







- Anna: You know, I didn’t get the title of this post until I commented on the previous post. Nice.
- Anna: Thanks for sharing, Melissa. We had our own good news this Thanksgiving. My 5yo’s JRA is in remission, as...
- Emily: Thank you for sharing Jane’s story, it makes me cry every time I read it. Even more so now, my little...
- Mary: Melissa, Thanks for posting this again. I remember reading it before. My 11 year old son Tim had leukemia. It...
- Elizabeth@Frabjous Days: Oh, and I thought Americans didn’t do scatalogical humour
Sympathy all round for...


Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words.
(Excerpt from
this post about Real Life, quoted here because I don't want anyone to be under the impression that things are always perfect around here! Heaven knows we are anything but. Perfect, frictionless, orderly? Nope. Happy? Most of the time!)


Be like the bird
Who, pausing in flight
On limb too slight,
Feels it give way beneath her,
Yet sings,
Knowing she has wings.
—Victor Hugo













“Exploration,” says John Stilgoe, author of
Outside Lies Magic, “is a liberal art, because it is an art that liberates, that frees, that opens away from narrowness. And it is fun.”
Yes: it is so, so much fun, and that is why I write these posts all chattery with excitement over this or that connection the kids made today. (Or that I made myself!) I know I get carried away, but that’s the point, isn’t it, that way leading on to way has carried me away?
And yet—and yet—I think we are at once ‘carried away’ and made more fully present in the now, more rooted, by these relationships between ideas about things past and future. The joy of connection makes me want to celebrate this moment, this brief encounter with wild-haired child and broad-trunked tree, bus going by, sign on church wall, Scottish warlord creeping over the tower wall and startling the English soldier’s wife who has just put her babe in arms to sleep by crooning that the Black Douglas won’t get him. Child, laughing, shouting “Dinna ye be sae sure aboot that!” across the courtyard outside the library. How can I not celebrate this freedom?
(from a post called
Way Leads on to Way)

Six Things to Include in Your Child's Day:
meaningful work
imaginative play
good books
beauty (art, music, nature)
ideas to ponder and discuss
prayer
Whence It Came

What does he mean, “where did that come from”?? Doesn’t every woman want a cupcake all the time?
Posted on November 8th, 2009 at 11:52 pmThe idea of anyone not liking cupcakes is beyond my comprehension. Cupcakes are a perfect expression of cakeness and certainly a favorite word of mine. In fact, after reading this, I may have to put “make cupcakes” on our to do list for today
Posted on November 9th, 2009 at 4:08 amSudden cravings only make me think of One Thing.
Just sayin’
Keep Mamacrow in your prayers today? She’s getting very/very/close.
Posted on November 9th, 2009 at 7:37 amHow can someone not like cupcakes? They’re cute little cakes. What’s not to like?
Posted on November 9th, 2009 at 9:19 amI love the thought of cupcakes being spelled in cupcakes. Too funny
Posted on November 9th, 2009 at 2:54 pmMy Twitter feed tells me babycrow has arrived safe and sound! Hurrah! I wish I could bake Mamacrow a batch of cupcakes.
Posted on November 9th, 2009 at 8:47 pmWouldn’t that be nice?? And a good, hot meal to go with? Being far-away friends has it’s challenges …
Posted on November 10th, 2009 at 6:40 amNice how you two can work as a team like that. Isn’t that what marriage is all about? LOL!
Posted on November 10th, 2009 at 9:18 amFunny! Thanks for the laugh today:)
Posted on November 11th, 2009 at 12:57 pm