Friends and Family

 

 

 

My friend Mia

 

The Holidays

I love this time of year. For me it's a time to reflect, time to clear out the "stuff" from last year (including emotional stuff), spending time with friends and family, giving myself some special treats like Starbucks, playing holiday music, keeping candles lit, etc.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all of you!

Godfrey and I on a date....(Britney's person made out of yarn)

Inks Lake year nbr 2....we love this place....

Night out with friends...abundance in our lives....

I planted three trees....

I'm so excited I planted my first three trees. Yes, that's what I said...my first trees ever. Well if you don't count the tree I gave to my mother on mother's day when I was 19 years old. Whew...that was a long time ago.

I haven't been much of a plant/tree/etc. person, but I'm hoping things will change in that area of my life.

We are now looking into a Sudbury School for the kids. There is one starting up outside of Austin that we are looking at.

It would be really nice for the kids to have the daily interaction with their peers while being able to decide what they are going to study.

More to follow. I'll try to get some pictures of my trees.

Hugs,
Tracey

My new backyard or something close...I hope!!!

This butterfly smiled for the camera!!!

Red bird, Red bird what do you see?

 

 

 

 

Kids doing what they do best....playing....

 

 

 

 

Even dogs like to ponder life.....

New Growth in the Middle of Winter

 

In a nature area near my home I found this growth in the middle of a bramble of what it appeared to be dead brush. Spring is coming!!! Growth always follows death!!

"Nature and the Quest for Meaning" Class at Tx State

I was thinking of taking this semester off, but due to some circumstances I can't change, I'm going to attend school. I'll definately take the summer off and who know's what I'll do in the fall.

I'm so excited to be taking Susan K. Hanson's "Nature and the Quest for Meaning" writing class. Check out her website www.susankhanson.com She is a fantastic nature writer and professor at Texas State.

We are going on an overnight nature field trip next week to Wimberley. Pictures and more information will follow.

I am beside myself and ready to see what this class has to offer me.

Hugs,
Tracey

Changing Up Our Schedule a Bit....

Since I will be working more and Godfrey will be going after his Master's this year, we are putting the kids on more of a self motivated home school schedule. It seems to be working so far. They have to get up in the morning, do their duties (chores), take care of their hygeine, and then do their home school work. Dad will be helping them as needed.

This will work this month because it is math month. Godfrey and I both don't like math, but oh well....someone has to do it.....smile....

The Opening of Eyes by Poet David Whyte

That day I saw beneath dark clouds
the passing light over the water
and I heard the voice of the world speak out,
I knew then, as I had before
life is no passing memory of what has been
nor the remaining pages in a great book
waiting to be read.
It is the opening of eyes long closed.
It is the vision of far off things
seen for the silence they hold.
It is the heart after years
of secret conversing
speaking out loud in the clear air.

It is Moses in the desert
fallen to his knees before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
as if to enter heaven
and finding himself astonished,
opened at last,
fallen in love with solid ground.

-- David Whyte
from Songs for Coming Home
©1984 Many Rivers Press

Winter....quiet.....dark.....death......

I look outside my window at the dead trees just behing my backyard fence. They are all without their leaves. Winter is here. It is always a reflection to me of what happens within us. We grow and then some part of us has to die and give way to the new.

This is the part we don't seem to enjoy. The pruning or cutting off of the old parts of our lives that aren't working.

I feel an inner calling to go deep inside myself and sit awhile. Sit quietly and wait for what is coming.

What is coming? That is a good question. I don't know. Only time will tell.

For now, I will sit and wait. I feel like a butterfly in a cacoon waiting while nothing seems to be happening. Waiting in the dark.

Hugs,
Tracey