Other non-farm fun...

I'm saving all the home farm updates for last, so here's a whole smattering of other things that various Tangly Woods' members are enjoying these days. Is it too much of a good thing? Some days I think so! I feel so grateful for all the activities at our fingertips that we love and even more so the people near and dear to us that we get to spend time with. But this 24 hour day thing and 7 day week thing is limiting and my body keeps reminding me that it doesn't want to go go go like I did for oh so many years. So me trying to go a little less as my offspring seem ready to go a little bit more is another one of those interesting dances we are engaged in!

Last weekend we enjoyed a family walk on Saturday down to the road to our neighbors' kite fly (munching some red buds along the way). We haven't done a family walk in a long time AND we hadn't been to any Hidden Meadow neighborhood events for even longer. While there, Jason also got to show off some of his recent carpentry projects to us that he had worked hard on that week for our neighbors. On one particular day he installed two cat doors, netting him the nickname "cat door man" from one of his dearest friends. :) It's not exactly what he wants to be known for, but his carpentry skills continue to be very appreciated!

Then Easter Sunday, we went the other way down the road to Emily, Jonas and Ivy's for some Easter fun - egg decorating and an egg hunt. We concluded our time with my favorite event of the day: a collectively created obstacle course made with chosen objects from their outdoor play bin. What a fabulous idea!

In terms of things the various family members are into on their own, Kali is still working on checking all the screws on our roof (sadly there are many loose ones so we can't fully put this roof project to rest quite yet). That, being our "laundry person," and helping with cooking and transportation seems to keep her awake daytime hours relatively occupied. She has a fair number of nighttime awake hours that I can't speak to!

Alida has been busy since her birthday. On her actual birthday her new braille supplies got LOTS of attention. But then she started embroidering. She's a fan of it AND she's very good at it, teaching herself the various stitches. She's also been getting more into weaving and helped my mom finish off one warp and get started on the next!

Terah had some fun recently, when her sisters were gone, accompanying Grandpa to a JMU women's softball game. She had never been to a softball game, so Grandpa got to answer lots of questions.  

I'm in the process of figuring out next steps towards certification to be a doula provider for people on Medicaid. The process itself has been really good and important for me, even if it's been a bit rocky. I'm getting to test how I feel about various things: re-engaging with messy organizations, testing my energy and endurance for working with clunky flawed systems, pondering my capacities and pushing myself to breakdown a process into manageable steps, and then finding humor in how automated emails sometime send you to applying for a case manager position instead of a doula training program. Thankfully, the bumpiness means I'm not in the program right now because it's not currently happening. Instead, I can focus on the 3 births coming up that I'm supporting and get back to this process once this really full season passes. It was fun to brush off my baby bootie knitting skills for the dear friends I'm accompanying during this season (as a loved one and doula).

Besides building cat doors and bike shed walls and agricultural connections for the future, Jason also wrote an Easter sonnet that I'll close with!

New Easter Sonnet

I missed my chance to scythe the dead grass standing.

The winter’s laid it low and out of reach.

It’s evidence of my imperfect planning.

The weather still has lessons left to teach.

I force a resurrection, lift the stems

Enough to take the leaves and take my leave.

A miracle of sleight: a charlatan’s.

But let me be! Why should I not believe

In air pulled down, in water drawn, earth risen?

It’s now or never, use it while you can.

A life’s a flame, and living’s a decision.

It comes around again. I am a man

Made lyrical by leaving and by taking

The miracle’s alive! It’s in the making

Soccer season has begun AND we've got two official ushers!

Speaking of loosening up and doing more things this spring, two new fun things are officially underway and have only been minorly impacted by our recent illnesses and weather. 

Alida had her first soccer game last night and Terah had her first this morning. Both are having so much fun and can hardly wait until the next soccer day! Having Kali on board as another soccer driver is making a big difference in how this season is unfolding! It's definitely a big change regardless for us to have soccer practice or a game 4-5 days a week (with 3-4 of those times falling smack dab in the middle of the evening making dinner before really early and dinner after really late). But it's working just fine and most definitely worth it. Thankfully we are known to eat dinner anywhere from 5-10 p.m. so we are adjusting without too much difficulty. 

Now I would not say that Terah and her assistant coach looked very ready for soccer when I first woke them this morning. It would be Kali's luck that every single one of her team's games fall at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. I don't know the last time all 5 of our family members were up AND out of bed by 8 a.m. That happened this morning!

But they were ready to go by game time and Alida and I were on the sidelines. Now I had attended the parent meeting where we were told very firmly that this league is just for fun and that we are to cheer for everyone and that parents are not to "coach" from the sidelines. I admit that I'm a bit of a loud spectator - always have been! So I went into this game feeling determined to mostly be quiet and to definitely following the "no coaching" guidelines, as well as happily cheering for everyone. Well, the first thing Kali said to when she crossed the field from the coaches/players area at the end of the game was, "Well, I think you maybe, a little bit, listened to the 'no coaching from the sidelines' directions." SIGH! I promise I was biting my tongue for about 40 of the 45 minutes. She could still hear me across the field being quite vocal (positive but loud and maybe a tad coachy?!). I said maybe I'd need a muzzle next time!

And, as if soccer was not enough for one day, Kali and Alida had their 2nd shadow shift at the Blackfriar's Playhouse this afternoon down in Staunton (another, YAY, for Kali's driving abilities!). So from soccer attire to ushering outfits they went! They have now completed their training and can start official ushering shifts at any point. Alida will not accumulate complementary tickets as a junior usher, but Kali will. I'm hoping that might mean that I also get to see a few more shows in the future!

Well the hot spinach dip is ready and it is best fresh! So I'll get back to blog catch up at the next available opportunity. For now it is time to transition to the deck and soak in this glorious evening!

Definitely NOT an ode to colds!

Well, let's intersperse into this series of posts one of the not so fun things about life of late. There's so much beauty and vibrant life around us, but it is kinda hard to be present to it and soak it up when you feel crummy. And we've had a dose of crumminess around here, the slow moving kind of crummy! The fact that I'm blogging is a good sign - I've had more sleep and my mind feels a bit clearer again and my worry gauge is not in the danger zone anymore (it doesn't take much to put it there - we were not horribly ill!). 

As we had planned to do this spring, we have been loosening up our restrictions a bit around what we will/won't do in close proximity to other humans ("a bit" should be emphasized!). We have been rewarded by some lovely times with dearly treasured friends AND some not so lovely times with dreaded bugs. And it has created this dance of loosening up a bit, getting a virus on board, tightening back down to contain it within our family and then trying to figure out when we feel ok resuming activities again. To say I don't like it is a bit of an understatement. And it feels like most of us are dancing different dances, making different choices about when to dance or when not to dance, maybe feeling left out of the dance or feeling frustrated by people that just keep dancing regardless of how others around them might be feeling. It makes relationships hard. It raises difficult feelings. Sometimes I want to scream or cry or retreat... 

Does anyone else have a hard time remembering how we handled illness pre-Covid? I can remember having to cancel things, especially with kids and other families. I remember the annoyance of making plans, only to have to shift things or reschedule due to fevers and vomiting and nasty colds. BUT I also remember going to work sick, being in meetings while sick, working alongside others who were sick, etc... It's really hard to imagine walking into a building with a nasty cold and just going into a colleague's office for a conversation and breathing on them! I did that! Is that a "normal" I would ever want to return to? Is some "happy medium" even an option? 

I have so many unanswered questions on this and it's just a day by day thing. It's assessing risks often and balancing those with benefits. It's looking at what we have coming up and trying to stay as healthy as is reasonably possible for the things that feel most important to us. And we don't always get it right, if there is a right. Or, maybe I should say, things don't always line up the way we had hoped.

I just know that I don't like when my kiddos wilt!

And I sure get a surge of relief coursing through my veins when they perk back up!

This particular cold hit the youngest two the hardest, and it was an odd day when they both decided to crawl back into bed for a nap! Terah got these weird red streaks in her eye, which sent me on one of those google searches I keep promising to stop doing. 

One of the hardest things about us getting sick is it interrupting our times with Jonathan, Christen and Luca and our days of hanging with Luca. Both families were kinda gunky for the last stretch, but unlikely the same gunk so we had no desire to swap viruses! But Luca cannot understand that and it was hard for him to get why I would not hold him on our walk. Holding his hand worked for a bit, which was super sweet, but it wasn't the same (for me or him - it was kinda hard on both of us!!). Let's hope we can be snuggling together again real soon! The walk was still lovely, seeing Luca enjoy throwing things in the pond and smoosh his stocking feet into the mud was entertaining, and the fresh air and conversation with friends was welcome. But, even in those times, I pine for a feeling of ease and normalcy. There's no obvious solution, that I can see. So we keep finding our way with a good dose of discomfort along the way!

An ode to spinach and redbuds!

I am not actually planning to write a lyrical poem about spinach or redbuds so I should probably reconsider the title of this post. That said, this will be a post with words and images intended to celebrate, honor and express deep gratitude to the wonderful contributions that both red buds and spinach are making to our lives at present! We are feasting our eyes on them, as well as just feasting on them! I love them individually, and I love them together!

I have taken so many pictures of red buds - against the blue sky, with the mountain in the background, before they opened, once they were in full bloom, flowers growing right from the trunk, the ones in Nora's garden, kids eating them, etc... This is truly only a sampling of them! And while neither Alida or Terah look like they are enjoying the snack, that is the photographer's fault for how I caught them... I had to chuckle when a JMU class came the other day and we mentioned to this group of college students that they were welcome to help themselves to red buds. I could see the social dynamics playing out right in front of me. The group of students started walking past, appearing uninterested in trying this flower growing on a tree. But then one student ducked under the tree and plucked off a blossom and ate it. That's all it took for other students to circle back for their own taste. It was just hard to be the first...

And while the spinach doesn't stand out with splashes of color from its surroundings, it sure is a stand out crop for us this year! Despite me finding one plant where a vole had eaten off the plant right to the base of the leaves and left the leaves for me nicely picked and ready to wilt if I hadn't come by just then, we are having a bang up harvest this year! We have done 3 major pickings/freezings thus far and have squirreled away over 5 gallons of blanched chopped frozen spinach already! YIPPEE!!! The leaves are huge and robust. It's so fun to see the contrast of where I've picked and where I haven't. 

Each time I've frozen lots, I've also left out large bags for fresh eating. Kali is getting a batch of hot spinach dip going as I type to go with our leftover burgers for dinner. Yum!

P.S. April Fool's Day

Faithful blog readers, buckle up! I remember as a kid my mom working on scrapbooks and having things spread around as she chose what to put in and where. It's just me, my paper tablet and computer, but it feels like a table-full of material to work with from the past two weeks. Gone are the "slow" times of winter, that's for sure. So here comes a series of posts to share these slivers of life in more bite sized morsels!

When I downloaded photos today, I had to chuckle thinking back to two weeks ago today when our home was full of all kinds of jokes and pranks. I thought we might want some photos here for memory jogs down the road (or inspiration for future years)...

Our two bath toy rubber ducks sure made their rounds throughout the day. They travelled from animal water bucket, to duck water, to dish water, to the indoor chicks, to the bathroom sink to Kali's bed (not sure if it was in that particular order).

Even one of the chicks played an unintentional April Fool's Day joke on us by escaping the swimming pool for the first time. But rather than exploring its freedom, it let us know immediately by peeping loudly that it changed its mind and REALLY wanted back with the others.

My parents had to get their house back together, including finding where all the clothes in their closet had disappeared to!

We all wondered what kind of dinner we would have with Kali slated to cook. I knew some of the menu, enough that I was able to put lots of furry little friends around the kitchen to greet her as she was making the meal. She admitted to me that the one stuffed animal in a spice container even surprised her - success! The one pictured here somehow escaped discovery even though she had gone into that drawer multiple times. It was my favorite!

Dinner, complete with blue rice and red roti, was DELICIOUS!!