Finn, Annie, and I are in Charleston this week, spending time with my sweet stepmother. We arrived Monday evening and are leaving tomorrow--a quick visit, squished between ballet rehearsals and play practices. Unfortunately, we missed the azalea bloom. There are a few shrubs still flowering, but most are done and have dropped their blossoms. Oh well! Maybe we'll hit it next year. (Two years ago we hit it at exactly the right time--which was the very end of March!)
This late winter has been busy. Both children are in both a ballet (Finn doesn't dance, but got roped into being a man in a waltz scene!) as well as a local community theatre production. Schoolwork is keeping Finn extremely occupied, which gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am so glad he has the opportunity to learn! He loves physics, for instance. (He loves all subjects except algebra, and even in algebra he has an A, but he doesn't love it.) But on the other hand, after many, many years of freewheeling homeschooling, being tied to classes and homework and schedules is a little bit of a bummer. At least online classes mean that school can be portable, and that he can--for better or worse--set his own study schedule.
This week I am learning to prune camellias. My father taught me to prune azaleas, and there are hundreds of enormous ones in this year. But he never taught me to work on a camellia! So I'm doing that now. There are at least two dozen in this yard--I haven't actually gotten into the camellia grove itself. So maybe there are three dozen. In any event, it's enough to keep me busy! I pruned three yesterday before smashing my fingers in the garage door. Life is always an adventure.....
The wisteria is in bloom, and it is gorgeous and smells divine. The guy my stepmom hired to help with pruning came yesterday and went through the yard with me so that I could give him some input and guidance. I did instruct him to poison and kill the wisteria, and it did make me feel *slightly* sad. But it's truly an invasive weed in this yard. Perhaps one day I can have a big twisty wisteria dripping over a pergola!
I am working on my continuing legal education credits for the first time in something like 16 years. Here's a strange story: I was, completely out of the blue, offered an ultra part-time, remote-work employment situation for a local manufacturing company. A family friend walked into the room where I was talking to his wife, and asked if I wanted to work for his company reviewing documents and contracts. It's not technically in-house counsel work, but it's sort of pseudo-in-house counsel work. I will work almost completely from home as an employee, and they provided me with a laptop. I could not think of a single reason to say no. So I said yes.
I set up a little office area in our schoolroom, changing my sewing desk into my working desk. (No worries, the sewing machine has another little table now!) Last week was an intense week of training: I think I clocked a whopping 7.5 hours. This week I don't know that I'll even clock 3. I guesstimate that I'll work between 5-10 hours most weeks, which is just enough to learn and enjoy, I think, without negatively impacting my duties at home and my ability to rest and exercise.
But in the interim, I need to amass some CLEs so that I can switch back to being an active member of the state bar. When I last took CLEs, I did not know how to knit. Now I do! And I am happy to combine the two.
More good things in life right now--
Listening to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in its entirety on the way down here; looks like it'll be Prince Caspian on the way back tomorrow. The children and I decided we'll listen to all of the Narnia books this year on our road trips!
A second cup of coffee every morning in Charleston, a luxury I do not allow myself to have at home
Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy turned one last Friday; Annie made them birthday hats and they tried their first canned food. They were unimpressed by both. But goodness, I love those cats. Especially Bingley.
Gas logs in the living room during an unusually chilly snap in South Carolina--perfect for that second cup of coffee
Spending quiet moments talking with my stepmother. She is such a sweet person. I am so thankful for the way she looked after my father in his illness.
Cuddles with Annie. She may be twelve years old, but she's still a little peanut and she still likes a nice cozy snuggle.
Marveling at how my son is now officially taller than I am. Wasn't he just a tow-headed toddler walking with me down the lane, looking at Queen Anne's Lace? Time, you do move so swiftly. Slow down just a bit....just for a little while.
Finn saying the Lord's Prayer every night with us in unison...but he says it in French. So lovely.
