Scenic Saturday: Leakin Park, Baltimore City, MD

Welcome to my first Scenic Saturday!

"Time together as a family" seems to be our theme lately. We've been working hard in our family to cut down on our spending, our clutter, and our screen time (the irony of being on a computer to type this notwithstanding). In the process, we've made our time together count for so much more. Saturdays on my blog are dedicated to increasing our attention to seeing and sharing new and interesting things throughout the week as a way to slow down and enjoy the ride of life! 

Saturday, we walked down to Leakin Park at the end of our street. There is a trailhead there and we wanted to take it out to the old Crimea Estate House, which is about 1.5 miles from our house, by foot. Here are the scenes of the day...

The crew at the beginning of the hike: Smeagol at right, then Bruiser, Maestro, Buttercup and Pop (Mr. Magoo was in the sling and behind the camera with me!)

Living Life Backwards - A Different Perspective

I posed this thought to my children the other day:

What If...

parents knew how old a child was going to be when that child was born 

and

as a result, we counted our years down instead of up.

Would you live your life more fully, knowing that your days were "numbered" and life had a clearly-defined ending? Would you live in fear of what was coming and try to play it safe - perhaps in the effort to "escape" the inevitable? 

40 Day Blessing - Welcome to the Church

Jesus Presented in the Temple

 ²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

In commemoration of the events described in Luke 2:22, the Orthodox church has a special set of prayers and a blessing to welcome new babies into the Church and to bring Mama back into the Church. SO... for the first time in nearly two months, I went to Liturgy yesterday and for the first time ever, Little Mr. Magoo went to church as well. After being gone for so long and missing most of the Lenten services and all of the Paschal (Easter) services, being here and smelling the incense and hearing the prayers sung and chanted were truly blessings to enjoy. The incense hit me the strongest - it is such a unique smell and it really affects me strongly. 


In this post - just some pictures and brief explanations of what's going on... 

This is a shot from way in the back of Annunciation Greek Cathedral in Baltimore, MD. The icons in this church are beautiful - to the left is Christ breaking the gates of Hell. In the back center is Mary with the Christ child - it is my understanding that outside of an icon where she is pregnant, Mary is never shown without Christ. I don't know what the proportions are, but I don't think most Orthodox churches have organs. This one does and you can see it and the choir up in the top left - just to the right of the icon on the wall. 

We American Hoarders...

{Let's face reality, shall we?}

Many. Americans. are. hoarders.
{and there's a good chance you're one of them!}

There have been a few posts on my little bloggety-blog here about decluttering and getting rid of stuff. Of curing "stuffitis" - and my struggle with it. Well, this is another one, but one with a twist as opposed to more pics of my house-in-progress (as much fun as that can be!)

Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

This post is actually just a link to another person's blog, but the article is well written and so very important for all to be aware of. 

Please spread the word far and wide as we enter swimming season and summer fun!

The link is to Mario Vittone's blog. 

Surrounded by "School"

Maestro - motivation for several blog posts lately - has mentioned a curiosity about classroom-based education a few times over the years. It seems his primary motivation has been because of the social aspect: a mistaken notion that going to school will mean being able to talk to and interact with his friends more often. As a result, I've tried to point out where things that we're doing anyway are things that I can frequently "count" as part of our schooling. My intention is to get him to think more along the lines of a "count your blessings" mentality, as opposed to a "count your curses" mode of thinking.

One of our many "alternate" home school activities

A Letter to Our Oldest Son

Yesterday our son came home from his friend's house across the street and was clearly upset about something. The short version of the story is that he had used his Nintendo DS "for 30 seconds" while waiting for another friend to come out. His friend said that he was "obsessed" and ultimately decided to go inside. There are, of course, other details that he wanted me to consider, but in my mind that is what it boiled down to. I told him that she was right and he had been rude.

In a bit of a pre-teen huff (meaning, as he tried to leave the room and escape downstairs), he said, "(You were)... the one person I thought would back me up!"

~ ~ ~ ~

Dear Oldest,

I want to tell you thank you for being part of my life; you and your siblings are what make me mom. It is with a mother's love that I write this note to you.