family times

Those of you who have stayed with Ocean for a while now, know that there comes a time when family events crowd out the usual Ocean fare. Weddings, the birth of a child, a special holiday or weekend gathering -- to me, they belong in all their fullness here, because I am completely under their spell and if I gave them only a small space, then everything else would appear dishonest. How can I write about the every day if I'm to underplay these remarkable life events?

And yet, I know that I am just a shadow player in many of them. In June, it wasn't my wedding that so completely roped me in, it was my daughter's. The birth of little Snowdrop? Obviously that is something that belongs just to her and secondly to her parents. I am several steps removed and even though she will one day grow up and understand that she has a writing grandma (with all the benefits and burdens this bestows), I know she will never have to worry that I am telling stories that belong only to her. Yes, we overlap some, but mostly, her life is her own.

But I do love thinking and writing about being a grandma (and a mom to my girls, and something or other to Ed) and so I come back to these topics again and again, even if some of them receive more delicate treatment while others allow me to be more blunt. I know most of you know this, but I do occasionally feel compelled to repeat it -- especially as I flood Ocean with emotions about the birth of little Snowdrop.


Let me go back to what is so obviously a beautiful family weekend. My younger girl and her husband are with us at the farmhouse and more than once I have thanked the water pump for giving up the ship a solid week before they came and before the frost and snow took hold of farmette land.

And so there are four of us for breakfast today, though I surely think that my breakfast photo should focus on the guy who otherwise stays to the side at times of great family fusses, but who tracks and follows with a smile most every emotion that passes through this way. Hi Ed.






After, I spend time with my kids and little Snowdrop. Or, more accurately, I stick around for just a while, to say hi and to hug and hold...






... and to watch the bonds grow strong...












...but then I retreat to the farmhouse. Snowdrop has other family members passing through today as well and I think it would be most hoggish of me to be ever present. The grandma that never goes away.


It's warmer today (if you can call a high of 16F warm), but the skies are clouded over and this, of course, is the trade off in a Wisconsin winter: sun, or warmth ? Rarely both.

The cheepers don't even contemplate leaving the coop.

The snow cover is deep enough now to think about heading out into the forest, with a camera, with skis too,  and we will do that, but not this weekend. These days have been set aside for little Snowdrop and indeed, in the evening, I go back to her home to do what? Well, hug and hold and watch the bonds grow stronger...



the dance




ordering take out food



Oh! Caught in a group hug in the kitchen, in support of the sleep deprived ever wonderful young mom.






May it be a good night for her... for all of us, you included!