Uphill idealist

Tenderness is something much needed in the world today. We think we need to be tougher, stronger, and more independent. But the truth is... we need each other. Yes we might make each other crazy at times, we won't often agree, and we all need moments alone to recharge. But, as a norm - people need to be with other people. I'd like to even suggest, that people need to be with other people to practice the art of relationship building and relationship I think relationship building requires tenderness. My grandson Owen asked to hold his brand new baby cousin Atticus at our Labor Day Picnic today. His mamma (my daughter) helped him hold him carefully and as he stared at this tiny one month old infant, he was overcome with tenderness for him and kissed him. We all gasped.We teared up. This loving display, "got us in the feels".  We were proud of this busy two-year old Owen showing such gentle intention and care for little Atticus. We all saw how...

I have a toddler friend named Sailor who spends a good amount of time at my home on a regular basis. She has gotten the hang of navigating our wandering back steps with a little hand-holding help, she has no problem cuddling up on the sofa for nap time, and enjoys pointing at our 40-pound-beagle-cattle-dog and shouting with glee, "Aggie-Dog!". Sometimes we set up a gate to keep her in a play space of the living room and that usually works out just fine; but yesterday "Aggie-dog" decided to mix up the afternoon activity just for kicks. Sailor was happily playing with her baby, "Beba" when I came home and let Aggie-dog out for a bathroom break and dinner. Aggie was so happy that she began running and jumping throughout the downstairs. She was even so clever to effortlessly leap over the living room gate like a hurdle in a race. As the dog was leaping from side to side, Sailor would laugh uncontrollably and shout "Aggie-Dog", louder and loud...

This week my teaching artist friend Renee and I had the privilege of returning to visit a Pre-K Classroom at Fletcher Elementary for a mural project with the Arts Council of  Chautauqua County .We are working on two board murals about 2X6 feet in size. One board is a life-cycle study and the other is the four seasons. Here is our progress thus far. The students that are working on this project are only 4 years old and there are about 17 students in each of the two classes. This kind of teaching keeps an instructor on their toes and gives us a good dose of cute as well. Next week, we'll return to wrap up the project with these two groups of pre-schoolers.  Isn't it amazing what little ones can accomplish with a little helping hand?

This Saturday was a busy, busy day. Each spring we have an annual clean up downtown event and for the last two years I've encouraged the youth from our church and community to come and help. It was rainy and early but in all 14 youth and adults showed up this Saturday to clean up all trash from our Church yard and surrounding neighborhood. Thank you all for coming and helping! Saturday evening was my daughter Heather and her beau Will's Prom. Will is graduating this year, so Heather was invited to attend with him. It's amazing to me that my own daughter will be graduating from High School on only 374 days or so. Heather and Will had photographer Kenzie Mencer of Kaboom Photography come and do a photo shoot just before they went out to dinner and to the dance. I'm in love with these photos, even though they make more real how fast childhood passes. It's bittersweet, but it's so good to see pictures of how far she's come. I'm so proud that Heather is m...

As a youth minister, I have to admit it's really hard to choose my favorite age of kids to work with. The teens are all questions, the middle school kids are ALL energy, the grade school kids are wide eyes open, and the kindergarten kids - they are not afraid of anything. Today, I asked a two group of kids to help me write some new lyrics to the song "He's got the whole world in his hands". The grade school kids needed some serious encouragement, but once they got started they had fun with the process. The little kids were so excited about the project, they could barely take a breath to tell me what they wanted to put in the song next. It bothers me that as we all get older, sometimes our enthusiasm fades. Ask a six-year-old if they can be a dancer, singer, astronaut and artist and all of them will say "YES!" It's my hope that making songs with these kids will help me stay enthusiastic about life and help the kids I work with to never let go of the enthu...

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Have you ever worn a pair of sneakers that rub a certain uncomfortable way until you take the time to re-lace them and make sure they aren't too loose here or too tight there? For the last week, I felt as if I was constantly adjusting my shoelaces, as upon returning from a work trip I had a great deal of catching up to do in many areas. There is always housework, dishes and laundry to do and running of the vacuum as well, but throughout the week both of kids ended up needing some extra attention - one became ill with a sinus infection and the other had banged up their knee in a Halloween mishap and was hobbling all week on crutches. So in some places I had to SPEED UP and in others I had to SLOW WAAAYYYY DOWN and adjust what my normal pace is. You know what? Adjusting takes energy. However, after making some of those adjustments, the feeling of uncomfortableness gave way to settling into a better stride. One child is back to school and the other is back and off the crutches. Work s...

Here are my cuties on their first foggy morning back to school... Up in the mornin and out to school The teacher is teachin the golden rule American history and practical math You studyin hard and hopin to pass Workin your fingers right down to the bone And the guy behind you wont leave you alone Ring, ring goes the bell The cook in the lunch rooms ready to sell Youre lucky if you can find a seat Youre fortunate if you have time to eat Back in the classroom, open your books Keep up the teacher dont know how mean she looks Soon as three oclock rolls around You finally lay your burden down Close up your books, get out of your seat Down the halls and into the street Up to the corner and round the bend Right to the juke joint, you go in Drop the coin right into the slot Youre gotta hear somethin thats really hot With the one you love, youre makin romance All day long you been wantin to dance, Feeling the music from head to toe Round and round and round we go Hail, hail rock and roll Delive...

Image found at Andrew Cusack's blog. Ginger-ale bubbles rise to the top of a ice cube filled glass as the ice jingles a little too cheerfully at one in the morning. Upset stomachs have a way of bringing even almost grown teenagers back to the place where all they desire is a tall glass of ginger-ale and their Mom. Comfortable blankets, rest, drinking (while hopefully keeping it all down) lots of fluids, and having Mom just a room or two away just in case - apparently is all my not-so-little one needs. Yes its late and the crickets are chirping their loud mid-summer night song, but this Mom is still carrying glasses filled with dancing ice cubes and amber bubbles in response to her child's need. Now I lay me down to sleep, almost. After her eyes close to rest and the magic ginger-ale bubbles do their work. I see ginger-ale works the night shift too - just like me.

Grace is a beautiful gift, if only we allow ourselves the space and time to receive it. Too often grace is one of those gifts that we'd prefer not to use. It can be easier to plug away at life with our own abilities and plans as the center and think grace is something to be used only in case of emergency. Honestly, I think the emergency is the fact that grace is treated as a minor benefit, is ignored until a disaster occurs, or become cheap in our nonchalant treatment of it. In the words of the famous hymn " Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." Do these lyrics really reflect how I live out grace in my life? Grace has been on my mind a great deal this last week or so. In fact a few weeks ago, in the midst of a weary day and lots to do, I had to ask someone to give me some grace and some space to figure out what to do next. A funny thing happened when I asked for grace, the person d...

I'd made all the arrangement. Reserved the item ahead of time and made arrangements for pick up and transport. I worked an extra gig last week to be sure I had the $ to handle the surprise I'd hope to reveal later today. Well, when I revealed the surprise, I did not get the response I'd expected. In fact there was only a quiet and trying to be polite,"Oh, ok." What? How is this possible? How could you not WANT this? Maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board on surprises for my pre-teen boy, eh? This is too disappointing for words, yet her I am typing away. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Post update 11:00 pm Post bike shopping trip. After all this, when he saw the shiny red Schwinn mountain bike, all his ambivalence melted away as he grinned, "Is this the one for ME!" Yes sir, that is the one for you, my unpredictable fellow. Sigh. BTW, I got a new bike too as I haven't had one since I ...

After a tasty evening snack of Super Pretzels with my family, an amazing thing happened... My daughter was instantly transformed in "Super Pretzel" herself! Was it the mustard? Was it the cream cheese? I'm not sure we'll ever know! Super Pretzel emerges from her secret headquarters to fight crime in the City of Jamestown! Super Pretzel feels strongly about her adopted planet earth. That is why she uses a recycled beach towel as her cape! Super Pretzel is impervious to an attack by her evil Ninja brother! Super Pretzel takes a hot-line call from the Chief of Police! (Being a conscientious crime fighter, she ALWAYS has her cell phone with her!) Super Pretzel caught on camera as she goes "up, up and away!" Super Pretzel shows off her mad fighting skills as she gives her evil Ninja brother some what-for! Just a typical evening at the Eastman residence. :) Oh how we love super heroes!

Last Friday my husband Ian and I had the opportunity to have dinner with NK of NK Kreations . Nk developed a method of teaching times tables by combining it with rap style rhythm and rhyme. Here is a video of his oldest son, who inspired him to start this effort due to his difficulty in learning times table, performing the 8 times table with no trouble at all. Now maths is nothin' for him and many school children in the Birmingham area to master! NK will be performing at the James Prendergast Library in Jamestown NY at 7pm on Tuesday and Thursday evening. Come learn a new means of learning math facts - before you know it, it will be nothin' for you too!

The props are almost done. The kids have practiced and practiced that short poem skits from "Where the sidewalk ends"many times. We have sung "All you need is love", so many times that I'm going to bed and waking up to it in my head. Will they all make it to open house? Will they remember who the line leader is? Will they have fun with all of it? One singing game, two short skits and a group song. I hope so... I guess this means I have debut night jitters for my "Hand's on Drama" group at ROK Club (Rogers Outstanding Kids - After School program)... I know, I know ... it will all be great. Right? Pictures to come soon! Image from music for penguins.

There have been the: "Yikes, where did that deer come from!" while speed bumping at 55 miles an hour over a 8 point buck's carcass and slamming on the brakes to have the kids cell phones whistle past my head and smack into the dash moments. There have been back road winter conditions at 2 am with the students saying, "Yeah, I only live 10 more miles up this road marked 'Off season conditions'. There have been plenty of "How long till we get there?" and "Can we stop so I can go to the bathroom?" moments. But the most trying of them all will have to be one hot, hot summer day in Western PA returning home from picking up a van-load of children from summer camp. The trip to camp was about 3 hours, pick ups tool about an hour, and the trip home another 3. I was prepared with snacks, juice and even a volunteer to help me out; but this moment could not have been foreseen. About 40 miles from home, the van engine started to whine and winnie, t...

These are the photos of the Unity banner I've been working on with a group of 1-3rd graders in a after-school program. This banner is a mixed media project involving fabric, pencil, marker, sewing, and fabric paint. It is approximately 4 feet by 10 feet in size. The project was individual and well as a group project, giving the children the chance to design their own square all about them and to work together on the descriptive words. Hope you enjoy the pictures. It was a big, but worthwhile project.

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” Henry Van Dyke Photo by H. Eastman So far this weekend (It's late Friday night as I write this.), I've seen a glimmer and shimmer of gifts and talent in both my lovely children. The photo at the top of this post is one taken by my daughter, Heather. She's a great photographer and I'd love to find a means for her to foster her natural abilities in our area. Any ideas? She's the wood sprite to the right in the photo below. Nigel had his first open mic night at Infinity Performing Arts , a local music education program that he's been a guitar student of for almost two years. He's done a great deal of growing and developing as a guitar player in the last six months or so and had this opportunity to play with a group assembled for this night only. The group played two songs together and Nigel was asked to solo on 'Stand by me.' He looks so s...

In light of reading my blogging friend Mel's reminder of the choices we all have in life, I'm making a thankful list for today to make up for, well - some really cranky attitude I choose to swim in earlier this evening. By the way family - sorry for that. On to the thanks, for what I thought was a crummy, but really not day: A sit down breakfast out with my hubby complete with over-easy eggs, sour dough toast, strawberry jam, a PITCHER of coffee and great conversation. Getting a flyer project done for my youth group. Complete with bios on each student and pictures. Beautiful color printers at the office. People who call the office after reading my article in the monthly newsletter to tell me they were TICKLED by what they read! TICKLED! Love that word. Little children that are content to sit by me and color with sharpies, chat about what movies they will see this weekend, and sing very loudly in my ears for over an hour. I think this means that they might just like me a little...

This week I picked up a teaching an art project in a local elementary school. It's only a two week project with me visiting the class on four short occasions, but I have to say I think I've fallen in love with the children there. It's a small class, built to help the kids with the struggles they face and a high ratio of teachers and aids to support the class environment. The calm and organized class has made a huge impression on me, but I have to say most impressive of all have been the kids themselves - they have been fantastic. The other day I was greeted by a little guy as I came in the door on my second visit. He wrapped his arms around me, smiled and hugged me tight for what seemed to be a minute or two. I was taken a little by surprise by his affection, but smiled and gently received his hug. He was beaming when he looked up at me. He said, " I've missed you so much. Thank you for coming to my room and teaching me art." I'd only been there one day be...

Drawing I did of my daughter, around age 6. Under the computer desk and on the shelf we found some memories, of life that had been dealt. On the shelf and under the grime, dust bunnies had collected keeping company with the history of our time. Kindergarten, I think There were found, drawings, crayoned by my now almost sweet sixteen daughter's kindergarten hand and baby picture's yellowed but delightfully grand. Shuffling through those artifacts, I saw a glimmer of joy surface in her eyes reviving a life that I hadn't seen for a while. Wipe off the dust and remember from where you came and step boldly and bravely into the light and promise of this day, today. Sweet Fifteen T.L. Eastman