My occasional Daybook.
Adventures in Recent Past and Future:
Yesterday Sean and Kevin went with Grandpa to a City College football dinner.
Next week Liam goes back to college.
Where Everyone Is:
Clare just woke up, I hear. Aidan is getting his morning minutes on the NIntendo (he plays when everyone is still asleep, so they don’t get sucked into watching). Sean just went down through the woods to catch his bus. Kevin is asleep, having stayed up late last night; ditto Liam and Brendan and Patrick.
Recent Music:
Johny Cash.
Recent Books Seen Around the House:
The Lost World, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Kieron); Brideshead Revisited, Do Hard Things, The Moonstone (Clare); ?? Brendan; various textbooks (Sean); Blind Spots, Brideshead Revisited (me), 1000 Art Masterpieces (Liam and Clare); 100 Great Short Stories (or some similar title) (Liam).
Weather:
Very hot and humid at the end of last week but now cooling off to late summer temperatures.
Thoughts:
I need to redeem my hours better. Why is this so hard?
What I’m Working On:
Getting ready for first day of homeschool.
What I am Happy About:
Arriving at the fourth week of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (a first!)
What I’m Not So Happy About:
A feeling of boredom and restlessness in the air of our home, more frequent little-sibling squabbles and tension, missing the teenager.
Spiritual Focus:
Still — Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (progressing through Retreat with the Lord by Fr John Hardon)
Trying to figure out what God wants for me in this next stage of life.
Recent Kitchen Events:
A great pizza with partly whole wheat crust, garlic sauce, BBQ’d chicken bits simmered with jalapeno, crushed pineapple, and olives on top. Trust me — I was proud of this one.
Formal Academics:
Sean — Geometry and Language Arts assignments with the whole family interested.
Informal Learning:
Painting and playdough experiences for the little ones.
Culture:
Hmm — Sean narrated The Most Dangerous Game to us all when we were in the car.
Liam and Clare browsed through a Sister Wendy art masterpiece book and made up Twilight-Zone type stories about the weirder, more modern pictures.
Movies:
Walk the LIne; Monk episodes; Olympics.
Wearing:
Jeans and a heather-purple knit shirt with a loose turtleneck (can’t stand tight ones)
Creating:
Hmm…..? More photos recently, and imaginary games with my lonely 5 year old.
Grateful for:
Sweet little five year olds who get to stay home! and that my public-high-schooler is telling us his adventures when he gets home; and my Catholic Faith.
Some things I want to do this week:
Still — take the little ones outside, and call a friend — PLUS get our homeschool year off the ground.
A Picture Thought:
This will fill a backpack fast, and wear one out too — Sean’s books!
