Sweet Baby Jack

Announcing little Jack Lawrence Snyder, born January 22 to proud parents Scott and Ally, and excited big sister (age 18 months), Lucinda Grace. We love you, baby.

~Ally

Merry Christmas, Old Man

    (photo by Scott Snyder)

Dear Dad,

It is almost Christmas and I miss you terribly. You have been gone - where to, exactly? World's longest fishing trip?? - for over four years now. Which is ridiculous. Don't you realize I am verging on child #2, a BOY, and you are missing it? You really should consider popping back in for a few months' visit...

I am missing you this Christmas because time is slipping away from me to do all the holiday fun things I want to do (not the least of which reasons is my enormous pregnancy), and everyone around me seems to be in a rather grinchy mood, and just in general, I miss your love of this time and your sense of wonder. Which somehow I inherited. And miss sharing it with you.

You were known for buying extravagant (and ridiculous?) presents for your granddaughters, Anna and Emma, shoving them away in the front closet where Mom never looks, and then wrapping them yourself and pulling out this massive pile of gifts for under the tree on Christmas Eve when everyone was asleep. We always got presents from Mom and Dad, but we knew there would be at least one special one from just Dad, that no one knew about. Something you had specially gone and picked out, something pricey or classy. And of course the price wasn't the point, but that was how you showed your love. According to the "Five Languages of Love," you were the gift giver.

You would gripe and grouch at Mom for the whole month of December, getting a bit of Grinch stuck in your soul for whatever the annual reason was...then come out with some precious rock in a tiny box for her on Christmas morning. I don't know if she thought that made up for everything previous...but it did always express your undying love for her, at least to me. I knew that you never bought a piece of jewelry out of obligation or "being in the doghouse," but you bought many special things for her out of the generous outpouring of your heart. You were full to the brim with love.

I miss the traditions we all had, like the things the "morning people" did when everyone else was asleep. I of course tried to miss them all at the time, but now, as you may know, I am UP at those ungodly hours - being a mom and all - and now I could actually TALK to you over a morning coffee, or do a Sudoku while you worked a crossword, waiting for everyone else to arise. You could be having those hysterical bonding play moments with Miss Lucinda like you used to have with Anna - special trips out for pancakes ("just the two of us") or playing "preacher" and giving her your humanist/atheist version of a sermon, or making loop pot holders. Which the kids still do. Lucinda is all about morning talks and sharing breakfast treats. You would be in heaven and I would love seeing it.

I miss you insisting on reading "The Night Before Christmas" on Xmas Eve, no matter what other games/activities/mayhem the girls had planned for the evening. I miss you reading "The Owl on Christmas Morn," your most precious poem about your father, every Christmas morning since his death, over twenty years ago...and how every SINGLE year, you and I STILL get choked up over it, and weep - for just a minute - into our orange juice. I miss your sense of family = an aggravating pile of people loaded into the house that you want to get away from (but are sad and lonely if a single one does not show up that year). I miss your generosity and hosting of the festive season.

You loved a party. You needed your "cave time" before and after. You relished the Christmas cookies...as well as a six-stack of Oreos (just as sacred) with glass of milk, taken down to the Man Cave. You would wear holiday colors to the occasions, take the kids (even if they were snotty and sick) out to see Christmas lights, and build an eight-inch snowman with your granddaughter (so she wouldn't be afraid of the full-size one).

Dear god, how am I supposed to live the rest of my life without you? I miss you every day, Dad. But especially at this time of year. You implanted so many precious goals and inspired dreams, unattainable expectations for others, and a sense of magic and love that will last my entire life. I hope I can impart these to Lucy and Jack. I hope we can remember your spirit every year for the next sixty or so. I hope you can feel my love and know my heart.

Because it is with you. Wherever you may be. "Merry Christmas to all [you], and to all [you] a good night!"

I love you.

~Al

(photo by Scott Snyder)
 

(photo by Steven Johnson)

**Happy One Year Old Birthday, Miss Lucinda Grace!**

(all photos by Scott Snyder except for this bottom one, by me)

I love you more than words can say. You have changed everything - our whole worlds! You are the sweetest and best thing that has ever happened to me. You are gonna take this world by storm!

Love always and forever ~

Mama

xxxxoooo

Simple Woman's Day Book

The Simple Woman's Daybook

April 5, 2012

Outside My Window...it is cloudy and chilly, the perfect weather for Maundy Thursday.

I am thinking...how there must be so many lonely mothers who have decided to stay home with their kids to raise them, but are desperate for some adult human interaction, especially in the late winding hours of afternoon.

I am thankful for...my parents having stayed together all those years, because even though I don't know how to do it, i know it can be done, and that gives me hope.

From the kitchen...i should be making some banana bread to thank that lovely mom in town who gave me a bunch of leftover baby food jars and diapers, via our new babysitter.

I am wearing...a bizarre, somewhat mismatched outfit. maybe today is the day to get my clothes unpacked finally and sorted out. oh, but a nap seems like a better choice...

I am creating...a Thank You project for me and the husband to do on a daily basis, as we are both feeling underappreciated and undercherished at the moment. gotta remedy that.

I am going...to try and join the local Zumba class on thursday nights. i really want to meet people, and do something active and fun. my hearts needs this.

I am reading... Joshua: A Parable for Today by Joseph Girzone.

I am hoping...to revive our family happiness in this new town and new house. already scott seems much happier here than in our previous home. but miracles take time and i am hoping that bit by bit, we will both come to a place of joy and contentment.

I am hearing...my father in my head a lot lately. he always seems to be sending me messages and for the most part, they are less judgy and more gentle than when he was here on earth. my view of life after death changed somewhat while reading a silly novel called "Saving Fish From Drowning," and i now always think of my father as possessing divine all-knowingness in his new status, whatever it may be. it has helped our "relationship."

Around the house...is one chaotic pile of mess after another. we moved about two weeks ago and i had work conferences going on at the same time. we have barely had a chance to stop and breathe. we have a LOT of work to do to get this house feeling like home!

One of my favorite things...is regular old day-to-day life with laurel, and i got a slice of that heaven last saturday when she came to visit overnight with the boys. i just wish we lived in the same town. i really need that daily-ness for the health of my soul. it fills me up so beautifully.

A few plans for the rest of the week...are continuing to prep for my next upcoming conference at work, and then unpacking and family time - hopefully a little bonding - and then some friendly socializing over Easter dinner at mom's with some of her/our friends. lucy does love her some partying.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Miss Nine Months Old, as photographed by Daddy, Scott Snyder, this morning.

And tomorrow is the full moon...
View other entries at The Simple Woman's Daybook. And write your own!

~Ally

Beautiful baby boy new to the world xo

Welcome to the world, Baby Kai. You are a most beautiful dream come true!

And congratulations to mom Kenda and dad Bob. Such a precious time in your lives.

~Ally

Little Girl Reads Some Poetry

An excellent way to pass a quiet Friday afternoon, with Mama and Grandma Char (and Gina the Giraffe).

Lucinda: illuminated

photo by Scott Snyder

Lucinda: illuminated
by Allison Snyder

You are asleep on my chest,
your tiny body laced onto mine.
You are a mysterious traveler from a foreign land.
A halo of fluff covers your head;
in your delicate, lavender eyelids,
I can see the past, the future.
When your eyes open, light shoots through me.

Your heavenly bits are wearing thin, my darling,
now four months in this world.
You stir when a shiver of life runs through you.
You smell more of Dreft than of the ether.
Soon, your otherworldly memories and magic will disappear.
By the time you can speak, you will no longer be able to tell me
where you've been, where you were going.

"I love you!" I whisper urgently:
it's all I can think to say,
yet it encompasses everything.
"You're mine," and immediately
I know you never were,
but what I mean is: You're home now,
and I claim you.

Lucy, Sweet Lucy

(certainly helps to have a world-class photographer as a husband, and a miraculous beauty as a muse...) all photos by Scott Snyder

An Autumn drive for you who are far away...

Buddha Mudra

from the Mudra Gallery

Buddha Mudra - Receptivity:

The Buddha symbolizes being humble and learning to be grateful. Palms are open to receive gifts.

My best news all year!

See Scott's post...

Love, Ally

babymama in a field of Alabama clover

loving this baby-to-be

3/13/11 - day one of month six. baby growing and kicking and doing little gymnastic feats every day. she loves Mexican food and fruit and taking naps on the couch. or wait, is that Mommy? she also loves Daddy, who sometimes will read to her or poke her and she thinks that is so funny. she also likes coming fully awake at 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., unfortunately, just like her mama. :)

so happy.

~Al

(both photos by Scott Snyder.)

my great family

This is my new niece Reese...

and her brother Grant...
.

They live in Atlanta, where it's been snowing! They could not be any cuter! How wonderful to have a new baby in the family. Can't wait to meet the new family.
~Aunty Ally

Christmas trees...priceless

Christmas Trees
by Robert Frost

A Christmas Circular Letter


The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
Yet did in country fashion in that there
He sat and waited till he drew us out
A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
He proved to be the city come again
To look for something it had left behind
And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods—the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn't thought of them as Christmas Trees.
I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
To sell them off their feet to go in cars
And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
I'd hate to have them know it if I was.
Yet more I'd hate to hold my trees except
As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
Beyond the time of profitable growth,
The trial by market everything must come to.
I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
Then whether from mistaken courtesy
And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
From hope of hearing good of what was mine,
I said, "There aren't enough to be worth while."

"I could soon tell how many they would cut,
You let me look them over."

"You could look.
But don't expect I'm going to let you have them."
Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
Quite solitary and having equal boughs
All round and round. The latter he nodded "Yes" to,
Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,
With a buyer's moderation, "That would do."
I thought so too, but wasn't there to say so.
We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
And came down on the north.

He said, "A thousand."

"A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?"

He felt some need of softening that to me:
"A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars."

Then I was certain I had never meant
To let him have them. Never show surprise!
But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
(For that was all they figured out apiece),
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
I should be writing to within the hour
Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
A thousand Christmas trees I didn't know I had!
Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
As may be shown by a simple calculation.
Too bad I couldn't lay one in a letter.
I can't help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.

(both photos by Scott Snyder)

A little bit of fennel, a lot of love

Dear Sarah Barry,

After just fifteen years, Sarah, [I always was a late bloomer] I finally got my mortar & pestle. I remember watching you grind fennel seeds, releasing that blissful aroma, preparing onions and garlic (for every dish!), practicing the perfect rice, trying Indian recipes, stir fry's, and experimenting with exploding, fantastical rice noodles. Oh. Those were good days and I can still feel the warm glow from your living room, catch the hot and steamy scent of good food cooking in your wok, hand-oiled, in that tiny, run-down kitchen in the back of your mother-in-law's house, or other times, in our shared apartment. You taught me to love cooking food, and to relish health and creative artistry at the same time.

I burst my new mortar & pestle out of its box, without even washing it (and you know how I feel about germs), and threw in some fennel, ground the seeds wide open and tossed them into the tomato, onion and sausage quiche I am preparing for dinner. It's baking now, and I am thinking of you with fond and loving memories.

Thank you for teaching me to love, Sarah, in so many wonderful ways. And thank you for bringing me to a deep love of cooking delicious food.

Love, Ally

photos by Scott Snyder

'Shrooms...mmm

Autumn ode

To Autumn
by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Three of my favorite guys

(can't remember who took these pics...)

Sweetness and light

These are two sweet pictures I want to share from my good friend Marie's blog - two that cheered me up today. Her blog is always good for a cheering.

~Ally