enchantments

I will not always have the words to express the delight of our time together. Sometimes those words won't come because I'm too full of joy to find them, other times the choice words that come to mind aren't so redolent of delight as of frustration. And then there are days of great enchantment when, at the end of the day or week, all I want to do is bask in that feeling, and curl up very, very wearily with a good book.

Regardless of the reason, there are times when the pictures will simply have to say all that needs to be said.

A few of this week's enchantments:

Paper airplane trials in the hallway

A book study in costume

The flock of robins that has named our neighborhood their home this winter

Paper airplane valentines to give to friends

A valentines exchange and crafts with our homeschooling group

Time to begin…again

Obviously I have fallen away from the blog for some time. When we got back from Italy it was all I could do to get the laundry done, and I fell behind on photo editing, writing, and posting so that getting caught up became quite the job. When I finally accomplished getting caught up, which took hours on end, I soon after rewarded myself with a break, only to have that break drop me back into editing, writing, and posting debt yet again.

I have no intention of abandoning this blog. It has been up and running for about nine years now. Over that life its tone and purpose have changed many times, but it has remained true as one thing: a family journal. When we had a new baby it was a baby blog. When I had lots of time for cooking there were lots of recipe posts. When we really got into the swing of homeschooling, it tilted in that direction.  Whatever our family has been doing, the blog has been capturing it, and during that time we’ve gained followers and lost them along with the ebb and flow of my own level of dedication, like the flux in the ocean tide and equally predictable.

Right now I am back. And to avoid that terrible feeling of having to get caught up, I’m not catching up, I’m just starting over, or at least restarting. I’ll eventually go back and fill in the missing December posts to bring the 2013 365 project to completion, and, because this is at heart a family journal, there are some things to note from January as well. And the flavor of the blog may change a bit, and the stories I tell will change, as they always do, as the family they are about does, as does the world outside.

But first I’m just starting from right here, right now, on a relatively warm, double-digits (above zero) day, with feet upon feet of snow outside and two cozy dogs and a cozy little boy inside, somewhere between the start of our school day, with math and spelling, and the end of our school day, which we often mark with tea and games. It’s as good a place to begin again as any.

It's the creed of the ever hopeful...the promise to always begin again.

Project 365 week 52 (New Year Edition)

Project 365 week 52 (Christmas Edition)

Project 365 week 51