Autumn in the Northeast

Before having children, I did not pay much attention to the seasons. I am sure part of this had something to do with growing up in Texas (where the seasons change less dramatically) and spending a great deal of time in California (where all of the seasons are mild). Pre-kiddos, many of my wakeful hours were spent indoors--in a classroom or an apartment building.

Much of my time is spent outdoors these days and I am quite literally astonished at the beauty of this season. Last weekend must have been peek foliage for Northern New Jersey and what a sight it was to behold. I saw yellows so luminescent that I quite literally felt as though I was closer to Heaven surrounded by their light.

Quotable Sunday

To raise children who, as young adults, can freely create their life as they envision it-- this is our task. We do this by fashioning a space in which, with a delicate balance of guidance and freedom, our children can discover who they really are.

Sharifa Oppenheimer
Heaven on Earth

Quotable Sunday

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Outdoors

We have been getting outside as much as possible lately. The weather is turning here; brown, yellow, orange, and red reminders that winter is not far behind. Each new season brings such wonder with it. Right now, I am loving the brilliance all around us. And I just can't stop loving acorns. In another life, I want to be one. In the meantime, I am going to make one of my kids be one for Halloween. Who my victim is going to be I am not sure yet...

Quotable Sunday

"The breath is the current connecting body and mind, connecting us with our parents and our children, connecting our body with the outer world's body. It is the current of life. There are nothing but golden fish in this stream. All we need to see them clearly is the lens of awareness."

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are

Meditation and The Art and Science of Doing Nothing

I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to do (or not do) this lately. With a little professional help and some good reading, I am starting to get the hang of it.

I am notoriously bad at being in the moment--I hold grudges, I dwell in my emotion, I hang on and on and on. Additionally, I feel as if I always have to be going. I rarely notice my surroundings and am often stunned at Brian's noticings of what is around us/ has happened to us. Having kids has slowed me down a bit but it is something I still need to work on. Adding a third child has helped!

So I have spent some time lately looking around. Breathing a little more slowly. Noticing my tension and letting it go. There are some things that help me with this--my kids (what an example they are!), the outdoors, exercise

Reading Again

Ahhhh, to be reading again. Don't ask me why I have chosen to pick up reading again just after having my third baby because this hardly seems like the time, but maybe it is just the perfect time after all.

I have some good fiction books on the shelf--I have been waiting for what seems like forever for this one, and I started and really liked this one last spring, and a good friend has recommended this one. The latest books that I have read, however, have been nonfiction and the ones that are queued up next are all nonfiction as well.

Currently, I am in the middle of Children at Play. I picked this up at Powell's last year, started it and then put it down for a variety of reasons not related to the book, now it is on my bedside table again. One reviewer of the book stated that the chapter on dolls alone made the book worth the purchase. I have to say that I completely agree. Much of the material in the book was not new for me, but the suggestions the author makes about dolls being an embodiment of the child (how, for instance, dolls should be put to bed, rather than in a basket or toy box out of respect for what they represent) were thought-provoking.

Before this book, I read Seven Times the Sun. I loved the practicality of this book- the examples of daily "rhythms" at the end were particularly useful for me. Although the literal application of much of the material to our own family life would simply not work for us, we could mold them to make them our own.

I also read Beyond the Rainbow Bridge. For me, this book was the easiest to digest. Her writing style is casual and the FAQ section at the end of each chapter answered many of my own questions.

All in all, I am having a ball of a time working my way through my Amazon purchases from last year. More on this in a few weeks...