Take A Moment

A Day in Numbers

Miles run: 5 in 53 minutes

Heart rate immediately after run: 162 bpm

Miles cycled: just under 4, while pulling 40 lb boy in 21 lb trailer with 10 lbs of gear in it and keeping an eye on 50 lb boy riding erratically beside his dad and hoping that said boy does not ride into lake

Pictures of corn seedlings printed for 50 lb boy's science project: 11

Minutes spent egging said boy on to DO science project: 30 (and counting)

Blog posts written: 2

Trips to grocery store: 0 (Thank you, M!)

Loads of laundry: 2 3

Loads of laundry dried on the line: 1

Sandwiches made: 3 (2 PBJ, 1 Nutella)

Sandwiches consumed: 0.75

Newspapers read: 1

A Sunday where I didn't think about work a single moment: priceless unquantifiable

Weekend Project

This area of our backyard has been an eyesore for years. First, we thought we'd plant veggies here. That project never got off the ground. Then, we built the shed. Well, it was mostly M, but I helped by keeping the boys out of his hair and I did shingle about a third of the roof. But the weeds just kept coming back and coming back and coming back. Finally, about a month ago, the day that represented the straw that broke the camel's back came. M ordered sod for part of the area and we decided we'd reuse some landscaping materials that we'd accumulated over the years. The sod went in three weekends ago and we finished up the landscaping yesterday.

Materials:

• 15 rolls of sod
  
• 10 round paving stones, previously stored behind shed and gathering dirt and bugs
  
• 10 wheelbarrow loads of stones, previously used in other part of garden and gathering dirt and bugs
  
• 1 huge plastic bag that futon mattress came in
  
• rest of weed-preventing cloth from previous garden project
  
• about 8 hours of person-power (mostly from M)
  

Before:


After:



Success!

The Art of Peace

Morihei Ueshiba, the father of aikido, died on April 26, 1969. He was 86 years old. During Thursday's class, on the anniversary of his passing, we did something a little bit different. Sensei Michael would demonstrate a technique, then, before bowing to our partners and beginning training, we would listen to one of O'Sensei's sayings.

Here are two that stuck with me:

"The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter."

"Now and again, it is necessary to seclude yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life. Breathe in and let yourself soar to the ends of the universe; breathe out and bring the cosmos back inside. Next, breathe up all fecundity and vibrancy of the earth. Finally, blend the breath of heaven and the breath of earth with your own, becoming the Breath of Life itself."

Aikido is more than a martial art. It is a way of living, a way of thinking. In every class, I learn a little bit more.

My Boys

The boys have been playing quite nicely with each other these days. Kicking the ball around in the garden, playing catch, even attempting pitching and batting. What a tremendous relief to have that as opposed to crying, hitting and shouts of "Mine!" "No! Mine!". Oh, there's still plenty of fighting but it seems to be diminishing. And there's plenty of love too. They give each other hugs when they say goodbye at D's school in the morning and, at the end of the day, when they reunite. When one of them gets in trouble, the other is immediately protective and sympathetic. "You're the best big brother." "I love my little brother." Makes a mother's heart sing.

I love to watch them interact. I love to watch them play. I love having dinner with the whole family and watching them eat well. I love watching them sleep. When all the energy and action of the day has melted away, what remains are the sweet faces that still have a hint of the adorable infants that they were and a foreshadowing of the men that they will become.

What paths will they choose when they grow up? Where will life take them? It's much too early to tell. All we can do is try to set a good example for them on how to treat others and how to take care of their planet. We give them three gifts that money cannot buy: our love, our support and each other. I hope that will be enough.

To Read: A Short List

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
- No reason necessary.

2. Jane and the Barque of Frailty - Stephanie Barron
-Because I love this series. The last book, though, was a little disappointing but I'm willing to give it another shot.

3. The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
-Because the premise is so interesting.

4. Kishido: The Way of the Western Warrior - Peter Hobart
-Because Sensei Pete was my sensei at one point in time.

5. Won for All: How the Drosophila Genome Was Sequenced - Michael Ashburner
-Because I'm positive this is going to be gossipy good fun. If you can believe that a book about a genome sequencing project could be that.

Earth Day

In this morning's paper, there were two stories that gave me hope for the future of our little planet. One was about a group of high schoolers who had spent their spring break rebuilding homes in New Orleans as part of Habitat for Humanity. Surely, if there are kids who can care enough to share their time and sweat to help people they've never met before, there is hope.

The other story was about a group of 1000 people who have been trained by Al Gore and his team to give presentations based on 'An Inconvenient Truth' to their peers. They represent a broad spectrum of people in America and include grandmothers and teenagers and they are spreading the word and changing people's minds, one at a time. Surely, if there are people like this, who will spend their own money to travel to the training session and then spread the word on caring for our planet, there is hope.

Then, there's our little family story that didn't appear in any paper. Today we went for a little hike. A little hiking, a lot of carrying, then a little resting, a little whining, then a little more hiking. Uphill for a bit and then, a view to love. It was so nice to walk on dirt and grass and rocks and NOT on cement or asphalt or carpet. It was wonderful to stop and listen and hear only the sounds of crickets, birds, and the wind rushing through the trees. So nice to feel the sun on our faces and hear the slurp, slurp of our shoes as we pulled them out of the muddy bits. So absolutely wonderful to take a stick and poke it in the mud and swish it around in the stream, just to see what happens.

We get so stuck in the routines of our lives that it is easy to forget our connection to nature and how wonderful it is to be in a place that is untouched by man's need to build and remodel his environment. We need to do this more often.