"Ripon has great rocks." - James P.

We had an unexpected small adventure yesterday afternoon, and it all began with a trip to McDonalds. They were offering toys from the new Angry Birds movie, so we took our little Angry Birds' loving boy for a Happy Meal.  One meander through the library (one of my favorite past-times!) and three 99 pence foam swords later, KJ was teaching the kids how to skip rocks in the river and staging sword fights on the footbridge.  And I was photographing it on an unexpectedly beautiful day, so we were all in our happy places.

It was one of those happy afternoons that comes by pure grace when you aren't expecting it, when--in my case--you've been awakened unwillingly by the sun at 5:20 a.m. two days in a row, and you definitely didn't go to bed early enough for that to be okay, and you're wondering how you're going to interact with your family the rest of the day without being too irritable.  In those quiet moments of whispered prayers, grace always feels like such a surprise.

In the early hours of the morning I'd read an article about children and imagination that left me wanting my kids to have more play, more of the simple pleasures of childhood, and our walk by the river felt like a lot of that good stuff. 

I didn't immediately think of The Wind in the Willows when we walked by The Water Rat, but when I got up close to the sign it made me so happy.  There were Toad and Mole and Ratty.  There's something so wonderful about that book, even amongst its stranger passages.  I think it's what C.S. Lewis said about it:

"The happiness which it presents to us is in fact full

 of the simplest and most attainable things—food, sleep, 

exercise, friendship, the face of nature, even (in a sense) religion.”

I hope your week is full of all those good things.

Ordinary Life

Now that Facebook puts up those memory posts each day (genius idea!  Especially for getting people to still use Facebook.  People love it, and now are even starting to think about things they post showing up in their feed again next year.) I've been missing writing everyday in this space.  Since our lives have changed in such a big way in the past year I'm really thankful that I have a record of all our little favorite spots we went to around Tuscaloosa and of all the ordinary, extraordinary days with our ordinary and extraordinary friends and neighbors.  

I love looking back at posts like this:  just an ordinary trip to the library, but I loved that library, and it played a big role in our Tuscaloosa life.

Our lives move at a faster pace being part of a small church in a small community.  That sounds counter-intuitive, but it has been true for us!  It makes me think of a place in the Mitford books by Jan Karon when Father Tim reflects on how busy and full life is in Mitford.  If only I had my copies here I could find it for you!

Some of my extra busy-ness here comes from the kids being in school half time.  With them being gone part of the week my schedule is freer to be doing things and seeing people.  Being busier gives me less time for recording what we do each day, but it makes me long to do it more!  I like taking the time to stop and record and reflect before moving on to the next thing.  Because the days are busy, and the days are good.  And the moments and the people that fill our lives now won't always fill our lives. It's not possible all the time, but I might try to do more writing in the mornings before the kids wake up.  Even now, something is happening that probably won't always happen:  James is sitting beside me in the dark playing a game on my iPhone.  

The past week has been full of little happenings I don't want to forget like listening to this precious niece singing the Doxology over Facetime.

In later years I might want to laugh over my inability to say, "No, thank you." when someone calls me to ask if I want to resume getting my fruit and veg box.

It's probably worth it just for the photos of beautiful produce. ;)

We had a great week with Matt.  He was pleasant company and an encouragement to have around, and I promise it wasn't just because he painted the kitchen, put an extra coat of paint on the bathroom walls and ceiling, and painted the new and bare kitchen cupboard door.  James was pretty grateful for a night playing Lego Lord of the Rings and Mario Kart.

Yesterday morning after Matt left I put clean sheets and a clean duvet on the bed and fluffed up the pillows because KJ's parents will be in it tonight!  I did all the ironing that piled up during the week of Thanksgiving cooking, and we will usher in the Christmas season in Boroughbridge this evening with Late Night Shopping (shops open until 8 p.m.!) and my first event singing with the Community Choir.  I have plans for a nice warming soup beforehand with all the leftover turkey thrown in.

"...every day in a life fills the whole life with 

expectation and memory and...these are that day”

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet

A Tuesday Walk and Random Thoughts

Last Tuesday I loaded the kids up so we could take care of some business at the library.  There's always so much drama involved with outings.  You have to decide what everyone is going to wear, listen to complaints about the clothes you picked out and make suitable adjustments, try to make sure you remember everything you need to pack before leaving the house while your thought processes are interrupted every 30 seconds to mediate in an argument about who gets to close the garage door this time.  And I have awesome, pleasant, obedient-most-of-the-time kids; they're just being kids.  And managing kids just being kids is so much work that just the thought of interrupting the normal course of our day with an outing started raising my stress levels.  But you push on anyway because you hope it will be worth it in the end, and you want to give them a happy childhood full of fun memories.

Sometimes all of the effort doesn't feel worth it, but most of the time, it does.

I mean, sometimes your mom wants to take a picture of your sister, too, and life becomes unbearable, but it passes.

As we were loading books in the car I noticed a tree with bright gold leaves, my favorite, so we trooped across the parking lot and then across the street enjoying the blustery day.  It was much colder than we expected, but running and tramping through leaves did us all a world of good.

We had some impromptu races.

Sometimes my mind feels so overwhelmed with all of the things I'd like to do, all the things I feel I ought to do, and I have a hard time coming to the conclusion that I really can't do it all.  I want to do it all, and I want to do it all well. 

It helps to take a deep breath (or several) and walk as fast as you can into the wind, to stop and freeze in time childish delight.

And go to Stonehenge.  Because when given the choice you should always go to Stonehenge.

"It is simply no good trying to keep any thrill;

that is the very worst thing you can do.

Let the thrill go--let it die away--go on through

that period of death into the quieter interest 

and happiness that follow--and you will find

you are living in a world of new thrills all the time."

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity -

Ella's First Trip to Narnia

A few nights ago I started reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe aloud to Ella.  I hope I'm not spoiling anything for her by not letting her read it to herself when she's a little older, but we bought these really great read-aloud editions of the books 3 years ago, so I've already held out for 3 years!  I'm trying not to give much commentary as I read but to let her experience it untainted. 

Reading with Ella makes me remember my first trip into Narnia as a 4th grader, and oh, how I wanted the magic to be real.  I think I lived in secret hope that my closet might somehow transform itself into another world.

Last night Ella got nervous when the robin appeared and wanted the children to follow him.  "I'm afraid he might take them to the White Witch!"  

I took the above picture, literally, in Lewis's old stomping grounds behind his house.  Here's to finding new worlds in unexpected places.

C.S. Lewis' Church

Not far from The Kilns we found the parish church C.S. Lewis attended.  I really love how villages are set up in England, everything there together in walking distance.  I'd like a parish church.  Being in this parish felt nostalgic of another time.

There wasn't a car park around the church.  We parked on the street and followed the path.  I liked that you had to do that.  It felt like leaving modern life behind walked between the hedge and rock wall.

We heard the story of Lewis and his brother leaving the service early each Sunday and the heavy wooden doors slamming in their wake.  The sexton was asked to come up with a way to keep the noise from being so loud.  I wonder why they didn't just ask them to take more care shutting the door.  Part of me finds this habit endearingly quirky, and the other part finds it rude.

The Narnia Window

I'm not sure what year it was added, but there was a lovely Narnia-inspired window near the pew Lewis usually occupied.  There's really quite a lot to see in it the longer you look.  I just noticed the lamppost at the top.

 

What a magical place Lewis created.

KJ is sitting in the spot marked as Lewis'.  Aren't those stone arches lovely?  I love those needlepoint seat cushions, too.  Classic.

The floor is the same as in Jane Austen's church.

 Beautiful Doors

It took us awhile to find Lewis' grave, though after a while we found a sign pointing the way.  If it's not too strange to say, the graveyard felt like a magical place that night. 

 

His brother, Warnie, is now buried with him.  From what we learned at The Kilns he grieved for a long time when Lewis died.  It was very hard for him.

 I love this picture.

We left through the gate and turned the car towards Bath.  I hope we'll be back in Oxford one day.