Caterpillars Have Leaves for Umbrellas!

It has been raining for 4 days. It stopped today for 10 seconds. OK. That is an exaggeration. It actually stopped for 1 minute and 15 seconds. In that brief amount of time, Michael and I took the opportunity to photograph a family of caterpillars that have taken up residency on our milkweed plant. The plant was an incredibly thoughtful gift from Gaga.




In case you don't already know this, the milkweed plant is the host for Monarch butterflies. The Monarch lives its entire life cycle on the plant. Hence, the reason that there are 7 caterpillars eating their way into butterfly-dom right outside on our deck!!


This is a very important thing when you are 7 years old.

We had an interesting and somewhat stressful debate about whether or not it would be necessary to bring the milkweed plant indoors to save the caterpillars from drowning (7 year old opinion) OR leave it outside because God, in His infinite wisdom, already took care of that problem a zillion years ago (old, cranky mother opinion). I won. HANG ON for dear life, caterpillars....




Note: Now is a good time to simply appreciate the photos and ignore or disregard how distractingly dirty the 7 year old's fingernail are....

Gotta go get my paddle!

Good night,

~J

"Sweet" Times!

This is my baby girl, Martha.She is the third baby. At age two, her nose is always runny but she lets me take her picture whenever I want to. She almost always has on layers and layers of jewelry and many times she is clutching a naked and sadly disheveled Barbie....and there are ever present pacifiers....at least two, but usually more.

Today, she is 15-1/2 years old and recently passed her drivers test. It is unlikely you will see a "face shot" of Martha on my blog, because she refuses to have her photo made. I sneak a few in.She likes to have her back scratched and her hair brushed and she loves cheerios and purses. Not necessarily in that order. She is a great student and recently discovered that she loves gymnastics and competition cheer leading. She gets very nervous and full of anxiety before any type of performance and I think this is all related to not allowing people to take her picture....I will figure it out.

Last night, she made a 3-D model of an animal cell that was really a cake with lots of candy parts on it. I helped. I iced the cake and then proceeded to eat all the candy I possibly could to insure I would have a tremendous stomach ache when I went to bed. Mission accomplished.

It began with cake....

And a trip to the "craft cabinet"....

Toothpicks, glue, candy....

My stomach is hurting again just thinking about those twizzlers I ate.... and the oreos, moon pies, gummy worms and razzlers.

But, my baby girl made the most amazingly delicious animal cell ever. It is definitely going to be an A+!

See, she just couldn't smile in a normal way as if to suggest she was actually ALLOWING a photograph to be taken of her.

If I could just try to compare Martha to her 3-D cell model: sweet, artistic, clever, funny, colorful, fun, smart, imaginative....yes! All of these! Then perhaps I can settle for this photo for now....

....and hope for a genuine photo of my beautiful baby girl at a later date?

Until next time....

~J

Family Fun!

Some days (a lot of days), it is hard not to question the logic I used when I intentionally became pregnant 4 times. I LOVE my children, but 1 child "times" 4 is A LOT of work. I realize this is a common theme in my blog....but really, they consume my mind, my time and my energy and so - well, I talk about it a lot. Tonight, however, was one of those times when I realized that with 4 kids, you ALMOST have a baseball team! Throw in a few spare family members and WHAM!!
The occasion was my mother-in-law's birthday (60 years old - YEAH!) and it was a great night. For dinner, I channeled my idol, Pioneer Woman, and we enjoyed several recipes from her website. PW, I think I am a good pupil and I gave you a run for your money :-), the recipes were a huge success!

Rosemary Skewers.....
Chicken Spaghetti....

Green Beans.....

And then....baseball (wiffle ball), of course! Boys against girls. The pitcher offended me a little, since he pitched with a glass of wine in his hand.....Everyone else was TOTALLY serious....
And then, I attempted a cheerleading jump and wet my pants, and the girls lost by one run. It was excellent. I would say "let's do this again tomorrow" but you just can't duplicate perfection.

~J

Early Morning Thoughts

I am starting this missive at 7:30 am because I am greatly inspired....by the sound of Wii bowling wafting through the speaker system of my house. I am wondering to myself, "what will the sleeping teenagers think of this?" and then I think, "who cares?". Next, I jump out of my bed to tell Michael (clearly the source of the Wii idea) to turn the volume down (people are sleeping, you know) and I trip on a pirate ship that is on my bedroom floor. This ship is one of an entire fleet of pirate ships that are dry docked in my bedroom because that is where Michael likes to keep them. Pirate ship is his game of choice while lurking in the parent's room.

THEN, it occurs to me that I should blog about Michael. Sweet, beautiful, blue-eyed, 7 year old Michael Decatur Quinn. Late in life baby. Only child of an only child but born into a house already chock full of kids.He is a superb artist and puzzle-doer, has an adult vocabulary (sorta good/sorta not) and can out dance anyone I have ever known. Presently, I am considering giving him a large, flat screen, plasma TV for his bedroom so he will actually want to SLEEP in his own room (and maybe take the armada up there, too). Is that bad parenting? Well, I would also like to have my shower back - free from the little army men and airplanes and submarines that keep appearing in there. Would a large, flat screen plasma TV for his bathroom be going over-board?

I am getting nervous just thinking this through. If I lure him back to his own room, back to his own bed - how will I sleep without his warm breath in my face? Will I miss the sound of his whispered prayers? Can I really sleep without Barney, too? And what about the giant Sponge Bob? He makes a nice pillow for my neck. Winter is coming and Michael is really warm. It is 8:00 am now - why sleep in? Hmmmm.

Wait. The Wii is off. Maybe I will just think about all this tomorrow.

I have another 7 year old son, only he is 20 now. He really does have a large, flat screen, plasma TV in his room. It means a lot to him.

More later.

~J

Summer's Lesson

I am back to blogging. I had to take a little side trip to my hometown to see my mama and then another little side trip with the family to fabulous and beautiful Italy. I love to blog and along the way, I have thought of many, many different topics that I want to expound upon. No matter what the topic is, though, the theme always seems to find its way back to G.O.D. Even the hurtful or serious ideas have been built upon the idea that He is the creator and author of my life and everything in it.This is the Tuscan sky. We marveled at it and sensed the presence of our Lord, sending those rays of holy light over our family and blessing our time together. I hope that you are surrounded my images and messages that affirm the same in your life.

Now, I am back to marinating chicken and bookkeeping and errands and dieter's remorse and all the everyday, familiar consequences of the life I have chosen. Sometimes it feels good and other times it feels disappointing and frustrating....and then I come full circle back to gratitude that I am not pushing through it alone. I mess up a lot. Thank you, God, that I get a fresh start every day. I thought about this many times on our trip to Italy. A different continent, a different language, a different culture and yet I admired - understood, even - the physical presence of Christian symbols above doorways, in courtyards, in art...to remind us of the source of amazing beauty and of the anecdote for misery.I am wishing my suitcase was unpacked and my desk cleared off....I regret that summer is almost over and I didn't have more time to rock on the front porch and catch fireflies in a jar. I pray that I will finally learn to let go of "should haves" and just breathe. It is all okay. Thanks to you, Lord.

Looking forward to the next sunset....

~J

Revelations

I have a confession. On the surface, it isn't pretty. Maybe down deep, it isn't pretty either. Anyway, it is the truth and when you keep the truth from the light, it grows into a little invisible gremlin that sits on your shoulder and whispers mean things in your ears.....so, here it is..... I WANT TO RUN AWAY. ALOT. The older I get, the worse it is. I first desired it while standing at the bus stop during college. There, one spring, as I patiently waited for my ride, an aroma tickled my nose that was a most familiar smell. What was it? I don't know exactly (honeysuckle, asphalt, a peach that was too ripe in my lunch bag), but it immediately reminded me of my grandfather, Pop. Without warning, tears sprung to my eyes and I wanted to RUN AWAY. To him. To Pop. To childhood. To the familiar place that I lost. To his garden, his yard, his truck, his arms....

The thing is, I don't want to run FROM things. I want to run TO things. I couldn't imagine my life without my children, my mother, my siblings, my friends - but I miss the cicadas. Yep, you heard me. The cicadas. The sultry, humid, heat of tonight's summer night has me yearning for past times, because the cicadas are LOUD, singing and lulling me into a slumber of memory that is seductive and powerful. I don't want to stay in the air-conditioned, pre-conditioned, dutiful cycle of the NOW. I want the days of my childhood that ring loud with similar hot summer evenings when the cicadas were purring. Back then, I was free and my bicycle took me everywhere - I doodled in the dirt and my mother was singing (light, airy, free!). Bugs bit me and I went to bed scratching but woke up happy and looking for more outside adventures. The cicadas sang in my grandmother's back yard, while the grown-ups talked and I circled them searching for lightning bugs to catch in my jar. The cicadas sang and chirped while I played "kick the can" with my neighbor friends under the street lights. When I was a young mother, they sang in my back yard in the heat of the summer while I rocked my first, sleepless baby to sleep. The cicadas call me back, over and over again to a simpler, more free time, when someone else was in charge. Rivers glisten, "Pops" hum, dryers run and I sleep - free from worry or responsibility - sweaty from play and not caring - giggly and giddy and happy and joyful. Childhood. I want to run there. Where the cicadas sing and my daddy is there and I am small and smart and free and I can hear and smell summer without all the traffic in my head sounding out and drowning out the beauty of life.

The cicadas are in my back yard, now. I hardly hear them. I wonder if my children hear them. Sometimes, I walk out there and listen and imagine I am wandering backwards in time to when I heard them in the background of play and laughter and exploration and I had not ONE CARE in the world. That is where I want to run away to. I miss it. I long for it.

My children didn't have the same childhood as I did. They had a more "present day" childhood, with fancy vacations and battery operated cars. They dyed Easter Eggs in the Caribbean and watched fancy, professional fireworks on the 4th of July. They had sparklers and ripe mangoes and corn-row hair in Jamaica. They had big city trips in fancy hotels - bottled water and mints on their pillows. Is there a sound or a smell from those places that will visit them 30 years from now that will make them want to RUN TO ME?

I took my teenage daughters on a shopping spree this week. During the long car ride, we listened to a book on tape, ate LOTS of fast food, shared some secrets and got in shouting matches. I realized I haven't done such a good job in making them appreciative, yet, at the same time, I realized they are good girls. We sang, spoke in foreign accents, told secrets, critiqued our clothes, stopped to pee a thousand times, indulged in chocolate delights (too many), had outbursts, laughed uncontrollably (at nothing) and came back exhausted. But, there were no cicadas. Yet, the cicadas are singing in my mind and calling me back. I want to run away.
I can only hope that some day, my daughters will want to run back to each other. To me. To a happy childhood. To the cicadas. To whatever made them easy and laughing and free. I will be there waiting - as will my father and Jim and other lost loved ones who have enriched our lives.

In the mean time, I will keep trying to live in the present - restored by the past and blessed by the present and .....reveling in my new shoes!! Did I mention that we bought SHOES??? Listen, I don't hear cicadas - but, my shoes are humming.... they are AWESOME (singing their own sweet song of promise)!!!

Cicadas are the lullaby of my childhood, but shoes are the song of my womanhood. Shoes don't lie. Really. Goodnight. ~J

The Ah-Haaaaas of Summer!

First, I was gone for a bit because I birthed another baby.....well, not technically. I birthed a great expression of my "artistic" side - a renovated, redecorated, shabby-chic beach house! In fact, my greatest compliment came from my daughter who said, "nothing goes together and yet, it all goes together"! Perfect! It evolved from a neglected 70's era beach house into a modern, but still "old-fashioned" beach-side cottage. I poured my soul into it. I haven't slept well or eaten well or performed my "other job" very well, but every one has been very understanding! Thanks, guys! I am having a hard time letting it go...to the renters....but I have faith that they will love it, too.
There are many bits of me there....the things that I love and the things that remind me of another house by the sea (from another life/another time). May God bless it!

As I have plowed along on the "project", SUMMER HAPPENED! Yes, my husband and children are getting along with summer jobs and camp and golf and sleeping in - embracing the lazy, humid, days of June. I have tagged along and grasped a little of it: Coastal Carolina baseball (go, Chants!), beach days (sharks teeth!), the farmers market (Caprese salad!), mosquitoes (2 legs full!), pan-seared grouper (YUM!), thunderstorms at night (blessing!) and a little boy who forgot where his OWN BED is (sweet, sweaty breath).....I have been renewed by the encouragement of friends, the knowledge that I am not alone and the revelation that life goes on, anyway.

Keep the summer memories coming~J