Sheepshearing Festival

**Update: New video!**

We did something so fun this past Saturday. On Friday, we heard that there was going to be a sheepshearing festival in a nearby town, and we immediately decided we'd go. Sounds like fun, right? Plus, it got Nathan out of a few hours of spring cleaning. ;)

It turns out that this particular festival is kind of a big event. Like 8000 people big. Who knew that many Bostonians were interested in sheepshearing?

We got there early and stayed a couple of hours, and we had such a good time! I never thought I'd say that I had a blast at a sheepshearing festival, but there it is. We saw some sheep dogs doing their stuff, we browsed through the many craft booths, we petted some animals, we ate some yummy food, and, yes, we did see some sheepshearing.

The festival was held on a really old estate. There's a mansion on the premises, along with several acres of grounds.

The first thing we did when we arrived was go watch some sheep dogs herding some sheep into a pen. It was really impressive. What I hadn't realized before was that the dogs don't just run around the whole time. Half of their job is to crouch in the grass near the sheep, ready to jump up at a moment's notice to go chase down an escapee. Or maybe they're just crouching to intimidate the sheep--what do I know? Anyway, it was neat to watch:

Sheepherding from Lauren Benesh on Vimeo.

One of the things we really enjoyed about both Patriots' Day and the Sheepshearing Festival were the people dressed up in period costumes. All the soldiers, along with the fifes and drum, reminded me a lot of the Patriots' Day parade in Lexington.

Here's Noah and me with a soldier. Noah is being shy in this pic.

However, he is not being shy here.
Noah is really interested in big trucks right now. Every time we pass one on the road, he points and makes noises as if to say, "Look! Do you see that?!" So we knew we were in trouble when he discovered one that was not only a truck but also a purveyor of desserts. We abstained from the ice cream, though. You'll see why in a minute.

One of the cool things that was going on was the lace making demonstration. All these old women were in the mansion, making all these lace items. It was really quite impressive to see. They all said it wasn't hard once you got the hang of it, but it certainly does look complicated.

The Waltham Garden Club had a booth where they were giving away tons of free seeds. I probably took more than my fair share, but I kept seeing more packets I was interested in. Check out those heirloom tomatoes and the purple beans! I can't wait until I have the space for my own garden so I can plant some of these goodies.

I particularly appreciated this sign, outside a fudge booth.

Noah was pretty restless and wiggly most of the day, but he got really still at the sight of the Morris dancers. He walked up to the front of the crowd and just watched, totally fascinated.

Here are the men in action. They wear bells on their legs and were wielding sticks. I don't see how any one-year-old boy could resist, actually.

Morris Dancing from Lauren Benesh on Vimeo.

Lunch:

I cannot even tell you how awesome our "lunch" was. Along with our apple crisp, we ordered a big cup of frozen apple cider, something I had never even heard of before. But let me tell you something. Frozen apple cider is dang delicious.

Noah agrees.

And lest you think we didn't actually see any sheepshearing at the Sheepshearing Festival, here you go:

We were only there for about two hours, and we left around noon, but that kid was tuckered out. Just goes to show how much fun you can have with some animals, bell-wearing guys, and frozen apple cider.

Nothing Else Will Do

Y'all, I just want you to know that I just whipped up a dish of Granny's Banana Pudding, because it is supposed to hit 90 degrees here today! (!!!)

Noah and I are getting out of the house today, since we have no central A/C and haven't installed the window units yet.

Please do me a favor and go whip yourself up some of my Granny's banana pudding. Especially if it's hot where you are. You will not be sorry.

Spring!

Our landlady, who lives below us, is a wonderful gardener, and her garden pretty much looks beautiful year-round. She has figured out how to have something blooming all the time, except for maybe in the dead of winter. But spring and summer are extra special, because the yard changes every few weeks, depending on what's blooming, and it just always looks wonderful.

In any case, I've really been enjoying watching our front yard spring forth with lots of green and flowers:

I love this flower. Isn't it a poppy? Or maybe related to a poppy?

Daffodils are everywhere right now.

I especially like the ones with two colors, like these:

And these:
And aren't these lovely?

Flip Flop Family

Today's Favorite

These are my favorite items of the day.

I've started buying Target's Method cleaning products, and I just have to tell you--they smell amazing.

I've gotten bitten by the spring cleaning bug, so today I went to Target to beef up my stash of cleaning products. I have read that although "green" products are easier on the environment, they are not anti-bacterial, so I am trying to have a little of both. In any case, I'm not sure the Method products are entirely green, but they are definitely less toxic than the other stuff I own.

And, oh my goodness, the smell.

I am in love with the wood cleaner. It smells like almond, and it is amazing. Plus, there's no yucky waxy business going on. And although I was really leaning towards the lavender scent on the all-purpose cleaner, I went with the cucumber, and I am loving it. And the eucalyptus bathroom cleaner ain't too bad, either.

So there you go. Go getcha some yummy cleaners that make you happy to clean, and get to that spring cleaning! I'm going to be right there with you! (As will Nathan, however reluctantly.:)

Mom Topic #2 - "The Obscurity of Motherhood"

I have finally gotten around to writing about another of those mom topics that I told you have been percolating in the back of my head. One of them has to do with the transition from being in the work force to being a stay-at-home mom.

Several weeks ago, we had a speaker at Mom to Mom who talked about several things that can kind of get you down as a stay-at-home mom, and then she gave biblical references for the solutions to the various issues you can face when you're at home with your kids all day. Some of them had to do with handling your kids, such as combating too much negativity (like telling your kids "no" all day long, which I was doing with Noah at the time I heard this talk--"no touch" was something I was saying like 892 times a day). And some of the "slumps" had to do with the way moms feel about certain issues from time to time.

The one topic that most affected me and the women in my small group was the issue of the "obscurity of motherhood" (that's the terminology the speaker used, at least). By that, she was referring to the sense that you sacrifice a part of your identity to be a stay-at-home mom.

She read an article entitled "The altar of motherhood," by Walter Wangerin, Jr., about a summer that he stayed home with his children while his wife worked. As a writer, this was incredibly frustrating, because he had to eventually quit trying to work during the day. He had to quit doing the thing that defined him--writing--in order to parent his kids. It was then that he realized the sacrifice that the stay-at-home mom makes. He writes:

I see that deep in the precincts of such a mother's soul once lay some precious, personal thing. A talent, perhaps. A private dream. Some characteristic by which she defined her self and her purpose for being. . . . But then the baby came home, and the woman made a terrible, terribly lovely choice. She reached into her soul and withdrew that precious thing and . . . walked to an altar of love for this child and placed there the talent, the dream, some core part of her particular self--and in order to mother, released it.

Most of us were in tears or were close to tears by the end of the talk, because so many of us feel that way. Sacrificing part of your identity is a whole lot more profound than, say, sacrificing regular adult conversation or sacrificing some luxuries because your family's income is cut.

Of course, there are some women who continue to work, like my mom, and far be it from me to imply that it's less of a sacrifice to do that, although I do believe it is a sacrifice of a different kind. Although my mom did not perhaps give up the same sense of self that she might have if she had stayed home all those years, she did give up many other things in order to work, not the least of which was the energy and time she would have otherwise spent on us or herself.

I had actually been thinking about this a lot by the time this came up at Mom to Mom. It's not that I am not happy being at home, because I certainly am; I think this blog testifies to that quite clearly. I do not miss a 35- or 40-hour work week; I do not miss commuting; I am not lonely. But sometimes I do miss being useful to other people, finding I'm good at something, stretching my brain, or working in a particular area of strength. This had often been on my mind around the time I attended this talk. I was particularly troubled by the idea that I might be wasting my potential by staying at home.

But in the past few weeks, I've actually come to terms with this. I started looking at the stay-at-home moms who are several years or a generation ahead of me, and I realized something: this way of life is just for a season. Other women have gone on to do other wonderful things when their kids were older--God opened up opportunities for them when the time was ripe. Two examples that come to mind are the Pioneer Woman, who randomly started a blog she evidently thrives on writing that just happened to get huge, and my mother-in-law, who started a Ph.D. when her youngest kids went to college.

There is a time for every season, and right now it's time for me to do what I'm doing. Later, I'll probably have the time and opportunity to do something else in addition to mothering. In fact, I sense that God has something in mind for me, but it simply is not for this period in my life. Coming to this realization has given me a lot of peace, and now that I think of it, I don't think I've even thought about what I'm missing for a long time. And that leaves me a lot more free to love what I've got going right now.

Patriots' Day

Monday was Patriots' Day here in Massachusetts. It's a state holiday that commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord, and it's also the day when the Boston Marathon is held every year. It is a huge deal in Boston, because half of the city is off work and either goes to celebrate the very historic marathon or gets up at o-dark-thirty to head out to the battle reenactment in Lexington.

I have always wanted to do one or the other, but for various reasons, it has never worked out. Well, on Monday, Nathan surprisingly suggested that we go out to Concord to see if anything was going on. There's a spot he likes out there that he wanted visit again, and he figured that there might be one or two people in colonial garb hanging around after all the morning festivities.

So we drove out to Concord, only to find masses of people leaving. We went too late in the morning to see anything, but we decided to head home through Lexington to see if there was anything going on there and to grab some lunch. Well, it turns out our timing was perfect, because people were just beginning to line the streets for a parade! Fun!

Here's a picture of the main street in Lexington center. It was so nice to be in the crowd, which was cheerful and had kind of a small town feel.

We bought Noah this colonial-style hat, and he actually didn't mind wearing it!
I like this picture, but I wish Noah were looking at the camera. He never looks at the camera when we are taking a family picture. I think we have yet to get a good pic of the three of us.

Here's a band marching by. I like how the "colonist" on the right brazenly spread his arms toward the "British," as if to say, "You want a piece of this?!"

We heard lots of fifes and drums that day.

By the way, Noah's favorite things in the parade were the big trucks, which he's really into right now, and the band that played "Sweet Caroline" (Go Red Sox!).

Talk about an all-American picture. I feel like this should be an ad or something.

Noah and me. :)