Fundraiser for Families

My sister Jennilyn has made more bowties as part of a fundraiser for families in need.  Super cute!  You can buy them here at her friend's etsy shop for a limited time.  I like the green ones a lot. They're also selling other cute things for Easter.

Turkeys Can Fly

There were at least forty wild turkeys across the street from where I went biking on Mud Mill Road today.  I managed a long ride.  It felt great to be out in the sunshine again.  The first time I saw a turkey fly was at the Seneca Lake YW Camp.  They don't go very fast, very high, or for very long, but they definitely fly.  You can see one up in the tree in the above picture.

I saw several deer way out in a field.  You don't always see them in the middle of the day. 

The quote "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly" keeps going through my head today.  I've read it several places recently and I don't know its origin.  I received another grade I didn't like.  It's very discouraging.  I need to learn how to accept imperfection in myself and to keep doing things anyway.  I may fly like a turkey, but at least I should keep trying to fly.

Warm Surprises

It's been really warm here the past couple of days-- if you can call 45 degrees "really warm." I was happy to take my second bike ride of the year.

I like how the snow melts on the edges of picnic tables first. You could have a picnic in weather like this. 

There was a baby spider crawling along one picnic table's snow-- a sign of super early spring. 

I wasn't aware people go snow mobiling on Oneida Lake.  I'm surprised the ice gets thick enough.  Some were ice fishing. 

There was a strong headwind today.  I'm looking forward to longer rides and warmer days.

Enthusiasm

I like this heart my son brought home yesterday from school.  He said, "Everybody else was making hearts like this..." and then he went limp. 

He made a happy heart and that made my heart happy. 

I've been reading Gretchen Rubin's "Happiness Project" blog for a while now.  Yesterday, she posted this:

“Enthusiasm is a terrific quality. The more I think about happiness, the more I value enthusiasm. It can seem cooler and smarter to be ironic, detached, or critical, and it’s certainly much easier and safer to adopt that sort of stance. But enthusiasm is more fun. Enthusiasm is generous, positive, energetic, and social. It’s outward-turning and engaged. It’s unselfconscious, warm-hearted, and kind of goofy."

In the Special Features of the movie "Bright Star," Jane Campion (writer and director) says, "“You need to kind of build up your enthusiasm so that it’s higher than your fear.”  It sounds even truer with a British accent.

Moon Set

There were whisps of clouds across the moon this morning.  It was beautiful.  I wish I could show you what I saw.  It'd be nice to have a better camera.  When I first took a picture, there wasn't enough light in the sky.  It made the moon look like a white blob on a black background.  I like how the sky changes from dark blue to light.

FHE Magnet Set

Look what just arrived! I ordered this from the etsy shop Primary Bird. Julie does such an awesome job. The packaging, labels, and everything are so cool I didn't want to open them. I really like how you can arrange the magnets wherever and however you want. I like that we can add and take away things depending on what we're doing and who will be home. I like having the blank ones for visitors. Thank you, Julie!

Memory vs. Records

Memory of a Photo

I remember a photo of my husband that I took when we were living in Leiston, England, a small town near the North Sea. We lived there for three years while he was stationed nearby with the U.S. Air Force. I believe the photo was taken in 1990, the summer after our oldest daughter was born. We were on our way home from attending church in Ipswich, when we saw a magnificent field of red poppies. We pulled to the side of the narrow, hedge-lined road to stop and take pictures to send to our families in the United States. A salty breeze made waves through the field as the flowers’ heads bent and twirled like the skirts of tiny dancers.

My memory of this photo shows my husband standing in the middle of the red poppies. He has dark brown hair, not grey like now. He is dressed in a brown-striped sweater and brown pants. I remember as he posed, he dramatically picked a flower and pretended to smell it. He smiled big with his chin held high and his eyebrows raised. Something about the way he stood, about the way he held the flower, and about how he held up his other hand made me laugh like crazy.

After I Looked at the Photo

I found the photo in our 1990 photo album. The sky is grey and white. It looks like it’s going to rain. Roger looks like he’s standing toward the edge of the large field of red poppies. There are many yellow rapeseed flowers in the foreground of the picture. There are trees and power lines on the distant horizon. Roger’s hair is dark brown. He’s wearing his church clothes-- a brown and black striped sweater with a white shirt underneath and black pants. He is smiling big and his eyes are closed. With one hand, he’s holding a red poppy to his nose as if he is smelling it. He’s holding his other hand up in the air in a way that makes him look like he’s either surprised or intoxicated by the poppy’s wonderful scent.

Feelings about the Memory vs. the Photo

I am surprised by the color differences between the photo and the memory. The field of bright red poppies is the dominate color in the memory. I can see how the background and the green of the leaves and stems would be forgettable, but how could I forget the yellow rapeseed? Maybe it’s because we lived near huge fields of the yellow flowers and they were more familiar. I’d forgotten the grey sky. I’d forgotten we had to hurry and take the picture because it was starting to rain. I remembered the pose of my husband and the look on his face almost exactly as it is in the photo. That reassured me. I was beginning to wonder if I ever remember anything accurately.

My memory of the red poppies is more vivid than the reality of the photo. I like the memory better. I see the humor in the picture, but being there and watching my husband acting dramatically was funnier. I like the wind of the memory better than the clouds in the photo. Though I prefer the memory, I’m happy I have both the memory and the record.

Note:  This was an exercise for my writing-creative-nonfiction class.  I took a picture of the picture since our scanner is broken. I'm not sending the picture to my teacher.  He'll just have to take my word for it. :)