Friday, July 29, 2005

Random Summer Thoughts

I thought I would borrow an idea from Judy and Heather and just post some random summer thoughts today. Things are rather scattered and disjointed here and I can't quite pull my thoughts together, so random writing should fit quite nicely for this post.

1. Lady Bug had a rather serious tumble on her bike the other day and it knocked AC and me for a bit of an emotional tumble too. It is so hard when your kids hurt and you can't help them. I just spoke to Lady Bug and she sounded pretty down in the dumps today – two days post accident. I asked her where it hurt and she said everywhere. She can hardly move and is in quite a lot of pain. Sigh. I am too far away to go over and help her, so I will just have to send a hug across the miles. So hard on a mother's heart this is.

2. I went to the Bike Shop for my inner piece the other day and they couldn't find it!!!! With all that has been going on in my life these days, why am I not surprised? In the meantime, the old inner piece snapped into place and has been working fine. Inner peace and a new inner piece– I am working on both!!!!

3. I set a goal for myself to have the basement and den area sorted and packed by the end of July. Well, I am pleased to report that I am a few days ahead of schedule. Yes, it is only July 29th, and they are both done!!!! Yahoo! Not only that, but we also got the garden sheds and the porch storage area done. Double Yahoo! Four weeks to go until moving day.

4. Next big project is packing my kitchen. I won't start that until the second week in August though. That is a last minute job for sure. At least the cupboards were all cleaned out when we did the renovation project, so I just have to pack what is there, not sort it all out too. On that note, would you believe that my kitchen still isn't finished? We started it back in April and I am still waiting for the finishing touches to be done. Sigh. I must admit that the pace of getting it done is starting to wear on me just a tad! Well, more than a tad – a lot actually. I just want it DONE! It would be nice to see the finished project before we have to move!

4. The hot humid weather left us for a few days and we have therefore enjoyed a few marvellous rides on our bikes. Oh it is so nice to ride in the fresh cool early morning air. We just got back from a 50k ride this morning and we are both rather knackered right now, but it is such a nice knackered.

5. Mamma and Poppa Sparrow are busy, busy, busy these days. The babies are noisy and demanding and getting bigger every day. I saw five heads in there when there were smaller, but now I only see three. Maybe it isn't the same three each time I look in and we still have five healthy birds in the house. I sure hope so.

It absolutely amazes me how diligent and hard working mom and pop Sparrow are in their parenting roles. They haven't taken any courses, read any parenting books, or watched any educational videos, but they know just what to do and do it perfectly. They work without stopping all day, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It really is non-stop! Sometimes they almost crash into each other when one is just leaving and the other is coming in for a landing with fresh food. I get up some mornings at 6am and they are already hard at work and they are still going strong at 9pm when we come inside for the day.

6. I just got an interesting book from the library. "The Worst is Over - what to say when every moment counts. Verbal First Aid to calm, relieve pain and promote healing and save lives" by Judith Acosta and Judith Prager

I put in a request for this book months ago and it just came in on an inter-library loan so I am making time to read it before we move. I am only on page 33 and I already know that I want my own copy of this book so an order has been made to Amazon.

Oh the power of words and how they affect us. Without warning some day we might happen upon an accident and our words might be all we have to help someone in need. This book outlines what to say in times of crisis and how to administer verbal first aid.

Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world. But they are shapes, they bring the world into focus, they corral ideas, they hone thoughts, they paint watercolours of perception.
Diane Ackerman

Well, I had fun painting a few random strokes of "watercolour words" on my blog. I feel better already.

3 comments:

Gina said...

Thanks Cuppa, that was a great read.

I am so sorry that your Lady Bug is still not 100%, or even close. I hope she feels better soon.

I would be interested in that book! Just yesterday I called an aquaintance whom I had heard was pregnant. The first thing I did was cheerily congratulate her, and she had unfortunately miscarried. Oh, talk about needing the right words! :(

Cuppa said...

Gina - Glad you enjoyed it. I had fun splashing the "Paint" around and writing it.

I highly recommend the book. We all need to know how to administer "Verbal first aid" don't we?

Chelsea - You are so right. Sometimes words are too heavy and silence speaks volumes. The key is to know when to speak and when to keep your mouth shut. We need to listen to that still small voice inside ourselves before we speak to a broken heart that is for sure.

Always put your mind in gear before you put your mouth into drive.

Heather Plett said...

I enjoyed your random thoughts!

Sounds like a great book - I'll have to look for it. After my dad died, I had an article published about some of the things people can do for friends/family when they lose a loved one. It was remarkable how much response I got - it seems everyone is looking for ideas because when something like that happens, we're all at a loss.