~Upstream and Down~

It’s just a week that I have here, doing "farm duty" for friends while they are in Maui avoiding the February weather. Yay them! And yay me too! This is a week of respite...less than half an hour from home and hubby—and cats. I can enjoy the best of both worlds. My “chores” for the week: ·       Gather the chicken eggs (my favorite part!!) ·       Feed the chickens and ducks and give them fresh water (It bothers me that they have to stay in their coop while family is away. Makes sense, but I feel bad. Otherwise, this would be a favorite). ·       Feed three feral cats (my other favorite thing!) ·       Feed four alpacas and give them water (this is becoming a favorite...) Once done, that leaves plenty of time to...           To WHAT, exactly? What DO you do with the free time you’ve always dreamed of having...besides wasting it wondering what you’ll do with all that free time? On day 1, I a

If dandelions could talk, here’s what I think they might say:  " Bloom where you’re planted, sink your roots deep. Smile in the sun, soak up the rain, and let the wind take you to new places." Dandelions are an early spring food for bees. They are often the first flower a young child picks for his mother and they provide a sweet moment for a mother to teach her child to make a wish and blow away the seeds. They speckle landscapes with lemon-colored glory. Common, and often disliked by those in favor of perfect lawns, we trample over them with hardly a thought. All this crossed my mind as I stood in this field of dandelions, most having gone to seed. I had an hour to myself at a retreat at a beautiful family farm on this day of unexpected sunshine and warmth. I was looking for a moment of stillness.   I’d watched two swans,   visited the alpacas,   chatted with the chickens, tried to coax a kitty closer...

Time is like a handful of sand, the tighter you grasp it, the faster it runs through your fingers. Anonymous My 20’s: That runner’s high! I love it! I feel like my feet are six inches above the pavement and I could just keep running and running forever. I stretch my runs longer and longer for pure pleasure until I just have to turn back--reluctantly. I’m empowered and kind of in awe of my energy. My 30s: My pregnancy decade. Three kids. I jog behind a stroller with the firstborn; walk with a toddler while pushing a stroller with the second born; walk slowly with my third, stopping so he can drop pebbles down the drain or pat the doggie.   I go on occasional walks or slow jogs on weekends or days when my husband is home with all three kids. But I often choose to nap. My 40s: My oldest babysits for thirty minutes so I can go out for a walk. I call it my “by-by walk.” “Mommy’s going for a by-by walk,” I say to soothe my youngest, who cries