First Warmth

Last night we ate dinner on our porch for the first time. The weather in Connecticut has been unheard of. This week we've had upper 80's!!! The sunshine and the warmth feels too good to be true but I love it so much! 

We know it's not here to stay. It's only spring and so that means we are back down to 40's all next week but I love a good dress and jean jacket teaching day too so that's ok! 

One thing this warm weather did was force all of our spring flowers out. I don't have a picture of all of the tulips popping in the front of our yard but I'll post those soon. 

This is our cherry tree and it's blooms only last hours it seems so I'm so glad I thought of getting a few pictures. This beauty of a tree was bought by my class when my Grandpa passed away and is the sweetest reminder of his love of flowers and gardening. 

Dinner on our porch feels so much more relaxing than eating inside. We love it so much. If we ever move I'll just pick up this porch and take it with me, ha! 

 

Looking foward to many many more days and evenings enjoying outdoors from his spot. 

The Cherry Tree

Sigh... this tree is missing the star - the one I always take a picture of each April. Oh Anna, we miss you so much and can't wait to see you in June! 

Other posts you might like

2023

2018

 2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Blooming

There is so much of life that has changed. It just whizzes by. Those thirteen magical years I was home -- those baby, toddler, elementary school, middle school thirteen years I thought would last forever. Try as I could, I just could not let those days stay forever. They slipped through my hands. I adored those thirteen years but I'm hear to say that T H E S E years are just a formative -- just as mentoring -- just as sweet and important. 

(2015)

Like the past two evenings; my phone call with Anna in college. We talk every night. Mostly longer on the weekends we I can really sit down and listen carefully without the worry of time and so much to do on a weeknight. But always we talk. Most of the weeknights in our home are hustling. There's cooking, laundry, cleaning, school work (for all three of us), and all of the other things of course that we all do. But in a limited amount of time (gosh, I sure do fit in a lot from 4:15 (ish) til I fall asleep) Anna conversations just join our full nights. She's often on speaker phone while dishes clatter in the background, while I fold laundry and run to put another load in the dryer, etc. It's happy, and full and she fills me in. I get to hear her voice and all is well. 

But once in a while, like last night and tonight she shares a piece of her heart in a way that God has been leading her and it stops me. All those years. All those years pouring, mentoring over cups of tea and cookies. All those Bible verse read, hearts shared, Masses attended... somehow I get to hear that it sunk in. That she believes. That she's using her faith in her daily life. That she loves the Lord and wants His presence in her life. That she's listening. 

Last night so much of our talk was about social media and how we both gave it up for Lent and how fruitful it was and still is now. She shared some powerful things with me and how God used Lent to teach her. So beautiful. 

Tonight we were just chatting about some things that were bugging her. Not a big deal, just little annoyances. After we hung up she called back (we were all sitting down to dinner) and she told me she didn't like the way she felt when we were done. We reassured her it was okay to share her feelings. We happened to be in the middle of our family devotional time. (I read the daily readings from Mass each night at dinner along with a devotional that goes along with it) And somehow among a big pot of soup and yummy bread the reading today reached her heart in a beautiful way. I wished she was physically around our table sharing our dinner with us, but so grateful I could still reach her heart. 

Love this reading: 

1 Peter 5

Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: 

God opposes the proud

but he bestows favor on the humble. 

So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all of your worries upon him because he cares for you. 

Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith...

The devotional talked about how when Mark wrote the gospel he included the part of Peter's life that were not perfect. You would think that Mark would steer clear of those stories out of reverence for Peter. But Peter wanted them in Mark's gospel. Maybe so we could see that he struggled to believe. How he slipped up. How regular life was not perfect for him. 

So much of life is not perfect. So much can be 'slip ups'. But I'm just so grateful to witness that all those hours, all that love, all those 'pouring in' mattered. Where I held onto faith -- my tiny mustard seed planted in Anna became great faith. 

This year, 2023, the cherry tree pictures without Anna here. This Anna tree bloomed even with her away. And it's a reminder -- the sweetest reminder that I get to be a witness to God's glory unfolding - unfolding in the heart of my daughter. 

Because I held on to my beliefs. 

Because I never let my ideals go. 

Because I prayed. 

I was not perfect all those years -- but I believe that God used the little I had and multiplied it. 

Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Anna's Senior Photos

I was the photographer for Anna's senior photos. She really didn't want me to hire a photographer, have outfit changes, have all that stress. I completely understood. So we took it one season at a time. At first I didn't really have an idea for each season. I really just wanted to space it out throughout the year. But once my lens caught the light on this photo I knew what I wanted to create throughout the year. (first musica) 

Here is Autumn... 

The light, the way it back lit her, caught the organza in her dress, and lit up her hair, the autumn all around, the viola in her hands, and I knew the first of the Four Seasons was born. 

Months later... 

I remember our snow day in February. We already had tons of snow and ice on the ground, mounds by then, and there was another snowstorm that day. Right in the middle of the snow day I told Anna, "let's do it!" So I helped her quickly with an outfit {her light blue coat, books, dress} and off we carefully drove to the same park as the autumn photo. It was magical. Pure magic. I knew we had found just the right spot because I felt like I was in Narnia... 

“If ever they remembered their life in this world it was as one remembers a dream.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

A magical afternoon of snow filling up the branches like a blanket. Feet of ice and snow under us, snow in her hair as it fluttered down. Too cold this time for her beloved viola. But not too cold for her adventurous spirit and her smile.

The second in my Vivaldi's Four Seasons idea I have for her senior photos. In this one, the branches, the woods, the snow, and the cold... it reminds me of Narnia.

And here is Winter...

Along came spring {the longest wait of all it seemed}. We had a April vacation week and the cheery tree right in our backyard was in bloom. 

Spring ~ the third in a 'Four Seasons' senior year photo shoot with Anna.

In his book, Nurtured by Love, Dr. Schinichi Suzuki said, “Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.”

In May (link to that post is here) was Anna's Suzuki Senior Recital. The first of many 'lasts' this spring. In her thirteen years playing the viola I have never heard her play more beautifully. She played live - with a zoom audience of all of her past teachers. My thoughts and feelings on this day, of the Suzuki program, and of the viola in my daughters hands is on a post in my blog 

Photo Description: Anna stands in front of a weeping cherry tree in full bloom... a place where I've taken a portrait of her every single year since she could stand. The blossoms on this tree last only three days each year and then they fall and fill with with green leaves. The tree was a gift from my first grade class many, many years ago to remember my Grandpa.

Anna may pack up her beloved viola and take it with her this fall, but her music will always be in my heart.

“Beautiful tone, beautiful heart.”
― Shinichi Suzuki

Here is Spring:

And summer, well that came up f a s t ! I had to get those photos done very quickly to be able to get her Graduation Announcement out on time (the week of graduation) 

The fourth in "Four Seasons" senior photoshoot... summer.
As we near the end of the year and the season turning I am have on my heart Psalm 139:1-3 for Anna, "O Lord, you have searched me and and known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways." And with that knowing my mama's heart has peace.

Photo Description: Anna, a senior, sits with a huge smile across her face. She is surrounded by roses on all sides of her. Wearing a whimsical stripe, organza dress... The beautiful park background pales in comparison to the joy radiating through her. For she knows Who knows her and Who has the next steps planned for her.

Here is Summer, the final in the Four Seasons:

I used all four seasons photos and one extra that I took in the fall to create this graduation announcement. 

Sunday

Little things I want to remember:

This picture to me says "this is how you get into the college of your dreams". It was Saturday afternoon and she's studying. For SATs or maybe it's AP exams. Either way this girl is working so hard!



Late Saturday night I decided to make 2 pie crusts and then roll them up together with some cinnamon and sugar to make something yummy for our now weekly Sunday brunch.



Making a homemade piecrust took me some time (but it's my own love language) but putting them together didn't take any time at all! I slid them in the frig overnight. Ready to go!



I set my alarm for 5:15am Sunday morning. I'm a super morning person and my usual school wake up time is 4:55am but our times have been off since all of this stay home started. But honestly, I was really missing my very early mornings. I need them.

And now that the screened in porch is all set up and I knew it was going to be a warm Sunday I couldn't wait for tea and my first Bible time of the season outside. I wish I took a video of the beauty and the birdsong.

I must have tea, pray, and study the Bible before I interact with humans every morning - the consequences are dire if I don't



This picture is such a true picture of a spring yard in CT. We are working on it every day but boy it takes time!



Hot tea in my Peter Rabbit cup, listening to the birds, watching the sunrise, and reading the Psalms.



We participated in Mass (online, live) and then of course our weekly brunch.



Abigail set the table. Anna made the tea. I took the cinnamon rolls out of the oven. Scott scrambled the eggs.



It's simple, really, but we make it pretty because brunch says Sunday, and it says luxury.







This tea is from Harney, called Indigo Punch - so so good - and look at that color!



And the work of the day began. Scott, Abigail worked on the yard and started painting the fence. It'll take us at least a few weeks but we did the hard part - got started!



While we painted and cut branches, and keep cleaning up winter, Anna was inside (much better for allergies) cleaning. I'd say we had a perfect situation.



Trimmed back this cherry tree and it's so lovely now.



Cut all these branches myself all afternoon. We are loving finally having the time to devote to our yard.



It was such a good, good weekend.

Pink

I love February - because I love pink - always have - always will.

I recently went through my photos and pulled out anything that had a bit of pink in it and this is what I came up with... a whole lotta love for that favorite color of mine...

pink in a vintage table cloth



teacups are especially pretty when there are pink flowers - a pink cafe curtain on my kitchen windowsill



vintage canister above the baking center and bits of pink in vintage tablecloths



pink on a cookook,



even a pink bathrobe



a really pink viola case



pink in the roses of a halloween costume and pink on her cheeks



pink in a pumpkin patch



a little pink cake stand



I want to live inside this adorable pink cookbook



a pink sunhat in Vancouver, Canada



the way the wind caught my pink dress



pink on my husband



a pink raincoat in  Alaska



a fun pink drink aboard a cruise



pink when she turned twelve



pink on a bunting







Anna's pink Bible - open 💕



a pink bowl on the summer porch



these pink blooms are only once a year - pink peonies



pink in the sky in my backyard



pink candles



pink hanging in the birthday tree



someone is about to have a birthday - pink balloons



Anna's sixteenth with pink candles



sixteen pink ribbons tickle her face as she wakes up to sixteen



the way the late afternoon sunshine hits the cherry blooms tree



pink blooms on a teapot



pink jellybeans



my heart swooned when we found this vintage table with pink flowers for the screened in porch



a pink ballerina



pink coats



pink on her sheets and pink cheeks



another pink drink



pink all dressed up



pink on my girls



a pink sunset on the cruise to Canada



you can't see it but this pink vintage dress at a wedding we went to



can't think of a prettier setting for turning fifteen among all of these pink roses



the pink linen bow



pink in the snow



pink boots



just an average day with a pink cardigan



one of her very favorite pieces of clothing ever in her life - this pink sweatshirt



pink linen on Easter



pink straws and a vintage pink book



pink among silly faces



pink pompoms



pink survivor



blurry - but pink on a last day of school



there's that dress - oh this pink vintage



another pink cardigan



pink in Rode Island



her pink windbreaker, dress, and backpack



pink sheets and the happiest face - I love that face



never realized, but her Bible is pink too



pink on a card



years ago - a pink Valentine box



pink in the snow



pink toes



the pink roses, pink blanket we still have and those pink newborn lips



pink joy because my arms and heart are full - finally full



pink slippers



matching pink



pink tulips in DC



a pink nap



pink on the beach in Maine



a different year, but still pink in the pumpkin patch - she loved those boots



pink pearls - real



pink on Mother's Day years ago - and oh those shoes!



for her birthday invitation - so pink



pink swirls in the lollipop



matching pink in Disney World - one of my all time favorite pics I ever took on any Disney trip



pink baby doll things all over my kitchen floor made me happy





twirling pink



There are a whole lot more in pink recorded in photos on my computer - but a girls gotta stop somewhere.

Pink -- I've always loved it, always will... happy Valentines Day!