Just living it

Blogging has always been a great way for me to keep track of life.  Capture a moment.  Save it for looking back on it later.  It's also been a useful lens that often helps me focus on what's happening in our lives right now. 

In recent weeks the pace of change, of doing things, of getting things done and quickly moving on to the next thing has picked up.  Slowing it down is a full time job.  Not so much writing about it is getting done-- as you can tell.

We've made owls from toilet paper rolls and suet treats for our real birds.  Care packages for friends who need a little care.  We finished (well nearly anyway) the kitchen, which was torn up most of the summer and fall.  Hooray!  We welcomed another kitty, Shiva, into our home.  She's loving and quirky and a bit of a messy eater.

After a record potato crop and ripe tomatoes in August (shocking but true), the veggie garden has been put to bed, and I planted a red clover cover crop.  I planted another section of the front yard in winter-blooming perennials.  And I've been dividing plants so I can share some with a friend who wants to put in a four-season perennial border.   Gardening where I can.

The Olympics have snow on them now.  And I never tire of that view.  We set up our telescope for a night sky viewing of the moon and stars with Wyatt a few weeks ago.  He couldn't get enough.

My parents came to visit.  They've been named "Grandma and Grandpa Woo" by Wyatt.

And speaking of him, Wyatt has suddenly grown a size in clothes and shoes.  He's now wearing a 9 1/2 toddler shoe.  Good grief.  He's obsessed with golf and we take him the the mini golf course weekly it seems. He puts jigsaw puzzles together and recites the words from his books and songs.  He calls his other grandpa, "Herman."  He tells strangers he's a bigger boy now.

Despite working long weeks, Byron has started blogging again, which is great.  He is so gifted with words. Together we've managed to shed 10+ pounds apiece this summer and fall.  Feeling better all around.

As for me, I've decided there is no real way to capture in words what it feels like to be living my life right now, certainly not in a way that would allow me to feel it or remember it like it is in this moment.  This is a good realization for me.  Perhaps it's why I've been in this space less lately, too.

I'm making a valiant attempt to do some truly useful work for the organizations for which I volunteer.  This takes time to think and write and make phone calls -- something that is in scarce supply for me, a full-time mom to a busy two year old.

And I'm starting a new venture.  A creative one.  I'm writing.  And beginning to look for an illustrator.  It's not something I'm ready to talk about, really.  But I'm putting down stories that I've been telling and making up for a while now.   I hope this will be something.

Life is humming along.  Colds and too much laundry notwithstanding, life is good -- every day.  I can't say I'm keeping up with writing it all down here, but I'm living it and enjoying it and that's enough right now.