Some Things I'm reading

There's an interesting article on the legacy a fellow got from his father in the Times style section (which I usually dont read, but suppose I might have to now).

There's also a touching article on how a marriage is progressing and the adversity. I like it that the husband sees problems as beautiful.

I like Tom Classen's haibun. His site doesn't have Before School, which is in the intresting book Journey to the Interior: American Versions of Haibun, which is edited by Bruce Ross. But it has some interesting ones.

I read David G. Lanoue's Haiku Wars, which Zane lent me, on our family visit down south. It's a haiku novel. My father writes some of these Asian inspired poetry forms, which you can see some on his site.

It's been 50 years since Sangharakshita wrote A Survey of Buddhism, but for my money, it's the best single book on Buddhism, that is not a sutra.

Last week in Newnan Georgia, I read the Times-Herald newspaper. And the Atlanta Constitution-Journal.

Road Trip

We drove down Sautrday, arriving Sunday in Newnan Georgia. We came back Friday Feb. 23rd, and arrived in NYC Saturday. It took about 19 hours both ways to drive the 920 miles. William puked twice going down, and Andrew puked twice coming back. I'm not the young person who could drive what took me 14 hours, by myself. I definitely needed Zane to help me drive, I got so tired, and next time we'll fly or take 2 days to do it. The boys did pretty well, they did much better than I expected, even though it's painful when they cry, and they had so much energy when we stopped.

Grandma, Grandpa, David, Nancy, Braxton, David and Molly were all a joy to see. We didn't do much except spend time together. The boys enjoyed the space inside and outside. Andrew got interested in playing with the cars while they were parked. William said, when Andrew was nowhere near him, "Andrew is kicking me." Braxton came over to about an hour and played, running around the SUV, and playing with the trains. Molly reported on some cute things he said. The newlyweds came by one evening, after the boys and Diana fell asleep. I wish them happiness in their marriage, we regretted now being able to come down for it. Grandma gave me a copy of the newspaper article with all it's quaint small town details. David stopped by every evening, and it was good to see him. I think Grandma cried the most saying goodbye to her son Zane, my father, but she will miss us all. I hope our hordes invading didn't disrupt their routines too much. They were kind and generous in our visit with them.

We went one day to a lovely park, that had 3 playgrounds, the biggest one was amazing. Otherwise we were home bodies. Next time maybe we'll spend some time in Atlanta, with all that has to offer.

Zane was a trooper, never complaining and helpful. He caught the cold everyone's had. The boys and I still have it lingering.

At home, our house is in disarray. The remodeling is taking longer. The counter will take 2 weeks to get, and we're not going to be able to use the sink till that's installed properly. All our stuff is moved out of that area to take the appliances and shelves and whatnot. They're working on it now, on a Saturday. Diana took the boys over to her parents. Zane and I will swing by and give him some last minute time with the boys before he flies off today. Thanks to him for all his material and presence support.

It was in the 60's in Atlanta yesterday. It's in the 20's here in NYC. Yikes!

colds

The boys broke another lamp. They either lost or broke the nice phones Virginia got to replace our constantly running out of battery phone. I think we should just abandon the land line, almost, because of all these troubles. Easily overwhelmed, I like the get rid of it solution.

William continues to say cute things, I can't remember. Natasia and Timothy came over Wednesday night to baby sit with Aida. Aida watched the boys while Diana and I went out for our Valentine's dinner. Grandpa Parks, and Great Grandpa and Grandma Parks sent valentines day cards. Diana got the boys some balloons, which they really enjoyed.

William has become a Sponge Bob addict. He wakes up in the morning and says, "I want Sponge Bob". He also asks for candy.

Preparation has begun for remodeling the kitchen. Aida has been very helpful, she really gets into other's projects.

Paquita had a cold. Andrew got the cold first. Diana got something slightly. Then William. Now I've had a sore throat and a runny nose the past two days.

Andrew is crying more when he doesn't get his way, when he hears "no".

smack

I've been working more to find the joy in child minding, and explore and fully recognize and accept my feelings of being overwhelmed, incompetent, angry and sad.

Andrew has learned how to kiss. Before he gave an opened mouth kiss. He's really quite sweet. When Andrew hurts William I tell him to say sorry to William, like I do when William hurts him. But he just goes over and kisses him and hugs him. They're really quite sweet.

My mother forwarded an article.

460. Long Time No Write

One of William phrases these days, when he can't find something, he says, "it's in the bushes."

The last Saturday in January morning was a lovely family day. William and Andrew like it when their parents are home even if they frustrate them. Aida and Natasia were over too. Andrew fell and scraped his chin. We had Delilah's birthday party at Harry and Angie's Saturday and we went over to celebrate. I put in West Side Story, which William likes at times.

The last Sunday in January was Robyn's birthday party, and there was a big blowout party at Virginia and Tim's.

This first Saturday in February I took the boys to the park in the cold weather. They look awfully cute in their snow suits. I always think of getting vitamin D through sunlight on the cheeks in winter time. William is quite deft at going down the slides now. They got absolutely dirty in the muck of the field, digging into the earth like some earth worshipers.

Diana and I have been going though some difficulties. My hope is to communicate better, more along the lines of Non-violent communication, which I have fallen short. In fact, I fall short of most of my ideals about the spiritual life, but that doesn't make me quit, I just want to try harder and have patience with myself. I went to the ER last Wednesday with chest pain. We're going to work it up, rule out angina, but I think it's anxiety, stress, tension. I'm hoping we're getting stronger from this adversity.