"On the Go with The Howell Family"
And so the paint strip writing idea, while good, doesn't really fit into a week on the go. Will have to revisit that writing exercise on days I am blocked. Today, there is no time to be blocked. There isn't even really time for me to be doing this. We came home for about 18 hours, and are headed off again.
Today is my cousin Matt's graduation pig roast in Buffalo, and time to see Grandpa, Aunt Mary, Uncle Dan, Dan Jr., and goodness knows who else. Then we're staying in Niagara Falls tonight and "doing Falls stuff" tomorrow. I haven't been to the falls in years so I am interested to see how it has changed. I mean, the falls are probably still there and all, but I hear the area is built up a lot. Regardless, we will surely have fun...we always do!
....time to go!

...so it is funny how you have to KNOW your passwords in order to write online when you are away! I rely WAY too much on cookies!

Wednesday was "go down to Lansing but we aren't really sure what needs to be done" day, Thursday was "Tim moves Todd and Kate day and Cheryl hangs with the kids day," and today is "Come home so we can go away to Buffalo/Niagara Falls" day. It is funny how days seem long and pointless and just full of reading and laziness, and then all of a sudden are turned on their ear!

Two observations, big heavy ones, of the last two days...

If ANYONE in 1988 had told me that one day, in 2010, I would be joyously babysitting Todd Howell's third born child AS my husband, Todd's brother, helped him to move into their parent's house, I'd have rolled my eyes and said "Um, yeah..."

and...

One should never start to discuss the overall plot and themes of the Harry Potter series with their 12 year old at 11:15 pm, because it invariably becomes a conversation that bleeds into the next day!

G'Nite!

...today a pink hued paint strip...and perhaps I was also inspired by our bookgroup meeting? It was a great day with you, girls!




A little bit of Pink Chablis never hurt anyone. Trashy pink wine for sure, the type one might mix into a spritzer. Her wine snob of a boyfriend would have a hissy, but to her it was just good fun wine. There was a beautiful Pink Bloom in the vase on her dresser, and La Mademoiselle couldn't help but be joyful and happy. After a beautiful, sunny summer's day, it was going to be a great night. The air was soft and sultry, and she was heading OUT with the girls!

She painted her lips a deep Wineberry and giggled a bit. Fun wine...fun lipstick...what more could one ask for? As she gave her face a final check and her hair a final fluff, she grabbed her new bright pink purse. Pink surely was factoring into this evening. Maybe a sign? Maybe just a coincidence? Whatever it was, she was happy to throw her purse up and over her shoulder. It was time to head out, have some fun, and perhaps bring home a Keepsake. It was going to be a great night.

I suppose the teacher in me is coming out, as I am giving myself a little writing task today.

On Friday, as we came home from our Mother/Daughter movie night, Araya gave me several paint samples, for whatever reason. I have always loved these, and seriously, if I am at the hardware store, whether I am in the midst of a painting project or not, will spend time at the display, and probably stuff a few in my purse. Of course I am drawn to the gradations of color, but then there are the great names! One of the strips she gave me had some particularly good ones, and gave me the idea of a writing task where one had to fit said names into a cohesive piece. So that is what I am up to today...here goes...

As I woke up, groggy from the night before, I poured my coffee, and popped toast in the toaster. I thought off on where the days had been, and where this day was going, as the butter melted and my Glazed Toast glistened with goodness in the mid morning light.

I flipped on Food Network, and some young thing was making Pastel Coconut Cupcakes. Certainly a project for someone, but way too fussy for me, so I switched the channel and tuned in, but out, to Regis and Kelly for a celebrity soaked while. I began to make some mental lists; get dressed,do some laundry, get to store for groceries so family doesn't starve. The day would have some form, but beyond that, what?

As the gossip filled hour of power was wrapping up, I got up, and made my way to the kitchen, aware that if I did not get moving, my summer of Faded Perseverance would kick in like usual. Without knowing how, I'd be at 8 pm, with little accomplished but a book being read. It had happened before and would happen today. With that in mind, I decided to venture outside to see what my husband was up to.

He was digging a trench behind the garage. Hardly interesting to me, but, surprisingly, engaging to our 12 year old. I decided to leave well enough alone, and walked over to our hydrangea bushes. There was one particularly gorgeous Garden Bloom, so I went inside, grabbed some scissors to clip it, and then put it in some water for us to enjoy. There is just something about fresh cut flowers.

At that moment, my daughter came down, wanting me to tie the Satin Ribbons, from her new renaissance crown, around her head. Oh to be young and so able and wanting to just live in a little world of fantasy. Garland affixed, she ran back to her room, scenario in her head, ready to jump back into her world. With everyone else in my family thusly occupied, the question still remained, what to do with MY day.

I went back to my little spot, the kitchen, and grabbed a cookbook from the shelf. I can lose myself in one of those as well as anything, and I spent the next hour or so flipping from one Mouthwatering recipe to another, having fun, but purposeful fun at that, as I crafted a menu for the week, and a grocery list for the day. Wow! The day was taking form, just as predicted.

Then I sat down to Sound Off at my blog. With my family happily busy, and my own responsibilities underway, there was knowingly a great day ahead!

(THAT by the way, was WAY FUN, and may just be my theme of the week! R's of Summer I believe I may have finally kicked you to the curb. Hardware store, you have made your way onto my list of stops for today!)

Renaissance.
...and it seems that I can NOT escape this R's of Summer thing as we went to the Renaissance Faire today! It was a blast! We used to go every summer in our pre-kid years, then went in 1998 when Devin was a baby, and in 2000, I believe, with Kathy and Barry, when Ben was a baby, but that was our most recent time until now.

We've wanted to go for the last several years, knowing Devin in particular would love it, but for whatever reason...other plans, laziness, bad weather...it just hasn't happened. Today, going in, Dev was doing the normal 12 year old banter, along the lines of things being dumb and boring and all, but going out, he was all smiles and making plans for going back next year, in costume! Funny how things happen like that again and again. After all, this was the kid that, in third grade, just really wasn't interested in going to DisneyWorld. I did say to him tonight, do you think you MIGHT be able to get on board with mom and dad when we suggest things we think you might enjoy? I got a grunt and a half smile.

After sending the kids up to bed to read, Tim and I toasted to our bad parenting with our 18th Sterling Renaissance Festival mugs. We got them on our first anniversary, which we spent at the Faire. Today's festival was the 34th. I know it is cliche, but whew, time really does fly!

Reunion.
...OK, but before we leave the R's of Summer behind...
Today was Tim's Grandma Colby's family reunion at Green Lakes State Park. Kids ran around all day with cousins, and adults reminisced and reconnected. On the way home, we were replete with thanks that the torrential rain held off until we were driving route 481.
(couldn't resist!)

Remember.

I've been thinking on my R's of Summer theme today, and realize it could go on and on and on. Still, I feel it needs to end. It has been a fun week, and has allowed me to return to a bit of routine with my blog, but I need to put down my crutch and ramble on in my own way.

Today as well, I feel like, humorously enough, I revisited every R that was examined during the week.

Recharged - As I slept in until 9:30.
Read - As I finished Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven...couldn't put it down after the half way point. Oddly enough, it's a memoir...remembrances from a backpacking trip gone wrong.
Resurrected - As I am headed to the movie "Beezus and Ramona" tonight with friends and their daughters...such fun to relive my childhood literary loves with my daughter.
Replayed - As I let the kids suck TV a lot today, but wondered to myself, how many times DO they replay episodes of Spongebob on Nick?
Relaxed - As only a rainy day can allow you to do, if you let it.

So fare thee well, R's, and if I need to get my blogging groove back again, I'll know you're around!

Relax.

Perhaps the most important "R of Summer" would be Relax, and that is just what I did today. Aside from getting my hair cut and colored, making a few phone calls, and shuttling Devin to and from a friend's house, I did little else. And it was perfect.

Replay.

Told you I had more to say on this topic.

So, in the great big replay of summer, I also seem, each year, to stumble across THE summer album. It kind of just shows itself each year, and ends up being the CD that is the backing track of my days. There have been many. A couple of biggies...Johnny Mayer's "Room for Squares" in 2002, I do believe, and Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Will" in 2003. Alanis Morisette's "So Called Chaos" became my anthem in the summer of 2004, seems fitting for the summer I had a 3 year old and 6 year old to deal with!

There are a few years I can't really pinpoint, and of course, my iTunes obsession started around 2006, and I began to piecemeal my music. But 2008 and 2009 saw me remembering that FULL albums of music have merit, and flow, and stories to tell, with distinct beginnings, middles and endings. Colbie Calliet's "Coco" saw me through the end of summer in 2007 in particular, and and then "Breakthrough" came to sing me through the end of the summer of 2009.

This summer, Sting has already brought me many, many hours of listening pleasure, and with a recording of REPLAYS no less! Every song on "Symphonicites," is an orchestral reinterpretation of his old stuff, with the Police and solo. HELLO? Does that fit my summer replay theory or what? Then, yesterday, I bought Sheryl Crow's latest, "100 Miles from Memphis." While listing to it and totally getting into the groove, she started this vamped up sexy version of "Sign Your Name," the old Terrence Trent D'Arby song from the 80's. Suddenly I wasn't driving Rt. 481 on the way home from a doctor's appointment, but I was back, in highschool, pining over a boy, and thinking thoughts that I really shouldn't have been thinking, but were oh so fun! I am having a strong feeling that this CD just may be the soundtrack of the summer of 2010. Thanks for the replay, fellow Sheryl...I knew you'd come through.

Replay.

It is funny how summer starts out, each and every year, with promise of all kinds of new activities and adventures, but really ends up being a big old replay. That isn't a bad thing mind you, just funny.

Every year, around May, I start to have big plans for the summer...places to go...people to see...things to do. Then summer comes, and we get about three/four weeks in. As I look back at what we've done I see the 4th of July merriment, like usual, and the beach, like always. We've had some cookouts and parties with friends, and perhaps a reunion or two has been sprinkled in. Still, each and every year, these things are the same and yet different. The 4th becomes bigger, and better, and bolder, with new pyrotechnics - heehee. The beach is ever the same, but the condo, weather, people in attendance, activities, restaurants, ever change. The kids play at friends' houses, and have friends over here, and leave a trail of clothes and toys behind, flip flops in piles at every door. Still, each year, the flip flops and clothes get a little bit bigger. How exactly it all happens we don't really know, because we are just part of the big summer replay. Every year the whirlpools are made, but different individuals stir up the mix.

I have more I want to add to this blog, but spent too much time and energy stirring up one of those late night whirlpools in an after dark 80 degree pool in 70 degree weather, so it is off to bed for now, but tomorrow, I will be finding a way to relate all of this to Sting and Sheryl Crow as well...just watch me, or if you miss it, hit replay.

Resurrect.

Looked back at my last two blogs, and ahead at the notes to self that I have scratched on a pad by the computer and realized I inadvertently have a little pattern emerging...The R's of Summer! I know! I love it! Not only in the way that it plays off of my normal routine of school, but even more so because it just kind of happened, organically, through disciplined writerly awareness. My mojo is coming back!

So today, the theme is resurrect. Don't worry, I'm not going all religious on you, but I am talking about a phenomenon that takes place in my house every summer...the resurrection of old toys. It usually happens prior to Christmas as well, but at that time it seems to be an attempt to justify new acquisitions, "See Santa, I play with all the old toys, and if you will notice as well, I do so ever so nicely! Surely I am well deserving of new and exciting things to add to my piles?" Yeah, and as calculating and predictable as it is, it works every time. Has forever according to my mom, as she says my brother and I did it too, each and every year, without fail. What goes around comes around I guess.

In the summer, though, I feel it is simply that operative of TIME. Time available, for necessary things, and unnecessary things, such as frittering away the day just going through old stuff, to enjoy things from the past, or to think off on things that had been tucked away in a busier time. It is something I do every summer, under the guise of cleaning, but I see the kids do it as well. Devin, for the last several days, has been engrossed in his old Harry Potter books, and also his Legos, building a lot of everything and nothing all at once. Gwynn is into her Barbies, old and new, like she hasn't been in months, and has a whole house laid out in her bedroom. We have Barbies from the 70's lunching with Barbies from 2010 creating cross cultural girlfriends that no doubt are helping her process her thoughts and feelings about her own friendships. It is really a sight to see.

So joyously, let the resurrection begin in your own home...who knows, Transformers old and new might meet up and put together their own little trip to the hunting lodge. Or perhaps Dora will convince Chatty Kathy that a little trip to the Mexican Riviera would be, how do you say it, magnifico?

And as you resurrect, and the old meets the new, in both objects and actions, through both, you might just find that you are renewed, and refreshed. Bring on the piles of JUNK and bring on the self discovery!

Read.

Totally forgot that I intended to record my reading on here, so a little catch up is due today. There's something to be said about summer reading anyways. You can't force it. I know that every year I buy a ton of books towards the end of the school year, ready to dig in and read, but the school year takes some time to slip away. Stress doesn't exit the body when the classroom door is closed and locked. I always have some time of decompression, and some time being a "magazine slut," but then, at some point each summer, the manic reading begins.

I normally take a book to the beach and make pretty good headway on it there. Sometimes the reading bug bites while on that vacation, but this year was a little slow. It wasn't the book, The Castaways, either, it was just me. In fact, if I could recommend a book highly, an author actually, for good juicy "beachreads," it would be Elin Hilderbrand. She writes, almost exclusively, books set on Nantucket. Last year I read A Summer Affair, the year before was Barefoot, which was probably my favorite, and this year it was The Castaways. Her books have the perfect blend of pace, intrigue, exotic setting, tangled relationships....they are like Cheetos for me, once I get into them, forget it, there goes the whole bag, well book, well, you get it right? Last night, while totally exhausted, I ended up staying up until 1 am just so I could finish The Castaways. That's summer reading to me, late, late nights, with the breeze cooling, bugs humming at the window screens, and peepers peeping in the trees...an occational voice traveling across Little Sodus Bay, and me, curled up in a chair, but off in another world all together.

Speaking of another world, next on the docket for me, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman, a memoir of her post college backpacking trip through China in 1986...take me away!

Recharge.

Recharged. That is how I feel today. I am totally exhausted after a late night of fun last night, but feel great! It is like the summer zen that I have been searching for finally came together and today I am fully THERE.

It all started with dinner creativity last night. Just like during the schoolyear, cooking dinner at night is always such a calming thing for me...weird, I know, but it is. I was all ready to make chicken chiorizo kabobs, though, when I realized I bought the wrong kind of chiorizo. Quickly, I changed my focus, and simply made chicken and chiorizo over cheddar cheese polenta and voila! 5 star dining at home, and that great feeling that comes from successfully thinking on your feet! Add red wine, eating on the patio, and Sting "Symphonicities," which I am full on obsessed with, on the remote speakers and, the batteries were coming on up to quarter full.

Next, it was on to Marnie and Kyle's house for their "Honeybear Party," with plenty of outdoor musical fun, dancing, and a beverage or two (or three, or four...oops:) Talking and laughing with friends, meeting fun new people, DANCING with my hubby, the man who doesn't dance, but for some reason HAS, not once, but TWICE in the past month. Then the evening ended with long, late night porch talking with Tim and Sue. Let's just say it was the kind of night where, at 2:30 in the morning, while completely exhausted, physically, I felt the battery juicing up, at least to half.

Today brought the "phew, hot, humid, and tired as hell," but it has been the best day! We didn't even get up until around 10, and then I sat around, drank coffee and watched TV or read my "summer beach read"until about 1! Then we all decided to go to the movies, "Despicable Me" at two, which brings us to now. Gwynn is happily relaxing in the living room, Tim and Devin are grilling hot dogs, and I have my time to write. Tonight's plan consists of nothing more than the same...eat, read, TV, fan on high blowing our cares away. Today was just plain zen...no fights, no quibbling, no "I'm hots" or "I'm hungrys," just happy, calm, family existance, with a little bit of fun thrown in. Batteries are back to full, and I am ready for the rest of the summer...bring it!

Ahhh, only two days back from vacation and the frustration of life rears its ugly head. You know, it is so much easier being away than it is being home. Things to do, two kids to follow around and pick up after, a husband doing "projects," a shedding dog, heat, humidity, the list goes on. I felt pretty good today as I headed out for groceries, and only spent $150 which is AMAZING. Got some iced coffee on the way home, and also was being "taken away" by the sweet sounds of Sting's Symphonicities. Still, when I arrived home, it all met me at the door. Right now, in fact, I am ATTEMPTING to think, and type, and write, while Devin and Gwynn are watching a Harry Potter movie at full blast, cracking up, happy for sure, but DRIVING ME INSANE! Tim tends to "join the fun," and is in the living room right now as well, but I just want to GET AWAY!

Don't get me wrong, I am not really in a negative place overall, just am STILL trying to find the pattern to my days, and the rhythm to my summer. I know we just got home, and I should give myself a little slack, but all I am thinking is how to go away again! We're trying to book a little trip to Lake George for our anniversary, and also a trip to Philadelphia with the kids. Why do I want to focus more there, than I do on being home, right now, and enjoying it?

Gonna blame the heat, I think.
Gonna go dump the ice from my iced coffee down my shirt right now and TRY to cool off, physically, and perhaps the mental will follow.

In the event that we have to LEAVE our blessed computer at the Apple store for it to be fixed, I am blogging now. I mean, here I am, one day back from vacation, one day back to technology, one day back to my preferred online writing and I may have to go "oldskool" again! Sigh. I am so dependent! We'll see how it goes...

Ahhhhhhhh, vaction! How much do I love to take you, how much do I love to come home, and yet, how much do I hate the laundry? That is my input for today. Tomorrow, for you bloggophiles that have been missing me so, family vacation insight, but for now, just know that, as relaxed as I am, I am knee deep, or more, in dirty clothes. It is the price one pays.

So yesterday's blog was preempted by our Annual Fireworks Party, and todays by exhaustion, hangover, heat and packing for the beach! I'll be off to Ocean City, Maryland for a week, but writing, not only the "old fashioned way," but also by the sea! Yippee!

..and, I was taking some quiet time today, with Frog Buddha, on my newly tricked out front porch, and he said, "You seem to be missing your brooding self." Aside from the fact that I am becoming a little wary of my connection with a ceramic frog, I also think he may have a point.

I mentioned a couple of days ago, the fact that my blogging has sucked since school ended, and I attributed that to my creative self being fed through other activities, but think I may have nailed down another issue as well. In part, in a nutshell, I am happy, blissed out, and completely and totally de-stressed. I think a big part of the reason I write is to escape, but here I am, happily present in my day to day life, and I can't find anything to write about. But, I also think that in not being wrapped up in the work "machine" I am less of the brooding mind than I usually am. And a lot of my writing, my drifting, my thinking off, comes from when I feel penned in.

Then again, it also occurred to me that it might be something else. Maybe my blogging has sucked because I haven't been following my normal routine. Where did Coconut Fridays, Random Thought Saturdays, and Sunday/Sundaes go? It is that general thing that happens, when you don't work, where you forget the date, and where every day is the weekend. It is the phenomenon of summer, arriving and bucking all normalcy to hell. It can be a lot of fun when it starts, but then that uncomfortable feeling creeps in, making you realize routine exists for a reason, sanity mainly, and also, I guess, so that you can maintain your normal everyday existence, which in my case includes this daily commitment to write.

I'm not going to start to get all broody here, unnecessarily. But, while I am exceedingly happy, I guess what I am putting out, to myself and all of you, right now, is, it is time to find the blog routine of the summer...but wait, first is Fair Haven 4th of July, oh, and then we're going on vacation to Maryland next week, wait, and then...well, we'll let the routine emerge as it may. I am sure it will.

We interrupt this blog for the Fair Haven Fourth of July celebration parade and carnival...ponderings to continue tomorrow, but we will leave you with the quote of the evening from Gwynn. This was said as we traversed the field heading to the portapotties. "Mom, it is dark and there are cords and stuff here...I'm just telling you this cause you're you!" She knows me...well.

...and today, Tim and Gwynn founda Buddha... and it is a Frog Buddha at that! Figures!

I was very busy today, and have been the last several days. You'd think that with summer upon us, and a more "free" schedule, I'd be writing up a storm, but actually I am finding it hard to fit in my blogging. And, to be true to myself, my blogging has sucked. I think, though it is the fact that my creative self has been on a different high, off tending to my family and their needs, cleaning, organizing, and buying "stuff" for our summer and outdoor living. All of those activities have fed me, and I haven't even felt a need to write, to be honest. In the school year, I spend my days so locked in to "the machine," and feel so stifled that I HAVE to strike out and say what I need to say. Now, in the beginnings of summertime sweet summertime, not so much. Get back to me in a few weeks, though, when the newness buzz has worn off. I'm sure I will be telling all of my woes to you then, or, maybe I will just ramble on to my new buddy, Frog Buddha.