nuggets :: out of chaos...

hump day nuggets :: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week

You know the phrase out of chaos, comes order?  Well, it's an old Latin phrase and it keeps ringing in my ears as I reflect on our life and all of the hubbub from last week.  Our family has been going and going for months and on Saturday night we hit the proverbial wall.  Grady went to bed without dinner and cried himself to sleep (ouch), we chatted about our parenting do's and don'ts and where we're off course.  Turns out, we needed to have complete chaos in order to bring our family, well, order.  And order most definitely came.   Funny how that happens when you stop, pay attention and then hit the reset button on your life.

nuggets.

The mornings around here have been spectacular.  We had our first frost Monday night, but before that we had these incredible, glowing sunrises and the mornings were warm and balmy.

The light is just amazing first thing in the morning and shadows & silhouettes are screaming to be photographed.

I rushed out in my boots & housedress to try and capture some of the honeyed light splashed up against the siding of our home.  The boy wanted to add his own super cool element to the photoshoot (i.e. his version of a peace sign).

The hens have gone on strike and are no longer producing eggs.  It's such a sad time for this egg-loving family, but with the shorter days winding down - egg production should be up after Winter Solstice.  This is their way of saying Hey lady, we need a break.  We've been working our tails off for 10 months.  I hear you girls, I hear you.  Enjoy your sabbatical.

Just like our mornings, the golden afternoon sunlight spilling into our kitchen and bathroom makes me pause, enjoy the shadows for the few minutes I can and then the sun dips down over the hillside to the west of us and we're left with a soft, abbreviated rainbow of purples, pinks & blues that coat the valley skies.  It is such a beautiful way to end a day.

We finally finished putting out a few holiday decorations and getting in the general holiday spirit around here.  I read this post and it reminded me to focus on Grady and writing his book of memories this holiday season.  It also galvanized my head full of ideas and sharpened my focus on creating or reinforcing some of our holiday traditions for him and for us.  I'm ready now.

This is Grady's first year playing CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) basketball through his elementary school (don't ask me what COA means on their jerseys, 'cuz I got no idea!).  Saturday was their first game and the kids had to be there and ready to go at 8:30 a.m. in Petaluma (about 20 minutes from our home).  They all looked real cute in their uniforms and were dealt a crushing defeat when the buzzer rang with the final score tallied at 26-4.  Grady was quite the sprinter and hustled up and down the court, but nuances and strategy of the game are yet to be learned.  The kids had fun and that's all that really matters, right?

The crafting has started in earnest here in our household and the boy is leading the charge with his uber cool custom cuffs.  We picked up a few additional colors of tape, as boring duct tape grey was quickly falling out of fashion around here.  He designed four cuffs for his friends and embellished a few with Pokemon cards.  And I still don't understand Pokemon and probably never will.

I found dozens and dozens of photos of Grady in Photo Booth on my computer.  I have no idea when he took most of them, but it sure gave me a belly laugh when I scrolled through the images.  I'm guessing these are his alter-egos?

Grady's favorite day of the week is Wednesday.  When I asked him why, he said he wakes up with a happy feeling because he knows he's going to have music class today.  I love that.  He's been playing hot cross buns on the recorder and learning a lot from his music teacher this year. He's so proud that he has his very own musical instrument and can actually play it.

From our chaos over the weekend, came a new and improved chore chart for Grady.  A kind of road map of expectations for the day.  I forget how well my boy responds to a list and so far it's helped with the morning reluctance to get moving and jump-started the afternoon routine once he's home from school.  Steve and Grady designed the spreadsheet and quickly hung it next to his bunk bed.  It's working like a charm.

Grady has been leaving me select Pokemon cards on my bedside table.  He's carefully culled his collection and obviously selected the ones with sweet or pretty images.  And while I don't get Pokemon, I completely get this gesture.  Oh, and by the way, it's so much better than the snakes and cockroaches he was leaving me a few months ago.

Wild Lupine, Unknown, Box Honeysuckle

I picked up an additional 30+ plants from our local nursery's free pile last week.  I shared some with friends, saved some for teacher presents and planted the rest just before the first frost was upon us this week.

Before & After

Native Red Bee Balm was planted along the fence line and covered with straw to protect it from our early morning frost warnings this week.  I'm hoping it spreads like wildfire come spring (and it most likely will because it's from the mint family).  The scarlet blooms are said to attract hummingbirds and the beautiful "screen" will be a nicer element than the "weed screen" we currently display year-round as you approach our house.

I finally got the garlic in this week.  I used the same garlic that I harvested earlier this summer and we still have about five heads left.  I'm going to try and plant an entire bed of this in one of the vacant beds near the hen house because it's so danged easy to grow.  A friend once told me that if you can grow on your counter, you can grow it in your garden, Tammi.  Sage advice.

Well, if this isn't the nicest sight to see when I drive up the lane towards home.  The boy has put his Moomin books back into heavy rotation and Calvin & Hobbes and Diary of a Wimpy Kid have dropped off the radar screen as of right now.  He and his father put up lights and decorated the tree over the weekend, but I love that this tree remains one of his favorite reading spots.  Report cards came home and he exceeded his grade level in reading.  Well, I can certainly understand how that happened.

Happy hump day, friends.