Summer Moments: Toddlers and Cats

I was heading out of the car from a dinner date with my husband just now and a family with toddler twins was on the sidewalk in front of our house, intrigued by our cats.

On Valuing Our Views of Home

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is 

at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” 

– G.K. Chesterton

Summers find me traveling. Last summer, I flew to Alabama and drove with our younger son to Upstate New York.  The summer before my husband and our sons spent time in Lancaster County,  Pennsylvania. This summer, my journeys have included driving to Indiana with my husband and will soon include a visit to Vermont for a family reunion. Every place I visit, I go on long walks. In fact, my husband and I are training to walk a half marathon in San Antonio in December. 

It's easy to see the notice the beauty of  unfamiliar places. The trick, however, is to see familiar places in a new way. Today I took a long (5.5 mile) midday walk with our dog.  I tried very hard to notice the views in front of me.  Here is the photo I shot in a county park in our town, a park where I have spent dozens, if not hundreds, of hours since Greg and I moved here nearly two decades ago. Pretty, isn't it?! 

Solace at the Shore

My husband has a high-stress, high profile job and is recognizing that he takes very little time to care for himself. As he puts it, he needs time for solace.  This weekend he proposed we - just us two - go to Mass at 7 a.m. and then drive with our dog to the Asbury Park Dog Run Beach. So we did.

Princeton's Mountain Lake Preserve: Swallowtails and Stalking a Blue Heron

After dropping our son's bass bow off with a bow maker in Titusville, NJ today, our dog and I hiked the Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve in Princeton. (More later on the bow maker: the man is deserving of a whole post). Even though I drove our sons to private elementary school in Princeton for five years, I never knew about this 74-acre park close to the downtown. I found out about it from a website called bringfido.com, which offers tips on where to hike with your dog. I had several unexpected encounters on the walk.

Father's Day, A Missing Remote and an Angry Old Cat

One of the problems with getting to know someone via facebook and blogs is we really have no idea what he or she is like in real life. Take me, for example. Checking out the last three posts on this blog, you might get the impression I am a depressive who seeks out drama. That is not entirely true. 

Sure, posts about: the death of the priest who married us; the closing of the parochial school my brother's children attend; and the turmoil in Ankara are not exactly a gallon of giggles. But truly, there are plenty of hijinks at our home. Consider the Search for the Remote on Father's Day and its Successful Discovery the morning after. 

This tale involves an elderly cat we recently adopted named Venus as well as a huge rip in the back of the sofa that nobody will take credit for. Generally we cover the rip up with an Americana quilt commissioned by a family friend's ex-father-in-law,  a man who spent time in the federal penitentiary, convicted of financial shenanigans. But I digress.

Seven Quick Takes for Friday: Trumpets, Sardines and Vacations

1. Well, it's Friday night as I write this. I am home alone, just me and the dog. Better late than never, eh? My husband and our older son are in Princeton, where our son has chamber orchestra rehearsal. Our younger (trumpeting) son is with dear family friends at Montclair State University, listening to the MSU Symphonic Band and the MSU Wind Symphony. Our friend's son is a trumpeter at MSU!

While His Wife and Sons Are Away....

Our sons and I have been spending time this summer visiting my octogenarian parents in Bedford, New York. My husband absolutely understands how important this is. He does not complain about missing us. But he does.

Consider this: he snuggled with our puggle every night and - here is the evidence from a colleague - took her to the office one day last week!

This Moment

A Friday ritual (one day late this time) A single moment, without words, capturing a moment from the week. Visit www.soulemama.com to see more of them.

Seven Quick Takes for Friday: Pink Tutus, Uprooted Trees and a Suggestion of Arson

1. This is how our oldest son celebrated Halloween. The day before he raced cyclocross, wearing a pink tutu he bought on the Upper West Side. He also bought a tiara, but couldn't figure out how to attach it to his helmut.

Lessons from "the Beasts" at the Dog Park

What is it about the dog park that makes me so contemplative? A visit to our town's dog park this steamy summer afternoon led me to consider how much we can learn from our animal companions.

Today after lunch my husband and I took our two-year-old puggle to the dog park. An older woman arrived with her chihuahua. Other than our two dogs, the park was empty. It's one of those hot days with a just a slight breeze, where people tend to sit at the park without talking. But my husband and I, both former journalists, managed to strike up a conversation.

Parenting: Holding on and Letting go

If we parents do our jobs right, by the time children are 18 or so they want to fly the coop - live on their own, join the military or go to college. Children should not want to stay with us for the rest of their lives. They are gifts loaned to us for a short while. They were not created to be at our sides forever. By the time they finish high school they should feel so drawn to the beauty of the world and the horizon of the Infinite Presence that they want to taste life for themselves.

And yet....

The Prophet Isaiah, Dostoyevsky, and Our Dog

On Memorial Day, I tried to sit on the front steps of my parish to watch the town parade. But our 10-month-old puggle, who had just joined our family, wouldn't sit still. Riley ran all over the stairs, annoying other families, knocking over water bottles, tangling her leash with the leashes of other small dogs calmly watching the parade. My friend Dan, who witnessed the unfolding drama, said to me: "You've got to lose that retractable leash and start reading the monks' books on dog training." After the parade, he offered to walk Riley part of the way home  I walked behind them, astonished to see how Dan was able to keep Riley calm and walking right beside him.

The Emperor Waltz: Two Paws Up!

Are you looking for something fun to do at home with your family? My husband discovered a gem of a movie the other night: The Emperor Waltz, directed by Billy Wilder. He taped it for me and we've been watching it together.

If you are a Wilder fan, as we are, then you know about Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment and Some Like it Hot. The Emperor Waltz is different; a light-hearted romance. A vehicle to show off Bing Crosby's beautiful baritone, it tells the tale of a commoner (Mr. Crosby) an American salesman, and a Viennese countess (played by Joan Fontaine ) They own a mutt and a dog whose bloodlines go back centuries. respectively. You can guess where this one is going.