Family Ties

Here's "Aunt Darcie" and her four nephews on Easter Sunday. There were some unhappy faces, because I made them pose BEFORE Sunday dinner. They wanted to eat first and take pictures later. But I know those clothes wouldn't look the same AFTER.

When Laurel and I are together with these five young ones, most people think they all belong to her; even though she doesn't look old enough to have one or two much less five! Of course I look like the grandmother of them all. I wonder if anyone ever thinks that they're all mine? Nah!

For those of you who don't know us, Darcie is my youngest and Laurel is my oldest with three boys sandwiched in the middle. I had four little ones, all two years apart, who are now ages 29, 27, 25, and 22. Eleven years later I had Darcie. Surprise!

It sure has been a lot of fun; first with having four teenagers and a toddler and now having four adult children, an eleven year old, and four grandchildren. I feel very blessed.

A New Day Begins

Conversation heard at 6:14 this morning at the beach house.

Darcie: "Shut UP bird!"

Debbie: "It's a Whip-o-Will." Meaning, isn't is beautiful?

Darcie: "Sounds like a car alarm." Meaning, shut up bird.

Different perspectives, I guess.

Springtime in Georgia

This is what I see when I look over the balcony off of our bedroom. This is the most glorious tree in all the world. It's a Japanese Ornamental Cherry. I don't remember its exact name. It's name should be The Most Fabulous Cherry Tree in All the World.

If there's a prettier place in the springtime than Georgia, I haven't seen it. I remember driving through the state in 1977 with my new husband as he worked here temporarily. There were baby goats playing together in the fields. And the wisteria! I had never seen it before. Lilac clusters hanging like grapes all the way to the tops of trees. And they smelled like grape Nehi. Do ya'll have Nehi up in Yankeeland; those of you that live north of the Mason-Dixon line?

This week I'm writing from my beloved Fripp Island, SC. I came over late yesterday evening after everyone had gone home. We hosted all our kids except Garrett =-(, their families and in-laws, and our adopted college student.

I spent last night, today, and tonight alone. Sheer bliss. Laurel, her kids, and Darcie will be joining me early tomorrow morning. I'm meeting them at Publix in Beaufort around 10:00 to stock up on groceries. We're having another friend and her children join us mid-week and our husbands will join us for the weekend.

So I'll hopefully be posting every day while I'm here. I spent a lot of time today just cleaning up my computer. More on that later.

Mark Twain

I found this quote yesterday by Mark Twain. I've heard parts of it before but never the whole thing. It goes: "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."

Wouldn't this world be a better place if we followed his advice?

A Perfect Love

More from Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle: "Despite the fear and unfaithfulness of his followers, Jesus' love never faltered, for it was not dependent on the merit and virtue and the qualifications of those he loved."

I want to love like Jesus. I want to look at the heart of a person not on the outside. I want to be loved for who I am inside. No, I want to be loved DESPITE who I am inside. That's how Jesus loves.

Decluttering My Hobbies

Things are blooming down south. This is a redbud tree in the children's garden. Spirea, daffodils, azaleas, camellias, grape hyacinth, and more are budded out.

I'm also coming out of my wintertime fog. I had an "Aha!" moment this past weekend.

I've been reading Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party; about Renoir's painting and how it came to be. I love the descriptions of how he saw colors and light. I see that way too. I notice things; subtleties.

But unlike Renoir, I have had almost no training in painting. I believe I could learn to paint, but the amount of time it would take is time I can't give right now.

So for now, I'm going to concentrate on photography and writing. I'll do the occasional small watercolor, for I can do those without much angst. I find them fun and relaxing.

God has chosen motherhood for my life's pathway and all that calling entails. Until Darcie is self-reliant, I won't have the time to pursue painting on a large scale.

And maybe it will come sooner than I think it will. I'm going to practice contentment in this stage of my life and count my blessings which are many. I'm not going to think of what might have been. I just want to be the best mother and grandmother I can be.

I don't want to become an old person who just sits in the house all day. I want to be active and learn new things with my family. I want to show them that it can be fun to get old. I want us to have fun together.

But the point of this post is to say that, for now, I'm letting painting go. Except petite watercolors.

Divine Discontent

I'm still finding many jewels in Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle. This one gave me some insight into why I usually feel a little edgy and not completely content.

She writes, "Divine discontent, a longing to find the melody in the discords of chaos, the rhyme in the cacophony, the surprised smile in time of stress or strain. It is not that what IS is not enough, for it is; it is that what IS had been disarranged and is crying out to be put in place."

I once wrote in a photographic bio that I liked to take photos of the world as I wished it to be. I usually only take photos of beauty or idealistic things. I know the importance of photojournalism. We need to see things as they really are. I just feel that my place in the scheme of things is to record beauty; to inspire. Maybe that's my way of rearranging and of putting things back in place.