Far Away Home {weekending}

Blogging from my phone for the first time. Eeek!

the weekend started off with the annual town wide yard sale

so many temptations

but with the constant reminder that it will have to be lugged or mailed back to Ontario

so instead of thrifted treasures i opted for a better kind...browsing through Grandma's very full recipe box, which didn't disappoint

and led to laughter over some of the notes

and maybe a impromptu, wee runza fest with my aunt in my Poppie's tiny, but well loved kitchen

Grandma dozed in the next room, and although she's fading quickly and most of her memory has long gone, i couldn't help but wonder what she would think of our laughing about some of her notes

surrounded by her beautiful paintings, i was flooded with memories of her showing me different brush techniques as a little girl

she always had turquoise rings on her long and tan fingers

 I can still remember the distinct paint smell of her little art studio that my Poppie built for her on the side of their house.

and how she would let me  carefully wash her real, sable brushes when I visited.

i remember thinking that i was pretty big business-being trusted to wash them

I missed her so much when we would have to leave that i would cry and beg to stay "just one more day".

living far away from family for so much of the year was so emotionally difficult, and it still is

its the pits

and now my kids do the begging

and i have to be the voice of reason

which is darn near impossible for someone who is already homesick for Kansas.

Dorothy wasn't kidding around when she said "there's no place like home."

Weekending {home sweet home}

This week we finally loaded up our car for the long ride home. We waved farewell to our sweet little cabin that my Grandpa built with his own two hands, and kissed him and Grandma, and the rest of our Kansas family goodbye.
Each time I go back it gets so much harder to leave. My heart aches as I watch the red dirt roads disappear behind us, and I try my hardest not to cry...but leaving Kansas is never easy.

Not only do I miss my family, but I miss being in the country. I long to be surrounded by nothing but fields of wheat, wild flowers and prairies, and being able to see the night sky in all it's splendor. 
I miss the sweeping clouds that will march through an afternoon sky on a whim, completely overtaking the sun and any sign of light, convincing us all that it's actually the middle of the night, rather than the middle of the day.
I don't know if I've ever felt anything closer than the hand of God, than being below, and center, at the mercy of the sky when those purple clouds roll in.

I do know though that we have a home here in Ontario, in the city, and whether or not it's permanent, and even though it's lacking in my beloved windmills, it's still a home. A good, safe and happy home.

This is where we met and fell in love, this is where our children were born. 
I try to remind myself how much we've been blessed with the home that we've made here, and the family that we have. We really are, truly blessed.

{This Moment}

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{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

                Sitting on the porch with family, watching the storm roll in across the Kansas summer sky....