I know by the day lilies that these photos are from early July. aside from that, they just as well could have been from tonight. Claire has been asking, almost daily, if we can have a fire and roast marshmallows after dinner and, almost daily, we've been finding excuses to say no. silly, silly us.
so we said yes tonight. in fact, we said 'great idea!'. we had a little fire and roasted marshmallows until the bats came out and then we watched the bats and she threw handfuls of leaves in the flickering flames.
we intend to have fires regularly, but often the lack of dry kindling, or uncooperative weather, or general grumpiness and forgetfulness seem to get in the way and muck up the plans. so here's to un-mucking. here's to saying yes more often, to many things. especially if it seems like no big deal to me yet such a big deal to her. it could be she's just trying to help me slow down and enjoy myself. here's to remembering that there is a lot of fun to be had right in the back yard. here's to these delicious in-between days as summer packs his bag and autumn comes whispering in.
and by the way- that little chair. a friend gave that to Claire and I love it. it makes me think of my childhood and for some reason it makes me picture my dad in cut off denim shorts and big brown sunglasses, very likely sitting in a very similar (except for the size, obviously) chair in our backyard.
I read something today and a lady said she wanted to look back on life and see years full of dreams come true. And I thought, "that takes says lots of yes and a lot less no!" I think we say no because yes requires something of us, even though its the yes we often really want, on the other side of our grumpiness hurdle! What a treat! Glad you all had a special night!
ReplyDeleteI think you're right- I must say, homebody though I am, once I get motivated to do something and decide, YES!, I almost never regret it. and of course, one need not leave home to make great memories.
DeleteSounds idyllic, such a simple but pleasurable experience creating lot of happy memories, wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI always try to remember that great memories can be made so simply. It's incredible what a treat a simple backyard fire can be.
Deletesaying yes is something we all should do! I love her expressiveness in the photos :)
ReplyDeletethis girl is most certainly an expressive one! ever since she was a baby, people have commented on her expressiveness- I love that about her, she cracks me up! I am working on saying yes more often. to her simple, sweet requests, anyway. not necessarily to things in general.
DeleteYES is a word that can come hard to a tired, worn parent.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing the same- trying to let go a little bit and let live!!
XO
indeed.
Deleteit is a worthy endeavor, I think :)
xoxo
"so here's to un-mucking"... love this. i have constantly telling myself that i need to do the same and enjoy that last little bit of summer before it's gone but i constantly forget again. our fire pit is also a disaster with all of the big changes in the back yard... but next summers fires will be SO amazing!!! can't wait until we have some grass again :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see more photos of your backyard changes in progress~ the ones you've shared so far have been amazing- lots of good stuff happening!
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