Final Days of Summer

Summer is almost over. Sigh... This year the end feels even closer because August has been so cool. And while I am not the type who can tolerate heat very well, I am still sad to see summer go. I will definitely miss peaches, blueberries, and blackberry picking (but not what happens when kids eat too many blackberries--FYI: blackberry leaf tea is the antidote to blackberry diarrhea). Tea got her first haircut, which looks adorable. That was a big milestone. Now she seems so much older!
Kai's been drawing all the time, as usual. That's exactly what I loved to do when I was little--that and reading and riding my bike. He's also been loving learning about dolphins, armadillos and is learning how to swim! I just wish we would have spent more time at the pool. I can't believe school has started and the pools are closed. Luckily we have a great indoor pool that's open year 'round and a lake nearby that's open until the end of the month. Tea loves to play with her dolls still and do anything Kai is doing. We checked out some board books on tractors for her at the library. She and Kai LOVE kitties and our neighbor has two new kitties that we visit as often as we can.
The start of fall immediately made me want to start crafting, especially after I got my fall issue of Living Crafts magazine. They had darling felt crowns in there, but my kids didn't want a king or queen crown or even the toadstool crown. They had their own requests. Tea wanted a ladybug and Kai wanted a crab.
Kai and Tea aren't much into posing for pictures lately.The sun was also very bright that day.
With fall comes peace, which I can feel in all aspects of my life but the kids are showing it too. The stillness is wonderful and overwhelming with the open windows and quiet that comes when the air conditioning is off (what an annoying sound it does make!).

There's so much more to write. I will just say that I am very thankful for my family. We had a camping/canoeing trip that nearly ended in disaster, with me grabbing Tea and getting out of the boat before it went under (not without getting a big ol' bump/bruise on my leg--Tea was unharmed). We were rescued by some lovely people while Jevon held onto the boat and tried to grab out things. Kai was in another boat with friends, thank god. Needless to say, I will not be doing that again. I have always been afraid of water and am not sure why I wanted to go on a river in a boat when neither I nor Jevon knew what we were doing (although I thought he did know how to float in a canoe--he later admitted he didn't).

If my DSL weren't so slow I'd write more now and post more often but the kids were only happy for so long and now it's time to go outside!

My Sister Lisa!!!

A hole in my heart is finally being repaired. I was reunited with my half-sister Lisa last month after 16 years! We have only met twice in my life--once in 1987 for a few hours and once in 1992, again for a few hours. The story about my half-sister and half-brother is a murky one. They are from my father's first marriage. All I know is that I didn't grow up with them and that filled me with great sadness.

In January of 2007, Lisa and I started writing regularly via email and discovered we had a ton of things in common and raise our children with the same values. Lisa has an 18 year old son Ryan, a 15 year old daughter Allison, and a 4 year old daughter named Sophie. She and my half-brother Robert have an Aveda salon in Denver, CO.


After what felt like an eternity, Lisa and I were finally able to get our families together in South Dakota last month. So much has happened since we started writing and I'm glad we were able to share so much about our lives with each other through the internet since we couldn't see each other in person. Sadly, Lisa's mother had an aneurysm last October and then went into a coma and never came out. Her mother passed away on March 8, the day before Lisa's birthday.

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to give her a hug, meet her family, and just hang out with her for a few days. We got along wonderfully, as did our children. Kai and Sophie were best friends immediately and her older children and husband Justin were such kind, wonderful people to be around.



Lisa and I are tossing plans around about someday moving our families to the Black Hills and buying a big plot of land. Lisa wants to raise alpacas and make sweaters from their wool. She also wants have an orchid greenhouse. I want to have greenhouses and grow herbs so I can make flower essences and herbal remedies. I also want to have massive gardens, especially gardens of medicinal flowers.

Notice any resemblances? Lisa's hubby Justin thinks we look alike. And one cannot miss the striking similarities between Kai and Sophie! In some ways, I feel like Lisa and I are like twins separated at birth (as far as our personalities, interests, etc go). We have so much in common even though we have not grown up with each other or even really had any contact with each other until 2007. Oh, and we are both left-handed but cut with our right hand. Bizarre... It's such a blessing to have been reunited with her!

Jacque Kaisteau and Tea Mayol

Do I even need to say anything? This cracks me up! Gotta love those nylon stockings from Gigi!

Stay tuned for more posts. I've got some pictures my half sister (some of you didn't even know I had a sister). We were recently reunited after 16 years and it was wonderful!

And, at this very moment (Wed, June 9) my little brother Anthony Murray is in the World Tournament of Poker in Las Vegas (event 54) and is probably just finishing up his second day of playing. He placed 44th out of 2000 people the first day and was around 86th overall. He has a chance of winning hundreds of thousands of dollars! The pool is $66 million. I'm so proud of him!!

Blueberry Pickin'

Early in the morning
late one day in June
cool weather and clouds
bring the promise of
ideal blueberry picking weather.

Pack a picnic,
load the van,
head 50 miles to Jamestown.

Surrounded by woods,
the sounds of mooing cows, and
dragonflies everywhere.
And of course blueberries
hanging heavy on the branch,
waiting to be plucked.

Picking is like
zen meditation.

Later Daddy prepares
a picnic lunch,
grilling hotdogs
on the Coleman stove.

Thinking about the 4th of July
and blueberry pie...

Love Crystal

Out of the blue the other night, Kai decided he was going to make a love crystal. He got a jar and put in ice cubes, a heart button, a K button (for Kai), some beeswax, water and a cranberry to make it red. He said when it's done, he's going to poke a hole in it to get the love out. I was telling him that we have a quartz crystal out in front of our house, so we went and got it. He put it on top of the jar. I thought it was very sweet. Kai hasn't always been the most empathetic person. In fact, I often worried because he didn't seem to have any empathy at all. But lately, he has become incredibly empathetic and is adopting caterpillars and letting them crawl on him instead of killing them. He wakes up and gives his sister a kiss and tells her how cute she is. And on and on. It's a miracle!

What begins with B? bubbles, bicycles, balloons and babies...

That's what happens when the sun comes out and the woods and the world around us explode with green and amazing flowers--you don't hear from me. I've got spring fever! If only I had some sort of way to compose things in my head and have them automatically go to my blog. I've written many posts in my head in the month that I haven't posted (and don't worry, I'm sure they're working on the technology that will take the thoughts out of your head and put them on your computer but I won't have any part of it).

What are the three greatest things about being a kid (in my opinion?): bubbles, bicycles and balloons. Seriously, what makes a kid happier? We've been enjoying all of those things lately, along with the sunshine. And speaking of bicycles, I have been on a quest for many years to find another cool old-fashioned looking bike to replace the one I stole from Jevon. "Old Red" was sitting out in front of his trailer when I moved in, all rusty, but with a lovely fat seat with springs, fenders over the wheels, a chain guard and all of those things that spell classic bicycle, even though it was made in the 80s. I immediately stole the bike (he wasn't riding it) and put a basket on the front and became the stereotypical English teacher riding to class with my students' papers in my trusty basket.

I digress... Anyway, I found a mate for Old Red a while back while driving to the park. It was sitting out with the garbage and as I drove by, I nearly died from the shock. I have never taken any freebies from the curb. Were they really giving this away? I told myself if it was there on my way home from the park, I would take it. It was. But I drove by. Then I pulled into my driveway, turned around and went back and knocked on their door. No answer. Went home and called Jevon and told him to get it. He grumbled and I figured he wouldn't. He did and was thrilled. "Old Blue" is a Murray bike from the 80s with all parts made in the USA! All it needed was a tube and a screw and it's ready to ride! We felt like kids riding around the neighborhood on our bikes that night. Tea and Kai squealed with glee from the bike trailer. Oh, didn't I mention that these bikes have no gears? Oof.... what workout!

And speaking of the Universe listening to my requests. I have been drooling over really nice cameras for a year now, but have had a dream since high school to really develop my photography skills. Well, the timing was right and my friend Deanna, who is a professional photographer, sold me her Nikon D70 for a really great price. You'll see some photos from that very soon.

Kai has been biking machine on his red Radio Flyer tricycle. Every night he pedals madly through the neighborhood while we follow behind. Usually that means he passes out from exhaustion--usually....

Tea's had some great one-liners lately. The most embarrassing one luckily was not heard by the recipient:
"Hey mailman, I'm nakey butt. Know dat?"

And yesterday, when discussing camping on the way to South Dakota, Tea said,
"I don't want to go camping. I'll get dirty!" Where did she get that?

The little photo sequence above was too sweet not to include.

More soon, I promise. It won't be a month this time!

Conversations with Tea

"Mommy, why did Kai dump my oatmeal into his bowl?"
"Because you weren't going to eat it."
"Oh.... But I wanted it!"
"Sorry! I thought you were done."
"But I wanted it!"
"I will get you some after your nap."
"Okay... But why did he eat it???"

Leaving Isabelle's house:
"I miss Isabelle."
"You really like her."
"Yeah, I hug her."
"You can hug her the next time we see her."
"Okay. I love Isabelle!"

Walking out on the deck to address the neighbor's dog:
"Doggie, what are you woofing about?"

Driving home from the Farmer's Market:
"Hey Mama, look at those balloons!"
Long pause
(In a quiet little voice) "Maybe I could have one?"