Saturday, August 25, 2012

Filling Up and Spilling Over

S and J hard at play
It feels like weeks since I've had a moment to sit down and think, to wake and not start galloping through the day, to read and savor other blogs. It's summer and vacation time, a time when my rather solitary life gets turned inside out in a delightful way. This past week the older grands, (S is 11, J, 9) were here at the cottage. We started each day early and ended late, filling the hours in between with bike riding at the park and swimming in my brother's pool. S is a champion swimmer; J showed me the strokes that earned him the "most improved swimmer" in his class.

We harvested tomatoes from the garden and put up quarts of pasta sauce, dug new potatoes and ate them boiled and fork-mashed with homemade butter. We ate our meals in my screened tent, read books there after swimming and before dinner, played after-supper games of croquet and turned the dining room table into an ongoing crafts space. We made popcorn drizzled with chocolate. (S studied the Mayan culture in school and learned that cacao and corn were two of their staples.) "Why not mix them?" she asked, all innocence and ingenuity. We filled bowls with the concoction, sometimes adding a second drizzle of caramel, and ate it while we watched a movie before bed.

They are gone now, off to NYC for the weekend with their parents. They will return Monday, gather their sleeping bags and pillows, the pictures and potholders and bottle cap art they made at Memere's, and head back to their own lives. I miss them already. Miss the noise and the laughter and the constant chatter, the hugs, the sharing of food and love.

I also cherish the quiet, the whole mattress to myself again, the time to sit and think and write. My life is like an overflowing cup, all the things I love best spilling out and spilling over, setting me afloat in a wash of delight.

15 comments:

Brian Miller said...

hugs...i know when they leave it leaves an empty place they filled while they were there....enjoy the break...and the spill over...smiles.

Kerry said...

This is lovely Pauline. You have the best of both worlds: the enveloping love of family, and the contemplative life of your cottage.

Chocolate popcorn sounds divine.

Tabor said...

This is so reflective of my summers. I am always on highs and lows as my loved ones move through my life.

Out on the prairie said...

Love and compassion shared, what a lovely event

molly said...

So glad for you Pauline! It sounds like "your cup runneth over!" It's been mad here too. Maybe Fall will calm things down?

Eleni said...

Here too, we have my brother's 2 kids for the last 3 weeks. (2 more days to go!)
They are both lovers of popcorn. I will try the chocolate popcorn. Sounds delicious!

Busy , busy! Tomatoes runneth over here too but no time to make anything with them! Enjoying them like they are! (I would love to make a delicious tomato pie!)

Am suposed to write another entry on my blog. It's been 3 months! Time flies!

:-)

molly said...

.....did I forget to say I love your new wildflower header?

molly said...

.....did I forget to say I love your new wildflower header?

Judith said...

How wonderful, for them --- for you --- for the sum total of happiness in the world.
And you enjoy it all! Now is the time to cherish the newly rediscovered silence.

Murr Brewster said...

I found myself longing to be a grandchild of yours.

Pauline said...

Brian - an old friend calls them crossovers - that time when loved ones leave and you have to fill the empty holes they leave behind. In a few days that ache will ease.

Kerry - I do indeed have the best of both worlds!

Tabor - you understand perfectly.

OOTP - I fell in love with my children and in love again with my grands. It's delightful!

Molly - fall will only ratchet up the activity for me. A new grand is on the way and I'll be taking care of the Bean while Mama recuperates and then returns to work!

J - I love my cottage and my peace and I love equally the joyful noise family brings to it.

Murr - come join the fun!

Hilary said...

It can't get much better than that. I am so looking forward to grandchildren.

Friko said...

I've caught up with you again, and realise all over again why I love your posts. Mind ramblings which touch me and my life too, bitter-sweet, happy and melancholy in turn.

New trees will grow, regeneration is all. But oh, how sad it is to see them fall and mourn the sad skeletons left behind.

We only ever have children on loan, our own, and our children's children, that too is regeneration. Heartache and laughter are all part of the fabric of living, the two sides of the same coin.



Anonymous said...

I wish you were my grandmother! You are storing up such treasure for them. Lucky them! Totally sympathize with the 'missing them' but cherishing your alone time again!

Sky said...

fabulous to read here again after far too long. sounds like you've had fun adventures. wish i felt up to engaging in such play. this old body is not cooperating lately.