Posts Tagged summer
Summer Blessings
Posted by annaldavis in Everything Else on August 17, 2009
I’ve been MIA from the blogging world lately, and while I’ve missed writing my own blog, commenting, and regularly reading others, this last part of summer has been a blast — mostly offline, if you can imagine such a thing. Here’s why:
1) Structured “free time” with the kids. We didn’t enroll our children in hundreds of camps this year, or plan activities for every day of the summer. I believe in the value of play! But anyone with kids knows that total free play can be a problem. Entire rolls of toilet paper stuck in the toilet, whole bottles of new hair product used for “experiments,” and so on. Yes, we’ve had some of that. But we’ve also been to the library, spent hours at the park and the pool, played with trucks and dolls, made crafts, and cooked together. We had some hard days, too. Some difficult lessons about being kind to each other, or doing for yourself what you can (and not always asking Mom or Dad), about respecting others. We’ve had tantrums (not just the kids), and were cross with each other. But important lessons come from those times, too. And I’m glad we took the time to both play and learn together.
2) Friends. Historically friendships can be difficult for me. I come across as a very social person, and in many ways I am. But I’m also fairly introspective and value personal space for both myself and our family. This summer God has blessed me with some great friendships and I pray that those continue to grow as we go back to our own routines.
3) A chance to participate in God’s story. Some totally unexpected ministry opportunities came our way this summer, and it’s always exciting to see God work and to be a part of it.
4) Time to build great family memories. Camping on our property in West Texas, the beach/boating with one set of grandparents, Oklahoma fun with another set, and a baseball game with yet another. Home birthday parties, church events, Six Flags, going to the movie theater on a hot summer afternoon. Riding bikes together at the school down the street, our youngest with no training wheels! Snow cones, countless popsicles, cookouts, fireworks…
It’s been a great summer, and I’m sad to see it go. But I’m also excited to see what God brings our way next, what adventure or discipline He has in store.
(by the way, there’s a terrible ruckus in my house right now. I just asked them, “what are you doing?” Their response? “Fighting, but HAVING FUN!”)
French Bread and HDTV
Posted by annaldavis in Everything Else on June 12, 2009
We’ve owned a flat-screen HDTV for a while, but I didn’t really care about it until recently when I saw a nature program in high definition. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen! Every water droplet in perfect detail, the leaf edges crisp and clear, flowers so vibrant I could have sworn we were actually there. My husband thought it was funny that I finally realized the value of HD, after all this time of owning one.
But as beautiful a picture as it was, I still couldn’t smell the flowers or feel the dew on the ground. Viewing the forest from my comfortable air-conditioned home told me nothing about the quality of air there, whether humid or pleasantly dry, whether cool or oppressively hot. All of the physical beauty, but none of the real experience.
Cooking programs in HDTV also amaze me. Camera angles are designed to reveal the beauty of the food, and the ease with which the chefs prepare it. But what about the nitty-gritty of cooking — the feel of it, the smells, and the dishes! Yesterday it rained all day and with my two children home for the summer we decided to make French bread together.
We used flour, salt, sugar, oil, warm water and yeast. We mixed and kneaded, waited for it to rise, and kneaded some more. Then we rolled it into two loaves, and waited for it to rise again. Finally we baked it, and enjoyed our beautiful bread with a simple Caesar salad for dinner. And what an experience! We had flour all over the kitchen, and all over ourselves. The funniest part was when my son, who loves to “test” all kinds of yummy batter as I cook, sneakily pinched off some of the raw dough and stuck it in his mouth, only to spit it out in horror less than a minute later.
We all had a good time, even while cleaning up the mess (but don’t look too closely)! It doesn’t even remotely compare to FoodTV.
So in all of this it occurred to me that high definition TV is just one example of the many ways we’ve become a society of “viewers” — an audience, watching from our comfortable places of leisure while someone else experiences the real thing. We leave adventure and action films with adrenaline pumping through our veins and the taste of popcorn in our mouths, and hop into our SUVs to head home. And I fear it goes deeper than physicality. Movies about spiritual warfare and great adventures in other-worldly places inspire our imagination for a time, but then what? We hear sermons and read books about God, but then what?
Let’s stop waiting for the next show, the next entertainment. There’s something Real for us, right now.
Going Green?
Posted by annaldavis in Everything Else on June 6, 2009
Summer has me feeling like a hippie in some ways. I guess the modern phrase involves words like “green movement” and “sustainable living.” But there’s something about these beautiful sunny days spent digging in the dirt and reading in the shade, watching my children play happily in a sandbox (rather than with an XBox) that causes me to remember why we love this planet. I could let my hair grow long, and stop wearing makeup. We could go off the grid and trade local produce with neighbors. I could make our own soap, and illegally raise chickens in our backyard for eggs and meat. We could stay up late in tents with hundreds of strangers, listening to a dulcimer concert and subsequent squaredancing calls as we drift off to sleep (there might be a story behind this, but please don’t ask).
Seriously, though — do you find it disturbing how dependent on technology we have become? Electricity has been in common use for only 200 years, and in that short timespan we as a society have practically thown away centuries of basic skills like canning, hunting, and collecting rain water. Why waste time on those ancient, old-fashioned chores! We need all the extra minutes we can get, to keep up with our friends on Facebook and play a rousing Wii game of family golf.
It’s ironic to me that we go to the Internet to find out information about how to live green — and that this makes us progressive and forward-thinking — when many of these concepts had actually been practiced for centuries before our electrical modern conveniences.
Don’t get me wrong — I enjoy the perks of living in the 21st century, perks like the iPhone I’ll be getting in July, and this blog I’m writing. But maybe this summer I’ll spend less time online or otherwise plugged in, and more time participating in actual life. I may even teach myself and the kids about home canning. You never know when we might need these skills again.
