Savoring all we could in October

I told Jason that I really wanted to prioritize catching up on October here before we get any farther into November. The month ahead looms large with a substantial splash (or tidal wave) of uncertainty with plenty of anxiety coming along for the ride. Still wondering what it looks like to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, logistically, etc... prepared for the unknown. Randomly this week the song lyric, "It's the end of the world as we know it..." (by R.E.M., as it turns out) has gone through my mind. I could not have said who wrote the song or any of the other lyrics. So I just looked it up and had to chuckle that was comes right after that line is "and I feel fine." So not so relevant after all! 

But here are some snapshots of the things that have sustained, energized, excited, fed, motivated, supported, and encouraged us over the last few weeks. 

For the last number of years we have enjoyed a fall weekend get away to WV with 3 generations of friends (the Myers-Benner-Godshall-Showalter crew). It was a loss to let that go, but we did enjoy an afternoon/evening outdoor physically distanced gathering that included some reminiscing of favorite memories from those trips. I'm grateful for friendships with deep roots in these times where it is more difficult to connect in the ways that are often most meaningful to us. And I've been amazed at our kids' ability to adapt to varied ways of being together. 

After only connecting with our small group via zoom since the pandemic started, we decided to give an outdoor physically distanced picnic gathering a go. I found myself just looking around at the blankets of families and soaking it up. I hadn't realized how I had missed just being in the same physical space. And the youngest member of our small group captivated my attention - being just on the verge of walking, she was exploring the yard with the cute curiosity of a budding toddler. I realized, too, how much I miss snuggling babies and playing with little people (as much as I try to cuddle Terah like my baby sometimes, it's become increasingly difficult to fool myself)! 

Our days have continued to mostly involve me in front of a screen and Jason out on the land - we won't go into how that translates into the our states of emotional and mental health! Following a late summer commitment to a friend, I followed through on a second "no work email" week here at the end of October. The rest of this scrapbook page will share a few of the highlights of the week. I'll start with some fall garden/harvest highlights.

Have you ever seen a ginger that is as cute as this? When I need to smile I just take a look at this photo. It tickles me every time!

We didn't just grow funny looking ginger, we grew more of it this year. And so we felt we had enough to experiment with so we tried candied ginger. It worked (if you want to use a fair amount of sugar to sweeten up your ginger and make it into a snack). Taking that and dark chocolate covering it didn't hurt it at all!

We thought it was going to be a year with no figs but one day my eye caught a few fruits ripening. It was a day the girls were not here and so Jason and I enjoyed a few and then since found one more so Tala could try one. But that's the extent of this year's harvest.

I'll try to not just focus on what isn't thriving here, as it often my tendency. We enjoyed a first this year when our bitter lemon (otherwise known as trifoliate orange or flying dragon fruit or hardy citrus) actually produced a crop. One of the perks of me being off work and our schedule being a bit freer is that Jason did some online research and found a recipe for making marmalade with it. Interestingly enough, it tastes very much like grapefruit! I can't say I love it, but it was a fun and worthwhile experiment and it's really fun to know that every few years we might get a citrus crop!

After missing out on most of the fall cover cropping, I was not about to miss planting garlic with the family! And the timing worked to do it during the time I was off. With Jason having prepped the soil and me and the younger gals getting cloves ready for planting the day before, it was by far the fastest garlic planting in Tangly Woods' history! Now we watch and wait and dream of garlic scape pesto.

Our diet is turning oranger by the day, with less green things coming in the door and a lot of "first use" squash and sweet potatoes that need to be used quickly. That said, I just noticed that Kali's collards are surging and we still have gorgeous parsley and the nettles look fabulous and there is some lettuce ready for picking - again being in front of a screen most days means it goes awhile sometimes between my spins around the land. Terah's birthday cutting board is now hung conveniently at her height on the kitchen wall and she is excited about being grown up enough to help with a big sharp knife. And, she is not working so hard as to be too hot for clothes. This child makes her Grandpa Myers cold often just by looking at her, as she is often found with very few clothes even when the rest of us are bundled up!

Now to the major highlight of this work vacation week - Jason and I cashed in a birthday coupon from my parents to spend 2 nights at a WV state park ALL BY OURSELVES! The girls stayed home and enjoyed the time with grandparents and Tala (our animals were cared for, our house was cleaned, and some of our kids tried to say that they had more fun than us but they didn't). Our time at Watoga State Park was all and more than we could have wished for. Before we left, I was already worried about how fast it would go. And then once there the time felt expansive and the connecting deep and meaningful.

I realized that I probably underestimate how much time in each day goes to the fact that our family includes 5 humans with needs! When that gets simplified down to 2 and we are just feeding ourselves, brushing our own teeth, I'm only getting my own self clothed and ready to get out the door, hiking at our pace without kids getting tired or hot or bored or... then all of a sudden it seems a day is quite long! We went on a number of long hikes, we played games, we read (a lot!), Jason played through most of his songs, and the first night I was in bed by 7:30 p.m. and didn't get out of bed until 8:30 the next morning! 

The fall woods was the perfect place for me to be with my thoughts and emotions. Watching the leaves fall from the trees, and dance theirway to the ground, was the backdrop for my reflections on letting go, on death and loss, and on what it means to "be enough." I was so grateful for the time in nature and with my best friend and partner. It was sweet to be reminded again how very much we love being together!! 

The only excitement from the entire time (for public consumption anyway), was our attempts at a cozy fire in the fireplace in our cabin on our second/last night there. We had all the components for a romantic evening in our little one room cabin, until Jason got the fire rolling and we realize that the fire place was horribly designed. We had all the lights off in the cabin except a lamp and I was reading our Collapsing Consciously meditation for the day. I realized partway through that I was having a hard time breathing deeply between sentences. While the subject matter is sometimes enough to make me catch my breath, it seemed more related to the fire. Turning on the main light, we discovered the cabin was full of smoke and soon after the smoke alarm started going off. It was wired in but with an internal battery so removing it from the wall still didn't stop the piercing sound that was going out the opened windows to the surrounding cabins. So we stuffed it under a pillow and proceeded to open wide all the windows and then took ourselves out to the porch to read while looking in from time to time to check the fire. We had had such a delightful time up to that point that this minor glitch was hardly noticed.

We checked out Wednesday morning but took a few hours for a final hike (6 mile round trip) to a look out tower, a few more leaf showers savored, a few more wintergreen berries consumed and then we were actually eager and ready to re-enter the fray.

Or at least, I thought I was! I don't think we were home an hour before I went to Jason and I told him I was already pining for our cabin in the woods! And I believe I've said it a few times since then. 

Someone is 5! Everything else will have to wait...

I haven't even started this post and I'm about to throw in the towel. My tolerance for technological frustrations is extremely low right now and so it doesn't take much at all for me to have strong urges to throw this computer out the window. Our blog is currently a big exercise for me in being ok with not doing something well but doing it anyway - believing that, in this instance, something is better than nothing. It's a challenge for me as I want to include everything, to have this blog give a realistic picture of our life, and for it to be thoughtfully written. I can't include everything. This will just give a minor sliver or snapshots of our lives. And I already hear some kiddo needs blossoming in the background so it may be accomplished with distractions along the way. But be all that as it may, our littlest now needs all the fingers on her one hand to show her age and that is something worth sharing a bit about! Celebrating her life with her was definitely the highlight of this month so far.

It was such a wonderful gift that our whole Tangly Woods family was able to go to wild, wonderful, West Virginia for a few days to soak in the fall colors and celebrate Terah's birthday and introduce Tala to a place that we all love dearly. Getting away from the farm removed lots of distractions, enabling us to give our full attention to being together and loving on our littlest member. We were there for two full days with her birthday being the first of those days. At the end of the day, as I was tucking her into her sleeping bag, she said, "Can I have another birthday tomorrow?" While she was not gifted two birthdays in a row, she did get a birthday coupon of enjoying two bonus days in WV with Grandma and Grandpa after the rest of us had to depart for home.

The first carload cleared out Saturday morning with the grandparents and the youngest gals. The rest of us finished getting the house/farm ready to be under the care of someone else for a few days and then we followed, going by way of Seneca Rocks. It was a beautiful drive and a beautiful hike, though a little unnerving in COVID times to hike with a constant stream of fellow hikers. It seemed many, along with their dogs, had the same idea on that beautiful fall day. So we ended up needing to hike with masks, which was a bit less pleasant. And we were thankful (due to the dogs) that Alida and Terah were elsewhere. Along the way, Jason introduced us to wintergreen berries so we all enjoyed a natural breath freshener.

Following our hike, we made our way back to the Mountain House where we were reunited with these two munchkins. And then the we started packing the hours with lots of fun - game playing, sticker books, delicious foods, more game playing, story reading, and lounging around. A very excited little gal went to bed that night eager for her birthday.

She had planned the menus for her birthday, but was too excited to even eat that much. There was waffles and bacon for breakfast and homemade pesto pasta and chicken breasts for dinner. And then a cranberry chocolate cake and homemade vanilla ice cream. She had also given a very clear list of birthday presents she wanted which were all foods: dried pineapple, dried papaya, cheddar bunny crackers, mint chocolate and caramel chocolate. We all had the list memorized due to the number of times she recited it to us. So she fit some of those snacks into her day - which might be more why she wasn't as hungry for her bday meals! More than the food, I think she just savored having 7 older persons ready to play with her, read books to her, build lego farms with her, do sticker books with her, play outside with her, hide presents for her, hug and snuggle with her, etc... She savored every moment of her day until she could barely keep her eyes open!

Her daddy and her sister, Alida, had made her her own cutting board in honor of growing up and being old enough to use a sharp knife - she even chopped the garlic for her birthday dinner!

Probably the favorite activity of the weekend was jumping off the stairs, especially if it got a rise out of Grandpa if they climbed up too high!

She ended her day with a birthday bath complete with the rubber duckies we had wrapped for her to open when she noted (on her birthday) that she also wanted a rubber ducky. And she noted she didn't even care if they stayed at the Mountain House, so we were in luck! We quickly ran up to the bathroom, wrapped up the ducks, she opened them, was thrilled, took a bath with them, and they remain at the Mountain House.

We didn't stop having fun once the birthday came to an end. The next day Tala, Jason and I enjoyed a morning hike just the three of us. Then it was the chosen day for exploring, so we took a drive, stopping at some beautiful spots along the way including most notably the wild cranberry bog (for picking). The fall leaves did not disappoint. While it was not easy going for her, it was wonderful to have Mom mobile enough to join us! 

On our final morning, Jason and I slipped away for a hike up the mountain with Alida. She fully soaked in having her mommy and daddy to herself. We made it up to the spot that my parents have deemed the "kissing spot" and then I smothered her in kisses before we made our way back down.

A trip to the Mountain House would not be complete without a visit to the labyrinth. I wanted to walk it over and over and over again! The trees surrounding us, the leaf carpet, and a deep yearning for finding my center... I was gifted with a beautiful heart leaf along my path. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching various family members attempt to climb trees. It was very clear who had the most experience in the bunch!

And then, all too soon, it was time for the first carload to depart. I will be the first to admit that I did NOT want to go! It was hard to know that the end of a trip away that had been so long anticipated was coming to an end. I definitely wanted to be a good 38 or so years younger where a little tantrum and resistance to departure might have seemed more appropriate. Instead, we packed up and gave lots of hugs to our newly minted 5-year-old, who was beaming with the knowledge that she got to remain for more time in WV.

But we were a fun carload anyway, and we decided to stop back at Seneca Rocks to introduce Tala to the swimming hole. We had no intentions of doing anything more than showing her the river, but Kali got inspired! After wading across she gave in to the desire for an impromptu and VERY chilly swim! You can see the progression here. The rest of us practiced our stone skipping skills and I found another heart in nature!

Kali was very grateful to be warmly squished between Tala and Alida for the ride home. I think we were nearly back in Harrisonburg before she had fully warmed up. But I feel certain she felt it was worth it!

And there you have it. A glorious fall birthday celebration trip. So many wonderful memories created! I am someone who plans and anticipates things to the point that so often the real thing ends up disappointing. This was not the case. It was special through and through and hard to have it come to an end. Looking through the pictures now helped me realized that the love shared in those days still continues and the celebrating of life and healing will continue to strengthen us. For that I'm so grateful!