My Present View

I sat at the table one evening & suddenly saw my 9 yr old as a young man who was simply visiting for supper... God-moments such as these keep me grounded & grateful. As I strive to catch up on 2 years of tasks I am drawn to our deck to savor this amazing, everyday moment in my garden of boys !

I Can Have Roses Later

My front window is brimming with Black-eyed Susans in such abundance that each year I give them away by shovels full. I long to mix in lilies, hyacinths & all manner of floral dreams. The bed however, is bordered by a basketball & skateboard court. It is a graveyard for toy vehicles of all sizes resting as it does, at the bottom of "the hill of death". Out back, the large blossoms of my Bee-Balm must be removed from the snarls of the gate-latch nearly every day & tethered back. The roses which cascade over our steps often lie bent or broken. One of the blessings of being an older parent is a better understanding of how fleeting the seasons of life truly are. I will have a lifetime of gardens... for now, I live in the magical world of play & imagination!

Scouting Joy

As I drove over the hill, this was the scene I came upon at Cub Scout day camp. The local fire dept. came to hose down 100+ boys !!! I felt my money had been well spent, for me alone in my joy of watching...not to mention, knowing that my son was in the mix somewhere. There was no way I would find him in the sea of green shirts, so I simply set about shooting. Before long, he ran up to me in utter delight.


It must have been a blast for the man up in the tower. He sat amidst cumulus clouds in a Carolina-Blue sky adjusting water pressure & moving the 2 nozzles around to those who cried out from below.


Kids were absolutely giddy with glee & vibrating with joy!!! Every few moments, a kid would break down, dancing furiously on tippy-toes with arms & face raised skyward in complete abandon! This happened over & over again... One would have thought it was an evangelist revival with all the arms raised & crying out! This went on for an hour & it was "MY best day ever"!

Meet Susan

I periodically capture baby snakes that make their way into the school & take them home for release. Susan came to us already in a jar on the last teacher work day. I sent my son down to a science teacher to verify that she is a Ring-neck. It wasn't long before I was called over the intercom to report to the 8th grade hall... I hadn't set down my task at hand when, "Immediately", was announced. The principals were cool with it. The one even said, "Science. No that's great for a kid. He just had it out of the jar & we can't have that." .... Boys chasing girls (& grown-ups) with a snake is just too cute. I had to stifle my giggles as I reminded him the rules.


Back at home, we looked her up & learned of her ways. I had London all prepared to set her free & was surprisingly trumped when Uncle Wes proclaimed that we could keep her. I called to tell my dad, knowing that momma wouldn't want to hear a snake story. Daddy was busy so I told her, anyway. She laughed & laughed that the son who had repeatedly tried to sneak snakes into her home had inflicted one on mine !
(I love the grubby, little boy hands in this image!)

Down In Flames

On gray, winter days I like to add a touch of warmth to our home, by burning a tray or two of candles. On just such a day, we stood just outside talking. In mid-sentence, "Uncle Franc" turned away & muttered under his breath, "Well, that's not good." In a flash, he stepped through the sliding door & returned with a full-page, paper plane fully engulfed in flame. As he stepped it out, he explained, "Maybe not such a good idea for you to burn candles while the boys are playing with paper planes."

Lizard Guest

London has always had a way with wildlife, especially lizards. We have anoles (aka "American Chameleon") & blue-tailed skinks in abundance around our home. Even as a toddler, London could snatch a lizard with lightening speed, always taking care to stay away from the tail, lest it break. Last Friday, an anole of about 4 inches came to stay in one of our guest tanks. As it grew dark, London wanted to make sure he was warm enough. He & Tom curled up a string of multi-colored rope lights in the tank.It was a lovely glow for me to sleep by that night. London & his buddy spent quite awhile catching & feeding him insects. Alas, the time went quickly & he had to return to his home in the wild. AS the boys moved to catch him, he broke free & took off for the "safety" of our clutter....not to be seen again. Most springs, we find a mummified lizard or toad that has sought hibernation quarters in our home, but this was our fault & we felt terrible. It was more likely that Mikey-Kitty would "play with him until he breaks"....Today, my husband saw a flash of pekid green at the kitchen window....the little guys had made it through a tough few days & was desperately wanting to go home. Fortunately, Tom retrieved him without any trouble. He carefully set him among dense, garden foliage for camouflage & safety. There he would find plenty of food & dew drops to quench his thirst. So very happy he has a happy ending!



We call him, "Lizard-Boy"...Here's a reason why:

Little Boy Forts

I can hear them now: “Do you remember the day dad helped us build a fort in the bedroom?”
“Yeah, we spent all day & into the night stapling sheets to the walls and headboard of the train bed!”
“We even had sheets under sheets that made different rooms!”….
How precious are these memories!!!! Worth so much more than 5 minutes of spackling. So many parents get uptight about the little, even out of the ordinary things. I want my son to think outside of the box & find creative solutions…Yes, one day he will help fill the holes & learn the other side of it. That too will help him define “the box”…which I hope he grows to ignore as much as possible.

Not Every Day....

My son had a nightmare last night & in the morning said that he wants to live in D.C. He explained that with the president there, they have lots of tanks. He asked if S.C. has tanks & I said that we do. No sooner had I said that when the phone rang. It was my brother. He was on his way to work & passed a train loaded with tanks. It would soon pass our home. London & I rushed down to see it.....



There were over 100 !!!! How is that for timing !?!

Time Changes Things

We had a learning experience this winter....don't drain the pool unless you are going to take it down IMMEDIATELY. A wind storm came up and blew it over...it looked so sad. Thanks to a lot of work by Tom (& Wesley), it is back up and running. Our back forest is full of laughter and fun and shreiks of delight, once again. What a difference a few weeks make!
We used it as a reminder to count our blessings. we are still reeling from being fenced out of paths we have trod for a decade,,,,but are grateful for wat we do have, We ARE so RICHLY blessed !!!!

Sitting Together

London and I were sitting out one evening, on the banks of the lake. Along came a friend....
London, naturally scooped him up. While he gently played with the little creature,along came another friend...

London has to have Uncle Wesley's approval before he can handle any snake and was oh, so sad to simply watch this one (possibly a baby, yellow rat). Strangely, toad and snake didn't seem to take note of each other in the least...not even when the snake slid right over the toad...more validation that, "If you sit quietly and still long enough, the wildlife will come out".

Carol of the Bells

Yesterday, as we headed out for our respective schools, London looked at me with a big grin and said, "I have a way to make you think about me all day long."
I replied, "Honey, I think about you all day, every day".
"No, I have a way to make you think bad about me all day."
"Oh, baby, I would never think bad about you."
He then set about whistling, "Carol of the Bells"...He was right ! Two days in and I am still thinking bad things about him at work !!!! (and several of my classes are thinking bad things about me!)

Robot Fun

Burnt

This is "Burnt"...not to be confused with Bert, from Sesame Street. London named him. He is the target of torture. I was a bit concerned, but have been told that boys tend to set aside one toy that is such a target. I have asked a large number of men and most eagerly expound fondly and in vivid detail all about their "special" toy of destruction. Burnt has been frozen in blocks of ice, lashed to railings for days on in end, in all seasons. He has been left on the roof in summer heat and thunder storms. He has been strapped to CO2 propelled cars and raced down school halls. He has been spiked on fishing hooks and used as bait, wrapped in duct tape, buried in mud...you get the idea. In this picture, Burnt is locked between my classroom doors. Presently, he has one arm that is attached with duct tape and the other is in a drawer somewhere. He is perched on a top shelf in London's room, peering down from the heights of peril.
Sigh !....He also has an "Extreme [Girl] Doll"...a little Bratz doll. She sits on death row awaiting death by explosion....Ah, boys !!!!

Another Spring Welcome

The "hoppy toads" are back!!!....and with them, 2 little boys spending hours hunting up food for them....a difficult time of year to do so. Of course, they had to be checked out by the vets, so out came the medical kit....all fine. After a time, they were returned to where they were found. Both boys know where to find them. I am glad that they have learned to "watch".

Friends Aloft

Here is an image from my rainy morning walk. I watched him for sometime, but the moment after I took this shot, he was on to me and took off.
The next day, I leaned on my kitchen counter and watched the birds at my feeder. I must say that in my previous post, that is a momma, not a baby goldfinch...I hadn't realized the females share the same wing pattern with the males. She was back Sunday, with her 4 babies. She didn't pay me any mind, other than to teach her young to notice and be cautious of me. So often I, too, teach my young to be cautious of things, when I know it is ok, "this time". Kids generalize so much, that often, we find ourselves teaching him the larger lesson, rather than the lesson of the moment....I never realized how much parents have in common. The young goldfinches were so motley!!! Hilarious and unkempt...much like my own son's shaggy hair.
A momma cardinal joined the crowd. She is not as comfortable with me, and so taught her young son to be even more cautious. The tits and carolina chicadees and purple finch were far less cautious...but they didn't have young to worry over.
It was a nice escape. In the past, I didn't put the finch feeder up until the garlic is in bloom. I would have it up at the bedroom slider, which is nearer the garlic. As they grew comfortable with us, I would move the feeder up to the kitchen window, nearer to where we enjoy, "deck time". This should be a good season for enjoying the goldfinches.
My son commented to his daddy the other day, "The birds don't leave when you get up and go in the house, only when you walk towards the steps, near them". I am so glad he notices things like that, and on his own. A couple of years ago, I saw a pack of kids coming back from the pond, where there were some 17 baby ducks. I asked the kids how many there were that day and they looked at me like I was daft...I thought it so sad they were raised to not even notice the wildlife....and even more blessed to know that my son "watches", too.

Windows into Worlds

I must give Tom credit for this photo from last spring. I go to a 2 hour event and come back with hundreds of photos...Tom took London out for 4 hours and came back with 3 or 4 pictures...and he managed to capture this image!!! Wow!
We have a 50 gallon aquarium that a recent catastrophe left emp[ty save for 1 poor guppy and 1 blue, beta. (again, predator & prey). This past weekend, I made a good start on restocking our tank. What a joy to do so, spontaneously with 7 & 8 y.o. boys !!! They saw the fish and suggested we get some and were floored when I told them yes, but they had to help me pick them out !!
We came home with 4 bags of freeshwater fish: The boys picked out 3, soaring, silver, shark-like cats that are very active and a blast to watch. I picked out a big, black, wobbly ball of a moor. We got a loach-like algae-eater and 3 little ghost shrimp. The boys named them all "Jacques" after the cleaning shrimp in Nemo. "Shark-bait" would probably be more appropriate.
I had forgotten how much fun it is to have a full tank of variety....