Joy

I recently read a topic on Amy's Live, Learn, Knit blog titled What Brings You Joy? In her post Amy mentioned a book she had read, Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer, which I have added to my "must read" list. During this past week's marathon NaNo writing, I found myself often distracted from my story and thinking about joy. I began to wonder what the difference was between joy and pleasure, since I could easily think of many things that brought pleasure to my world, but not so many things that seemed to bring joy. So today I looked up the words "pleasure" and "joy" online and found an explanation that suited me at Dictonary.com.

Pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy refer to the feeling of being pleased and happy. Pleasure is the general term: to take pleasure in beautiful scenery. Enjoyment is a quiet sense of well-being and pleasurable satisfaction: enjoyment at sitting in the shade on a warm day. Delight is a high degree of pleasure, usually leading to active expression of it: delight at receiving a hoped-for letter. Joy is a feeling of delight so deep and so lasting that one radiates happiness and expresses it spontaneously: joy at unexpected good news.

So what does bring me joy?

My first thought was writing, but writing is not always joyful or even pleasurable. It can be difficult, painful and emotionally revealing, none of which brings me joy. Writing is something that I have to do, like breathing and eating. It is a rare day that I do not write something, whether a blog post, an email or a letter to a friend (sometimes those are even handwritten!). It does not matter to me whether anyone reads what I write or not. The possibility of an audience is not why I choose write.

Reading also comes to mind, but again, it is more of a need I have, like an addiction to caffeine or nicotine. A day is not complete if I have not had my daily fix of word input and output, reading and writing.

Crocheting gives me pleasure and satisfaction. I find it relaxing, soothing. But crocheting does not give me joy. The act of giving a crocheted item away, knowing that it will be used and appreciated by the recipient, that gives me joy. I never really understood why we needed to save an item that someone had made, pass it down from generation to generation, never to be used. To me, the value of the item is in knowing the person who created that item. If I did not personally know great-grandma Tilly, I am not going to value something made by her nearly as much as I am going to value something made by my Grammy. And so it brings me joy to know that items I have made and given to others are actually being used. That was the reason I made them in the first place!

Here is a picture of the baby afghan I made for my niece's new baby boy:

Knowing that Aiden's older brother loved his afghan and carried it around with him for several years gave me great joy. I hope Aiden enjoys his half as much.

Here is another thing that gives me joy:

Copper has taken to sleeping on laptops and computers. When it was ninety degrees and better outside, she preferred sleeping out on our balcony all day long. But when cooler temperatures came in September, she ceased wanting to go out on the balcony and now sleeps away the day on top of laptops or any other computer she can find that is running and warm. Anyway, just seeing a cat gives me pleasure, but having one (or more) of my own that I can interact with gives me joy.

Photography brings me joy. Amy mentioned photography and art in her post, too. Unlike Amy, I have never been interested in the darkroom and developing of pictures. What I love is the hunt for a good subject, the art of framing the subject and the sense of accomplishment I feel when I capture a moment in time. That gives me joy, knowing that I have saved some essence of "now" that can easily be recaptured in the future simply be looking at the picture.

My children, of course, bring me moments of joy. Their individual births were three such moments. Add to that my granddaughter, Miss Munchkin; I was lucky enough to be present at her birth and one of the very first to hold her. Miss Munchkin brings me joy almost every time I see her. There is just something about a toddler who is happy and curious and loving that is joyful, especially when she is related to you.

I feel joy when we hit the road for a road trip, whether it is just a day's jaunt somewhere or a vacation. There is something truly joyous about leaving behind the every day world for a bit and looking forward towards possible great adventures. And I feel joy every time I step onto a beach. Hearing the waves crashing onto shore and the cry of the gulls, feeling the heat of the sun through the sand on your bare feet, the smell of the salt spray, it all fills me with joy. Oh, and the skirl of bagpipes bring me joy. If ever I were to come across bagpipes being played on the beach while I was walking barefoot with my granddaughter, my heart would likely burst from experiencing too much joy all at once.

Amy's post talks a lot about finding joy in your work or rather work that you find joyful. I know this is the goal of many unschoolers, to find a way to turn their passion into a career. That is a great goal, although I know few that have been able to truly realize it. The only possible work-related thing that brings me joy is being able to find answers and resources for others. I love to research; I love to hunt for the perfect gift, for the perfect book, for that needed quote or just the right word that will complete a project. I think that is why I continue with my website, since HTML and web design certainly does not bring me joy. On the contrary, many days it fills me with stress and frustration. But I love to know that a resource I have reviewed or something I have written has provided an answer to someone's quest. That brings me joy.

So, what brings you joy?

My Bathroom Is Mewing

I didn't find a new home for Fluffy One (or is it Two?) quickly enough. Yesterday I thought it looked like she had had her kittens. But she looks so much like the other Fluffy, who was not so evidently pregnant, that I wasn't sure which one I was looking at. But when I went to the bathroom this morning (in the wee hours of the morning when all is silent) I heard mewing from below. So she obviously crawled in under the trailer and found a safe place to have her kittens. C'est la vie!

Technology, Love it or Hate it?

Charles got an iPod for his birthday Tuesday. He had an mp3 player already, but it was about wore out and he had requested something bigger and better for his birthday. Of course, bigger and better also means more complicated! Charles does not deal well with most computerized technology. He has a difficult time reading something and translating that into action. If he can see it done, he is fine. But he has inherited my technology-blindness, if you will. I have tried to help him, and we are finally making progress in understanding how to convert his existing songs into the proper format, but man, has it been a struggle. It's like learning a new language, reading some of the technical jargon. I'll read something to myself, then read it aloud to Charles, and the two of us try to decipher what I just read. But, like I said, we are finally making progress.

Now, if you were to show Charles a new karate form, he would get it right away. Or if you were to put him in charge of a class of karate students, he would have no problem with that. The class would continue calmly and smoothly. But show him something that needs tools to work on, like a car, or something with technological jargon and pop-up warnings, like a computer, and he is lost. He has had to learn to deal with more of that, though, this year with David away to college. No more can he just throw his arms up in defeat and cajole his brother into helping him.

And what is Charles doing now? While his iTunes is finally converting all the files the way he has been trying to get it to since late last night? He is out squirrel hunting. I am not sure if he took his blow gun or his bow. I do know the squirrels are not in any danger, though. The cats trailing after Charles will successfully warn away any squirrel silly enough to get within shooting range.

December update

I just checked when I last wrote here and can't believe it was so long ago. Where did December go? It's been a month of ups and downs and not one I'd like to repeat for a long time to come.

Mr. Algae-Eater seems to have recovered nicely. I bought some sort of aloe juice medicine that was supposed to be for sores on fish and added it each day for a week. It seemed to do the trick. He's back to his old self.

We did take a trip to Tallahassee last week and Bill interviewed for a position with a company there. He liked the company, so now we are just waiting to see if they liked him enough to hire him. Or if they thought they needed his experience enough to hire him, as they have a huge mess to clean up. Hopefully we'll hear soon. Bill and I really liked it there. The sunshine, the warmth, the beach, the seafood. It was very nice.

Christmas was a quiet day. Several of us have colds, others have been stressed and working too many hours. So we just watched movies and played with Miss Munchkin and tried to keep the wrapping paper out of her mouth. The best gift seemed to be the Flexible Flyer horse we got her. It didn't take long for her to figure out how she could move to get the horse moving. It is going to be a while, though, before she'll be able to ride it herself.

And I bought her a stocking that had the head of a cat at the top of it. I was going to make her a stocking. I got all of 4 rows done on it. I'll have to finish it next year. But the cat stocking was a big hit. Miss Munchkin loves "fluffies" and all day long she'd carry that stocking around and put her face right down into the cat's face and make her "kitty cat" noise, which is sort of a cross between a meow and a purr and a dinosaur growl. Very cute. That's what she's doing in these pictures, in addition to trying to eat the nose of the cat!

End of September

Catching up on odds and ends …

We visited David at Evansville last weekend, Family Weekend. What a rainy Saturday it was! We didn't join in on any of the college activities but instead visited the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science. http://www.emuseum.org/.

I would have never imagined that Evansville was a major shipyard in the 1940s, building LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) for the war effort. Even the boys found it interesting!

David seems to be doing very well. After a bit of poking and prodding we got to hear tidbits about his classes, his teachers, and what he is learning. He could even speak some Japanese already! But he's definitely not homesick and by Sunday afternoon was more than ready for us all to leave. I guess that's a good thing?

My poor fern … first Copper decides it's THE place to sleep. Then the Fluffies discovered it and now it seems like the bed of preferences for several cats and kittens. I'm not sure it's going to survive. It was so dry and hot this summer that it didn't grow as much as usual and was just catching a second breath in September. Soon it will be cold enough that I will have to move it inside, but it really doesn't get enough sunshine when inside, so I hate to move it in any earlier than necessary. But somehow I've got to keep the kitties out!

Here's a new pic of Miss Munchkin, taken two weeks ago. A drooling baby, cutting who knows how many teeth! Today Kat says that Miss Munchkin is "cruising," which is a term for standing up, holding on to things, and walking around those things. You learn something new every day, Miss Munchkin how to cruise and Grandma what it means! It's only a matter of time before she takes those first steps and walks on her own!

David update

It sounds like David has settled in well at Evansville. I called him last night and then passed the phone around so everyone (Bill, Charles, Kat) could talk to him. He told me about the robot he has in Computer Science class and a bit about the Japanese alphabet (or it's three alphabets). And also said I should see the movie "Accepted" because it was funny and had a very unschooling slant to it). He told his dad that everyone seems to gather in his room and he's not sure why. It did sound a little bit like there was more than one or two people in there! But definitely it sounds like he is having a good time and not terribly homesick.

We're still trying to decide whether we'll go up for Family Weekend later in September or combine visiting David with a possible trip to New York in October. I guess the first decision to be made is whether we're going to New York or maybe the decision to be made is who is going to New York. It's my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary celebration, so I definitely want to go!

Sunday my dad had a get together at his house and my brother Eric drove over from Atlanta with his family. Daniel spent Saturday night here playing X-Box with Charles and Shawn. I took lots of pics, so maybe later this week I'll get one posted up here of Eric with Miss Munchkin. She was frightened of Eric when she first saw him Saturday night, but my Sunday afternoon she was having great fun with his beard.

Oh, and it looks like my kittens have all found homes! I just need to decide if I want to keep one of them or not. We've been talking of possibly moving in the semi-near future and it is going to be difficult to find a place where I could have my six cats roam freely outside, let alone adding another one to that number. Do we really need to keep any?

Looking for homes

I listed the kittens on FreeCycle this morning. They are so adorable, I am sure they will find new homes quickly! There's one or two that I'd love to keep, but with six already, I guess I can't be picky if someone wants to give a home to any of them!

Here's a link to some pics, which will probably only work for a few weeks:
www.leapingfromthebox.com/kittens.html

I am slowly getting used to having it quieter here, although it doesn't seem like I've been home long enough to have to worry about it. I'd like a couple of more days like last Monday where I had four or five hours at home alone! I accomplished quite a bit that day!

I've just about completed updating my church school listings on my website:
www.leapingfromthebox.com/hs/alhschurchcover.html

There are only two or three listed that I do not have updated for this year. If I don't hear from them soon, I'll have to remove them from the listing. And I have some more to try to locate contact info for, but those are not listed on the site. Mainly I just wanted those on the site to have current information. And then it will be time to get working on the other sections of my website. Websites always need more work!

Busy Days

Has it really been a week since I last posted here? Wow! I've been so busy with office duties and running kids here and there. My desk is a lot cleaner! And the bills are all current! So some things have been accomplished! Unfortunately, updating my website was not included in that list of accomplishments. That was July's agenda, but somehow here it is the 25th and I've not even begun. And boy, do I have a lot of updates.

Yesterday Charles met with Dr. Debra Gilliam from Alternative Medicine Associates. She seemed pretty sure she would be able to help Charles and I sure hope so! It was an expensive visit and none of it covered by our medical insurance. He now has several supplements and homeopathic remedies to take over the next 12 weeks, along with some dietary changes to make. And then on October 16 he return to see if all this has helped any. She also suggested that Charles keep a food diary, but I don't see that happening! The most difficult dietary change is no gluten, no wheat. I bought some oat flour and some spelt flour, both of which the naturopath suggested would be better for Charles than wheat.

David has his college physical tomorrow. Which reminds me, I still need to double check with the college that a letter from his doctor will be all that is needed for a medical waiver on the tetanus shot. My mom wrote me last week to tell me that she had suffered from an allergic reaction to a tetanus shot about fifteen years ago and her doctor told her then not to ever have another tetanus shot or it might be fatal. She thought she had told me that before, but mentioned it again after reading my blog entry about Charles' latest "episode." I sure don’t' remember hearing about that before, but I'm glad to know it now. Perhaps it will provide added incentive for the doctor tomorrow to provide that medical waiver.

The kittens are getting cuter every day! Today the one's here in my office finally got brave enough to escape from their box, or at least I discovered one of them out this morning when I came in to check my e-mail. I think it's just about time to move them outside, as I do not want to have a litter box in here. The other kittens in the living room just have their eyes open, but I may have to find another spot for them. The mama kitty seems to be disrupting the wires back there that are hooked to the TV and receiver and our TV reception has been disappearing. Somewhere there's a cord loose!

Well, time to wake up some boys and begin working on the website updates. People are e-mailing me asking me when I'm going to make the changes that they sent me weeks ago!

Kittens and more Kittens!

Well, it took a bit longer than I thought, but we now have more kittens. I had thought Friday morning that the other Fluffy was going to have her kittens. She had crawled in under our bed and was there most of the morning, but then she came out and wanted to go outside. So I then closed my bedroom door for the rest of the day, not really wanting kittens under my bed. That night Bill and I got home from dancing, David informed us that the TV was now making strange noises. Mewing noises. Fluffy 2 had crawled in behind a bookcase that is next to the dresser where the TV sits and had her kittens on the floor there. Not a lot of room and rather awkward to get to, but obviously she felt protected there. Fluffy 2 hasn't left her kittens alone for very long, but we have been able to peek behind the bookcase with a flashlight and determine that there are three kittens there.

Finally today Fluffy 2 went outside for a bit longer than she has the last couple of days, long enough so that I had time to slide the bookcase out a bit and put a box back behind there. So now at least I can change the towel in the box every few days. While I was doing that, I got a nice look at the newest kittens and they look amazingly like the first batch of three kittens! Two gray with white feet and one dark tiger, almost a calico, with some gold mixed in with the black and gray stripes. No wonder they look alike, though, since I can't tell the mother cats apart and I believe the father was the same tomcat.

The first litter of kittens is now beginning to move around some. I played with them a bit on Saturday and Sunday so they can begin to get used to being handled by people. At least they no longer hiss and spit when I walk into the room.

So, six kittens to find homes for in the coming weeks. And I still haven't seen Silkie in several weeks now. I guess something must have happened to her, which figures since she was the more adventurous one. And she was also my favorite. Maybe I'll have to adopt one of these new kittens to replace her. Do I really need more cats???

Pictures of the new kittens

One Day Old!

Fuzzy and her kittens.

Kittens, Anyone?

I was sure yesterday morning that we would have kittens appearing before the end of the day. The three kittens that I acquired last fall were all female, as we discovered when a roaming tomcat appeared back in April. He was quite busy for a one-day visitor! And it's been pretty obvious for the last couple of weeks that at least two of the three "kittens" were pregnant.

These three "kittens" who are no longer kittens became part of our household last fall. We had lost two of our older cats over the summer and it seemed like the time for a new little one. I knew my dad had some kittens at his place, so I went over there thinking I would bring home one of them. When I got there, though, I discovered that the mama cat had died and her three little ones were following the dog around. Since I didn’t' think the dog was going to do a very good job of feeding them, I brought all three home. At first, they were all identical in appearance, three longhaired gray balls of fluff! Eventually, as they grew older, one of them developed darker fur on its back than the other two, so that one I named Silkie or Selkie. She was very silky and as I was ready the Outlander series at the time, I had Scottish names and vernacular floating around in my head. So I thought of selkie, which is a seal. The other two we still can't tell apart, so they go by several names, including Fluffy, Fuzzy, Furrball and Lizzie.

Yesterday morning one of the Fluffys insisted on being inside and followed me everywhere I went. If I sat, she was on my lap insisting upon attention. If I moved to another room, she followed me, rubbing against my leg and generally tripping me up every step of the way. So I figured something was up. And sure enough, by evening she had found a spot in a dark corner of my bedroom (even though I had prepared two boxes for her in other parts of the house) and proceeded to have one kitten. She then came back out to the kitchen, making all sorts of noises, and then went back to the bedroom. That's when I discovered where she was and that she had already had one kitten. Later, we discovered that she was in the living room, giving birth to another kitten while curled up next to the dog. We took her and her kitten back into the bedroom, where she had earlier had another kitten. Eventually she had four in all.

Since I really didn't want them in my bedroom, I rearranged some furniture in my office and they are now situated in a protected corner there. Some time during the night one of the kittens died. So now we have three kittens from one Fluffy. And more on the way! Anyone need a kitten in about eight weeks? Or two? Or three?