Chasing Fireflies
Last night I sat on the cool, sweet grass and watched the kids chase fireflies. It reminded me of other yards and other trees under which I chased their 20th great-grandfathers. It felt a bit ritualistic, in that I can imagine children hundreds, thousands of years ago laughing, running, cupping their hands around these the most fascinating lights of summer. It brought back such sweet memories of summertime:
1. homemade peach ice cream at Community Watch Meetings
2. the low spot in the yard that was a great water slide after a rainstorm
3. the feel of the air conditioner vent under my feet as I washed/sorted the beans from our garden with my grandmother
4. trying to avoid the melted asphalt patches as we hopped barefoot down the road from shade to shade to cool our stupid feet
5. the bookmobile that parked in front of the Methodist Church
6. Pell City church camps and youth camps, where I truly felt at home with God
7. Washing dishes in the cafeteria summer after summer to pay for being 'at home,' crushes and giggles
8. The sycamore bark that popped off the tree when it thundered
9. Tornado warnings, watches, green skies, the great relief of sunshine
10. Reading and rereading the Little House on the Prairie
We didn't have I-phones, the internet or even a VCR (until I was 16). But we had the beauty of nature, the pleasure of books, the hours of hard work demanded by a garden and a work-your-tail-off grandfather ;o) We had cheese curls, nutter butter bars, tomato sandwiches, homemade sourdough bread. We had caring for an invalid uncle, his waterbed that was a favorite 'parking' spot, decoration day at the cemetery, fireworks over the Guntersville Lake, revivals, fresh-picked EVERYTHING, long walks.
We even had a trip around the world we went on often at night. My dad would pile us kids into the Volkswagon, allowing one the favorite job of shifting the gears and off we would go. Right and down the road over the old bridge, up the hill, and left onto the 'big road' (that means it was always paved nicely ;o), down past the Copeland's garden, over the 'new bridge', and left and up past Emmett Frost's house and Zach and Kristi's house and past the scary old man's house on the corner with the big dogs and the church and the cemetery and then left again past the auction with its cold Grapico and Sunkist machines out front, and over the hill and past the neighbors and home. A circle of imagination, where we looked at the stars and the moon and we went "'round the world." And our 'world' was small, but it was enough.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Summer is Here!
(The wicked blogspot has thrown some of the pics out of order- sorry! The stained glass windows are backward and they go with the end of the post- sorry!) This is a little fun post to put up some pics of what we've been doing lately. Nathan's mom came down for Kathryn's birthday in April. I shelled out and got a bakery cake since Kathryn wanted flowers on it this year. I hate doing that, because my family loves the taste of my cake. After seeing the joke the bakery gave me, it won't be happening again. In fact the center of the cake had fallen in, so they just covered up their mistake with extra icing. OK, so I actually enjoyed the middle, because it was about 2 inches of icing and 1/2 inch of cake- ;o) We also went to Logan's, or as Kathryn requested "THE PEANUT PLACE!" I didn't realize that they picked up on it being her birthday, and decided to do the whole restaurant announcement thing. Poor Kathryn. I wish I had a picture of her face. If she could become invisible in that moment, she would have. She's at that 'everything is sooooo embarrassing' stage. When they jokingly asked her to SING, I honestly thought she might burst into tears or faint dead away. Her face was sooo white!
Then came Easter. We keep it pretty simple around here. (No offense to those of you who grew up with the whole Easter basket thing) I love it that they aren't worried about what THEY ARE GOING TO GET! for this most special holiday of the year. Honestly, the marketing is ridiculous. So they get some special candy at the breakfast table, and they color eggs. The rest of the day is all about church. We feasted with a whole bunch of church folks at Connie Snodgrass's house after morning worship service- yum! Love Easter!
Now that we've finished 1st grade, we're trying to do something special each Monday of the summer. This past Monday, we took a jaunt to the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman. This is a unique walk-through exhibit constructed by a monk. You can read more here
. They also had a walking path to the cemetery lined with shrines showing the last moments of Christ's life. It began with the trial and ended with His body being placed in the tomb. I don't understand why the Catholic ends there so often. THAT'S NOT ALL, FOLKS!!!! So glad to serve a Risen Lord! We also visited the Catholic cathedral in town where the smell of incense was heavy and their values are placed in stained glass:
(The wicked blogspot has thrown some of the pics out of order- sorry! The stained glass windows are backward and they go with the end of the post- sorry!) This is a little fun post to put up some pics of what we've been doing lately. Nathan's mom came down for Kathryn's birthday in April. I shelled out and got a bakery cake since Kathryn wanted flowers on it this year. I hate doing that, because my family loves the taste of my cake. After seeing the joke the bakery gave me, it won't be happening again. In fact the center of the cake had fallen in, so they just covered up their mistake with extra icing. OK, so I actually enjoyed the middle, because it was about 2 inches of icing and 1/2 inch of cake- ;o) We also went to Logan's, or as Kathryn requested "THE PEANUT PLACE!" I didn't realize that they picked up on it being her birthday, and decided to do the whole restaurant announcement thing. Poor Kathryn. I wish I had a picture of her face. If she could become invisible in that moment, she would have. She's at that 'everything is sooooo embarrassing' stage. When they jokingly asked her to SING, I honestly thought she might burst into tears or faint dead away. Her face was sooo white!
Then came Easter. We keep it pretty simple around here. (No offense to those of you who grew up with the whole Easter basket thing) I love it that they aren't worried about what THEY ARE GOING TO GET! for this most special holiday of the year. Honestly, the marketing is ridiculous. So they get some special candy at the breakfast table, and they color eggs. The rest of the day is all about church. We feasted with a whole bunch of church folks at Connie Snodgrass's house after morning worship service- yum! Love Easter!
Now that we've finished 1st grade, we're trying to do something special each Monday of the summer. This past Monday, we took a jaunt to the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman. This is a unique walk-through exhibit constructed by a monk. You can read more here
. They also had a walking path to the cemetery lined with shrines showing the last moments of Christ's life. It began with the trial and ended with His body being placed in the tomb. I don't understand why the Catholic ends there so often. THAT'S NOT ALL, FOLKS!!!! So glad to serve a Risen Lord! We also visited the Catholic cathedral in town where the smell of incense was heavy and their values are placed in stained glass:
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