I wandered lonely as a cloud....

I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 

A host, of golden daffodils; 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Continuous as the stars that shine 

And twinkle on the milky way, 

They stretched in never-ending line 

Along the margin of a bay: 

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 

The waves beside them danced; but they 

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: 

A poet could not but be gay, 

In such a jocund company: 

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought 

What wealth the show to me had brought: 

For oft, when on my couch I lie 

In vacant or in pensive mood, 

They flash upon that inward eye 

Which is the bliss of solitude; 

And then my heart with pleasure fills, 

And dances with the daffodils.

-- William Wordsworth

In a little town in northern Connecticut, off the main road, past several old farms, beside a narrow dirt road, there is a field of daffodils.

This is not just any field and they are most certainly not planted in neat and tidy rows.  It is an old but typical New England farm.  Its not flat by any means.  There are trees scattered amongst the rocky fields with rock walls scattered about and a farm lane through the middle.  In the distance a river passes by with a small island in the middle.  But this field is different than all the rest.  Its covered in daffodils.  Under the trees, in the fields, even covering the island are thousands of daffodils.  It is amazingly beautiful.  

This isn't a public park.  There are no benches. No parking lot.  Just a field of daffodils on the side of a dirt road.  In the middle there is a plaque explaining the purpose of these daffodils.  It starts with the poem above written by William Wordsworth.  Below is written the following: These daffodils were planted for all to enjoy by Virginia and Remy Morosani  1941

This lovely couple decided to set aside a part of their land and to take the time to plant thousands of daffodils for no other reason except for the Joy of it.  The cool part was that you could feel the joy just being there.  Even on the cold, windy overcast day that we were there, we had such a wonderfully fun time.  Even as I write this a week later it fills me with joy remembering my family playing among the daffodils.

I think Wordsworth would approve.

On the way home I was thinking about the amazing thing that this couple had done.  And for no other purpose  but to bring joy to others.  Then I started to think about my time and how I spend it, for myself and my family, and what part of what I do with my time is just for joy.  Its a very small amount. Its hard, with the never ending to-do list, two kids and now a newborn.  But I want more daffodils in my life, metaphorically that is.  I want to make sure that I take a bit of time every week to do something that I really enjoy doing. I want each person in my family to have the time to do what they love to do.  

I think the next step after that would be to think of some of our good friends and how we as a family might bring a bit of joy into their lives.  There is nothing as special as brightening someones day.  What a feeling it must have been to plant all those daffodils, not knowing if it would make an impact or not.  I do hope they were able to see the impact that they made.  I certainly will always remember the day I walked in the daffodils.

Eggs Everywhere

 
My children have been asking to color eggs this Easter season.  We are getting ready for a week long trip to visit my family but I wanted to make sure we did this activity before we left.  We picked out this fun kit from the store and were excited to try something new.

Sadly, the box was missing all the dyes.  I quickly went to my baking cupboard only to find a few drops of yellow and red food coloring.  Enough to make some pale eggs.  Needless to say they were not so excited about this.

Thankfully my amazing neighbor was able to save the day.  They had been making Ukrainian eggs and had a jar of black and purple dye.  These made some gorgeous eggs which you can see in the back row.  The kids enjoyed decorating them and the afternoon was saved!

We also decided to try to make some felted eggs.  We took a plastic egg and wrapped it in colorful wool.

We then dunked it in warm soapy water and rubbed it all over until they felted.  Once they dry, we will make a small slit in them and slip the plastic egg out.  I've never done this before.  It was a little messy but fun. I will have to post the finished eggs tomorrow.

Starting Over

Have you ever had an experience in life that changed everything for you?  Not just a little change like wearing your hair different or changing your exercise routine ( or starting one). I mean something that comes along and WHAM! knocks you back, makes you stop, and then everything has to change.  Your plans, your future, the way you think and make decisions.  It all changes and you find yourself on a completely new path in life.  Well, it happened to me.

But, lets get started on the right foot.  Hi there! Remember me.  Yes, its still the same person.  This random post may be popping up for someone out there who thought that I had passed on from blog land.  Seeing as it has been almost five years, you would have been right.  Except, here I am.  Its that WHAM! I was just talking about.  I'll get there in a moment, I promise.  Its a good thing.  Worth the wait I would say.

So...five years... a lot happened.  My kids grew up.  I still homeshcooled.  I began a small side craft business.  My husband and I became licensed ministers and the Associate Pastors of our church.  I started trying to grow and preserve a good amount of our own food.  In essence, I got busy.  Real busy.  There was not time for blogs anymore.

Then WHAM!

I was out working the garden one day and I really wasn't feeling up to it.  Which wouldn't have been strange as the garden is a lot of work.  But I hadn't been up to a lot of things.  Every day I was getting worse.  Finally I decided to go see the doctor.  I wasn't expecting the news she gave me.  Who really is expecting it.  I sobbed.  I was in shock.

I was pregnant.

Didn't see that coming did you?  Well, me either.

I want to get one thing very clear though.  I was not sobbing about the baby, it was about the pregnancy.  I wanted more kids.  I had even been thinking about possibly trying to become foster parents.  But pregnancy?  No.  My body was not made to make babies.  My doctor told me that my son should be my last one.  It would not be a healthy choice to have another child.  But have another child it would be.  And she was definitely worth it!

Unfortunately the doc was right. The pregnancy was long and rough.  There was a lot of sitting and laying and doing of nothing.  I literally could do nothing.  No standing, no walking. no cooking. Even no knitting and crocheting!  The one thing I could do...think.  I did lots of thinking and observing.  I watched my family.  I thought about what our life was filled with and what it felt like. I thought about what was missing. The end result I did not like.  I vowed to make a change.  But what did I want our life to look like.  Thats when I remembered this blog and the early days with my older kids.  The joy of spending time with them.  Having time to get all the crafts out and make a mess.  To go on long walks and just enjoy the nature around us. Lots of laughter.  I miss all of that.

This new child is like a new start.  We have made a lot of changes already to accommodate her.  But I want to make more changes.  I can't have exactly what I had then.  My older two are now 10 and 8.  They have different needs now and definitely have their own opinions.  But I want to try.  I want to trade my busy days for Blissful Moments.  Its my hope that by documenting this, I will stay accountable to myself.  Old habits are hard to change.

( Sunset on Lake Superior this past Summer)

I hope you will enjoy joining me on this journey.