high desert: midsummer bloom

Ahhhh, Colorado. All these little surprises hidden in the cracks and dirt and barren looking oasis.

Midsummer has hit this higher altitude, and it's been a long time since I got to watch the high desert bloom. This isn't the intense lushness of our Indiana town, and it's not the landscape extravaganza of much of the west. We don't live in Vail or Aspen, and we haven't spent much time in the swanky southern redrock regions. No, we live in working man's Colorado, where the foothills and paths and scrub brush and cactus all kind of seep into your bones rather than knocking you down flat. Subtlety instead of spectacle; clear hues and a thousand shades of brown. In some respects the effect is even more intense, like a good long marriage or a pair of worn jeans. Every day I fall deeper in love.

One of these days I've got to pick up a guide to Colorado wildflowers. And my paints and a brush. It's time we got to know one another a little better.

wednesday's ode

To beautiful surroundings.

art from before

I have never been one to hang on to the past. In fact, perhaps I cast it aside all too easily, eager to forget the painful phases of learning and growing I've gone through. I prefer to think of myself as always having been at the level of competence and accomplishment in which I find myself most recently. My mom, however, treasures artifacts from her children's youth: photos of me as an awkward child hang on the walls; some of the silly nicknacks I used to collect, rescued from the trash by my mom, now reside on shelves about the house; my children play with my old stuffed animals; and my art from age twelve and on is in most every room.

While I was still uncomfortably close to my teenage and young adult years, these things were a bit embarrassing to encounter. But as an adult, comfortable in my own skin, I don't mind these earlier incarnations of my artistic interests. During our recent trip to my parents' house, I snapped some photos of them.

I am currently in the process of scanning every drawing my older daughter has ever created. What fun, how satisfying it is to see her progress. These creations are parts of her and will help to document who she is, even in 25 years.

coming home [and a request]

My goodness, it's been a long couple of weeks. The kids and I were out of town (or in town, for those of you we got to be with -- goodbye the second time around is no fun either), and after so long away it has been heaven (and its opposite) to return. Heaven to be back to the husband and 12 year-old we left behind, back to a comfortable cleanable home with internet access, back to the mountains.

But it has also been somewhat overwhelming to be back to the everyday tasks with so many little people looking to be entertained.

Which brings us here: halfway into summer and half a week home, finally trying to get into our groove.

Tomorrow we start our very patchy version of The Schedule. I'm hoping it helps keep us sane and relaxed, rather than just serve to ratchet up the intensity that has been ricocheting off the walls. I'm planning to include putting on clothes and eating food at various points in the day, along with a whopping fifteen minute job and daily outings to the lake or the canyon or the park. But there is one item on the agenda that is going to cause me some trouble: Reading Time.

While most of our kids are book-o-holics, but one of them is very much not. As in "I hate reading more than anything in the entire world" not. I've tried just about every book I liked as a kid but to no avail.

But maybe this is the magic summer.

So I'm sending out a request to any and all: Do you have any book suggestions for a 10 year-old girly girl? In particular one who adores babies, Taylor Swift, architecture, and the mall. All ideas would be greatly appreciated.

wednesday's ode

To beautiful surroundings.

shapes and colors at the beach

 a fence next to the boardwalk

a rainbow of beach houses

  

dotting the sandscape are teepees and miniature fences,

formed from the sea of driftwood

a forgotten swimsuit resulted in sisters sharing clothes

in the most literal sense - half on one daughter, half on the other

a nod to Ireland

My parents are currently vacationing in Ireland. My daughter keeps mentioning the Irish money that they have promised to bring back for her. If it were her little sister talking, she'd be fixating on the Irish "bunnies" that she'd soon have. I'm not sure if she's attempting to say money or penny. No matter how much she calls it that, I'm still thrown every time she asks where her "bunny" is.

This is a scene I painted from my trip to Ireland (specifically the Cliffs of Moher) ten years ago. This is how I remember Ireland - rolling hills and a leisurely stroll through life.

Mom and Dad, make sure you enjoy the slow pace of Ireland. But don't forget the Irish bunnies.