Slow

Time to slow down...
 Breath deeply.

Take in every moment, every sound.

Let the snails take over!

Today I...

Today I...

:: hear - kids tweeting around me on the beach
          - the waves
          - the bells tolling

:: touch - thick pages of a book so many love

:: smell - the sea

:: feel - the wind in my hair
         - the sand under my feet

            - the warmth of the sunset on my face

:: see - soft shadows all around me

:: hum - "I've got the sun in my heart and my heart in the sun..."

:: discover - unknown corners of my heart

Off for a new adventure

Because it smells like summer holiday already.
Because learning doesn't always belong to school (does it ever?!).
Because it's already been too long since the last time.
Because I want to be lulled to sleep by waves.
Because the sunrise became again an important moment in my days.
Because there's a hunger of wide open spaces in all three of us.

We're off for a new adventure!

So we're at home for a while...right here.

Their rhythm, my heart

"Let's take a walk", they said, and I believed them for half a second. Enough for me to say a quick yes. And only then I've seen the twinkle in their eyes...

It's been snowing for a couples of hours, but it's still warm for this time of year. No crispy snow under my boots, no snowmen in the backyard. Still, this could become interesting for me too.

I take my camera hoping to get nice pictures of the trees, hoping to learn more about it (and to step out of the automatic mode I use when I'm in a hurry...ahem) and glad to be out of the house without a reason. For a WALK, or so they said.

But when I reach the park with the giggling squirrels, they spin around a few times and become...rabbits! And they are fast.


As for my walk?  Well, it'll have to wait. My photo experiments also.

 A change of rhythm? YES. 
With all my heart.

Busy day

Extended family trips bring a lot of joy both to little ones and grown ups. This time the place didn't involve grass and playing hide - and-seek behind the trees. And strangely enough, as I was to discover, the beach is still full of wonders even when you have it 50 m outside your front door the whole year round.

Following a good habit I insist that going out shouldn't always involve sandwiches and biscuits. I can promise you that, even the chat is better around the baking dish. And I have also noticed my kids kept coming back without being called...hmmm

 Well, some worked harder...

and others hardly worked at all,

but at the end of the day I was listening to the plea: "We can't go now. There are so many things we HAVE TO do..."

And so I've seen once more that wide spaces have that strange power of bringing people closer and taming the siblings issues.

We did get back.

But only late in the night.

Quiet morning

My mornings are usually a rush. I'm not an early riser. I've never been, but lately I really had  to wake up early and start checking my list of "to do"s of that day.

Not to mention that charming habit that I got during the last winter: to squeeeeze a few pages read just before the whole thing starts. That pushes my waking hour just a wee bit earlier, but I just don't have the heart (or the head) to let it go.

So today I was caught by surprise. Both kids asleep, the house was quiet. There was no list, I had plans for the day but they were very loose, so I got my book and went out on the terrace.

And for minutes the only noise I could hear was that coming from turning the pages. It must have been too late for the roosters, too early for the donkeys, too far away from any hens, too good-of-a-book to hear the buzzing of the insects.

And then I heard it loud and clear: purrrr-purrrr...

Happiness may come in many ways. I've just found a new one. (...or a meow one)

I speak picturish.Trees

Trees are for:

:: bearing fruit

:: hugging

:: counting when you play peek-a-boo

:: climbing

:: trying your strenght

Leaves that are leaving

As I said before, I don't mind the leaves that are leaving... (I used to have a problem with those that were coming)

But this year in particular I don't give much for those that are coming either!
Because my kids have taught me something amazing: what comes down must go back up; and since what goes up DOES come down, we can have giggles and laughter for hours in the yard.

See? UP:

and DOWN: 

And all around...

The Remnants of the Summer

Preparing the garden for the winter is definitely more work, but a dear reminder of all those Summer days full of busy hands, big and small, full of chattering, laughter, flavours and colours. The dazeling sunlight and the peaceful shade under the trees. The flow of questions - too many to be answered, but I did my best.

It's time for one last harvest.

A small one, but leaving aside the taste, one very dear to us. "Because these are our tomatoes." We all worked hard for them. Some did the planning and the planting, others did the digging and some of the watering, some kept a close watch on them and others learned how to harvest them.

(harvesting green ones was puzzling: "But, Mummy, didn't you say they should be red?!" Ahem... The kid had a point.)

We canned some, froze others, hung some and eat some more.

And just when I was about to say that I was DONE with preserving the Summer in so many ways, I looked up:

Oh, yeah, more fun!
...but sweet.

Piglet's philosophy

I don't mind the leaves that are leaving...

it's the leaves that are coming that bother me!!!

My, my, there's gonna be a busy week...

Loooong and busy Summer

Here, my dear friends, because many of you asked what have we been doing this summer...

Well...

...we've been chopping leaves,

... we've been looking for new friends EVERYWHERE!

...we've been studying geography,

...we've been watching things grow,

(...some of us were very lazy)

...we've been playing in the sun,

...we've been playing in the shade,

... we've changed the therapy setting,

...we've been traveling,

... we've been enjoying the fruits of summer,

... we've been riding,

...yes, all of us,


... we've been doing peg art (if you don't know what that is take a look below - it must be art, when I asked Clara why she did it she said she had to...)

(the accomplished work of art)

and I've literally been with one foot in and one foot out the whole summer.

o zi plină

Azi a fost o zi plină.

Plină de culoare...

Plină de întrebări aşa cum numai el le poate formula...

Plină de bucuria căutării şi apoi a tezaurizării micilor comori...

Plină de jocuri noi...cu jucării mai vechi. (Mulţumim, Mirela, e foarte ocupată maşina de la tine zilele astea)

am plecat...

Cine i-a dat ei voie să se ridice şi să o ia din loc?

Fata asta chiar nu înţelege: treaba celui mai mic din familie este să rămână mic. I-am spus, i-am repetat, i-am explicat, dar ea insistă să plece şi gata!

Faci copii, îi creşti un pic şi ei....hmm, chiar pleacă. Parenting pe scurt, ar fi asta.

Evident că sunt mândra, ma bucur, aplaud, ma laud şi la alţii. Şi din când în când recunosc că acolo, într-un colţ de inimă, mai e ceva...Dar despre acel ceva nu vorbim azi!