Sunday, October 14, 2007

These Boops Were Made for Walkin'



Like her brothers did, Maria wears her boots all the time. Max wore his to my brother's wedding. Alex wore his almost every day through kindergarten. Red rain boots, yellow rain boots, blue rain boots, frog rain boots... rain boots worn until they come apart and cannot be worn any more. After a while they had to give them up, since no one makes colorful boots in Mens size 9 or 11 or 14... too bad. Maria is in her glory days, when there are many sizes of rain boots yet to be worn.

When I woke up to the sound of rain, I knew just what I wanted to do: Get Maria in her boots and take her on a rain walk. There are few opportunities to actually have use for boots where we live, so we have to make an extra effort to meet opportunity and enjoy! Naturally we could not find her boots, not right away. How do these things happen? Half-way up the stairs her frog boots sat, waiting to be found.

"Boops!" Maria exclaimed when we pulled up her socks. She put on her boots and began her search for an umbrella. All week long the umbrellas have been horses that she rides up and down the halls, around the family room. Today she was going to finally see what else an umbrella can do.

It smells so good when it's been raining. Someone was keeping a fire, and the faint fragrance of chimney smoke mingled with the smell of damp, fallen leaves. There is some other smell I associate with rain and I want to say it is the clouds themselves. Billowy clumps of rain laden, grey clouds have a wet, clean smell.


You can't always convince 6 people that an early morning walk in the rain is a good idea. That's alright. Geoff, Maria, Max and I went out to greet the brand new day. The night before, Maria stopped to stomp on every fallen, crunchy leaf. This morning the leaves were plastered to the sidewalks. No crunch.


I know real winter is bitter, hard, cold! I know it means shoveling snow, difficult driving, days without sun, falling limbs, and cold, but I can't help wanting to live with seasons. My brain lists all the practical points and my heart just says, "Oh, it would be so lovely."

And now it's time to share what I've been finding in the Blogosphere... even though promoting other blogs only improves the likelihood that fewer people will come around here, I cannot resist pointing out interesting bits and pieces and adhering to the spirit of blogging and the internet, which is building a network, making connections... link, link, link.

First, a gift from Gretchen, who was here last night. She gave manicures to the ladies of the house and then shared a link that has been keeping her grinning this week. Maria asked us to play the dancing bird again and again... about 12 times. And you know what? It was funny every time.

The internet is full of shorthand and I don't always know what all the acronyms are... like what's______? (Update: I had to remove an acronym that is apparently not appropriate for a family blog. Live and learn. LOL) I know that a WIP is a Work in Progress. I have lots of WIP's. I did not know what an ATC is until I found a link: An ATC is an Artist Trading Card. Cool. Fun. Might like to try that.

Now where did I find the ATC link... ? I think it was at this blog: "This is How We Shine." Someone in New York is raising 2 boys and unschooling and loving life and she's sharing her observations and story. Also cool. Also fun. Makes me glad about our course too, since we've been unconventional from time to time.

Julie, of "Red Hen Studios," may know Anne of "This is How We Shine." Anyway, they are sort of neighbors, and in the blogosphere we can all be neighbors. I love popping over to visit "Red Hen Studios" where there is art, photography, reflection and another family with four children. Today is post 101 for Julie and she's celebrating. Stop by. It's a friendly place.

A movement is taking shape... or maybe it's well formed and I am just catching on... anyway, there is a challenge out there to celebrate a China-Free Christmas. Now, I am all for skipping fancy plates... oh wait, not that china! They're talking about 98% of the stuff we find in our cart whenever we shop. Whoa! This is a tough one people. I like the idea very much, but I am intimidated by the difficulty of accomplishing this challenge. Where are Legos made? I cannot sincerely commit, until I confirm that Legos are made in Denmark. I bought a can of beans at Trader Joes... it was from China! Beans! So, I found out about this at one of my favorite blogs: "Infinity More Monkeys," and she heard about it from "Me and My Storey."

Now Max and I are going to play UNO. Have a wonderful end of weekend. And come back, share your thoughts.

8 comments:

Marisa said...

Nothing could keep me from reading your awesome blog, but I'm off to check out your recommended links anyhow...but I'll be back!

Anna Banana said...

Maria's boops and umbrella (how you say in Maria-ese?) should be seen by a wider audience. Send to U-T for Passages section?

tea time and roses said...

Natalie, Maria is so cute in those little boops and matching umbrella. adorable!! :o)

Smiles...

Beverly

nikkipolani said...

Your darling Maria and her boops are just too sweet. Perhaps we'll get more rain and she'll get to use her umbrella more as an umbrella! Hugs, Natalie, and thank you for the love you send my way.

Tami @ Lemon Tree Tales said...

Yes wasn't the rain pretty nice? We had quite a bit up here too. It was a little strong with the wind. Our neighbor across the street lost a huge branch from her tree. It fell over on to her car. Luckily only the light part hit and just scratched it. Made me glad that we had our trees trimmed earlier in the year. Oh and Maria is lucky, she can wear cute rain boots all her life if she desires. I saw some for adults at Nordstroms the other week. :-)

Jennifer said...

Oh yes. Legos, Denmark. I cannot even bring myself to look at the boxes DH came home with yesterday (gettin' a jump on the holidays -- hey, we had a coupon!) because they HAVE to be made in Denmark, or someplace (anyplace!) that is not China! I laughed at the other "china-free holiday" idea and am seriously considering THAT, too. And yes, "winter" is one of those things that's lovely in theory, but not always so much in person (esp. in New England when it can be "winter" in March and April, when you're all ready to do "spring").

Mary said...

The smell of fall...there's nothing like it. I'm also masochistically looking forward to winter. Time to dust off my snow boops!

China-Free holiday sounds brilliant.

Anna Banana said...

China-free holiday! I am there. Hope everyone looks to see where the stuff they buy is made and thinks about how much energy it takes to get it from there to you. Sad fact, most of the paper we recycle is shipped to China and comes back as recycled paper. Hey, wait a minute, this is your blog, not mine! :-)