August 19, 2008 by pamela.

Pretty soon the beautiful hydrangeas will stop blooming for the year…
For now, each morning I love to walk around the yard and see the beautiful variety and  lovely shades of  blues, greens,  purples, lavenders and red hydrangeas… these are  my favourite flowers… but the roses are quite lovely, too.

in the rose garden are candlelight roses, lavender, various pinks, yellow, peach, coral and white… the whites are particularly beautiful this year!

produce from the garden this morning… in addition to many(!) zucchini, yellow squash, beans and onions, Naomi and ‘melia picked some carrots.  They came running in to show me the “married carrots” and the “pants carrots.”  I smiled… at the married carrots… sweet, innocent girls thought the carrots were dancing bcz they were married.  Sweet.  I love the delightfully sweet innocence of children.

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August 19, 2008 by pamela.

I’m still pondering: The old paths…

A few days ago I was looking at photographs and was trying to recollect those days… actually, those and a lot of other “days gone by” and I began to consider and ask myself: what good things did I do in those days do I no longer do? What did I leave off doing — and why? Did I get weary? Did I get overconfident? Did I get tired? Did I get lazy? Did I forget? Why did I stop doing the things that were working well? And, when? When did I veer off the path?

Slowly over the last several days and likely into the next several weeks, I am working to restore the old paths… the old paths of home… the routines, the objectives and the disciplines of our home life. A mama has to be the restorer of the breach(es).

Somewhere along the way some of the pavers of the old path slipped away… various floods of life and life’s trials broke up the path — children grew, needs changed, babies were born, children grew up and left home, the tides of business ebbed and flowed, sickness and health, strength and weakness… and so, along the way — here and there, places on the path were washed out.

Probably of all the decisions I’ve been making — or the tasks I’ve been doing lately — setting our home in order has been the most important. Clutter and disorder paralyzes people — and mothers, probably more than they realize, are rendered ineffective if there is much clutter and disorder. Clutter hinders creativity and productivity and disorder hinders unity and accomplishment — both in ourselves and in our children or daily family life.

I hadn’t really realized this was happening — it was so long in existence and so subtle in appearance. I hadn’t realized that I had stopped checking “completed” chores. I hadn’t realized that I had started finishing jobs others had either started and didn’t complete or hadn’t done at all. I hadn’t noticed that things were being overlooked… not put away… not taken care of properly.

I hadn’t noticed that jobs were being done well enough instead of well done! Close or ‘good enough’ is fine some of the time… but ‘good enough’ is not fine for all of the time. Close or ‘good enough’ is fine for younger children “in training,” but for myself and older children who know better, close or ‘good enough’ is not: good. Enough.

More on all this later.

blessings,

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