hey all ~ clink on this link and up my chances on winning this sweet ride. then post it on your blog and let others do the same for you.
~z
- About
-
Archives
Other Good Lives
-
RSS Feeds
-
Meta
my day and my kids
May 22, 2009 – 8:16 pm
this spring has had it’s share of robin egg blue shells found by my son. as well as three nests.
i’m not sure what these birds are up to. today was a day full of sun and wind. the kids and i took a long drive out to the farms in michigan and ended up at one of our favorites. calder’s dairy. sigh. if you visit through out the year you see the young calves move from their individual stalls to the feeding area for the older ones…their ear tags bear their given names. some i saw today; ‘gems’ ’sukey’ and ‘louis’. they still sell milk with cream on the top. they have an ice cream parlor on the premises and sell the fresh goodness right there beside the cows. don’t get me started on the butter. we had a nice time.
we arrived home and the baby cried to stay outdoors. so we went to the backyard and she tumbled around in a well loved car we have had for a couple of years now. she was so proud.
i talked with an old friend today. it’s been years since i heard her voice. i was so pleased to remember her deep visions and faith in a good god. there’s a phone call i was glad to make. well, i can’t not include a picture of miss mazzy. so here’s one of me and my girl.
well, enjoy your day off, do the hard work of loving the person in front of you and have a good night, friends.
~z
zena neds-fox is writing a letter
May 16, 2009 – 9:45 pm
my indoor cat was out all night about a week and a half ago. she slunk past us in the morning and slept all day. turns out she was bit by another cat. she’s been to the vet and had her pills, but she’s still got a little bit of a hitch in her giddy up.
i’m bad at blogging. i used to love it and do it often, now i rarely do it and never know what to say. besides the fact that everyone keeps up with one liners these days. i know that i don’t have many readers anymore, but maybe it’s good to feel like i’m just sitting on my couch, writing down words that only i may read. because that’s what is really happening. all of us, alone, in front of computers.
i deactivated my facebook account. leaving facebook is the new facebook. i look at the computer a lot less during a day and this is a good thing. i’ve three little people who are informed by seeing me stare at a screen instead of them, instead of doing something productive. i don’t want to be that person as much as i’m prone to be. and then there’s the friendship part. i love a lot of people. i miss a lot of people, too. fb made me feel like i had some control over those relationships, that we are still connecting in some form. but it’s not really true. i’d rather talk to someone i love on the phone. i’d rather hear my phone ring and know that they’d thought of me and not that i was one of 350 people they’re checking in with.
call me sentimental. truth is i’ll most likely know a lot less about people i truly care about. but that says a lot, too, no? maybe friendships have their own season. i’m letting winter to come if it needs to come. i’m not so great at that. hopefully i’ll be surprised.
i was out in the garden today. i’ve lived in this house for nearly five years. it’s the longest we’ve lived anywhere in our married life. my plants are mature from years of growth and multiplication. i can walk around and grab something from somewhere and make a plot look any which way i please. i like that. time supplies the increase sometimes. next i’ll be giving it away.
goodnight friends. enjoy your day. call someone you love and slow down in some small way.
~z
valentines, our van and a sled
February 16, 2009 – 2:50 pm
the sun was muted behind the clouds of the grey winter sky. it really was. i looked at it a few times while abe held onto a blue orb of plastic which sent him at moderate speed down the sledding hill.
when the sun is like that, able to be looked at, a bright dime behind in the the sky, i marvel at the day. it’s enough. it’s still enough to have a day by. how bright the light has to be. the snow covered hill was not too much for mazzy. she hiked back up at least twenty times and spilled off her sled, laughing.
my husband and i are not big into valentine’s day. it’s a kid holiday. you get the kids chocolate and balloons and cards. it never translated to adulthood for us. maybe we were our parent’s sweethearts. maybe you were, too. our anniversary is this weekend, eleven years, the proximity to the big love day accidental, but convenient for ever falling prey to feelings of valentine longing.
so the day before the candy hearts, they rode down the snowy hill and the trees fresh with snow reached out their branches like fishbones, so white. their noses ran and their eyes looked up at us with much shining. happy. my children are happy.
then our van broke down. nearly locked out by mom’s tendency to forget the key code, we drove on to jaja’s house to pick up that baby. the van slowly landed us roadside, waiting for lots of folks to come help and ever thankful for the iphone. we’re still waiting to hear what happend. we’ve got a feeling it might be costly.
oh well. oh well. it was a costly day. costing the great savior more grace to continue to catapult this miracle of a family forward. costing the advertising gurus thousands and thousands on this bunch who never saw one commercial or entered one hallmark store. costing the sun it’s due so that snow could cover us all again and make us glad, really glad, that life is as out of control as the sledder, hands in and feet tucked tight inside.
nice weather we’re having, eh?
February 5, 2009 – 3:53 pm
oh, tylenol cold daytime, how i love thee. your cool burst of citrus mint refreshes my very soul. i trust you will trickle down into my bloodstream and possibly make this god forsaken sinus headache go away.
blah. we’re sick. again.
i want to talk about post nasal drip. what the heck? is there anything more infuriating than when your nose just drips? there’s nothing to be done about it. there’s no rhyme or reason to it. just drips. drip. drip. and then you’re running for the tissue. i’ve tried to control post nasal drip with the power of my mind today. i tried to both make it drip, and to stop it from dripping. both attempts failed. it’s insidious.
speaking of things you have no control over, i’ve been meaning to write about the weather. back when i was younger, i despised conversations about the weather. it was the epitomy of small talk, which i also despised. so if someone brought up the weather, i made a mental note that they were possibly of questionable breeding.
but i don’t feel that way anymore. in fact i’ve come 180 degrees from that position. i nearly stand around waiting for the weather to be brought up these days. it happens much less than you’d think.
the attraction for me is the universal topic provided for those of us in the same vicinity. those kind of conversation starters are few and far between now a days. so there’s that. but there’s also the fact that we can’t do a damn thing about it. whatever it be. rain, snow, sunshine or wind; we’re all subject to the same conditions. it’s about time the human race had something in common again.
well the sick baby is crying and my nose is dripping and the phone is ringing. really. all at the same time. here’s to your health.
~ z
riding horses in detroit
January 21, 2009 – 11:51 am
we’re coming through a long season of sickness. children catch and catch again complete with fevers and coughs. breathing machine parts and used kleenex get strewn about the kitchen. pray for health in the ol’ neds-fox home.
yesterday i walked too long outside. i could’ve stopped, but the sun was promising warmth that the snow would not let it deliver. sunny days are hard to come by right now, so it lulled me out of the stables and into the light.
mazzy started riding horses last fall. lady, the only mare in the barn or rio, a speckled egg of horse. depends on the week. it’s been lady the past few times. oats is a therapeutic riding center for people with disabilities. folks donate horses that are pretty long in the tooth, but they may as well be stallions in the prime of life to their riders.
snowblind. maybe that shimmering too bright shining is a taste of the light we’ll eventually get used to; the light our eyes will have changed for so there’ll be no squinting. we have no idea what light is, or how much we can take, it seems. help me today.
help me enjoy looking across at the homes all tucked in, cozy under their thick, white blankets. help me see my son in his police uniform, not yet taller than me, and be patient, kind even. help me to receive this day with a grateful heart, instead of wishing for another.
abe quote
January 9, 2009 – 4:44 pm
me ~ “i think you’re made of cheese.”
abe ~ “i’m not made of cheese…i’m made of you! and i’m made of dirt! and i’m made of the lord!”
paint
December 29, 2008 – 7:46 am
i can guess presents. maybe you can, too. this has been troubling for my husband who has tried, for a long time, to catch me unaware. this year, he won.
these portraits were painted by www.jeremyokaidavis.com he’s an artist out of seattle that josh met whilst growing his beard with several other fellows on whiskerino.
to me, they are are without fault, and i am floored.
change comes slowly or not at all
December 15, 2008 – 8:45 pm
i just feel like crying. my daughter is a beautiful, troubling mix of all that is good and humble; bad and willful.
just like yours.
i’m glad my children are in bed. i’m frustrated with them and with myself. i fail so often. i wake up with the intentions of loving god and everyone in my house well. i end the night talking myself down from ledges that would be too messy to clean up if i jumped.
it’s hard to raise a family.
there’s a yellow construction paper star atop our christmas tree this year. it’s stuffed with cotton balls. it’s really great and it’s really haphazard. a bit like this household.
a big part of the problem is that i take myself and events way, way, WAY too seriously. i mean this. if you know me, if you are my friend, how come you’ve never pointed out with regularity what a unflinching crackpot i am? people need to tickle me more often or push me…i don’t know.
blah. blah. blah.
i have to wrap stuff. presents, i mean. not just random stuff. it’s not like i’m going to wrap up any old thing that crosses my path. it’s december. i meant xmas presents. but you knew that. i’m going to go do that now.
mexican town
December 14, 2008 – 9:04 pm
just got back from said town.
mexican town is a few blocks of goodness nestled under the shadow of the ambassador bridge in downtown detroit. as my mother and i were leaving, the host on duty took a liking to us. i’m not sure if he had a glass eye or not, but he didn’t exactly look at you. he was short and hospitable, maybe in his upper sixties. a little crazy, but he wanted to see you have a good time. he led us out the back way, leaned in and with a conspiratorial tone told us to watch out in the kitchen because, “there’s a bunch of mexicans in there.”
i ordered what i usually order these days. chile relleno. breaded chiles filled with cheese which are then covered with cheese and baked. add two baskets of fresh chips, lots of salsa, guac, rice, beans and toritillas. not too shabby. but wait, i’m forgetting one thing. the margarita.
oh margarita from mexican town. you are so good. so good to me. how your salty sides made me smile. thank you. thank you.
i take my mom there for christmas. what can i say, i’m the selfless sort. sometimes you have to sacrifice for those you love and i’m willing to do that. wwjd.
but now i’m home. and i’m glad. my husband (who’s amazing. if you don’t know him, i’m not just saying that) has everyone asleep in bed and is currently making coffee for tomorrow morning while i write a blog in front of my christmas tree.
my cat is wandering by looking lost. wait now she’s darting away sliding across the wood floor. crazy freaking cat. i can’t help it that i had mexican and you eat purina indoor formula everyday. geesh.
on that note. goodnight.