Fathers & Sons

This is son Joey.  He is a great uncle who is now also a daddy!

This compact little bundle pictured below, so cozy and warm within, sure took his time emerging from the womb.  

But emerge he did.  As it so invariably happens.  When it was his time.

Beckett Alexander is the newest man-child in the family.

A beautiful first born son to our second born son and his wife.

Friends and Family swarmed in, delighted to hear the details of this life-altering experience.

And life altering it is.

We are all changed again, in ways yet to be measured and defined.

I watch my beloved with this bundle and remember a time long ago (was it truly so long ago?)
In my minds eye, I see this staid and stoic man dancing around a delivery room with his own man-child in arms.
A feeling monumental stirs inside me but resists words.
Ppft! Hate it when that happens.

Little Beckett Alexander with the big hands and feet? ~ ~ It is a great privilege to welcome you to our world.  You are here with us according to a grand plan and purpose of God.

As grandmother, I am now supposedly old and wise enough to wait patiently for this to unfold.
If I default in my penchant of ploughing headlong, may it be in the area of prayer.
In the stillness and beauty of this summer morning reflection, I earnestly desire that it may be so.

The Newest Mr. & Mrs. in our family

Photo credits to Amy of Asher Images, family photographer extraordinaire.

Used without permission (sheepish grin)

Our baby girl is off on a honeymoon with her new husband.  Of course with her new husband.
"Honeymoon".
Why that term strikes me as strange now is interesting. 
I never thought about it twice when I ventured on my own, nor when we delighted in seeing four other married children embark on theirs.

Google defines it thus:
One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.”
Originally "honeymoon" simply described the period just after the wedding when things are at their sweetest; it is assumed to wane in a month. The earliest term for this in English was hony moone, which was recorded as early as 1546.


... a period of time when things are at their sweetest ~ assumed to wane in a month. 


Harrumph!


Not to worry.  Many marriage veterans including us, have and will continue to mentor our little newlyweds regarding this profound mystery as it has been called, to pray for them, walk the road with them, offer counsel when requested and perhaps otherwise :),  to enjoy this blessing with them and finally, get them reading  SACRED MARRIAGE.  
(a gem of a book/devotional we discovered only two years ago and heartily endorse to everyone regardless of where they show up on the marriage spectrum). 


We eagerly anticipate their return for a variety of reasons:

• to hear about the marvels of their meanderings of NYC ~ if it is  even possible to meander in such a place.
• to witness ones children establish a new family home of their own and finally...
• to have this infernal publication ban of their wedding photos lifted once and for all so that we might share the occasion with you!

Maternal Musings

Today, in a sunlit spare room upstairs, I spent an extraordinary afternoon with the contents of small ordinary looking box.

In a corner of that room, lie two very large rubbermaid totes filled with memories of my mother.  

Totes filled with precious personal things too sacred to discard -- things that need to find a new home somewhere and which by some nebulous design, became the assignment of this first born daughter. 

Me.  

So ill-suited to the task.

I wondered if today would be the day.  

In one entire afternoon, I managed to rifle through just that one little shoebox sized container, discovering (among other treasures) this well-preserved professional portrait taken in the late 1940's in Rotterdam.  

That's my mother in the middle - parked between her parents and brothers.  

The lighting is perfect and the pixels so crisp I can almost see the colour green of her eyes.  

And then it struck me.  How surreal this moment was! 

....to finally begin the process of picking through my mom's things and 'randomly' start with a box that she had, as first born daughter, kept of her own mother's memories...

The newspaper obituary, the funeral service program, old family photos, hand-written letters & cards of condolence from her church family and abroad...  

All perfectly preserved and protected for the sake of posterity - for such a time as this? 

I am oddly without words sufficient to describe the feeling of this experience. 

At once tingling the spine & nourishing the soul.

The Princess and the Pea(nut Butter).

The basement Rec room is nearing completion.
Many have asked (and in truth, we have often revisited the conundrum ourselves)
"why exactly would a pair of empty nesters in a cavernous space think to add more square footage of surface to dust and vacuum?"
Indeed, this is a fair question.
There is a well-considered, long-winded answer and then ---
there is the more obvious and simple one rendered by photo:

 A sleepover exclusive to the junior grand-daughters.

A boom box still under grandmarmie's control :)
 

 A growing stock of Value Village dress-up clothes.

 The pseudo glass slippers.

And there you have it.
Our unapologetic 'do it again in a heartbeat' reason for the thing.
Frivolous
... and SO much fun!

A Floridian Family Fest

           Here's just a few things one finds to do with a fabulous
                               family fest in Florida!

Hanging out in the pantry

Neil Diamond singing "Beautiful Noise".  A fitting tribute to our reality here :)

Sunday Dinner round table...

Knitting a new pair of Lacey Look socks on a pair of 2.75 circular turbo needles.
FYI  Turbo defines the make of needle and in no way references the handlers' speed.   

With fear and trepidation, I'm about to start the heel gusset.  But the inevitable emergency situations can be most definitely MUST be handled via email by my sister/knitting counselor-mentor.

The pool Beautiful.  It is SawWeET!

     Breaking out of the tried and tired,
experimenting with new recipes.

In a terrific environment to boot

Unpacking a shipment of barstools for our rental home.

Beloved says when we finish setting up the basement rec room back home, 

we're doing the smart thing:  Shipping in some big boxes from the grocery store and calling it done!

                                           Shell shucking

                                         Leapster Explorer

Morning walk on the golf course, 

Scavenging for grandpa's collection

A highly popular past-time!

                               Fancy nails with polish and art deco

*sigh*  

Curious George & Green Eggs and Ham 

never seem to lose one ounce of appeal

                                                      Sunsets at the beach

                                             Pelican imitation