Jan Marie

This woman in the photograph with me (yes, that's me!) has been a family friend for quite some time now.  Jan Marie has been one of my mom's closest friends and like an aunt to me.  She has been on my mind and in my heart a lot recently.  Last year she was diagnosed with cancer and has bravely fought it since.  Unfortunately right now the cancer is winning, but this post is about her, not cancer. 

 

Jan Marie made everywhere she went beautiful.  I mean it, literally.  She had an eye for art and design and how to arrange something in such a pretty way that it immediately made you smile.  She also knew how to live simply and to appreciate things like riding a bike or just enjoying an ice cream cone on a summer day; things most of us are guilty of taking for granted. 

 

I have loved her as an "aunt" and she will always, always have a place in my heart. 

 

On a recent visit to see her, her husband made a statement that I've been thinking about a lot lately.  He said,"Everyone talks about how things were better...'back in the good ol' days.  What they don't realize is that that's now.  We're living in the good ol' days."

Something to remember.

Setting Up

This weekend, I'm setting up a garage sale.

And phew, garage sales are more work than one would imagine.

The sorting, the stacking, organizing, and pricing...

 

During all this, this little luna moth came to visit and I was charmed.

Doesn't take much to charm me, does it?

I think it was his beautiful shade of green.

Enjoying the little things in life.

happy weekend!

camp-ache

Today I thought of how fun it would be to go camping.

I haven't been camping for a long time. Well, I guess we camped at bonnaroo, so not that long...

 

but no matter the time it would be fun to get a group of friends together, maybe go on a short hike or run around at the campsite during the day, then in the evening start a fire, roast marshmallows, talk into the wee hours of the night...

 

hopefully this can happen sometime this fall.

camping in the fall.

doesn't that sound beautiful?

 

image credit 1 / 2 / 3

packed up and oh so ready not to go

these are my bags all packed up to go back to college.  obviously there were many many more bags, but these were the ones conveniently riding in the backseat.  i think summer has been too good to me because i'm really not ready to go back to school.  funny some might say since i took summer classes.  but it's not the same, you know?  i would live forever barefoot, having bonfires, and spending time with my friends if i could.  summer has been too good to me.

 

but there is fall. autumn.

and that makes any homework or other college inconveniences (i miss you already kitchen and car!) not seem so bad... for fall is my favorite season. my absolute favorite.

A Night Out

Last night, Adele, Becca, and I got dressed up and went out to dinner.

Nothing to celebrate really, we just fancied a night out.

It's so enjoyable to go out for no reason at all, purely for fun...

it's just awkward to tell the waiter that.

Next time, we're saying it's one of our birthdays. ;)

 

Sleepy Hollow Trail

I started babysitting when I was in eighth grade and it's a job I still hold today.  The families and children have changed over the years.  Usually I am only needed for a short season in their lives.  Slowly some drop off, and I meet new families.  In these passing years, I have been blessed to meet some really wonderful families and spend some time as part of their children's lives.

On Saturday afternoon I spent some time with a family I started working for almost two and a half years ago.  The girl is eleven and the boy is nine.  The girl had a friend's birthday party to attend, so the boy and I went hiking not too far from where the party was.  We walked Sleepy Hollow Trail, a path not long, through dense plant life and over small creeks.  He said he had never been hiking before, and on the inside I was elated that we had come.  I believe nature has a lot to teach us, as well as a peace about it.  I relish any chance to share this.  

One Birthday, Two Birthday

Whoa! On Friday evening we celebrated both Spenser and Margaret's birthdays.  Margaret turns 20 and Spenser turns 21.  We had a small get together-the usual stuff: bags in the backyard, dessert, laughing, some gameboard playing (actually taboo doesn't come with a board, so just game playing).  We had cupcakes and pie, of course.  Becca (my always awesome helper) and I felt like it was too hard to get candles in a pie and decided to spare ourselves and have the two blow out a set of votive candles in a metal holder. Silly, but worth it when we saw how excited Margaret was.  "I get to blow these out?! Oh that's so cool!"

happy birthday to the both of you. we love you.

21

21

6 cups pears, peeled and cut

3 tablespoons spelt flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 pie crusts

First, begin by peeling and cutting your pears into slices or chunks.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add pears and stir so that the dry ingredients are evenly distributed over pears.

Roll out crust in pie pan and add the pear mixture; the filling.  Dot with butter if you'd like.

Bake at 450F for about 20 minutes.

A note: I guess I should have explained this in the beginning, but it's a tradition of mine to bake Spenser a pie for his birthday.  He absolutely loves pie!  He's also one who always loves to try something new, so I usually try and make pies that aren't your usual apple, cherry, etc.  In the past, I've baked a bluebarb (mixture of blueberry and rhubarb)-18, raspberry and white peach-19, I didn't have time to bake one for his 20th (I had my hands full with a big surprise party. eek!), and now pear-21.

night swim

 

Last night Becca had us over for an evening swim.

Earlier in the summer, at a bonfire, we had expressed how much fun it would be to take a night time dip in the pool so this was a long time coming. 

And it was every bit as fun and wonderful as we thought it would be. 

It was a beautiful night, just perfect for a swim. ;)

Afterwards, we sat around and chatted for a bit.

I'm in love with those pictures of Spenser and Near, they're some of my favorite candids.

 

It's not too much longer before I'll be missing things like this,

so I'm trying to soak it all in.

I love you, friends, and I love you too, summer.

the olympics

Our friend Dan hosted the olympics party on Friday evening.  Everyone was in a festive spirit, wearing red, white, and blue for the occasion.  Except Adele. Adele was a rebel. ;)

I must confess I haven't really been keeping up with the olympics.  Maybe "keeping up with" isn't the right term? I read the news headlines of who won which event, and sometimes I'll read a backstory on new rules or how a ping-pong player has a ridiculously rigorous training schedule (i kid you not!).  But I don't watch the olympics.  Probably because I don't really watch television in general.  This was met with gasps from a few of my friends.  So it's good Dan had a get together specifically celebrating the olympics.  Because you guessed it-I actually sat down and watched the competition unfold.

We watched swimming, diving and a little bit of the gymnastics.  The diving brought back memories of going to the olympic trials in knoxville, tennessee a few years ago.  I am simply in awe of the athletes' agility.  The same goes for gymnasts.  They have incredible flexibility, balance, strength, and their willpower is bar none. 

*thanks to margaret for photos 1 & 10