Lenkaland

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Two days of wild winds and our backyard is a strewn with leaves.  The pool . . . good luck seeing the pool through the leaves and pine needles.  I couldn’t resist a little trip to the backyard with the camera.  This was my favorite photo of the day.  I love how I can see the water bending around the leaf.  Holding up.  For now.

The sad deep end of the pool.  The water isn’t even under trees.  It’s just the wind.  Blowing in strong gusts and flinging leaves everywhere . . . I found the patterns beautiful.  My husband just walked in saw a lot of work.  ”What a mess,” he said.  Oh my.

I tried to catch a sense of the wind, but I wasn’t having much luck.  I caught the end of a gust, or a beginning, but it all seemed too still in the photos.  The trees swayed and danced themselves naked

My favorite leaf of the day (and the yard is covered in leaves).  This one caught my eye, all darkness and fire.  A song of nature, alive and dying and lovely.

I photographed a big tree in the yard.  Tried, unsuccessfully to catch a leaf midair on film. Then these little jewels caught my eye from tthe shadows.  Perfectly striped green on red, catching the last afternoon sun.

Magical.  The best part?  The whole time I was outside (which was only about ten minutes because I can’t handle cold at all anymore, and Ian has an ear infection, and Anika had a giant stack of homework, and, and, and . . . ) oh, yeah, the best part?  Getting out there.  Having the energy to make the effort to capture these wild fleeting days. That was the gift.  My feet hurt like crazy today, but the fatigue wan’t so bad.  Maybe the medicine is working after all

Happy last days of Autumn.

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Happy Thanksgiving!  I appreciate all of you so much for visiting here and writing comments and becoming my friends.  I am so lucky

Now, to share our Thanksgiving

Chlebicky, our family’s tradition of little Czech sandwiches for appetizers.

Writing leaves for our thankful tree.  More on the tree is posted here.  Thankful leaves included, Thankful for Life, My Mommy, and Fire.  Fire was Ian’s choice.

My mom finished her quilted pillows.  They were all gorgeous.  This was my favorite.  Wow, fabric artist

Deda played the guitar so the girls could dance and spin.  Ian tackled.  Of course.

Until he noticed the turkey coming out of the oven.  Oh, the anticipation . . .

The girls played while waiting.

Ian decided the wait patiently

Then go to the table first. He doesn’t want to lose his seat!  Deda checked on him.

Yum!  My brother is the hero for carving the turkey.

Deda checked on the kitchen progress- a big help

My dad with the Clock Project, which he bought in 1985 and plans to finish by Christmas  He made the stand himself to model what the final stand should look like, but now he’s warming up to the rustic one he made himself

Toasting to family and life and the future!

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I am the luckiest on earth.  I got to spend the day with these two kids:

We had a fun day.  Anika has Fall Break this week (no school!).  I figured a day trip would be my big adventure for the week.  So we drove an hour to Bishop’s Pumpkin farm, which has way more than just pumpkins.  We started with a healthful lunch of pizza and nachos.  It’s vacation!

My favorite part was her announcement, “This is the best lunch ever!”  I’ll remind her when she starts asking for fancy restaurants

We climbed aboard a hay-strewn trailer to ride out to the pumpkin patch.  Pulled by a tractor, it was a great way to travel!

The search for the perfect pumpkins began . . .

Triumph!  A perfect pumpkin!  Thank goodness he liked a small one.  That dry vine was tough to get broken off that tiny pumpkin, though!

Anika’s perfect pumpkin.

Very quickly, Ian’s pumpkin became an awesome gun.

They both liked green-streaked pumpkins this year.

Ian stood up on the drive back, wind in his hair, facing the future.  I had him sit for the bumpy section, but it seemed so fun, I couldn’t make him sit the whole way.

They also had these wild squash that we wanted to turn into octopus jack-o-lanterns.  But we’re on a tight budget so we left that project to our imagination.

Lovely autumn sunshine.

Anika and Ian set up shop in the old-town Dead End Saloon.  They waited patiently for customers.

Ian’s favorite activity was a rusted old tractor that he could climb and move the bars.  He was “shooting bad guys” of course.

The field of giant pumpkins.  We didn’t even try to bring one of these big ones home.

When I wondered why I made this big effort, why I dealt with the heat and the noise and the hectic-ness of the day . . .

I stopped wondering.  I know why.

Our time together is our most precious gift.

After all, they grow so fast!

Luckily I still get to enjoy Ian’s “CHEESE” face

And his pig impression.

We got to brush patient goats.

Then we found the hay-covered trampolines.  A strange entertainment to me, but the kids loved it!  We spent ages as they ran and tossed the straw in the air.

And made straw angels!

A beautiful sunset

And back home again:)

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Ian turned three on Saturday.  Three!  I can hardly believe that time moves so fast.  To celebrate, I chose a few of my favorite photos from the past year.  Here is Ian a year ago.

Lots of smiles

A few questions

Some wild hair

A couple of looks back

Days of sunshine

Sweet treats

Snow and pirate pajamas

And sand!

Hugs and kisses with Mama

Then thoughtful again

Because he knows things . . .

With little smiles

And great big smiles

After a haircut

Visiting the park

Blowing bubbles in the snow

And looking up.  Lots of looking up.

Because the year passes quick and even with eyes-wide-open

Before you know it,

He is Three!

And the adventure continues . . .

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I know birthdays are not cool after a certain age. I know that I should greet them with reluctance, or annoyance, or denial. But I love birthdays. I still love birthdays.  I love the celebration.  I love gathering with friends and family.  Yes, my birthday is a super-fun day, being July 4th and all, so perhaps that’s why birthdays feel drenched in sunshine with a cool helping of snowcone-slushie.

This year, especially, reminded me that birthdays will not last forever.  Each birthday is precious.  Each birthday reminds me that my time here is borrowed.  And while we give one another little gifts, the biggest gift of all is another trip around the sun.  These stories and these memories are precious.

And I value my strengths, because even more than an ending, I live with a shadow of change, of losing strength and dexterity.  And each year is another year where I am walking, or knitting, or teaching.  And I cannot take anything for granted.  I won’t.  I’ll celebrate.

Yes, a happy birthday.

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Yes, today’s my birthday! And I send you sparklers . We had creative fun tonight!

… no toddlers were harmed

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Our day these days.  We start with breakfast.  Ian’t curent favorite is ham and eggs (not green ).

Then a little Xbox.  The favorite game of the day is Mini Ninjas which Ian calls Minja-Minja.

On this day, we returned to our weekly farm-share.  We split the bounty with my mom.

The kids get to pick their own strawberries.

One of my favorite Ian-expressions

Last day we’ll see Anika in braids for awhile.  We cut her hair in the evening.

Strawberries are too good to take home!  Might as well eat them on the way

Yum!

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