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Posts Tagged ‘family vacation’

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

“I mean hate and love and fear and wanting to live and wanting to see your children live,” she said. “Those are the things that shape our consciousness, not the material goods, not whether the tables are made of oak or synthetic plastic … The thing isn’t important. It’s the human emotion — and that, I believe, doesn’t change.” Geraldine Brooks

For a week, I had the privilege of watching my children and their children live and love and play. My son-in-law loves the Pacific Northwest. He and my daughter have been vacationing there each year for 5 years. This year, we were invited to tag along. Then my middle daughter Katherine decided to come along with her son, Thomas. We were missing my youngest daughter’s family so much that we are talking about making next year’s trip a full family one.

Highlights include short hikes to waterfalls…

Marymere Falls, Olympic National Park

Tidal pools…

Watching eagles, fire pit, views of Olympic mountains…

Morning coffee in Port Angeles

Watercolor painting with Stella…

In the airport waiting for our flight home

Throwing rocks…

Leo, Stella, Thomas in the cool water, stop for a photo while throwing rocks.

And playgrounds…

Playground in Port Townsend, Washington
New squid-themed playground at the Waterfront, Seattle.

At the end of our trip, we stayed a few nights in Seattle and met up with my husband’s brother and his family which includes a new great niece.

I’m happy to be home to my dog, my bird feeders, flowers, walks with friends, but I will carry the love and life and memories with me.

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Mountain House in North Georgia by Margaret Simon

Instead of Christmas presents, we gave our children and their families a house in the Appalachian mountains of North Georgia. This is a view of the house from the lake below. I don’t think I could have picked a more perfect spot. Today it becomes an image for inspiration. You may focus on the green moss on the log, the act of looking up, or the idea of a perfect place to rest. Happy New Year! I hope it brings you joy and renewal.

I am still ruminating on my One Little Word for 2024. It may or may not be the word at the end of this poem. I’ve been having fun playing with the elfchen (elevenie) form. The basis is 1 word, 2 words, 3 words, 4 words, 1 word. The magic of the form seems to happen when writing about the first word leads to a conclusion in the last word.

Tomorrow I will host Spiritual Thursday. We are writing about our One Little Word choices. Please join us.

Mountain House

Wood
chopped, stacked
the fire pit
where secrets are shared–
Connection

Margaret Simon, draft
Fire pit time, by Margaret Simon

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Join the Tuesday Slice of Life

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life

The Bean in Millennium Park.

The Bean in Millennium Park.

We just got home from Chicago last night, so I wasn’t going to do a Tuesday Slice of Life. But I read Katherine Sokolowski’s blog post this morning about her day trip to Chicago, and I decided OK, I can do that! So I made an Animoto video of our weekend in Chi-town. My husband and two older daughters ran the Rock-n-Roll half-marathon on Sunday. I watched with my mother-in-law, my youngest daughter, and two boyfriends. They did great! We had a packed weekend with lots of walking and eating. Enjoy my video!

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