JWalking: The Blog

I ts sound can stop one's running feet in his tracks, causing them to find a more leisurely stride. Its sound clears hands from the railing that helps others find their footing on a slippery slope. Its sound brings the sight of simultaneously exploding geysers and the sudden calming of tumultuous waves. Its sound coincides with the rumblings of thunder, when dark clouds signal an oncoming storm beyond the simple shower that would have otherwise kept the sound from being heard. Its sound comes from the one called to serve and protect in the fast lanes and slow shallows of the summer life. ( Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet !) Time to go back in the pool already...?! * * * The lifeguards' whistle is leaving quite an impression on us this summer, can you tell?

I f you follow CJ's blog, then you already know about this story. (This is what happens when there are technical difficulties at home, and someone is borrowing your laptop. Swiper, no swiping posts! Love you, CJ!) So, CJ's Vacation Bible School group--the big kids--had a missions rotation in with their morning schedule. The entire VBS collected school supplies to pass along to children in the Richmond area who cannot afford their own. (Read friend Cassie's post to learn more about one of these beneficiaries--the Free Market.) CJ's group had the task of cleaning up and re-packaging the donated, used supplies into something usable and wonderful. We have had an old gallon container filled with broken crayons for a number of years now. At one point, a teacher of CJ's had a resource that would take the crayons if they were peeled of their labels. We tried to accomplish that, but it proved monotonously difficult for a second grader and her mom! So, we stowed them on the ...

Y ears ago, my sister gave us a beautiful cream shower curtain. It was one that she was giving up, and I was glad to take it. It had lots of lovely trim on it, and I knew it would look great wherever it went. When we moved into this house, the only place for the shower curtain was the girls' bathroom. Nothing wrong with that, except for a long while, we were giving only baths in the "splashing" tub, and the shower curtain was more of a nuisance than a helpful feature. When CJ started taking regular showers, and we had turned the bathroom into a beachscape--with the girls' sealife art, their photos at the beach and real shells, I thought it might be time to bring the shower curtain back. After a summer at the beach, one in which we had tie-dyed T-shirts, I thought it would be cool to tie-dye the shower curtain blue, to match with the wavy look in the tub room. Hardly an expert at the science of tie-dying--and there is more science than art, it turns out--I dyed the cu...

"We went to the beach...just Grandma and me." S o begins the Mercer Mayer book, Just Grandma and Me . Since 2001 (minus a year in the mountains), we have joined my Mom and Dad, and my sisters and their families, on a beach vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have never loved the beach more. This year, I marveled at how big all the kids are (and how did that happen!?). Back when they were all in the single digits, we wondered if they would ever put a toe in the ocean. Now, we have the "Surf Club" (as CJ profiles on her blog ). Indeed, for CJ, the board isn't attached to her wrist so much as she is attached to the board! That is, until the wind seizes the board from the sand. RJ2 spent lots of time in the water, with me running behind her in case she forgot to watch for a wave. (Yes, I did manage to find time to sew up my SPF40 waders to wear with my rash guard. SO COMFY!) She made the lovely discovery that sand doesn't only feel goo...

M ade it home from the annual family beach trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Lovely weather! Rash guards are COOL! Ice cream on check-out morning is still a highlight.... More to come (And, yes, my anklet is on!) P.S. Horseshoe crab shell is real. Unfortunately, the crab didn't fare as well. (Did you think I would pick it up otherwise?)