Simple Woman's Daybook

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/
FOR TODAY  August 29, 2011

The Martyrdom of John the Baptist

Outside my window...
beautiful cool wet air, and bright sunshine.  The weather after the storm.

I am thinking . . . 

how these bottles of bubbles, pictured the day we bought them, reflect my girls' personalities.  

The blue one is Rosebud's.  She is clumsy and careless so many times over, focused on and reveling in the present moment of happiness and fun with no thought or worry for the future.   She is usually unconcerned by setbacks and often tells me, "It's okay, I don't mind about that" (even when others think she should mind!).  She is flighty and easily distracted from one moment or excitement to the next, but her smile is constant and sure, filled with the joy of living.  

The pink bottle is Turtle's.  She is more sedate and cautious, almost fearful of the future.  She is willing to forgo the pleasure of the present to ensure the security of that future.  She usually thinks carefully before she chooses, and if she changes her mind it is not because she is indecisive, but because choosing the one perfect option is so important to her.

I am thankful...
for so many things, especially for this time, the childhood of my girls.  

My elderly neighbor, Carol, told me over the fence this morning "Enjoy them while they're little, they're not little for long." 

In the kitchen...
some new decorative plates with a little hint of Italy.  Especially paired with this picture, also in the kitchen, reminding me a little of of Cinque Terre and my visit there.

I am wearing...
Khaki shorts, a pale yellow shirt and a red-beaded necklace.

I am creating...
Plans for my older girls' room.  We recently set up a bunk bed for them, so we have some freed-up space for something . . . maybe Sunshine will move in with them, but more possibly we will need some shelving for "school work".

I am going...
to try to have a better lunch today.  Trying to avoid the string cheese and toast route . . .

I am wondering...
whether to take Sunshine to the doctor for her chicken pox -- yes, that chicken pox that we never got back in the wintertime has finally found us.

I am reading...

Death Comes to the Archbishop, by Willa Cather.  This book has been on my really-should-read-this list for years.  It's taken me a bit to get into it, but its growing on me.  The descriptions of the mesa plains and rocks, the rich colors and shadows of the west are really beautiful.

I am hoping...
for some inspiration and some motivation someday to start regular kindergarten schooling with Turtle.  I am dragging my feet so much on this, it's pathetic.

I am looking forward to...
having my new favorite yummy breakfast later this week

Recipe here (I leave out the nut butter)

I am hearing...
the chains of the hammock dinging as it swings and girls' voices outside.

Around the house...
I just used the many pounds of tomatoes that I got from my mom and another farm out near her and made some marinara sauce.

 It turned out really well.  

But this is still my favorite thing to do with summer tomatoes:

I am pondering...
the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector and what that really means, in the way we look at ourselves and at the other good, struggling people in the world around us.

One of my favorite things...
August cicadas.  The sound always reminds me of living at my parents and of long, still, luxuriously thankful days at end of a good summer.

In the country, summer is a lovely thing, and even the heat is just part of its beauty. August is a month of sun-ripened tomatoes and crackly dried grass . . .it's a month of tawny haziness and scratchy cicadas and delicate Queen Anne's Lace. August . . . has a feel of heavy richness in the air. The colors of the land are shifting, drying and ripening . . .

( From this post from another August)

A few plans for the rest of the week:
hopefully a trip to the pool, as pool season is quickly ending, and an evening softball game of Daddy's.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...