A Change in the Weather

For the last two days my wind chimes are a cacophony of sound. When Neal bought me the chimes he was glad to tell me they had the same patterns as “Canon in D”. Sometimes when the wind is mild, I think I can hear the chord progression. Lately it’s like listening to the entire song at once. In my limited experience of life down here, I think the gusting wind may be a sign of autumn here. I have to look for these kinds of seasonal changes. I’m used to the dramatic shifts of the mountains, where the entire palette of the world changes. Here it’s a difference in the clouds, the wind, the light, and the morning air’s bite. In some ways I do miss the vibrant reds and golds, but I do have plenty of red here.

Like the changing of the seasons, my life has begun to adjust to what seems to be a new normal. Neal leaves at the same time each day, I get up early to try and get some exercise in before my early bird children awake, and we eat hot cereal while gathering the motivation to complete the tasks of the day. In reality, things aren’t that different than before, no major changes. We still spend most evenings quietly reading or studying or doing chores. But Peter has begun talking much more. It’s the most frustrating experience to have him speak to me, expecting me to understand, while all I hear is the same nonsensible words repeated. When I ask him to tell me again he even slows down for me, as if I could understand what he’s saying if he says it louder or slower. Just yesterday I tried to walk him through the word tomato. He would get halfway through and then gleefully shout “dirty!” I even called my friend Kim to help figure out how to help him, but he just joyfully claps his way through the word now, “Mommy, dirty-ty!” It’s adorable. And frustrating. Such is parenting I guess.

Mary is officially crawling and pulling herself up to standing. Her laid back attitude made me believe she would be a bit slower than Peter, but she just trucks along with a smile (always with a smile). The red hints in her hair are mostly gone now and she is sporting a bleached blonde wild haired look. She is so patient as Peter steals toys from her constantly, and gets her revenge when I’m changing Peter’s diaper by crawling all over him and stealing his water cup.

Last weekend was Homecoming here. I had no idea what a big deal it was to the community and school. Each grade makes a float for the parade. Neal helped the 7^th graders with their messy but energetic display. The entire parade consisted of a dozen floats and trucks. As the kids and I stood on the side of the road, Peter was floored that his dad was actually part of the parade. Later, we went to the football game (if you know us at all, that’s saying something) and enjoyed part of the game from down on the field. I guess when you’re a teacher you get the perks of watching from the training equipment. It was much more exciting there, especially since Peter kept trying to run on to the field to find the ball. I laugh that in our three years at Ogden we never did anything with the school (sorry Ogden!), but we’ve already been to two football games, a parade, and a BBQ since we moved. Perhaps it’s because we’re in such a small, close knit community. It just feels natural to take part in the activities here though. It’s also nice that we can always walk, since there’s not even a road between us and the high school.

Lately I’ve been playing the piano and singing a lot more. In fact, I discovered that I still have my borrowed copy of Eduardo Lecuona’s Andalucia Suite for piano (sorry Mom!). I’ve been enjoying playing exciting music while the children run around and dance and get under my feet. I have also realized that I am not nearly as good as I once was at playing the piano. Ugh. Why can’t we just keep our honed talents and toned muscles all the time? I have also made a goal to play more of the primary songs (especially since I occasionally help during singing time). There are many songs I am unfamiliar with and I love to play and sing. Peter joins me often and we have a good time banging out tunes on the piano. Someday I will regain the skill level I had during my undergrad years and give another solo recital…a really good one. But perhaps I need a little more time to actually practice, maybe even time without stopping every two minutes to get Mary untangled or stop Peter from playing with knives or the like. Wow, I sound like an awesome mom right now!

I am rather proud of all we’ve accomplished since we moved though. The fence is nearly in, my laundry line is up, our food storage is organized, and the boxes are mostly put away. Mostly, I just do the regular chores and Neal does the hard stuff. I’m really, really glad he is willing to do the hard stuff. Together, we manage to make this house into a home we love. 

When we moved down, our bonsai was thought to be dead. I gave up on it first, then Neal gave up on it, then I hacked off a bunch of branches and voila! It came back to life! One side is still struggling to send out leaves, but I feel like I learned a lot about life with this experience. 

Yet another lovely view. A neighbor of mine said she was sorry there wasn't a view like hers from our house (because we don't look on the official monuments), but I like this just fine!

The laundry line Neal made and put up! Now I just have to do laundry sometime...

I bought a rug and I like it and haven't shared a picture of it yet. So here's the rug that has saved Mary from multiple skull fractures as she learns to stand.

Even when I feel bad that my front yard is still full of weeks, I find beauty in those wild plants and their blossoms.

The color seems washed out now, but the red of our stone front and the blue of the lemon tree pot make me appreciate moments of color variety.

To find my moment of beauty, I got really, really close to an ant colony. You can't see the ants, but they so industriously build even though the wind destroys their home every single day. I want that kind of determination!

We feel so very culinary as Neal makes pasta!

Peter has begun helping in the kitchen as we cook. Sometimes he can help stir, but sometimes he 'does dishes'.

I just love the way this shows Peter and Mary's personalities. Peter is such a ham and Mary is always so sweet and happy.