Thursday, February 28, 2013

Valentines, Lovely Lassies, Stunt Masters



This year, my kids gave me a lavish Valentine's Day present.

A designer box loaded with exotic yummies from Trader Joes.


Now they're covered for at least ten years, in my humble opinion.

I don't exactly have a 'special Valentine', but I love, love, love this February holiday.  
Always have.
Maybe it's because we need those bright pink hearts to cheer us in the dead of winter.

Here are some creations from our recent family cookie decorating party:




Day by day, the snow is melting.

This shot was taken today, February 28th

However, the temperatures still dip down to the single digits at night.

Also taken today - the hill behind the garage.





MONDAYS  have become treasured days for me.  My daughter Kelty comes over with her dear little Rella.

Actually, this little gal spent two nights at Grandma Ginger's house last week while Mom was back East.




I haven't blogged about  my lovely lassies from church for months and months.

We've had some jolly times together.

Creating Bead Bracelets:


Experiencing a Dance Discovery Workshop:


Making Pioneer Honey Taffy:

(The older girl on the left was a volunteer teenager who helped cut the taffy.)
Doing Daring Stunts, Being Nutty, Admiring a Sunset:


Speaking of daring stunts, 
Two weeks ago, I watched this college student doing a amaaaazing tight-roping feat
from one side of the canyon - my canyonto the other side.

It's technically called 'slack-lining', because he uses webbing, not a rope.


It's not just the slack-lining students who like gutsy recreation,

certain children in my family are also spirited and relatively fearless.


Brinley on the left, Avery in the middle, and Aspen on the right.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Your snow melting is certainly a lot more snow than my snow melting. Mine is almost gone!

That walking on a rope is amazing! And you got it on camera! Very cool for someone else. For me who is afraid of heights... not so much.

It looks like you've been busy making magic with many little ones as usual. I'm glad. You are a magical person yourself Ginger!

K said...

I am SO BEHIND. But you already know that. And you know what I'm going to have to say before I'm finished here. But first - we have had measurable snow on the ground for over 60 solid days in a row - the 5th longest time in recorded history. Now, I am almost nostalgic for it, the soup that yard and pasture have turned into.

About the person on the tight-rope (or whatever) - this kind of thing makes me furious. What right does he have to risk his precious gift of life for something so insignificant, so completely none productive and self-serving? Instead of using that focus, that daring on building a great life full of service and sacrifice for love - creating family and community, paying God, his father, back in some way for the chance to breath and see and touch - he is willing to put all that at risk to wow people at his daring do - I hate it. I hate the wastefulness of it. The short-sightedness of it. Even adopting a lonely, doomed dog would have impressed me deeply. This only outrages me.

Look at your life - at those girls who will never forget what you have taught them, the delight you have allowed them to feel, the magic - you have changed how they see themselves and the world, made them more hopeful, more demanding of their own realities - I know because I had one or two grown-ups in my life who did that. YOUR life is SO much more exciting and impressive and valuable and meaningful and precious than that stupid walk across the air of a canyon.

Ginger said...

Dearest Kristen ~ There is something you must know about the feat across the canyon. The fellow is hooked onto the webbing with a safety line. I watched him fall, more than once. He dangles just below the webbing and then pulls himself back up on the line. Now THAT might just be the greatest feat of all! I hope that changes the picture for you. If I'd only added that to the post, I could have saved you a measure of your outrage. BTW, he had the sweetest mutt dog waiting for him, alongside his girlfriend below. He had adopted it from the shelter. Ironic!

Having laid (lain?) in bed for a very long time as a teenager, I still have a compulsion to spit on limits and do things that you probably would't like to see me doing. It serves to strengthen my resolve to do other hard stuff.

YOU, Kristen, go out onto tightropes, exercising a different kind of pluck. You repeatedly let go of the cliff and do things that would cause me to shudder. So, I'm just sayin' . . .

Kelty said...

Dear Mom :)

It may be a little late for a comment on this blog, but worth a try anyway! I loved how you made the picture look like a heart with our little valentines gift in the middle. I so enjoyed putting it together (which was really no big deal), and your reaction to it made the experience truly memorable. You've done so many things for us kids in our lives that we cannot even put into a picture, much less albums and albums of pictures, so it was really something that you highlighted our little gift in this way. Sure love you.

K said...

Ha - yes, that would have changed my perspective quite a bit. The stupidest thing I do every day is hang around with 1000 pound beasts who can turn on a dime and do zero to 60 the second there's something scary they can hear and I can't. Not as guaranteed a tragedy as a tight rope across a canyon, but still a risk. Shooting off my mouth doesn't count. ;0P

Counters Free Counter