thothmes: Gleeful Baby on Bouncy Horse Riding Toy (Default)
Just F.Y.I. I expect to be a bit more radio silent than usual for the next 10 days, because my two eldest kids (and Eldest Daughter's boyfriend) will be arriving late tonight and staying for the duration. I'll still be here, and online from time to time, but I will be spending much more of my time having actual face time with my kids. Squeeeeee!!!

When the kids are growing up, it always seems like you will all be a family unit, traveling around together from sporting event to school play to family vacation as a group, and doing that forever, and then suddenly, they up and go away to college, and they graduate, and if you've done the job well enough, they try their brand new wings and fly off to lives of their own, and only come back for Christmas and an occasional brief visit. Suddenly having all of your kids under one roof is a rare and wondrous not-to-be-missed treat.

So I'll be where I always am, and you may think of me basking in the warmth of their presence. If need be, a PM will get my attention.

I've used my default icon because Eldest Daughter's glee in it is infectious. It reflects how I feel about all this.

SQUEEEE!!!!
thothmes: Gleeful Baby on Bouncy Horse Riding Toy (Default)
Some of you may have noticed I was kind of... absent.

July is the only month I work outside the home. By the time I'd put in over three hours in teaching swimming in our sometimes less than roasty-toasty lake water, and then gone home and run, and took offspring to lessons and appointments, and then made dinner, I spent a great deal of time falling asleep on the keyboard. For the most part, I managed to read all your postings, but I usually read everything first, and then comment, and it was about then that I often fell asleep. I've been enjoying your offerings, though.

In retrospect, maybe signing up for the [livejournal.com profile] sg1friendathon during July was foolhardy, but I got it written, spellchecked, and beta'd before the deadline. It was just a bit more reminiscent of my college experience than I would have wanted it to be...

I missed some birthdays, so happy [belated! :( ] birthday to [personal profile] beatrice_otter, [livejournal.com profile] badkarma, and [livejournal.com profile] misswelles. I thought of you all, I didn't manage to post. So sorry. [livejournal.com profile] badkarma and [profile] misswelles, you share a birthday with my beloved youngest daughter, the Whirlwind of Destruction, who turned 9. Needless to say, that was a busy day at the Thothmes household!

Speaking of the Whirlwind, we had a bit of excitement when she got suspended from hockey camp for a half day, and finished out the last two days on probation, but we got through it all. I really expected that hockey camp, of all places, would be a place that could handle a child with a little too much energy and initiative, but I was wrong. Who knew?

Now I am on vacation in Maine, so I won't be so present for the first week of August, either. All four of my kids are here, and much other family is coming and going, as well as assorted friends of the family, guests, and hangers on. I will be more focused on swimming in the lake, watching the loons in the cove, and joining in the games and conversations than hanging out here. The best part of summer is here, and real life is in bloom!

Right now middle daughter is playing a Mozart sonata on the grand piano. Earlier my husband and his mother were playing Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze and God's time is the best in a two piano four hands version. I taught the Whirlwind how to dive a couple of hours ago. Life is good.

Enjoy your own vacations and keep cool, and I'll be back next week.
thothmes: SG-1 in party hats with cake etc., Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday - Early Team)
I have already wished a Very Happy Birthday to you, [personal profile] beanpot & [profile] a_loquita, over on lj, but since the concept of too many birthday greetings is just too silly to contemplate, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU here too!
thothmes: SG-1 in party hats with cake etc., Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday - Early Team)
Happy birthday to [personal profile] samantilles. I Wish I had something exciting to offer, but rl has been intense lately, which means my muse is sitting over there in the corner, with her back turned, pouting in a most unbecoming way. You'd think I was ignoring her on purpose.

In lieu of anything written, I send you a virtual Daniel, bearing cake, and flashing that same "I'm too cute for you to not love me!" smile he gave when he showed up with the teddy bear for baby Janet in Heroes.

May your day be filled with friendship, song, and celebration! And let's not forget cake! (My idea!)
thothmes: O'Neill with a Santa hat and ornament earring, Snowy background.  Present in foreground says "Seasons Greetings. (Christmas Jack)
I missed Hanukkah, but I want to stop for a moment here on Christmas Eve to wish all folks heartfelt greetings and best wishes for this end-of-the-year holiday season, however you and yours celebrate it. Here the first stocking has been hung, and we are awaiting the last of the travelers' arrival with bellies full of roast lamb, asparagus, green beans, broccoli salad, and red rice, a bit of nutritional insurance against the over-indulgences to come on the morrow. Season's Greetings, and I'll be seeing you all again in 2010 when I get home.
thothmes: (Run!Face)
For those of you who may have noticed some radio silence in this corner of the 'webz, my dearly beloved [Gritted teeth? What makes you think they're gritted? Flying spittle? Noooo! Silly! This is just...ummm...extra whipped cream. Yeah. Whipped cream. *Gives the Jack-O'Neill-tm-wide-eyed-look-of-Unconvincing-Innocence*] middle daughter managed to infect my computer with Antivirus System PRO, a virus that pretty much defines DO-NOT-WANT. She was *grrrrrrr* inclined to deny responsibility until history logs made our case for us irrefutably, and is now off-line, pending retraining. Not everything is up and running yet, but life here is slowly returning to normal.

Point is, I've been exiled for a while by this, so if you have anything you particularly want me to notice really soon, gimme a heads-up. Otherwise, I'll get there...um...Christmas is coming, isn't it?...eventually.
thothmes: Gleeful Baby on Bouncy Horse Riding Toy (Default)
Thirteen years ago, just before Thanksgiving, I had just gone out with heavy heart to buy two copies of two different Christmas ornaments. We were going to send one copy of each (one fragile ornament, and one nearly impossible to break ornament) off with our beloved seventeen month old foster daughter when she was sent off to live with her biological mother's brother and sister-in-law. She'd been with us since two weeks after her first birthday. The transfer was imminent, pending their official approval as foster parents in Kentucky where they resided. This way she would always have something tangible as evidence of her short stay in our lives. We would keep the duplicates for our tree, to mark her place in our hearts and our family.

Then, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, her aunt and uncle called to say that they had done their research on "artificial twinning" (they have a daughter whose birthday is just two weeks later than our then-foster daughter's) and had considered the effect on their niece of disrupting the bond she had started to develop with us, and had pondered and prayed, and had decided that the best thing would be to let her stay with us and be our daughter. A true act of trust and selfless generosity. Our two older kids stood speechless as we thanked them profusely, hung up the phone, and burst into tears of grateful relief, drawing them all into a family hug.

That year my oldest daughter was told in art class to make a placemat showing what she was thankful for. It was her sister. It takes pride of place on our table every Thanksgiving. At Christmas all four ornaments hang on the tree, until the day when she moves to a place of her own and takes her copies with her.

I am truly blessed. I have a soft life, and everything I need. Not everything I want, but that would be bad for me, and I know this. But that one moment, for me, will always flavor the thankfulness I feel on this holiday.

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thothmes: Gleeful Baby on Bouncy Horse Riding Toy (Default)
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A Few Words From The Wise

Speak to him, for there is none born wise.
-The Maxims of Ptahotep

In mourning or rejoicing, be not far from me.
- an Ancient Egyptian Love Song

But your embraces
alone give life to my heart
may Amun give me what I have found
for all eternity.
-Love Songs of the New Kingdom, Song #2

To Know the Dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is travelled by dark feet and dark wings.
-Wendell Berry

Up in the morning's no for me,
Up in the morning early;
When a' the hills are covered wi' snaw,
I'm sure it's winter fairly.
-Robert Burns

Visit to the Hermit Ts'ui

Moss covered paths between scarlet peonies,
Pale jade mountains fill your rustic windows.
I envy you, drunk with flowers,
Butterflies swirling in your dreams.
-Ch'ien Ch'i

Mistress of high achievement, O lady Truth,
do not let my understanding stumble
across some jagged falsehood.
-Pindar

Every Gaudy colour
Is a bit of truth.
-Nathalia Crane

I counted two-and-twenty stenches,
All well defined, and several stinks.
-Samuel Coleridge