Come outside and see two butterflies MATING!

JCK's daughter had a play date the other day with her friend who is a boy. A young lad with impossibly wild curls, a playful smile, and who hangs on her daughter's every word. Which is admirable as JCK's daughter abounds with words. While they were creating an obstacle course in the back yard, JCK was puttering around the house with one eye trained to the rear.

Suddenly, The Young Lad burst into the house yelling...

The Lad: We've found two butterflies mating! We've found two butterflies mating! Come outside and see two butterflies MATING! We want to show YOU.

JCK: You've found what?

The Lad: Two butterflies MATING! GIRL is with them outside so that they won't fly away.

And, so it was... that JCK found herself following a 6 year old boy outside who apparently knows about mating.

JCK and the lad arrived at the mating site. GIRL was squatting down quietly in the grass, keeping quite still, fascinated with the two busy insects.

GIRL: Look, Mommy, it's two butterflies MATING. The Lad nodded earnestly, squatting to join GIRL.

JCK: Wow, they're beautiful! How did you find them?

GIRL: The Lad did!

The Lad: I found them when I was setting up the obstacle course, and saw that they were mating.

JCK: Do you think you could both stay very still and watch them, so I can go get my camera?

Yes!

JCK ran into the house as if her pants were on fire. She needed the freedom of the house to guffaw. Then she was back with her camera, snapping a few close-ups of the still busy, apparently record breaking, mating butterflies.

JCK: You seem to know a lot about nature.

The Lad: Oh, yes, I'm an expert.

After taking a few shots of the MATING butterflies, JCK rose to her feet, leaving GIRL and The Lad to continue their perusal. This was the first time that the word MATING had entered the Motherscribe compound, and JCK wasn't sure that she was comfortable with her daughter throwing the word around with an expert. Yet, JCK was touched by their mix of solemnity and curiosity.

JCK: Well, I'm going back inside now. Make sure you give the butterflies some space.

We will!

It was at this point that JCK realized how grateful she is not to be a butterfly, that she can do her mating under the cover of darkness, in a bed, not observed by small biologists...

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because it finally feels important enough to her

JCK had a rough week. Some of it self-inflicted, some not. A month ago, JCK's body let her know in no uncertain terms that she was hovering on the edge. That night pain, like a fiery hell hole burning in her stomach, woke her from sleep. It seems JCK had been ignoring the previous clues. Hello? Are you there, JCK? You're going to ignore me? Well TAKE THIS!

JCK's husband has been telling JCK that she isn't taking care of herself. And, he's right. JCK has gotten into some rotten habits - like working for hours on her computer, subsisting on tea. Then having chocolate for meals, when she does remember to eat. Then having more tea. Then suddenly...it's dinner time. She's wiped out and it's all downhill from there.

While JCK spent the last week worrying that she was seriously ill, and indeed, luckily she is not, she reflected on what could be changed up in her life. What would she do differently? She had some good talks with herself, and decided she is making some changes. Because she has a family who depends on her, and needs her to be healthy. Yes. And, because it finally feels important enough to her.

At the top of her list is moving her body. JCK's body is stuck in a time warp - back to when she had two infants under 1. But, her children are not tiny anymore, and JCK can make time for herself - if she will allow it. She needs to do it. For herself. There is no one standing in her way, except for...JCK.

It is time to claim a piece of her life back. She wants to recognize the feel of her own body when it moves, and not feel that her legs are a stranger's. She wants to climb a hill without being winded. She wants ...to feel alive. Because life is short. And, luckily, JCK has time to change it up.


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"Contemplation" sculpture by Elaine Franz Witten.

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*sigh*...TIME, where art thou, TIME?

JCK is still waiting for her ship to come in. Her TIME SHIP. The one that will fly a large Banner stating: Congratulations, JCK! You have caught up. You have no outstanding To Do Lists. You have succeeded in passing GO! Collect your family and go to Hawaii. While there, prepare yourself for lots of TIME rolling around with your husband on the beach, avoiding volcanoes and having abundant childcare for your two darling children. You, JCK, have TIME!

JCK expects that her ship really WILL come in someday. At which point, JCK will have a heart attack and die. That elusive... Gift. Of. Time. After. She. Is. Dead.

JCK knows she is Preaching to the Choir here, but really. Really? Can't she just get some extra time?

And, speaking of Preaching ... Why IS it, that those lovely little ladies and gentleman are casing JCK's neighborhood for souls that need saving...right at the point where JCK's time crunch is at its utmost PINNACLE of PERIL?

Sad confession...JCK avoids Bible Bangers who come to her door.

JCK has no time for proselytizers. Not on religion anyway. If people want to sell her...chocolate, she might listen. Well, probably. OK, OK, fine. JCK would be an easy mark.

However, JCK feels absolutely FINE about her Faith, and does not need anyone to pump her up with JESUS. She and Jesus are doing just fine, thank you very much.

Usually, JCK can utilize her innocent children. Just when the little ladies and gentlemen are heading up her driveway, JCK's strategy is to fling open the front door and send a screaming BOY & GIRL out into the front yard. As they spin in circles and careen around the trees, people usually get the message that this is NOT A GOOD TIME. Pamphlets are flung down and quick exits are almost guaranteed.

*sigh*...TIME, where art thou, TIME? JCK feels forsaken. Indeed.

Just this past Saturday JCK was not that lucky. With both time and the Bible Bangers. JCK hates, HATES to clean. However, she loves, LOVES to entertain. Unfortunately, the latter is necessary for the former. So, JCK had a brilliant plan in place, which required a strategic use of TIME...While Wonder Husband took their children to the Y, JCK was left to her perfectly organized plan. Family gone = white tornado enacted.

Except for the small matter of...JCK's living room curtains being open, and...the Bible Bangers.

They're baaack.

OH, GOD NOOOO! could be heard echoing around JCK's dusty, dirty rooms. Then in a truly mature fashion, JCK proceeded to play a little game of Duck and Cover. Harking back to her Harriet the Spy days, JCK could be seen crawling on her belly on the floor to the front door. Putting her ear up to the door, JCK heard muffled footsteps...approaching. Barely breathing, JCK looked at her watch and bit her finger to prevent moaning ALOUD. 6 rooms to clean in 1.5 hours? TIME...dear, sweet TIME, was NOT on her side.

KNOCK! KNOCK! Silence....5 minutes...silence...mutter, mutter..a pamphlet is dropped through the mail slot smacking JCK, who is lying prone on the floor, in the face, and then the footsteps shuffle off. JCK does not use use the words "shuffle off" lightly. Indeed, no. If there is anything, any thing that JCK has noticed about People Who Come to Her House Uninvited to Proselytize JESUS, it is this...

They have all THE TIME in the world. Truly, JCK thinks they should be proselytizing Time Management, because they seem to have TIME, much more TIME than JCK...

So, what does all this mean exactly in relation to TIME? Well... the dinner party was lovely. Everyone enjoyed. Her house? Was Clean. Relatively...

However, that was THEN. This is NOW.

JCK now has 4 loads of laundry piled on the big chair in the living room. She has dinner to fix, emails sashaying across her computer screen, a school meeting to plan for this evening, and children to pick up in 1 hour -where she will whisk them away to swimming lessons.

But, JCK REFUSES to go into the MOMMY OVERWHELM ZONE. Nope. Instead, JCK has a plan. Answer 1/2 the emails. Leftovers for dinner. Stuff all the laundry into a large yard sized leaf bag, and use it as a bean bag chair. Snuggle with her children. Make it to the meeting.

Then she'll come home, throw some sand on the floor and roll around in it with her husband. Tonight she'll dream of her TIME SHIP docking.

But, tomorrow, she'll keep the curtains closed just in case. Make it look like she is not at home. Her belly is sore from crawling across the floor...

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parenting style...straight out of Charles Dickens

Apparently, JCK's children have big backpacks. Large backpacks. Very large backpacks. In fact, these backpacks are SO large that they invite conversation. From other parents...

My, THOSE are large backpacks.

Will you LOOK at that BACKPACK. I haven't seen one that LARGE before.

GIRL's backpack is ENORMOUS.

WOW! Those are some BIG backpacks.

JCK wishes the comments would just stop already. OK, they are BIG OL' BACKPACKS. She gets it. You, and YOU, and YOU think they are HUMONGOUS. JCK's poor defenseless children...obviously suffering from back packitis. Can't you hear BOY & GIRL's labored breathing as they pant up the hill?

Extra! Extra! Read all about IT! Step right up and see JCK's parenting style...straight out of Charles Dickens.

A few years ago JCK decided to purchase two back packs from Landward Ho. A reliable retail establishment in which you order things from a catalogue. JCK liked the colors, the fact that she could have her children's names sewn on them, and that they were well made. And, so...she purchased them.

True, they cost double what you'd pay for a back pack at Tarjay, but...they were devoid of television characters and were not made of plastic mesh. No Billy Bob Square Pants or Banana Nevada backpacks for JCK's kids.These considerable backpacks are durable, and in their 4th year.

Are they large? Yes. Are they heavy? Well, yes & no. Depending on the lunch. A ham and mustard sandwich, with pretzels and an apple? Pretty reasonable. A PB & J, applesauce, cup of yogurt, ice pack and a drink? Let's just kick it up a notch!

So, in the end, JCK feels justified. Why? Because the COLOSSAL backpacks are VAST. There is room... to throw in papers, artwork, the random paper airplane, and a jacket. Do BOY & GIRL complain? Nope. Why? Because they like their backpacks. A lot. Especially when mommy carries ... those substantial, jumbo, immense, mammoth, LARGE, BIG OL' friggin' backpacks.

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Why JCK's parenting is SUPERIOR

Can a regimen of free falling, no homework, harmonizing on pots and pans, and hours of independent play create happy kids? And what happens when they thrive?.

A lot of people wonder how JCK raises such stereotypical free spirited kids. They ponder what JCK does to foster such free spirited geniuses and fun loving prodigies, what it's like inside the Motherscribe family, and whether they could do it too. Well, JCK can tell you, because she's doing it. Here are some things her children, BOY and GIRL, are never allowed to do:

• attend a party at Chuck E. Cheese

• have a play date less than twice a month

• spend hours on homework

• complain about not spending hours on homework

• watch Mommy write or Daddy on Facebook

• stay up past 8pm for any reason

• declare Jack O'clock for JCK

• play any instrument other than the banging of pots & pans

• not play the pots and pans parental death march.

What JCK understands is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to explore, and children on their own always want to create, which is why it is crucial to override their preference for constant parental badgering. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where some Parents-from-another-Planet tend to give up. But if done properly, the JCK strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious play, play, play is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is overrated on that other Planet. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it's climbing, sleeping through the night, not screaming or covering themselves with mud—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once really-fun activity really, really fun. This in turn makes it easier for the parent to get the child to work even more at leaving the parents alone.

JCK can get away with things that Parents-from-another-Planet can't. Once when JCK was young—maybe more than 8 billion times—when she was extremely respectful to her mother, JCK's father happily called her "flower petal" in their native HummaHummaDingDong dialect. It worked really well. JCK felt lovely and deeply moved by what she had done. But it didn't damage her inflated sense of self or anything like that. JCK knew exactly how highly he thought of her. JCK didn't actually think she was too loved or felt like she wasn't a piece of rare chocolate.

The fact is that JCK can do things that would seem unimaginable—even legally actionable—to Parents-from-another-Planet. JCK can say to her daughter, "Hey Cutie—how was your day?" By contrast, Parents-from-another-Planet have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of "wealth" and never ever mentioning the f-word, which abounds at JCK's house. And their kids still end up in therapy for OCD and negative self-image. (JCK also once heard a Father-from-another-Planet toast his adult daughter by calling her "ugly and incredibly garbage-like." She later told JCK that it made her feel like.... garbage.)

Don't get JCK wrong: It's not that Parents-from-another-Planet care about their children. Just the opposite. They would give up nothing to brutalize their children. It's just an entirely different parenting model.

There are all these new books out there portraying Mothers-from-another-Planet as scheming, callous, over driven people indifferent to their kids' true interests. For their part, many Parents-from-another-Planet secretly believe that they don't care more about their children and are willing to sacrifice them over open flames. Whereas JCK, seems perfectly content to let her children turn out as individuals and not automatons. JCK thinks it's a misunderstanding on both sides. All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. The Parents-from-another-Planet just have a totally different idea of how to do that.

JCK would like to give you a couple of examples of her "Parenting in Action", so to speak. Or, why her parenting skills are well... frankly, top notch. JCK knows that you are chomping at the bit...waiting for JCK to make The Reveal. And so, without further ado...

Why JCK's Parenting is Superior:

1) JCK lets her children take risks: On Monday, JCK got out of the shower, dried off, and got dressed. She was comforted by the sound of silence...until she realized that it shouldn't be silent, because it was a holiday. JCK rushed outside to find the side door to the garage extension...open. JCK walked inside to find her daughter perched on a stack of concrete blocks, in the process of climbing up on the roof of the garage to join her brother...who was already ON the roof.

2) JCK teaches her children to fend for themselves: If JCK is not in the immediate vicinity, and one room away is too far a distance to find her, and her children are hungry...they will help themselves to snacks and water. BOY has learned how to vault the kitchen counter. GIRL, although by different method, is also up for the task. She will lift a chair double her size and carry/drag it into the kitchen in order to climb up to reach the stash.

Although, but two, very simple examples of Parenting Strategy, JCK hopes they will inspire you to new parenting heights. At this time JCK must go, due to her house once again being silent. Which can only mean one thing. Her children are yet again...reaching for the stars. Literally...



*****
JCK would like to thank Amy Chua, author of "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" for inspiring her to write this piece.

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A blow dryer gone bad

Yesterday, JCK started her day with the usual jolt - a quick FLASH and BOOM with a lingering tingle up her arm. A blow dryer gone bad. Smokin' bad. Time to shop for a new one.

So it was that JCK found herself in a beauty supply store. Let's call it...Franz's Booty Supply. As JCK entered the store with her two children in tow, she spotted the lady behind the counter.

JCK: Hello, can you please tell me where your blow dryers are?

Smiling Sales lady: Let me show you.

The sales lady led JCK and her children over to a wall where several blow dryers were on display.

Friendly, bouncy Sales lady: Here we have the top of the line model with the latest technology.

JCK checked the price. And proceeded to be flummoxed, bamboozled and downright flabbergasted. The latest technology being...$130.

There was a DEEP pause. Then the sales lady out-of-her mind moved on.

Sales lady who is clearly hallucinating: Then we have this one, also an excellent model.

JCK noted....a mere $79.99.

Sales lady off her ROCKER: Of course, the first one I showed you will last much longer. Mine lasted 12 years. You get what you pay for.

JCK: Sure, lady. I'll just plunk down $130 for a BLOW DRYER. An appliance that I will use to blow dry my locks of pure gold. This blow dryer better give me a BIG OL' full-body thrill along with the blow for $130. Are you friggin' kidding me!? What kind of GANJA ya smokin' babe? I want some. Now.
....

It is to be noted that JCK wished she had uttered those words. But, in person JCK is a bit of a woos, and said nothing. To be fair, you may remember that JCK was flummoxed, bamboozled and downright flabbergasted.

JCK couldn't get out of there fast enough. Except that her children were test driving all the blow dryers, and preventing JCK from making a speedy exit.

JCK, the big fat liar: I'll come back later...

Self-inflated with the importance of blow dryers, off her rocker, clearly a lunatic Sales lady: Without your children?

JCK weakly: Yes...

JCK: Come on CHILDREN! We must get moving.

JCK told the sales lady that she would be back...when hell freezes over.

This morning JCK dropped into her local pharmacy establishment and found an excellent blow drying appliance. For $24.99.

JCK is taking her $24.99 blow dryer, whippin' up a do, and then splurging on $100 worth of whiskey and chocolate...

You get what you pay for.

Damn tootin'.



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Photo courtesy of Super Stock.

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JCK is content

JCK was going to get all jiggy with it and post something witty at exactly 1-1-1:11-11...but, alas it did. not. happen. JCK hopes you had a riotous and pleasurable New Year's. She is coming down from a wonderful high of having a houseful of good friends in her home yesterday. JCK is currently sitting on her tuffet after eating many servings of her husband's kick ass collards and black-eyed peas -with a large dollop of her own cheese grits. JCK is content. But, too full to make any brave declarations or bon mots at the present time. JCK, unfortunately, is sporting a butt crack wedgie from the aforementioned. It's a little distracting. So, she'll just move on...

In other news, JCK was struck AGOG this morning when her six year old daughter showed her a math equation on her new easel's white board.

Mommy, if A = 5 and B = 10 hundred...
then A + B = 10 hundred five

And, then JCK fainted and had to be revived by an early Jack O'Clock.

The End


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Graphic from designdazzling.com

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The curse of the New Year's Resolutions

Last year JCK decided to take a stand. She was tired of being bullied and prodded into making those infernal New Year's Resolutions. You know the ones. Yes, those ones. The ones that die a quick death as soon as they are uttered. JCK likes to call this...The curse of the New Year's Resolutions.

So, JCK being a bit smug and secretly mocking all those around her who earnestly declared their 2010 resolutions, decided to have a resolution...to have NO resolutions. JCK likes to feel that she is different. Even if it doesn't get her anywhere.

Sadly, JCK and her vainglorious stand of NO Resolutions didn't lighten her load. Instead the juicy juice thrill of not having the burden of New Year's Resolutions faded out with a whimper. Sometime in mid-spring.

So, this year JCK is going to join the masses! The masses of Do-Gooders who desire personal change. Who yearn to reinvent themselves, if not the world, with their resolutions. Yes! JCK will clutch those resolutions, once she makes them... to her wildly beating heart. This time...this time, she will NOT bow out.

JCK also surmounts that perilous cliff side perch of the number Five uh-OH! this next year...2011. September comes around fast when you're edging toward one of those Big 0 birthdays. And, unfortunately for JCK, time moves forward not backward as she might wish.

Will JCK follow in her, much older by 4 years, husband's footsteps? Will she traverse the Grand Canyon for her 50th birthday, rim to rim in one day? Sadly, NO. The only rims JCK believes in peering into are the rim of a box of chocolates and that Jack O'clock whiskey glass...

But, JCK believes in physical challenges! Yes, she does! JCK envisions for her 50th birthday...sitting in a Paris cafe, eating stinky cheeses and fresh bread. She will be wearing a chapeau tilted over one ear, just so. And her golden, red or brunette locks will gently stir as she turns her head. Wig makers abound in Paris! She will walk by the Seine, stopping to jot down poetry. And when that gets too exhausting, she will nap without mussing her hair.

After she leaves le France, JCK will pop over to Scotland to see a manly man in a kilt...just once. Or twice... Hell, JCK might be so distracted she'll play peek-a-boo THREE times

*****************YOOO HOOO...JCK!?

Ahem! AHEM!...Oh, Yes! The New Year's Resolutions! Please stand by as JCK ponders this awesome task. It may take some time...


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And you, dear reader, what are your resolutions for 2011?



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Painting "Last Ride" by Chuck Gumpert.

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JCK's pie in the sky illusions...

When all the pie comes to settle in the mid-section, it is to be noted that JCK reached for a bit of Pie in the Sky illusions this month. JCK appears to often set her sights a bit too high. Without the fun of actually being high. The eighties are gone. *sigh* Somehow in her dreamy little mind JCK imagined that this month of NaBloPoMo would accelerate her writing. Indeed...not.

This month has not been about much writing. It's been about throwing something - anything, on the page. However, JCK CAN SAY that it has been about persistence. Of that, she appears to have some mojo. Which has not always been the case. There have been many examples of What Ifs? And..If Onlys leading up to JCK's life of middle years. So, NaBloPoMo has not beaten her yet. But, then...there IS one. more. day.

The last time JCK did NaBloPoMo was in 2007. Three years ago. She recalls one weary night in which she told NaBloPoMo to just...well, BLOW. It wasn't pretty. JCK is not proud of this break-down. It was not very classy or polite. But, JCK was out of juice. Flat out.

NaBloPoMo is a brilliant concept. And introduces wonderful writers to the blogosphere and ...beyond. JCK has realized that NaBloPoMo is best taken on with a theme. She, of course, did not realize this until...now.

JCK has enjoyed reading other bloggers who participated in NaBloPoMo this year. She expecially loved the blogs participating in the 30 Days of Thankfulness for November.

JCK is thankful. Yes, she is. JCK is Thankful that NaBloPoMo is almost over....

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JCK is participating in NaBloPoMo, (30 posts in 30 days), for the month of November.

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Looking forward to some peace and quiet tomorrow...

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How to make a LEGO Block Cake

Use a large (3quart) glass casserole pan & 1 cupcake tin of 6. After cake cools, transfer upside down onto large piece of cardboard covered with tin foil. Cover top of cake with a thin layer of chocolate frosting.

Add cupcakes, cutting off rounded muffin top edges and placing upside down, resembling Lego Block pegs. Cover all in chocolate. A butter knife works great for spreading frosting. Write Happy Birthday on the tin foil.

I used both the chocolate cake recipe and the frosting recipe from my new favorite recipe site: Allrecipes.com

Both use unsweetened cocoa powder. The cake is so moist you could leave the sides bare and just frost the top. A chocolate lover's dream. Delicious....

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Thanksgiving Blessings...

Happy Thanksgiving! May your belly be full of good food, your heart full of laughter shared, and a decadent nap (fishnets optional) be in your future. Not necessarily in that order...

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Thankful for staying home this year...

We will be home for Thanksgiving this year. I will be cooking turkey and stuffing, sweet potato casserole and pecan pie. We'll share our feast with good friends. I'm looking forward to the feasting, the laughter, the wine... and the children running amok.

Thankful for staying home this year...

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Remembering summer on a cold, rainy November day

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Wordless Weekend - JCK is participating in NaBloPoMo, 30 posts in 30 days, for the month of November.

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JCK is desperate for household organizational tips...so fess up!

JCK appears a bit confused in this picture, doesn't she? She's got her feather duster off the shoulder...like a boa. And, of course The Fishnets...but, gee whiz... they are on her hand. Poor JCK is a bit bamboozled by life. Can't You help her?

JCK is tired of going to the grocery store, and later that day drawing a blank on what she's preparing for dinner. She has the lowest amount of energy at the end of the day, and yet she keeps setting herself up for making it more stressful than it needs to be. There are only so many Jack O'clocks that can make it better...

And then it starts all over again. JCK's very own Ground Hog Day. A few years ago she wrote a post asking for tips from people on how to save money with grocery shopping. It was really helpful and sparked a whole community discussion. This time JCK would like to ask everyone how they organize their household. Tips on time management are what she's looking for.

Here are some questions to get the discussion started:

Do you plan your menus weekly? When? How?

What are your favorite cookbooks for creating quick meals?

When do you grocery shop? How often? Do you use a list?

What's in your pantry?

Do you buy in bulk & freeze?

What are your tips on preparing dinner ahead of time? That day? A few days earlier?

Do you schedule different days for different tasks: clean house, grocery shop, paying bills, laundry, etc.?

Please jump in with any extra tips that you'd like to share. JCK appreciates you saving her from a mental breakdown.

JCK will now kick back and sip a bit o'whiskey while your wisdom unfolds.


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JCK is participating in NaBloPoMo, (30 posts in 30 days), for the month of November.

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Apparently the nutty butter has been smeared on JCK

Pssst.... This could be potentially serious. JCK. Has. Discovered. Bidding. On. eBay. There could be trouble due to JCK inhaling too much victory air. Indeed. JCK is floating from the sensation of outbidding someone else for 5lbs of LEGOS. She won!

JCK has decided that eBay is like Vegas. Only without the smoke or having to go anywhere. If anyone had told JCK she would be feeling triumphant for outbidding another person for LEGOS, she would have thought they were nuts. Now? Apparently the nutty butter has been smeared on JCK.

All is good. JCK got a great deal. LEGOS will be arriving at her door. Just in time for her son's 7th birthday. Things are fine in her little world. Except that she keeps heading over to eBay to see if she can outbid someone else...


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JCK is participating in NaBloPoMo, (30 posts in 30 days), for the month of November.


**Image of Lego catwoman from Google Images.

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like a miniature Princess Leia

Oh...how I love having a little girl... Today my daughter wanted a hairdo like her teacher's. She has a crush. She had two little circles of hair atop her head on the sides. Like a miniature Princess Leia. I added polka dot ribbons. And, then I was mush...

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Guilty pleasures...

JCK is late to the party, but enjoying the ride. Thank you Netflix multi-episodes.

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Our summer has begun with a bountiful harvest

BOY has decided that GIRL should have a nickname. And that it shall be...Shookas.

Good night, my little Shookas.

Good morning, Shookas!

GIRL hasn't quite decided if she likes it or not.

Sometimes she does. She smiles, her head tilted, chin tucked into her chest, as if she is treasuring a secret.

Sometimes she let's him know that she hates it.

Do NOT call me...SHOOKAS!

The summer has begun with a bountiful harvest. There have been gifts of melt-in-your-mouth plums picked fresh off the tree, where the juice rolls down your chin and the heavenly sweetness is like nectar of the Goddess. Homemade apricot jam...spread on toast with strong black tea. Divine peaches to top ice cream or make into a cobbler. All this bounty from friends. And for this The Motherscribe household has been blessed.

BOY & GIRL have managed to work down their Summer Activity Wish List: reading together, swimming, playing in the water sprinklers, painting together, children's shows at the library, baking together... JCK would like you to notice that there is a lot of...togetherness. This can be both good and very bad.

Yes..*JCK sighs theatrically*...There has been your every day, run of the mill contentions ...sulking, temper flares, teasing, whining... In FACT, it has not been unheard of for JCK and E to exchange a look of terror and mutter...It's Jack O'Clock! ...elbowing each other out of the way, to be the first to pour.

In two days JCK will be flying solo with the kids to Florida. JCK is cautiously optimistic that their arrival will not be as eventful as the last time she flew by herself with the kids. 3 years ago. When BOY was 3 and GIRL was 2. *Sniff* Where does the time go?? They will be there for a few weeks, enjoying daily beach time, grandparents and frolicking with lots of cousins. E will join them at the end of the trip. They are counting the days until he arrives...

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Photo of chalk drawing from the amazing 2010 Pasadena Chalk Festival.

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Life is precarious. Tender. Short

Today we went to a nearby canyon and witnessed the life cycle of frogs. Hundreds of tadpoles, tiny frogs, and those in-between. Some frogs with tails, and some tadpoles with two legs. We walked upstream, BOY & GIRL plunging their hands in the shallows to scoop up any creature they could. Pausing for lunch, we sat on warm rocks, our backs to the sun. The scent of wild sage, so prevalent in Southern California, filling our senses with summer.

It is in nature that I feel most in my skin. There is something about moving my limbs on a hiking trail and taking in the brilliant blue sky. I realign... come into my body again.

It's been a very emotional week, and I needed this respite from a world that seems to be daring me to be stronger at every turn. Spending time with my children, caught up in their moments of discovery and wonder, was healing.

We are so very fragile. All of us. At any moment our lives can change. Often, without warning. Especially challenging to those of us who like to be in control. Or, think we are... But, there is no controlling our destiny, really. Other than the immediacy of what is at hand. And even that ...tenuous at best.

As I watched the frogs still holding on to their tails, I thought of both the burden of that tail -for the added weight, and the comfort of still having something that is familiar. Indeed, how alike we humans are to this stage in a frog's life. Sometimes we can't wait to get away, yet we drag our baggage behind us.

Life is precarious. Tender. Short.

This week my beloved nephew was struck down by a crippling mental illness. A friend is leaving her husband for another man; uprooting her life for new-found love. And today... Today, I had word of a close friend's brother dying in a helicopter crash. A father to two young children. One, a baby of six weeks.

Sometimes the pain in the world seems too much to bear.

It is essential to grieve. Then to let in the love and light that are all around us. Because without each other? We are lost. Life is here. We just have to see it through the ripples...

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