write poetry...a lot.”  Isn’t that great? I’m just glad to get some response....gosh, it used to be The Police, now it’s some old poet....I’m getting old. 


Thanks, Karen, I wouldn’t have seen this but saw your reminder on Twitter.....cool!

Poetry

It isn’t often that I write poetry.  I love it when I do.  It is such a rush to put words together that stand off the page and paint a picture that, when I step back and look, leaves me quiet and thoughtful.  I am not sure if I write good poetry......but I write what I know.

I showed the poem below to Peter, who you will recognize as the little man I was writing about.  He read the poem, started chuckling, and said, “That is about me?”  I looked at him, as he was looking and grinning at the computer screen...with tears in his eyes.  I love poetry.

Fine Day For a Walk

It was a long day in a dark winter

and having enough of gray

we went to the local upscale mall

to soak in 

artificial happiness of the bright lights

and snappy clothes.

You, little determined man,

had a bigger plan that 

day.

Equipped with new orthodics, 

(we called them "helpers" 

for your weak ankles and low tone legs)

you decided it was a fine day 

of gray 

to walk 

Not holding onto anything, 

you marched along

in a glorious parade 

surrounded by your biggest admirers

your older brothers

who determined a long time ago

you were no sick baby.

They circled around you, 

only helping with their cheers

Propelling your tiny body down that

mall corridor as if you owned it

because you did

I held my breath

as I often have

saving it up

to expend my energy on big things

like jumping up and down

crying

as you crossed the finish line of your 

impromptu race

beating both Neil and Lance Armstrong

at two years old.

--DK

This sounds like it will be a lot of fun.....an online crafting channel.....and the DIY DISH girls are going to have their own “show” starting this Fall.  Check it out, Crafty Girls!

http://mycraftchannelblog.blogspot.com/

Happy Ten Year Old Birthday, Pete!

You are amazing, young man.  We love you and are much better for having you as our son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin...friend.  Enjoy today, enjoy life, be brave, smile a lot, and know you are a special young man.

Scenes from LIfe

Well hello there!  Yes, I haven’t posted forever.  Life has been going at breakneck speed.  We have had lots of developments the last few months.  I might do it in bulletin points.

-Lily had a successful surgery on May 19th, they closed her stoma for good!  It went very well, and she was home the next day without the hole in her neck she has had since she was six days old. 

-Our parish hosted a pharmacists who no longer sells birth control of any kind in his locally owned store.   I was relieved it went so well.

-Back to bulletin point one.....Lily has never been camping, so you will see the pictures below taken from this weekend. Now, we were planning on staying for two nights, possibly three, but between rain and redneck bubbas next to us whopping it up with beer and music that was so loud, my children now all know what AC/DC, Lady Gaga, and various other degenerate music sounds like now.  Wow. So much for the great outdoors.  Do rednecks listen to Lady Gaga?  I didn’t know this.  Guess I learned a few things this weekend, too!

The most important part of our less than 24 hour campout, was seeing:

My boys jump into action and set up camp in less than an hour, two tents up, camp stove out, fire going.....and one of those bubbas had the audacity to stumble into our campsite, with a smirk on his face, wondering if we “camp that much.”  Son, you don’t know who we are, they made “The Incredibles” based on our family’s super powers. 

Lily play and play in a pile of sand.  That doesn’t sound like much, but the girl has never touched the stuff.  Trachs and sand never mix.  Now she can dig and dig all she wants in sand....and she did! Lily loved camping....except sleeping in a tent wasn’t the easiest.  It was “scary” out there.  I agree, listening to blaring music and drunk conversations that went a little like this: “HEY! I remember this from high school!! HEY DUDE, me TOO!!”  Yeah, that was scary.  Good Grief.

The sunset on the lake was beautiful!!!  We walked around the campground that was on a huge lake, and everyone agreed it was a nice time.  

Sitting around a campfire is the BEST!  We all had the nicest time just talking, the boys whittled on some  wood, others read for bit, Lily went from person to person, sitting in their lap and talking....digging some more around the perimeter...it was fun!

 We woke up to a steady, cold rain.  Not fun.  My amazing husband got a FIRE going in the rain, a raging crazy good fire.  His abilities never cease!! I publicly apologize for looking out the tent and exclaiming, “Honey!  What are you doing?? It is raining for Pete’s sake!! You can’t do a fire in the rain!!”  I think the whole campground heard me....oops.  It set the tone for us all to jump up and make do.  We sort of do that anyway.....life experiences are great for that.  I set up the stove and cooked bacon in the rain, and coffee!  The boys helped with the fire and we eventually broke camp after deciding camping in the rain is a bit difficult when you have a fragile, recently post op little girl in tow, and it just ain’t fun to slosh in the rain in and out of tents.  Really.

I am eager to try it again.  I mean that, it was nice to “unplug” for a bit, albeit, a very tiny bit....but next time we’ll camp closer to home.  That will make it all a bit easier. If we can find a quieter camp without the raucous partying, it will much better.  Sun would make a big difference as well.

Now...here are some pics.

Tents are fun!!

How much can you fill a Suburban? Apparently a little too much for Gabe’s comfort.

Nice!

So pretty!