Everybody's springtime/early summer must look a little different. I keep calling this season summer because we're done with school and to me, that's summer. My girls are technical. It isn't summer til June 21st. Either way, I find this season so refreshing. When I realized that, I thought it was a bit of on oxy-moron. The first few weeks after school is out are catch-up weeks for me. Anything from rotating Blossom clothes to planting and weeding the garden to finishing up stacking all the wood we need for winter time warmth. Over the weekend, I got the big idea that I am finishing the wood stacking. This week. All of it. And then, Monday dawned bright and clear. We began stacking steadily along. My ambition grew from, "We're going to finish it this week" to "We're going to finish this today." And we did it. Nothing but wood. Oh and some nursing Baby Blossom, and maybe a picnic at the wood site. And more wood. Yes, I was sore Tuesday morning. But, why would I call that refreshing?
It's refreshing to finish things. It's refreshing to accomplish the tasks that need to be done. School time is a season of our year that relegates other things further down the priority list. We never fluff on school, but rotating clothes or extra organization projects take a back seat. So, I find that accomplishing things in larger (not just half-hour or quarter-hour) chunks of time refreshing. Additionally, I love what the Blossoms are learning as we work. (This should come as no surprise to you, my reader friends. Childhood work ethic is near and dear to my heart.) Stacking wood is hard work for them too. Raking bark, rolling large logs, picking up wood chips and other such miscellaneous jobs keep them busy when they aren't stacking. I want them to know that sometimes you gotta work now to prepare for later. It's in the Bible... remember the ant!!!
"If you want to be warm this winter and next, we gotta stack this stuff!"
They could see the big picture then.
And, then there are strawberries. Reaping the fruit of work you put in season/seasons ago is refreshing. We weeded and planted and put straw down on the strawberries, so that we could have strawberries now. More work then, for good stuff now. Strawberry Shortcake (that Blossom1 made!)... Strawberry Fruit Pizza... just wait til we get to the Strawberry Pie! Won't the Rugged, Mountain Man be happy?!!
I'm finding the time with the Blossoms refreshing as well, which is funny because this isn't any more or any less time with them than during the school year. I've fought for a bit of a slower pace for right now and it's paying off in peace dividends. More time for us to comment to each other on the beautiful scent of the springtime air. More time to chat about Almanzo Wilder and ice houses. More time to help teach Blossom3 to tie a shoe. More time to say yes, when I'd gotten into the habit of "No, we don't have time." More time to smile.It's no wonder I'm finding this time refreshing.
