Walk.

I've been walking.
Walking and walking.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when two friends were talking about their pedometer app, and their steps.  

I tried it out, out of curiosity... just carried my phone for the first week, to see what my average was, and what, if anything, I wanted to do about it.
Something surprising happened.... instead of being irritated about the time it took to do everything (run a single thing downstairs, take this out to the truck), my mind changed, and I started being happy to do such things.

The whole reason for my embracing the word Pause this year was because I wanted to create a space for myself... a pause in which to have enough time, enough this... enough everything.
While I think it's exciting (and fun) to eat life up in great big gulps, I wanted to find the Still in the pause.... to lose some of the anxious urgency.

This week, I started to walk. 
Four miles the first day, to and then around the park.  I met the 10,000 (steps) goal, but it wasn't enough.

I prefer at least a five mile walk.
8.3 miles, the second day.

There.  That's better.

7.6, the next

--six mile walk, plus the regular stuff.

And so it goes.

So this practice comes with all sorts of pleasant surprises...

there's the Still, of course (which is absolutely a great enough benefit on its own),

but there's also the meditations, and the mindfulness practice.....

there's the early morning solitude

-space and time to right myself-

and, most obvious of all (but still a surprise to me, somehow)

there's the affinity, the early morning conversations I have with the earth.

I am calibrated,
I am at ease,
and I am satisfied.

It's really the most wonderful thing.

thursday twenty-fifth: over the rainbow

somewhere

-over the rainbow-

way up high

there's a life

that I heard of

once in a lullaby. *

(*Adapted from E.Y. Harburg)

November 10

Trev asked this morning if he could paint a picture for me.
Did you feel that strange breeze across your cheek? That was me moving at the speed of light to get his materials ready.
Madeleine heard the word "Paint" while playing in the tub at the other end of the house, so of course she scurried into the den as well.After Operation - a favorite at the moment -
the children needed a diversion from their frustration that the dsl was brinking again. Their mama suggested "Steps From Home", and everyone was game.
While I was getting ready to go, Trev asked me if he could parachute with the umbrella. I told him he'd need a more substantial one then the little one he had - which led to today's vocabulary word. (I don't mean that we have daily vocabulary words, just that he's always asking -and remembering- what words mean.)
What a lovely, rainy time we had.Trev had to climb up onto our neighbor's porch with the umbrella to see if he could parachute down with the umbrella. You know. Like Mary. Guess he had to know for himself.Not quite.
Ah well.

Maddie plays JumpStart World Preschool.Their Mama stole the babes away for a little while - I wanted to offer them some of the goodies I found today on Earth's Kids: Thanksgiving.

We started off with Turkey Facts. Which Trevelyn loved. Particularly the Turkey Trot, Benjamin Franklin saying he wanted the turkey to be the national bird, that they sleep in trees, and they live in every state except for Alaska.

We then read the adapted tale The Spirit of the Corn- An Iroquois Legend by Harriet Maxwell.

Leaves for our Thankful Tree.

Turkey jokes.

Hide and Seek.

Magic tricks.
Back to leaves.But the children got a little agitated, and since it's raining a drenching sort of rain, and Daddy has his rain jackets with him fishing, I thought working out a little frustration on clay might be just the ticket.

Fangs.

Which turned out to be a really good idea.

Then it was A Thanksgiving Rebus Story. Which was really quite wonderful - Trev and I took turns reading the pages, and I was astounded at the words he was reading. So awesome.
The best part was when the kids started taking the turkey to their home, and Trev said "Oh, this could get ugly!", but it turned out quite alright! :)

When days are Busy, this is my favorite sort. When everything just flows, and one moment just melds naturally into the next.
Lots of new things, and lots of variance.

Puzzles.Maddie is so amazing me with her puzzle skills. At first -a few days ago- I had to help with the first few pieces. Now she's doing 30+ pieces all by Herself. It's a fantastic thing to see, this ordinary life magic.

And now it's time for me to find Scooby Doo, vaccuum the den (I never finished cleaning the den this morning!) and get ready for Daddy's arrival home from his End Of The Season fishing day.... so that we can work on our Thanksgiving Tree (something we've done and have loved the last two years).
I'll fill you in on that, tomorrow.
That's prob'ly "Goodnight", then.

100 Steps From Home

We haven't played in a while, and we were in need of a diversion, so off we went!
Into the rain.
It happened today that Maddie wanted to go one way, and Trev another.
But today's magic number was 100, so it was decided we'd take a hundred steps one way to our discovery, then when we were finished we'd come back to our gate and take one hundred steps in the other direction.

Splendid discoveries, both.

Our finding at exactly 100 Steps.

And very familiar.


Splash.