4 days off
Posted on | May 28, 2007 |
have made all the difference.
It always stuns me when I realize how entirely a lack of sleep and stress affect my life. How I feel completely altered, weaker, fragile at the center like a soft-boiled egg with days-on-end of stress and poor sleep; and then after a few days of extra naps and time spent in good company (family and friends, both) and suddenly I feel different. Whole. Laughter rises up easily and often like finches on the early summer wind. I remember how much I love making love in the afternoon with windows open for a nap, after. Family time suddenly feels precious and sustaining, not debilitating the way it can feel when I’ve given everything already and the dishes still need to be done.
This weekend has been full of frisbee tossing, and cutting grass. Renting a tiller to cut soil for our new garden. Listening to night rain, and having our hair tossed by afternoon winds. Getting the box ready for new chicks (coming this Thursday!) and taking Bean and his two-wheel bike + training wheels to the playground bikepath. Watching him fly by, all grins. Making pasta al dente with fresh red sauce and sausages, salad with new mustard greens and fresh corn off the cob. And writing: good solid pages of fiction. I cannot wait for summer.
Two weeks of school left (back tomorrow) and then off to the writing workshop with Pam Houston (! I know, I can’t believe it either!) A week to myself on the coast writing and soaking up other writers, and then the wide swath of summer streatching out ahead, humid and lush, to linger, to sweat, to write, to grow a garden.
I have plans: many rows of corn, mounds for squash and pumpkins (DH’s favorite), strawberries, peas and lettuce, green beans on poles making an archway for Bean to hid beneath, sunflowers, potatos, radishes, carrots, tall tomatos bursting in the sun. I know so little about gardening really, though I’ve always coaxed a patch of vegitables out of some corner of our urban yards. Now, it’s nearly a quarter acer of soil we’ve set out to till. I’ve never composted, but want to learn. So much to be patient about–the eager part of me wants it all now: the tall rows of sweetcorn. The scarlet runner beans and holyhocks along the fence. The chickens feathered and scratching underfoot as we picnic outdoors like we did at lunch today.
I forget when I’m stressed to that teary weak point of nothing, how much I love to just ramble. To post about the cluttered mosaic of our days as a family. To make sketches in my flora notebook, or linger by the window watching the humming birds that are nesting in our lilac trees. And I miss all of you. Over the span of time I’ve had this blog, so many people have become bits of what make me whole, remind me of what I want, keep me inspired. What are you up to?
Tell me: five things you did today. 
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May 28th, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
1)Slept in
2)Drank coffee slowly
3)Drove my brother to school
4)Finished Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat,Pray,Love”
5)Made lunch plans with my friend for tomorrow (can you tell I’m on vacation??)
May 28th, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
1. slept until 12:15!!! I also must have needed it
2. drank tea and ate whole wheat toast while browsing a gardening magazine
3. made a trek to the bookstore for Northanger Abbey
4. planned for a night out with a friend who is celebrating a big birthday
5. enjoyed your insightful (as always) new post, and understood with the bond of being a teacher that summer might just mean more to us than it does to the kids!
May 28th, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
I have to confess that I’ve missed this kind of post from you, too. I hadn’t realized how much stress and fatigue had been affecting you until reading this. Poor thing! I AM glad you’ve had a recuperative weekend, it sounds perfectly marvelous. I’m not at all a gardener, but you sure made me wish I was.
So 5 things: worked on a bazillion powerpoint presentations. went to WW. ate salad for dinner (sigh. again) had a headache (in fact, still do). listened to a really good band (Calaisa)
May 28th, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
5 things?
1 - converted an 8-page assessment form into a single-page mind-map that makes sense to me.
2 - shopped for groceries with my just-home-for-a-couple-of-weeks-between-college-and-summer-trip son
3 - had lunch out with 3 friends. Caught up on news from them and their families.
4 - laundry, dried outdoors. Love that!
5 - made chicken fajitas for son’s dinner. Have reverted to total Mummy.
May 28th, 2007 @ 7:22 pm
1. Hit snooze three times and enjoyed it each time with out guilt.
2. Taught four new users how to master pivot tables and functions in Excel and then ended class early for the vacation day.
3. Enjoyed salami and provelone rolled together for a easy afternoon snack.
4. Purged the bathroom cabinets and disinfected every square inch.
5. Created a house rules chart that encompases everyone in the family. Finally, even ground that is understood by all.
May 28th, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
1. Ran (okay walked a lot too) about 3 miles.
2. Got my haircut with my daughter sitting so nicely beside me.
3. Went for a 45 minute bike ride this evening after I put my three kids in bed.
4. Sat in the backyard on my comfortable rocking chair and watched the sun go down while siting with my husband.
5. Kept catching myself dreading going back to school tomorrow to finish cleaning up my classroom, updating my curriculum maps and “checking out” for summer - YEAH!
May 28th, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
1. Ate biscuits and syrup for my breakfast.
2. Read several stories to the Green Bean Kid.
3. Received a new (to me!) car - very exciting. Now I have a real backseat to put my own kid in! Goodbye, two door Piglet car!
4. Walked through the rain and enjoyed that fresh rain smell.
5. Ate sausage, corn salad, and homemade ice cream. Yummy delicious good!
And yes, sleep makes ALL the difference. I am so happy you feel rejuvenated and Christina-ish, all over again. I am with you - I can’t wait until school is over!
May 28th, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
1. Didn’t get out of bed until I was ready…
2. Made tea and crumpets with fresh strawberries, beginning the day very slowly.
3. Reflected on all my many blessings, made a “grateful” list, blogged about a few.
4. Watched a movie, made dinner using sauteed onions - something I love but my kids didn’t… LOL
5. Cleaned out some drawers, tossing and preparing to move, cleansing feeling…
I continue to be inspired by your journey. The weeks ahead sounds full of promise!
May 28th, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
I love making lists. . .
1) Slept in. Not really late (9:30 ish) but late enough for my body to recognize that it was a holiday.
2) Took my list shopping and picked up everything on the list (and a few items that weren’t on the list). Accomplished this all in about 40 minutes - 2 stores. Pretty amazing for around here.
3) Dropped by my cousin’s house and spent a couple of hours with her.
4) Found some renewed inspiration for decorating my house (on the way to becoming more of a home).
5) Sat down to dinner with the Mr.
May 29th, 2007 @ 4:37 am
Today hasn’t been going long for me, so I’ll tell you five things from yesterday, Monday.
1. Slept late … bank holidays are nice
2. Watched the rain
3. Marvelled at my pumpkin seedlings
4. Played with my laptop as the electricity kept going on and off
5. Submitted 2 photos to the Tate Gallery/Flickr project.
May 29th, 2007 @ 7:59 am
Yesterday (Monday), as I have only just started my day today:
1. Bought small Minnesota tshirts and a stack of books for my soon-to-be nephew’s first birthday (K’s sister’s son).
2. Went for a long walk with the dogs, still smelling damp from the swim in the Mississippi.
3. Our own garden: tomatoes, corn, green beans, squash, zucchini, peppers, lettuce, etc. And flowers this year. Peonies, roses, morning glories.
4. Grilled shishkabobs and corn. Ate outside under the setting sun with the dogs at our feet.
5. Cleaned. Big bins of paper recycling filled from all my clutter and pack rattedness. Relief and sorrow as I said goodbye to things I had kept for too long.
I too look forward to summer–to time to write, to my own workshop, to the poetry group that starts tonight for me, to working on a novel-length piece. I look forward to teaching a drama class, camping, and going to North Carolina. And especially to getting married. I look forward to seeing where your summer takes you and your family!
May 29th, 2007 @ 11:31 am
Yesterday…
1. Moved chickens in the pasture first thing in the morning, just me and DH. It was so peaceful and quiet, and we worked together so well and efficiently (doesn’t always happen!).
2. Rode 9yo dd’s horse (me sitting behind her on the blanket, her “steering”) through the hayfield for an hour. More peace and quiet, and lovely mother-daughter chit-chat.
3. Chipped away at the 6 million metric tons of laundry waiting to be done.
4. Made potato salad to take to a picnic dinner at my cousin’s house.
5. Indulged in 5yo ds’s request to watch a bit of the high school boys’ baseball game, even though it was already past his bedtime.
May 29th, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
1. Walked 6 miles to the Prague zoo with father. Feet in recovery but it was a wonderful walk through town and park.
2. Met daughter at zoo for lunch and to meet the lemurs.
3. Started working on a new piano piece.
4. Gloried in a torrential rain storm when at last the weather broke, while eating tart tatin at favorite neighborhood restaurant.
5. Fell asleep as head hit pillow.
May 29th, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
i never realized how important sleep was to my quality of life until becoming a mother and experiencing so much sleep deprivation - by far the hardest part of being a parent.
1. enjoyed peaches and berries in breakfast smoothie
2. hours out by the pool (yes, still on vacation!)
3. wedding dress shopping with my sister and the little bug
4. an afternoon nap - cozy and snuggly
5. finished Eat, Pray, Love and I’m still swooning
May 30th, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
1~ pushed myself on the stair climber while reading about alaska in national geographic
2~ thought about my land on prince edward island, and what kind of garden i would plant if i were there right now
3~ bought glo-stix for my son’s overnight camp with school so he could have something neat to bring along
4~ read more of ‘red, white and drunk all over’ and wished i knew more about wines (other than just what tastes yummy)
5~ lay on my bed and stared at the ceiling for no apparent reason… not a bad thing, just hard to explain when someone says: “what are you doing?”