Accounting for Time

It's been Spring Break this week.

Here's what I didn't do--I didn't grade much:

(finally forced myself to do a little this morning)

I did watch the snow melt--I can even see part of the deck now! (don't look at how I never emptied herb pots last fall...) 

I did eat vegan, and lots more green food: 

I did do a lot of cooking and baking and drinking of tea:

(I bought this mini Cuisinart a few weeks ago--I thought it might be a waste, but I am loving it)

I did spend some time with the cat...including watching her attack an apron in the kitchen this afternoon: 

I did also do work...just not much grading.

Break is almost over and I feel like I don't know where the time went (again--it's like this for every break, long or short).  At least I took a few photos along the way to remind me that it did, in fact, happen.

Deep breaths.  Eight more weeks of madness to come!

Overload!

One of the benefits of being a person who doesn't like the noise of family crowds (and every gathering in my family involves a true crowd) is that I do not experience the "over-indulgence" problem with rich foods for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We definitely celebrate with food, my little family of four, but without the noise and distraction that leads to the usual overload.  My winter break is a time when I feel light--not only because of the relief from the semester ending, but also because it is a time of quiet in which I balance meals with exercise, rest with family activities.

But this weekend the heaviness came, out of nowhere and fairly unexpectedly. Pizza and cake for Anya's birthday party yesterday. Belgian waffles and muffins and breads at first Sunday brunch today--the new waffle maker was a huge hit.  My kitchen is full of the remains of carbohydrate overload (plus a few strawberries waiting for those leftover waffles in the freezer). I feel myself weighted down, dragging in a way that many experience around New Year's day.  

But, like winter party goers, I also feel filled up with love and laughter and gratitude for the wonderful people in my life. Yesterday my daughter spent an entire afternoon celebrating her birthday with her friends, and she dined on homemade cake that was as filled with love as it was with chocolate. Today we brunched on dense foods with good friends and celebrated the miracle of surviving this snowy February.  Our children played together as we talked of work and life, and as we discussed plans made in hopes that one day we would see green grass again. 

I definitely need lots of light, green foods this week.  Not only to recover from the decadence of the weekend, but also to try to call spring into being, if only in my body.  

P.S. While Howard and I were lounging (much like beached whales) and talking about the day, Anya settled in with us, wrapped herself in a blanket, and said "There is no freedom. There is only paradox."  Ummm...yeah. She's 10.  I'm in soooo much trouble when she hits her teen years...

Into the Weekend (10!)

This afternoon I got off the train to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get better cake pans.  As soon as I was home, it was straight to baking a chocolate layer cake...then right into making home-made macaroni and cheese with steamed broccoli for dinner.

All done for the love of this girl, who turned 10 yesterday (when I had a department meeting and could not cook dinner).  Her birthday party is tomorrow, thus the cake (chocolate frosting to go on tomorrow morning).  

And who, by the way, was delighted that I managed to get this doormat custom made for her special day:

She's been thrilled and surprised at every turn. There is nothing she loves more than celebration and family time.

Anya, my girl, thank you for 10 years of love, delight, joy, angst, drama, pride, annoyance, imagination...and so very much laughter. I love you more than I could ever express in words. 

Happiness is...Six-Sided!

Kind of fascinating (to me) that he could get smiley faces on all six sides of the cube at once.  However, it may also be a sign that he really, really needs to get back to school soon (and yet has a week of vacation to follow having almost the entire first half of February off for snow days).  

Epic

From about two weeks ago, during/after the first storm:

From this week, during and after the third storm:

It's been an amazing set of storms. The snow just never seems to stop coming, but we're running out of places to put it all!  Massachusetts has broken its record for total snowfall in a 30-day period. This week alone, Quincy got over 27 inches of snow.  The totals for the year are well over 60 inches, I think (probably much more).  It's kind of crazy.  I mean, I can barely see our deck railing anymore!  If the Storm of 78 was the memory of my generation, this is likely to be the set of storms that my children will always remember.  Sam is actually only about a year older than I was in '78.  Unlike me, he didn't decide to go out exploring the snow once everyone was told it was okay to be out-of-doors again. I remember going down the street to the beach and being just amazed by all the snow.

Epic.

It's frustrating to try to move around (and public transportation is a huge mess), and maddening that both the kids and I have missed so much school.  (How am I ever going to get students focused and gaining momentum in courses that have met, at best, once per week so far?)  

But it's also beautiful--not just to watch, but in how it forces us to slow down a little. Make time for each other, for yoga, for tea, for cooking, for candle light.  

...that part of it kind of makes me wish we could just stop time and enjoy this slow home life a little longer.  Alas, we must instead return to reality, probably starting tomorrow.

At least, unless there's another storm.  In that case, we may not be able to leave the house til spring!

Hoping that any of you who have been in the storms are faring well!  

Discovery

Last week, Sam got a new tank for his fish, Paul.  This bigger tank makes Paul more visible from across the room...and Toonces has become obsessed with watching him whenever he catches her eye. She starts by staring from a distance, runs over and watches from the desk chair, and eventually ends up on the desk in front of the tank as pictured above.  

Dreams of fish for dinner.  Sam finds it very disturbing and pulls her away claiming that she's freaking Paul out.  

In 2015

I just put my goals for this year into words when commenting on this lovely site.  I wrote: 

I want to focus on staying in the moment rather than trying to figure out the future, staying centered when things get busy...and I want to practice lovingkindness, creativity, balance, simplicity, and gratitude along the way.

Yup, that sums it up.  The semester starts in a few days.  Time to start living these intentions even as the pressures return to daily life.