Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

Summer was a bit late to arrive this year.  When I last sat down to write, there was a bit of panic coursing through my fingers as they tapped on the keyboard.  I was suffocating under a blanket of doubt.  Would summer ever properly arrive?  I felt that I urgently needed to leave the country and possibly leave the state of Michigan permanently.  I didn't know if I could cope for one more day without the warm sun on my face. Shortly after I wrote about escaping back to Great Britain (a foolish retreat location for a sun seeker), summer finally did arrive, and ever since I have been happily drowning in it.  I cannot begin to describe how much better everything is during the warm, sunny, summer months for me.  I am still myself.  I do not suddenly have organized drawers or find myself cheerfully putting away fresh smelling stacks of folded laundry early each morning.   I am still an introvert who feels more than a bit...

Perhaps you can imagine how thrilled my two year old was when Scooby Doo came to her house a couple of weeks ago.  It was so exciting; all of the grown ups were dressed in fabulous costumes.  Shortly before the party started, she asked me to put on her Pablo (from the Backyardigans) costume.  Of course I obliged, fastening all 77 snaps, then realizing I was off by one when I got down to her feet.  I was slightly frustrated by the time we got the costume on properly, but I felt it was important that she was involved in the fun.  Lili looked at herself in the mirror, giggled, and then, in one quick motion, tore open all of the snaps and declared, "Now I want to be a princess!!" "No."  was my simple answer.  I still had to get myself dressed and arrange all of the Scooby Snacks on the table. She settled for a princess night gown.  Still it was all very exciting and, as it turns out, also a little confusing. Everyday since I hostesse...

"Wake  up!  Wake up, everybody!!  It's time for fun Christmas today!!" And now a note from my ten year old: "Yes, you read that correctly.  CHRISTMAS IN JULY!  Around the Carson house things are... well, Christmasy!  You may see  holly by the door, a jolly Santa figure, and even a small, lit tree!  There may be snowmen lurking in the bathroom and all sorts of other small surprises.  There are literally candy canes hanging from the ceiling.  There will be cinnamon rolls and treats too.  Of course Santa is a little too busy to visit today, but there's still that good ole Christmas spirit!  Who would have guessed what a wonderful idea it is to have a fun Christmas day in mid-July to be precise?  Keep your Christmas spirit folks because Santa watches us all year long, even in July!" Today, for several reasons, we had a Christmas in July day.  My daughter Sophia's cooking camp was canceled at the last minut...

I still love blueberries.  It's my 3th (pronounced threeth) summer here in Michigan, and I still get excited about the fact that I can pack up my kids, drive just a little way in the car, and pick my own buckets and buckets of blueberries.  We've been twice since the blueberries got ripe enough to pick, and the kids still indulge me when I want to take artistic blueberry photos like this... On our last visit to the blueberry farm, my youngest insisted that everyone call her "Little Sal" while she dropped blueberries, kaplink, kaplank, kaplonk, into her little blue bucket.  "Little Sal" incidentally ate at least half of the blueberries she picked, but no one faulted her for that.  (Does your favorite pre-schooler know Robert McCloskey ?  If not, you really need to go to the library.) We've tried several recipes with our prized, locally picked blueberries: muffins, waffles, pancakes, smoothies, crumble, blueberry chicken, and I even see a blueb...

Routines are good for children.  This seemed a logical fact when I had my first baby ten years ago.  That first baby was not a textbook/easy/sleepy baby, so logic and all of my parenting books told me that what she required was a stricter, more serious routine.  Surely that would sort her out.  I remember holding her in my arms in her dark nursery, swaying back and forth while counting the number of times I lovingly stroked her back.  When I reached 150, it was time to lay her down in her crib and leave the room whether she was ready or not.  That was the routine.  I was 25 years old, had no idea what I was doing, and I was certain she was judging me harshly through her tear-filled eyes.  I clung to my routines for at least six months because I was sure that they were all that was holding us together.  At some point I figured out that all of my routines were robbing me of the joys of motherhood, so I went in a differ...

I love summer.  I love weekends.  Combine the two, and I am in paradise.  This weekend proved to be especially wonderful.  It was full of unexpected moments of perfection like this one when the girls stumbled across a magic froggy (or toad?) in the front yard... Shortly thereafter the big kids and I went to a local beach with an old friend and her children.  Lili stayed at home with her Dad, and I was able to swim and frolic with my big girls in ways that my toddler buddy usually prevents. I love reunions with old friends! Unexpectedly our friends were easily persuaded to spend the night, and we let the proverbial good times roll.  A backyard campfire and a couple of summer strawberry margaritas accompanied our jolly evening.  The second best thing about the night was these Reece's peanut butter cup s'mores.   Have mercy. The best thing about the evening was the good company we found ourselves in... and the awesome dance party that spont...

Summertime in Michigan almost makes up for the suffocating, frigid, seemingly interminable winter.  Almost.  But as I have said before, I genuinely love Michigan in the summertime, and here are some more reasons why... As you can see I took my girls and some blueberry-loving, enthusiastic friends out to Freeland this morning to pick blueberries.  We came home with three buckets full, blue stained fingers, and big plans.  I see blueberry pancakes, cobblers, buckles and smoothies in our futures as well as more blissful Michigan summer days. "In summer, the song sings itself."  ~William Carlos Williams

I love summertime.  I love the sunshine and the relaxing, unscheduled time with my children.  Summertime and me are like peas and carrots.  Know what I mean?  Summertime is an open-ended invitation to stumble onto silly, extraordinary wonderfulness posing as everyday nothingness.  Oh Summertime, take your shoes off and stay a while, won't you? This morning we met some friends at our local farmer's market where we browsed and bought all sorts of exciting summer produce.  (I do believe that heaven will smell like peaches.)  After a challenging brunch with my overtired toddler, we headed home with our cache of fruits and veggies.  The grumpy toddler was down for the count, so the rest of us girls took advantage of the peace and played cards.  We also giggled non-stop and ate all of the strawberries we had bought this morning.  At one point my nine year old laughed so hard, bits of strawberry came out of her nose.  That's how you know...

My kitchen is being painted today, so I decided it would be a good idea to get my kids out of the house.  I took the lot of them out to an art fair.  Seven year olds do so enjoy perusing stalls and stalls of handmade crafts after all.  There was also a stall promoting our local animal shelter, and Lili just about wet her pants when she was presented with the opportunity to poke fourteen different dogs and cats with her little index finger whilst woofing and meowing appropriately.  Emma decorated a pair of sunglasses at the children's craft area while Sophia created a color-changing bead bracelet, and Lili dumped an entire bag of pony beads on the grass.  Check, please. Once I had invested five dollars in a large cup of "freshly squeezed" lemonade, we decided we had done enough damage at the art fair.  We could all tell that our one-year-old was gearing up for a most impressive hissy fit, so we let her push her own stroller right out to the car, and we loa...

The end of the summer is really upon us. Sophie and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine today and take a little walk around our estate. ('Estate' sounds very posh, but that is how people refer to our neighborhood development.) We looked for bunnies, but we found blackberry bushes laden with fruit instead. We trotted home and returned with some plastic baskets and an Emma for good measure... What a lovely time we had picking wild berries... ...and soaking up some rare sunshine. Sophie snapped a quick photo of me in front of some beautiful wild orchids. I absolutely feel as big as I look! The best thing about blackberry picking was the warm, wild blackberry compote that we made. It was served immediately over cold vanilla ice cream. Emma said it was as good as cobbler...and much quicker to make! Enjoy the end of your summer wherever you are. Back to school at the end of next week for us!

This reassuring quote came from my daughter Emma today as we were ordering ice creams at Gelynis Farm. I'm not sure if she was afraid the girl wouldn't serve me if she thought my rotund-figure was the merely the result of overindulging in chocolate... Emma and me at Gelynis today Just as we were all about to lose faith in the summer weather, we have been blessed with an absolutely gorgeous, sunny weekend. George may even pull out the air conditioner. Hope you are enjoying all of the good things that summer has to offer wherever you are...