Day 7: Butterflies, Bee Stings and Birthdays

This past weekend was all about truly welcoming in that summer vibe -- from swimming in my cousin Kelli's pool to getting our "tan on" for the first time this summer (ok, Sarah not so tan, but a little more rosy), it's actually starting to feel like summer is really here. We are such water elements. All last summer, if we weren't working, we were in the water - usually the ocean. After we sold the duplex on Friendship street and before we bought the new place, we celebrated by buying long boards and trying to learn how to surf. Turns out I am not too good at it, but I am a champ at floating on the calm water and spotting dolphins. I really should have gotten myself a paddleboard so i could do sun salutations out there (my favorite yoga flow for the past few years). Granted, I would have to air drop out past the waves. Short people have A LOT harder time getting past those waves with a surf board. Made me realize how much upper body strength and core strength you really need to surf, and weight. It's not joke. The ocean is a powerful entity. The last time we surfed it was so windy, the current took me to another beach entirely - I got to shore and tried to walk my board back to 1st street -- a nice person saw me and tried to help - when he got up, his chair and beach set flipped up in the air from the wind. He was a bit upset but I was grateful for his help in carrying that beast down the beach. Yes, I think if I could "heli-surf" or get towed out to the deep water just to float and flow that would be ideal. then ride the waves back to shore. Anyways, we haven't surfed in many months, but I am looking forward to carving out a day to get down to the ocean. Our souls have been craving time in the water, that ancient connection to the ocean beckoning us past its breakers. We are very grateful we had the chance to swim this weekend at Kelli and Gary's. These fish are bit more restful.

Another visitor outside our doorstep - this beautiful butterfly flitted about for a while.

This weekend we also had a few random nature encounters outside our front door, literally. We live basically in Pennypack park (still waiting for our friends to show up to camp on our lawn haha), and we see stuff all the time. When we first moved in, a baby morning dove would hang out on our wooden mailbox - like it was a nest. I will never forget coming here to work and paint, etc. and seeing that little bird sitting there with that simple expression on its face, kind of like that book, "are you my mother?". Eventually the mother bird showed up and ushered her baby away, but I think our backyard was the local 'flying school' where the baby birds would learn to fly from fence to tree to rooftop and back again. This weekend, another baby creature surprised on the mailbox -- a tiny baby praying mantis! When we grew up, they were an endangered species - not sure if they still are? But seeing one felt so special, and rare. The kelly green stick like bug jumped from the mailbox to my linen pants and took a walk straight up my back - of course we let him hang out so we could snap a few photos of him ;), and then Sarah scooped him up and put him on the lawn, where he disappeared among the blades of grass. The next day we were greeted with a gorgeous butterfly on the way to our walk. The woods had something else in mind for us though -- darkness was looming. After enjoying a swim, Maggie uncovered what must have been a nest of yellow jackets! We were walking along the trail and she came flying out of the under brush, throwing her body around like a mad dog. As she approached us, I could see the signature yellow and black stripes of a yellow jacket stuck to her head. Of course, I go into panic mode but tried to stay calm at the same time. It wasn't until we got home that her eye and lip swelled up like she had gotten into a brawl. Poor puppy. Sarah was calling her Quasimodo. Thank goodness for awesome neighbors though. While I am on the phone with my mom trying to decide if I could give her benadryl, my neighbor came over with info from her vet that we could indeed give it to her - Sarah researched it online to confirm, and away we went with a home remedy -- it's 1mg per pound of body weight in case you are wondering. So Vicky, our neighbor, volunteered to give her the first pill since she has done it a million times with her two dogs -- right in it went. Not so much the case when Sarah and I tried to give her the second pill later -- she acted like that mad dog again haha -- I tried putting it in her throat while Sarah held her (you have to get it past their tongue, gross), and Maggie swung her head, sending my hand flying into Sarah's face. Then there was some biting and scratching that happened all at the same time, but somehow we got it in there. And yes, we tried using treats. But that didn't work. She spit out the pill. Naturally. She is my dog afterall. Gato is the same exact way. When I had to give Gato medicine in the past I would find it under my bed. She would seem like she took it, then later spit it under the bed. Classic case of a cat being smarter than her human haha. Anyway, she is doing much better - you can't even tell that she was stung. She is back to being her happy puppy self. I am sure she will find another bee interesting in the future, but I feel more prepared for what to do now.

You can see how her eye swelled up poor thing. 

Post bee sting, we headed out to another family party at Carolyn's house in Kimberton. It was about 120 degrees in her backyard, but the kids enjoyed a water balloon fight while the adults enjoyed cold beverages in the AC. Here's a few pics of my own family. Love ya guys! Even you inappropriate conversationalists haha -- you know who you are ;). Somehow you know how to turn everything into a cringing moment of awkwardness and hilariousness that no one can resist even if they wanted to ;). More pics to come later... I gotta get back to work haha ;).

Wet willy prevention tactic. We need to build a little trust haha.

Day 6: Glistening Fiveheads in the Sun

Ah, the sun on my skin, there you are. my hair crunchy and matted in random places from swimming and swirled about into un-tamable shapes and spaztic points from driving with the windows down listening to music (everything from FloRida to Little Mermaid). ah, but the sun.  i have missed you the way a plant misses rain during a dry spell. I have missed the heat radiating off my 'five' head ( in my family our foreheads are actually 'five' heads -- attributed to our ability to fit all five fingers between our eyebrows and hairline, as illustrated in some of these pictures - just saying bigger forehead, bigger brain ;) ) -- today it feels as though summer has officially started for us. After a bit of a rough start to the day - including a near meltdown on both our parts, we pulled ourselves together, I squeezed my plumper than usual body into an old swim suit and we high tailed it for Pottstown. What's in Pottstown you say? Only my amazing awesome family!! Yep, I told you I was obsessed with them. Seriously, is there anything better than hearing familiar voices as your approach the fence line to then be greeted by your cousin you haven't seen in forever -- i love that. then hugs all around. and the little nieces begging you to jump in the pool and swim under water with them. clinging to you like barnacles. i am not saying i am like a whale (though I love whales, not sure i have mentioned that yet -- but my dream is to swim with humpbacks). but i love my niece barnacles. the littlest ones are growing up so fast - both of them swimming under water and getting more courage to go closer to the deep end and challenge themselves. It makes me so nervous though. My instinct is to encourage them, but protect them fiercely. it's hard to explain my love for my nieces and nephew and great nephew and all future little ones in our lives that are currently 'on the way'. They are incredibly special people who I would lay my life on the line for. I mean anyone in my family, of course. My sisters, my amazing parents - I wish I could have known them when they were young. I would love to see how they were at family parties at our age. I am so lucky to have such great parents. I love my friendship with my Mom. I am so incredibly grateful for her humor and her listening ear and her encouragement of my art. She is by far one of my best friends on this planet and I would be lost without her. And my Dad - he's a showman. And a thinker. And I am an apple that doesn't fall far from that tree haha. I apsire to be like my parents in so many ways. Maybe one day Sarah and I will be parents. Only time will tell. For now, we are the aunts who love their little ones with all our hearts. Looking forward to another family party on Sunday! Anways, not too many pictures of pool day, but here are a few from my phone. Thanks again Kelli and Gary!

Day 5: July 4th Staycation

Sometimes you just need a vacation at home, in the AC with family and lots of movies and food. And that's what we did. Not that eventful, other than it's just awesome how relaxing it can be to take the simple route -- to walk in the woods, to watch movies, to lay on the floor, to take naps and just breath. just what you need once in a while. happy 4th holiday everyone!

Day 4 1/2: Giddy Good Times

This post is a little late... due to having a good time last night haha. The best part of 'partying like we used to' is the next day when I feel delirious and I can't stop laughing. Just the simple way someone says "No" I find hilarious. We are relaxing on the couch watching Tower Heist and Rebecca and I, in true fashion, started talking and annoying Sarah and Jon -- who were on their various  "iDevices" by the way and not even watching the movie... and you know we were doing charades and cracking ourselves up. And, for some reason it made me think of a random childhood story. One day at the end of the day, our 5th grade teacher decided it was a good day for a random spelling bee. We all took turns coming up to the front of the room and spelling a word. When it was my turn I couldn't wait to see what word I would be given - a bit of a showman, I liked the hard ones. He said "Spell the word: rough." I was a decent student, and totally had this one in the bag and was truthfully a little disappointed by such an easy word - sitting on a stool in front of the whole class and I was all smiles and presented the spelling of my word, "R U F F." For a few moments, there was deafening silence. My teacher's expression was a combination of confusion and shock... then he hung his head, probably trying not to laugh and then almost fell off his chair. I miss 5th grade. That was a great time in life. I loved my teachers, my friends and I am pretty sure that's when I started being funny. Just kidding, but no really that was a really nice time in life. I have no idea why I am thinking of that, but I guess because the past two days have been really fun. Yes, we were preparing for a party which had us in "manic clean and cook mode" and we took naps at 10am. But it's a time of celebration. My youngest sister (there are 5 of us) Rebecca and her husband Jon have been reunited after six months apart from each other. Jon is in med school in Grenada (a tiny island near South America known for their chocolate and nutmeg), and Rebecca had been living there too until she came home to be our family super hero. Seriously. There was a lot of turmoil in our lives this Fall and Winter... long story short, the main factor was when my Dad had his stroke. Rebecca came home to help the family. And she is amazing at it. She has helped us all in so many ways -- from cooking for all us to cutting acres of grass that grows beneath the mower while you are cutting it, and even nursing back to health a puppy who broke her leg. Anyways, last night we had a gathering to celebrate her and Jon seeing each other again for the first time in 6 months. Because that's how we roll. We celebrate love. No matter what. And we did so with some really fun, and lovely people who I am really grateful to know. They are the kind of people who laugh with you, not at you, who will say "ok i will do acro yoga with you in your living room at midnight after we've been drinking for several (too many) hours."  The kind of friends who will try to get the fire pit going with you even though all the wood was soaking wet. Yeah.  The friends who love you and don't judge you. Just embrace you and make you laugh. The perfect after life would be like a party with all your favorite people. Just less of a hangover. But all the delirious giddiness. Thanks for inspiring the giddy guys. Love ya. (more pics to come...)

Day 3: Quiet Day

Today, I feel shaken in my core. If you live in the Philadelphia area, you may have heard about the boy who went missing in Pennypack Creek here in Northeast Philadelphia. He was jumping into the high waters from the rain with his brother and it seems like he must have gotten caught by the under current. They aren't reporting yet what happened, but they are still looking for him 24 hours later. This tragedy has affected me deeply. Each day I walk Maggie in different parts of Pennypack Park - it's right outside our door and is one of the main reasons I agreed to live in this area (Sarah is from here). We spend more time in the park than anywhere else and it feels it is as much our home, as our actual home. On our walk this morning, I was struck by a deep sense of grief. A sense of of tragedy for a child's life hanging somewhere in the balance in these woods. I felt out of respect for the family that we needed to leave. We weren't anywhere near the location, but it just felt wrong to be there. It's a strange feeling to have such a personal and joyful connection to a place, and then to have something terrible happen there that changes how you feel in that place.Makes you feel really vulnerable. Like droplets of water balanced on a spider web. Like a slight shift in the balance of things, and everything is changed forever.

Today, Sarah had two close calls herself. She was almost hit by an idiot driver while going around Holme Circle to get her hair cut. I use the word 'idiot' because they put my love's life in danger on a slippery road.  And, prior to that maybe you also heard in the news about the accident on a construction site in North Philly --- Sarah was working just one floor from the last floor the metal beams crashed through. Too close. My phone rang around 11am - not her break time, not her lunch time. I picked up the phone and held my breath. You never want to get a call at a weird time of day. It usually means one of two things -- either Sarah got laid off, or there was an accident. That's one of the things I worry about with our lack of legal marital status. They closed the job after the accident (no one was hurt thank god), and she came home talking about getting life insurance. I can't even process that. I am not even going to go there right now. But it's been one of these sobering days that leaves me feeling quiet. It makes my sore throat and lack of enery today just seem not important. Or the dusting I need to do. Or any of that kind of day to day stuff. I just feel like breathing, slowly, in comfortable silence with my wife. Joyful things did happen today, like we bought a rainbow picnic blanket and new wash clothes that we desperately needed. These little things just feel very sub-context to this other overarching feeling my heart is carrying. So today, I just give you a few rainy day photos from my backyard. I hope that tomorrow a little sunshine can shine in the worried and grieving hearts out there and that more joy returns to my own heart. I feel it in my core, and I am trying to send healing energy out to the world. One person's suffering is all of our suffering. I am going to use my intention tonight to send comfort and love out there. To you, if you need it. If you feel alone. Or worried. Or are hurt or grieving or sad. Feel less alone tonight knowing you are loved.