Choosing Real Life Stories

"Sometimes I miss the stories. Like on days like today.

Every once in a while I do the ”bloggy” things I used to do all the time; follow the clicks down the rabbit hole, read story after story, pour over images, watch videos, and get inspired. And it reminds me of how much I love stories. Yours, mine, ours. All of them. Unfortunately, I don’t seem to carve out as much time as I used to for them anymore."

These words of author/photographer Tracey Clark echoed loud through my head as I sat staring at what I had just read. 

I really miss the stories. It seems that lately "story" has been a big part of our lives here. The word story is constantly bouncing in and out of conversation.  

I have a desire to share My Story-Our Story; the Story of Us and all of our beautiful messy chaos. In my heart of hearts I want to share this story of the real Calamity Clan. I want to share those things that drag us down and trip us up.  I want to share all of the funny things, sadness, joy and all around daily mayhem but then my brain takes over and all that negative self talk starts: you can't do that, you have no time for such nonsense, no one cares about your blathering, your grammar stinks...

My dear friend Miri recently wrote a story that sent me on a rabbit trail straight down memory lane. I was amazed and slightly embarrassed that my friend had documented more stories about my own children than I did. I thought about all of the stories that were now lost due to my negligence. Shame and guilt stormed their way to the forefront of my emotions; how could I have let those stories slip away?

Every day I share stories with my children of those that have gone before; stories loved by all, stories that someone took the time write down. We are part of The Story. If I don't write our stories, there will be no stories for the next generation. 

While I seek to strike a balance between being present-living in the moment-and capturing/recording those moments for another time, I know I will battle with guilt and disappointment.  I will wrestle with fear, regret and being overwhelmed.  There will be days chock-a-block with frantic busyness and no stories will be told-I have to be OK with that. 

I am SO not perfect.  I laugh too loud and talk too much. I don't live in a Pinterest perfect home. My kids are sassy. There a huge drifts of dog hair in the corners of every room of our house. There's shouting and laughter and the dishes slide. We are a broken mess but I choose to capture these moments and bits of life. This is the story of me and mine. It is Ugly Beautiful and it is good because it's ours. 

Let the journey begin.

  

Capturing Time, Capturing Life

Time heals all wounds. Time in a bottle. Once upon a time. Time will tell. There's a time to reap, a time to sow. Summertime. Dinnertime. Time to walk the dog.  Time to smell the roses. Time to work, to sleep.  There is a time for everything under the sun.

Once upon a time, I felt that time/life was slipping too quickly from my grasp.  Time was fleeting.  I felt that there was nothing I could do to still the ebb of time. Time was speeding by, lightening fast.  I felt I was running out of time. Never enough time.  Life is too short.

I am not sure when I made the conscious, concerted effort, to change my way of thinking about time and its effect on my life, but I did. I decided to take back time, capture life.  I stole the batteries from the clock.  I let all the batteries in my large collection of wrist watches slowly die without rushing to rescue them.  When the power went out, I didn't run to reset the clock on the microwave. I would do everything I could to slow down this speeding car called Time; I would capture time.

This past summer has been my summer of slowing down and taking time... to take my time.  I made changes  that I hope will effortlessly flow into our busy school year schedule.

Slowing down is important.  Taking my time is important. This is my new mantra.

This little blogging space is such a source of sadness and joy for me.   In its absence from my daily routine,  I have been able to see how much time it stole from me.  Time that was needed elsewhere. Time that was meant for someone else.

As Fall begins to creep in and Summer readies to take her nap, I am more mindful of the passing of time. More mindful of  how very precious time is and how important it is to take time to enjoy the journey.

ANNA QUINDLEN : Life is made of moments, small pieces of silver amidst long stretches of tedium. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won't happen. We have to teach ourselves how to live, really live...to love the journey, not the destination.

 Life is too short to sit idly by and watch it leave you in the dust.  Get in the car and drive! Take hold of the wheel, give Father Time a run for his money.  Love the journey.

The here and now

Right here and now~

:: Seeking calm and order. Making a schedule for the farm chores, household stuff , myself and kids.
:: Striving to live fully the length and breadth of this life.
:: Seeking simple. Purging the 'shtuff' that has piled up over the summer. Sorting and culling school books.
:: Loving my morning coffee.
:: Experimenting more and more with fermented foods...sourdough, Lemonade and pickles.
:: Not wholly loving the darker-colder mornings, despite my love of Fall.
:: Preserving like a crazy person-canning, freezing, dehydrating. Ad nauseam.
:: Struggling to get the kids motivated in the a.m.
:: Sad at all the "things" I didn't get done this summer that I had hoped to.
:: Watching the BBC show Sherlock and loving it.
:: Dreaming about sneaking off to the ocean.
:: Grumbling that the chickens continue to escape and feast on the beloved tomatoes.
:: Wanting to be writing again.
:: Embracing Gratitude-every day.

:: Digging deeper-in all areas of life.

:: Excited to see how many of the Blue Orpington hatchlings are hens.
:: Enjoying the last of the fresh garden veg.
:: Appreciating my darling husband building the much needed Le Poulet Chalet.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

For today's posting I am linking up with the gals at Like Mother, Like Daughter.  
Join the fun!

{pretty}

This is from one of the weddings I shot this summer. I love the clothesline. I love the strings of lights. The twilight....very pretty.

{happy}

 I captured this tender moment between brothers yesterday. Both of my boys are suffering from illness.  My man child has just returned from a mission trip to Mexico, where he must have been bitten by a dog or a seal because he is barking up a storm.  He sounds terrible but that didn't stop him from reading a little of  "The Sneetches" to his baby brother who has a mild case of Conjunctivitis. 

This makes me so happy.  I love that my oldest isn't too cool to snuggle on the couch and read Dr. Seuss to his brother.  

{funny}

 This is my youngest child; dramatic and funny are his middle names. We have been standing in the July heat for 1.75 hrs waiting for our local parade -in which he is participating-to start.  Someone just told him he is allowed to "shoot" the crowd with a squirt gun.  He was excited, to say the least.

{real}

My friend Miri and I have a tradition.  Every October, we  make a birthday (Miri's)  pilgrimage to the Sylvia Beach Hotel.   We lounge. We read. We take photos.  We sip tea and take in the glorious ocean air. Otherwise,  we enjoy the quiet lack of children, animals, cell phones and T.V.   
Note:  The hotel, from-which my friend is basking in the ocean sunset above, is remodeling.    Alas, there will be no pilgrimage this year.  There will be no sipping of tea or lounging. There will be no photographing. There will be no lack of noise.  This year we must make other plans.


 (Insert loud sigh here)


Dear Sylvia Beach Hotel,
Hurry up with that remodeling! 
Love, 
Katie and Miri


Happy 20th Anniversary of your 20th Birthday my dear sweet friend! May it be wonderful even without the quiet ocean view.

The busy-ness of me

I have been flitting about in such a fashion as would make a Humming Bird nervous. I have forgotten where I was a few times. I lost track of time, got lost in town and forgot my own name while placing a phone order. Seriously, I have hardly keep the days straight. At one point I was processing a Canner full of jam, making supper, entertaining company, helping kids with school, watering the garden, loading the dishwasher, starting a new batch of jam, taking photos, reading a recipe and talking on the phone!

I have been overwhelmingly busy.  Dreadfully busy.  Much, much to busy for me....

I have canned umpteen jars of Tuna, barbecued Tuna, smoked Tuna, vacuum packed some 50 lbs of Tuna and Salmon and otherwise lived like and frankly, smelled like, a fish monger. I camped with my family. Attended two funerals, in the same day.  Attended a baby shower. Canned blackberry syrup, apple & pear butters, plum jam and rhubarb. Forgot to water and weed my garden.  Fetched my mother from town for a week of canning fun. I have taken an entire truck load of  "stuff" to the Goodwill, (thank you Joy).  Accidentally made cottage cheese. I have lovingly, labouriously, plucked raspberries from the vines in my garden and tucked them into the deep freeze. Visited friends and loved ones at the hospital in Big Town.  I have taught classes at church and home. I have shredded and frozen scads of zucchini. I have eaten my body weight in zucchini. Spent a morning getting in firewood with my family. I have dried tray, after glorious tray of herbs in my food dehydrator. In general, I ran like a head with my chicken cut off.

I have never in my adult life canned/put up so much food. Or run to town so many times while in the middle of said canning.  When returning from the grocery with mass quantities of large and small mouth canning lids and military sized bags of sugar, my oldest son asked if I was preparing for a nuclear holocaust.  Not a holocaust son, I said, just putting up food so I can feed you during your next growth spurt.  (Dear sweet baby boy, please stop growing!)

While not preparing for disaster, I have been busy filling the pantry with good, old fashioned, staples in hopes of making ends meet ( re: feeding of teenagers) All the while, juggling the things that make up this crazy, calamitous life of mine.  This kind of busy makes my very happy.   Crazy, but happy.

What's been keeping you busy lately?

Caught: the weekend lens

  Captured my own reflection in this jar of Spiced Golden Plum Jam this afternoon.

     Sneaky Katie, caught these two friends (Lexie from the Back Acher and the lovely Em) snapping shots.

                                        Caught my youngest sneaking to town in her jammies.

 

Got my curls caught in the blackberries while getting in my car.  Had the kids run grab the camera so I                      could take a picture.  My children think their mother is nutty.

My darling beloved snapped this, the only shot, of the man child sporting his first big catch. And what a tasty catch it was.

Learning and Growing

Found this quote from Emerson and it really struck a cord with me.


Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities  no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Here's to serenity and not being encumbered with old nonsense.