In which I discuss teatime, routines, and the lack of reading....
I feel like we have a routine developing around here, I just hope the kids don't get tired of this too quickly. Thursday was a gorgeous day outside -- Michael and I took a nice walk mid-day down into our wooded path and back again. It's crazy to see how many people are out walking now, and everyone is extra friendly too.
I'm not taking as many photos as I normally do. It must be because my world is suddenly much smaller? I need to look for beauty and capture it. Checking my phone for photos from yesterday revealed mostly pictures of chores: the exploded pumpkin in the pantry that required a major cleaning effort, the closet disorganization that I spent more time working on righting, and a knitting project re-discovered along with the needles I was missing and the pattern I couldn't find. I'm making progress on household projects, but at the same time feeling like there are so many more to go. I also need to be content with a house that is becoming more worn out with age and no amount of cleaning or organizing can really change that.
Drew did our tea baking: blueberry coffee cake. We had some blueberries still in the fridge. Our normal schedule is for Laura and I to have tea together immediately after getting home from school each day. I try to buy blueberries for one or two of those teas each week because Laura loves them so much. She's loved blueberries since she was a baby and often has asked for a blueberry cake for her birthday. Anyway, the Laura tea times have been put on hold now and we still had two pints of blueberries left! It's my turn to bake today. Maybe I should use the other pint up!
The change in schedule is helping me focus on painting for about an hour each day. Being able to spend time like this will help me move my skills forward at a faster rate! I'm having so much fun experimenting with gouache and capturing moments of each day on paper. The one thing I am upset about is that I've lost nearly all my reading time. Our entire evening is spent together as a family -- which is so important I don't want to change. The day is full with the other things I've prioritized and I don't know how to fit the reading back in again. Sometimes I can squeeze in part of an audio book. But, I've chosen sleeping in right now instead of adding more time to my day so I suppose I must be content with my choice.
In many ways I feel as though I'm a person in a dark room with my hands against the wall, carefully pushing and pressing to find the doors and ease them open. It's tedious work, and I can't see, but little by little I'm making forward progress and once in awhile a door opens into a new room.
Did I mention each one of us is taking a night to pick a movie in a genre we like? This makes for watching a lot of movies I would not choose to watch -- but that's the whole point, really. We watched some kind of Samurai movie last night and sure enough the scene of a Samurai being punished by beating showed up in my dreams. Yuck. I love piecing together dreams and seeing where different parts of the dream came from a different part of my day or a different stress I am dealing with. Tonight is my movie choice -- I want something beautiful and uplifting, then maybe I'll dream of the Lake District and tea with Jane Austen.
Food Eaten: tea and a piece of the Glazed Donut Cake for breakfast (yes!! what a treat), turkey soup for lunch (its final appearance!!), blueberry coffee cake for teatime snack, and a wonderful dinner of roasted cauliflower, baked sweet potatoes, roasted chicken, and stir-fried onions, summer squash, and asparagus. Sigh.
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