Welcoming 2013 with a new morning ritual

As I sit alone this morning, my family still asleep upstairs, the chickens starting to wake outside, I welcome in this 1st of the year.  These few quiet moments in the morning will be my ritual this year. 

 Happy New Year. 

May your year be filled with love, community, laughter, abundance, health, light, peace, a renewed and deeper connection to our natural world, sunshine, and some quiet little moments for yourself. 

big things come in little packages....

....a little something from my wife....

(this moment)

A Friday ritual. 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama

"Box of Stones"

Sometimes one song just moves you. 

This one, by Benjamin Francis Leftwich, moved me recently.

You said, I am young and I am yours

I am free, but I am flawed

I am here and your heart

I was here from the start

(this moment)

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama

an addiction

BIRD'S NEST AND BIRD BERRIES

Play outside everyday!

It's been a mantra... a promise... a reminder... a commitment to my little bird. Somedays, however, when the wind is gusting at 90mph it's hard to keep that commitment. Is a venture to the mailbox at the end of our short driveway considered outside play? But lately we've had these incredibly mild days (save the wind) when crocs without socks is acceptable.... and Avi and I have been spending our afternaps afternoons outside... drinking up the last bit of sunshine before she falls below the foothills.  On this day, I was cutting back the dead flowerbeds while Avi was following the chickens around. Then he noticed my pile and....

...came to inspect.

With a little bit of work, this pile turned into...

a nest. Suitable for my little Avi Bird.

But he soon realized the location was all wrong.

With a bit of effort...

and a couple of trips...

Avi made his own nest by the sandbox.

Then he danced about the yard flapping his "nest wings"

Bird Berries

aka hawthorn berries.

With our nests behind us, we continue our venture toward the compost pile.  On the way we pass these three hawthorn trees on the east side of our yard.  The thorns could take out an eye (I'm always trimming them back) but the berries are beautiful -- on the trees or when they have polka dotted an early snow. Today we discovered them peppering the ground as these mild temperatures have melted all our snow. What a discovery for Avi. I am looking forward to learning what I can do with hawthorn berries here and here. 

He played "chase" with Red for about five minutes trying to give her the berries. 

"Bird Berries" as he called them.

How grateful I am for these afternoons.

the little things...

 

Trash. One thing I hate dealing with is the trash and recycle. I think it stems way back to when I was 11 or 12 and my mom had asked me to take the trash out. The sun had set hours before and our back porch light wasn't bright enough to light the alley where the trash cans were. I balked at my mom asking why one of my brothers couldn't do it. It was, after all, their job. "Just do it", she said sternly. So I tied up the plastic overflowing trash bag best I could and headed out the back door. The damp grass was cold on my bare feet. As I neared the alley my pace quickened. I wasn't afraid of the dark, I just hated fighting with my imagination having to tell myself, it's just a shadow. As I swung my arm to get the momentum needed to chuck the bag into the aluminum can, my foot stepped down but it wasn't cold damp grass. It was hot fresh dog shit... squishing between my toes. After cleaning my foot off best I could in the grass and making my way back to the house, I opened the sliding glass door, looked at my mom, "I stepped in dog shit".  She laughed of course and laughed again when she greeted me the next morning only to hear me respond, "I can't believe I stepped in dog shit". She still laughs about it some 25 years later.  But I regress.

As I was saying, I hate dealing with the trash and recycle. I am blessed that Jenn takes care of both. Always! I can let the trash pile higher and higher knowing that she will deal with it. And I'm so grateful. This past Sunday as I was driving home from the grocery store, I see some of the neighbors have dragged their cans to the curb for tomorrow's trash pick up.  I think to remind Jenn that it's trash day tomorrow and would she please get the cans to the curb before bed tonight... and don't forget the office trash can, it's not been emptied in a while and the upstairs bathrooms. As I park the car, I suddenly I decide to do it myself. I drag the cans to the curb and come inside and gather all the trash and recycling, including the office and the upstairs bathrooms and carry it to the curb.... and what do I see, but the most amazing moon rise.  If I hadn't taken out the trash myself, I would have missed this beautiful sight.  My camera doesn't do much to capture the sight, but I can't help but keep shooting.

Jenn noticed. "Did you empty the upstairs bathroom trash? Thank you." I guess I've just been remembering how nice it is when someone does one of my "chores" for me.

Lesson learned: Sometimes when we do things we don't want, we unexpectedly get to experience things we would have missed out on.

When have you done for another and gotten/experienced something wonderfully unexpected in return?