List maker

I'm a list maker. I have a system. I write things down in a numbered list. I cross it off when it's done.


Then things get complicated and messy. So the things not crossed off get circled because they are things I need to do now. If something is a priority above all the rest, there's a star. Nothing on this list has a star.

That means I was busy.

I highlight things to do after the circles. In orange things are circled that need to move to a new list.

So I'm just about ready for Thanksgiving. This list has been retired. There is a new, neat list of last-minute items next to me. I love my list. I love it so much I wrote a blog post about it. I love lists so much, I broke a month-long blog spell to talk about a stupid list.

Last Sunday, this young man went to the grocery store with me. We bought a 2-liter bottle of soda and a pack of gum. His brother gave him a hard time and made him cry. Or I made him cry. I'm not sure. Maybe because I thought the argument would blow over. At any rate, he sat in the back seat and cried. His brother got out of the car and I tried to talk to him. I asked him what was wrong. He sat there and cried for awhile and then he got out of the car. But not before he twice threw the pack of gum at the front of the car. I gave him the option of his talking it out or me talking about anger and his behavior.

He got the speech about being angry and throwing things.

But I kept the speech short and sweet. I said it wasn't appropriate behavior and really just left it there. He got out of the car and I drove off. It stinks when they are upset, but I am learning to let the chips fall where they fall.

This morning I showed up at his school for something called Breakfast Buddies. I walked into his classroom to get him and when he saw me he smiled. He got up and made his way from the back of the room. Halfway through, he started talking to me.

"Mrs. Caron?" he said.

"Hey bud," I replied.

He got closer and said, "I'm sorry." I thought maybe he was thinking that he was supposed to call me the night before Breakfast Buddies and I almost got my mouth open to ask him or express my confusion when he said...

"I'm sorry about Sunday afternoon in your car."

I accepted his apology and tried not to float down the steps to the lunchroom.

Dona Nobis Pacem

We hope for peace in the world, but it is often difficult just get peace within.

Be quiet for awhile today.

Nature Notes - Autumn leaves

Visit Michelle at the uplifting Nature Notes Thursday to see the one-legged chickadee!

Last weekend while we were on a bike-riding, rolling down grassy hills, trying to injure ourselves safari, the kids saw three big piles of leaves in a neighbor's unfenced yard. The rake was still there as a sign that the leaf raker had only just stepped away from the piles to get a refreshing glass of water and a snack.

The kids immediately asked if they could run into the piles of leaves and jump around. I said the owner of the house owner's teenaged son had spent far too much time making three enticing huge piles of backyard temptation leaves and he probably wouldn't appreciate our destruction idea of fun.

Everyone was disappointed including me!


Gathering Leaves
by Robert Frost
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?