trip out west

So I went out west.

Out where the mountains are rocky and covered with snow...



...and provide many opportunities to marvel at their amazing beauty.
(I took this picture from the road somewhere between Denver and Cheyenne, when we had stopped for gas.)

Out West where there are buffaloes and bluffs, and brown landscapes surround.

... and the SUNSETS!! Oh, my goodness, the sunsets!

Yeah, this is what they see from their front door after supper! I don't know what it is about the west that makes such skyscapes, but they are always something special!

I went there to help out this girl:

My daughter, and her husband, who were having their first baby.

In fact, she is in early labor in this picture. Relaxing at home.
Using my laptop to catch up on Facebook.

I helped them put up their first Christmas Tree!




That was fun.

I cooked a few meals, and I loaded their dishwasher a few times.

And I got to help with this:

(She did most of the work, I just cheered her on to victory.)

They even let me hold her!
(I have a thing about not holding other people's new babies too much until the mama and daddy get to. I think it's important to respect that bonding time and let the new family get to know each other first. But they were willing to share, and after that first day or two, I was fine with getting to cuddle my new grandgirl!)


Yeah, I was very fine with it!


I think they are doing great. I'm glad I got to be there with them for a little bit.

Windy day in Cheyenne

It's blowing here. Man is it blowing! They say it can get windy in Cheyenne, and today they sure are right! I want to go out and run a couple errands in daughter's car (I am here visiting her and her family), but it is blowing so loud and hard I wonder how the car will handle in this wind.

I won't be going on the expressway so I imagine it'll be fine. I'll just make my list and go.

I am scheduled to fly home on Friday night, Christmas Eve! I am getting excited about that. It's good that I have been here. It's good I was here for her birth. I am trained as a doula, and she asked me to come. It's also good that she has had someone to help around the house, even though I haven't done a lot of work. Just straightening and getting the dishes done is helpful. Those first few days with a new baby can be so overwhelming. Babies need so much! And they need it constantly! It can be exhausting.

It is interesting that in so many cultures such great care is taken of a new mother. Not so much in this culture, but many places a mother is fed certain foods, restricted in her activities, massaged or loved on... different things in different cultures. I don't think I would like some of those customs, the ones that restricted my freedom especially. But I do think there is something to be said for taking special care of a new mother. Some places set apart a certain number of days - 40 days maybe - for this special time of postpartum care. I think this is a good thing, though I would wish for it to be flexible. In out culture I am suprised that women are expected to be at appointments as soon as the day after they leave the hospital (assuming they have gone to the hospital to give birth in the first place, which choice is another post altogether). If they give birth at home, I believe that any checks that need to be done are made in the home, with
midwives or visiting nurses coming in. At least, that has been my experience.

Anyway, I am here to be helpful for a couple weeks, and after that I think she will be ok. Her husband is very helpful. I hope other friends in the area pitch in too. But right now I have to go run a couple errands for her. Gotta go.

Where I've Been

Wow, seriously? I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. My last post was a gratitude list from Thanksgiving! Linda from Lime in the Coconut read that and suggested it was time for a Christmas list. She has a point! I have been busy with life and not with writing. But it's time. And Ted from Jesus Community noticed I tend to make lists. Well, he's right, I do... this time I'm not listing, but I expect to have a Christmas list up soon. Today I want to tell you where I've been and what I've been up to. I haven't posted much lately because life required my full attention.

I am halfway across the country right now, in the state of Wyoming. The weather is far different here from at home where they are experiencing true winter with near blizzard conditions.

I came out here to attend my daughter's first birth. (I am a trained doula, as well as being her mom.) Got here on December 8th and plan to fly back home on the 24th. A tiny pink thing, Lindsey Ann, was born on the 10th, only two days after I got here. She weighed 7lb, 13 oz, was 20 inches long, and she is simply beautiful. See for yourself:



She has so many different expressions! The run across her face like cloud shadows run across the plains on a windy day, changing constantly.

Sometimes she studies the world around her like a little scientist, scowling in deep thought, figuring out this new discovery. Sometimes a hint of a smile flits across her contented little face. It is amazing, isn't it, how much real humanity is packed into such a tiny package?



After about three days, yesterday she seemed to be getting the hang of life on the outside. Days are beginning to smooth out. Those first few days with a newborn are so intense, with such a huge learning curve for all involved. But everyone is doing well and already I see things settling down.

Meanwhile, back at home, a big winter storm came through. It turned super-cold and roads got very slippery. This is what they tell me by phone. On the way home from church - a half hour drive - the temp dropped 5 degrees and roads began freezing over. Husband was the passenger and my son got a well-coached "first crazy-slippery driving of the season" lesson. I was glad for this. Everyone takes a few times out to remember winter driving each season, and yes, even though he is a pretty responsible 19 year old, still, ice is ice and I worried a little. I will worry a lot less now, knowing his dad was there to help him out this one time when it got so bad.

So I am here, going out shopping in just a sweater while at home they are bundling up. It feels strange. But I am glad that I can be here to help out for a while. I fix meals, help put up their first Christmas tree, load the dishwasher, answer questions on baby care, etc. It's not a lot, but it seems to help out.




It's good.

What I learned from the Smoking Poet

It's Tuesday. And that's really close to Monday, right?

The reason I ask is that L.L. Barkat invites us to write on, in and around Mondays.

And I am practicing something a poet told me.

I sat in a crowded, smoke filled restaurant one New Year's Morning and found myself sitting at the bar between a musician and a poet. (There were no tables left and if I wanted food, I had to sit at the bar in the smoking section to get breakfast.) I love this town. It is full of artists. What are the odds of going out for a simple breakfast and finding myself sitting with a poet on one side of me and a musician on the other?

I talked briefly with the poet, and he told me that he writes a poem a day. Every day. As he talked, he smoked. The whole place was full of stinky, gray smoke. Every other restaurant must have been closed for the holiday, because it was crazy, buzzing busy there that morning. And smelly, and full of smoke. The cooks in back were overwhelmed and moving as fast as they could to keep up. Pans and plates clanged and clashed. Voices shouted. I watched. And the poet wrote. And he smoked. He didn't talk much; we just had that short conversation. And I was amazed. How could he write in such a noisy, stinky, head-buzzing environment?

He told me that he writes a poem every day. As a personal discipline. He doesn't wait for inspiration, or for a mood to move him. He just decides to write and he does. He told me that he liked the energy in that place. I didn't. It helped him write. It took away my appetite!

But I got the idea that if I want to write - poems or anything else - then I have to just do it. It is easiest for me to write when something is going on, when something inspires my creativity, or when I need to work through something. But sometimes I should just write because I decided to. It would be good discipline for me.

So, thanks to the smoking poet in the smelly restaurant, who taught me something, I am writing today. Even though I don't feel like I have something important to say. Still it is Monday...ish. Well, it is "around Monday", and that is as good a reason to write as any.

And, thanks, L.L., for the invitation.


ps- You know what? That day, I ended up taking my food out of that place and eating it where I had quiet. And in my quiet, I wrote a poem. Maybe I'll post it sometime.

Camping

Beautiful place! Near the junction of two slow-moving rivers, on an island... we had the place practically to ourselves.

The morning sun rising behind my sweet daughter helping with her little nephew Caleb.

Sweet Abigail in the morning.




Breakfast outdoors...
Hot coffee is the best first thing on a cool morning, sitting outdoors while the sausage cooks over the fire, eggs on the camp stove.




Watermelon at lunchtime!


Grandgirls everywhere!


Husband and son lumberjacking together, felling a dead tree for firewood. I love seeing the strength in them both.



Turns out I loved the boat!

I loved the feel of flying over the water, with the breeze blowing in my face, and the occasional cool spray on my skin.
I loved it when we went back over our wake, making our boat rise and fall in the water.
I loved seeing the beauty on both sides of me - the trees, the sand, the green, the cloudless blue above.
I loved seeing the bald eagle flying to the top of a tree and the swans on the water, and the egrets standing on long legs.
It made me laugh right out loud for the sheer joy of it all.
I loved the boat rides!

Day at the Zoo

Yesterday, Husband was handling some paperwork here, and came to a question regarding our membership at the zoo. He called to talk to someone about it, who answered his question and then told him about all the cool things at the zoo this summer. By the time he got off the phone, he had decided we all should go to the zoo for the day!


Spontaneity rules the day!


We had a great time.


This is Mighty Mike, the zoo's huge new alligator. He was a nuisance alligator in Florida. The man who caught him (I'd love to hear that story!) was so impressed with him that instead of putting him down, he worked and worked until he found a place that would take him. Our zoo was wishing for an alligator, so it was a perfect fit!




Mighty Mike is said to weigh at least 500 pounds, and is somewhere around 15 feet long. They keep him separated from the other alligators, because given the chance he would eat them.


Husband was pretty impressed with the size of that alligator!


We all enjoyed the zoo. I enjoyed watching my children.



The flamingos were pretty cool.

(Ok, these are not flamingos, are they... but I don't know their names. Are they storks? Pelicans? I think they might be pelicans.)

They were looking at the Bald Eagles when they noticed a lost pacifier in the enclosure.
We laughed about that, imagining the scene when it happened.


One of the zoo's special attractions this summer is a Monarch exhibit.





They will release these butterflies in the fall so they can migrate.... so pretty!


I liked the turtles.


I think turtles are cool anyway.



These are my kids.

And this is my husband, who is pretty handsome, I think.

But I am not related to this guy...

He was just chillin' on this hot day.


Yeah, it was a good day.


I'm so glad Husband thought of it!

Visit to the Gardens

Back in May, it must have been...

we visited the Gardens,

daughter and I


they are in full bloom





and there are some beautiful glass sculptures there right now




(These are the spiky ones that fascinated us sticking tall out of the ground like that.)


and we also saw a couple frogs that she wants to identify. This guy and one other.


the gardens never fail to delight us!