Hey friends – wishing you a very happy June weekend! Hope you’re having a fantastic summer so far and enjoying all the good things: family, friends, homemade ice cream, veggie/flower gardens, ocean walks, outdoor concerts, picnics, watermelon, spell-binding beach reads, etc.
June irises and purple allium in Ogunquit, Maine
And all in that order LOL. You’ve been on my mind – I know!!!! It’s a crazy time of year. It’s been busy at our house too, with the school year winding down and summer schedule winding UP! And we’ve already hosted a few big extended family parties here in the last few weeks, celebrating my mom’s birthday and also Jon’s mom’s #80. Wahoo! Good times.
We’re especially looking forward to doing some things this summer that we haven’t been able to in a while. Some of you know our Hudson (8) has Down syndrome and autism. It’s been a beautiful journey in many ways but has also kept us closer to home with multiple medical, sensory and behavioral issues.
We’ve been working hard all winter long, applying for grants and getting extra helps in place for Hudson in the form of ABA therapy (autism therapy) and in-home respite care to free up our family for occasional breaks from care giving.
The excellent news is that many pieces that have been in limbo for nearly a year are finally coming together and Hudson is making great strides in his therapy programs.
Hudson meeting Sunny for the first time. While he was petrified of the lobby cat, he had NO FEAR approaching Sunny. Go figure.
Yass!!! The brush is upside down.
He’s looking forward to a wonderful summer filled with music classes, equine therapy and even attending a special needs local day camp for a week for children w/disabilities. It’s going to be a great summer!
Don’t know if I mentioned previously that Hudson has regressed significantly with his speech in the last couple years. We used to sing many songs like the scene above, with Hudson filling in partial words like this sweet little guy Bo with Downs.
We’re not sure if Hudson’s speech device has caused the regression or something else, but we’re just now starting to see Hudson picking up where he left off and attempting to communicate verbally more. If you haven’t yet seen the clip above, it’s one of the sweetest you’ll ever see. The talented strummer is Bo’s big sister Lydia and together they sing You Are My Sunshine. (Grab your tissues.)
Some interesting things to share with summer in mind. A few beach read recommendations, all WW II novels. I’ve read each one and highly recommend:
- Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
And here’s one I haven’t read yet, but taking it on vacation in a couple weeks: We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.
New topic. If your feet are rough and calloused like mine were – consider an at home foot peel. I’d never heard of it before, but was pretty desperate and now I’m sold. I researched and took the plunge (literally!) a few weeks ago. I wore plastic “medicated” booties on my feet for an hour at home, then soaked my feet in warm water for 15 minutes a day for two weeks.
For the first few days, nothing happened at all and I thought maybe I’d been scammed. (It wouldn’t be the first time!) But on the fourth day, my feet started peeling. And then the soles peeled off entirely, revealing baby soft skin underneath! I’m thrilled – and it was a small investment – under twenty dollars for two complete treatments. Be careful to time this well and don’t do it before a special event. The dead skin comes off in shards, and it’s U-G-L-Y. (Trust me on that.) So give it the full two weeks to peel off.
And who doesn’t like candy? I recently became acquainted with a great company Lovely that sells many organic and gluten-free candy options. They sent a few samples to our house – good stuff. Hard candies, chewy candies, salted caramels, gummy bears and various kinds of caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel balls. The pretzel balls went first. Delish! Find retailers near you here.
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And last but not least – we recently watched this beautiful movie, Breathe. (On Amazon Prime.) While controversial at times, it’s a captivating true love story – Jon and I were mesmerized. No spoiler alert here, but an interesting thing to know is that the movie was directed by the real life son of the two main characters portrayed.
Would love to hear what you’re up to and if you’ve got a book or movie recommendation, do tell ! I’m always scrounging for ideas.
Have a super summer weekend enjoying the little things, and Happy Father’s day to all the great, sacrificial dads out there. We love you!
XOXO,
allie
Carol says
Hey Allie! Great to hear that you are into summer now. Still no such luck here. OH MY! It is still getting down to freezing here some nights, although mostly the flowers are trying to bloom and most brave souls have their gardens in and are watching them carefully. We should be out of the woods now as far as snow goes, but the weather has not been cooperating with us for that warm sunny weather. I am off to work now for a month in Labrador, our provincial neighbor, and believe it or not it is actually cooler there than here.OK so I am really hoping for a beautiful autumn. Sure we will have that.
I loved to read about Hudson taking to the horse like that -so cute that he didn’t care for the cat but took right to the horse.Being raised on a farm , I understand how a person is drawn to certain animals. It is wonderful!
Our bathroom is almost complete. The shower has a big glue smudge in it that the company is coming down to remove and then we need a few fixtures installed and painting to be done(might not be done for lack of time, seeing that next week will be hectic. it can wait till we return).So the greenhouse planting is minimal seeing how things all turned out this spring, but there is always time to plant some things in fall and no real right or wrong season to that.
I hope the rest of your summer is so wonderful, full of all the wonderful things you love!
Allie says
Hey Carol – thank you! Loved hearing from you. So much going on there, not to mention still FREEZING at night. What gives? Yes, you must be counting on autumn, since spring has been such a disappointment. Congrats on the bathroom reno!!! So glad you are near the finish line. We have a few things that still need to be finished up with the kitchen…I’m going to have to make sure the last little details get done. When you get out of that renovation mode and move onto other things, it’s easy to leave those last details unfinished. We have a cabinet door that needs to be fixed by the cabinet maker, so I need to make that happen. Hearing about your glue smudge in the shower reminds me I need to get that done. Hopefully your bathroom is now complete! Enjoy your time in Labrador – hope it’s not all work, my friend. xo
Ellen says
I can’t wait to start reading the books you recommend. I am about half way through Before We Were Yours. So far so good 🙂
Hope you and your family will have a wonderful summer. Praying Hudson’s camps are a real joy to him!!
Allie says
Hi Elle – thanks – hope you enjoy the books. Thanks for your recommendation too – so appreciate it. We head to the Cape on Saturday and I’ll try to get my hands on a copy of that too. So looking forward to a relaxing time, wish I cld bring a respite care giver for a few days on the trip as Hudson is not a fan of the beach, but hopefully he’ll adjust and we can all get in a little relaxation. Thanks for being happy for Hudson, he is really doing better and I’m so thankful. Hope is a beautiful thing. Love ya. xo
Barbara Child says
Beautiful post! I saw Breathe on plane! Would like to see again on larger screen. Amazing! And thanks for book suggestions. Always welcome. So glad for new opportunities for Hudson. LOL
Allie says
Thank you so much Barbara!!! I am also happy to hear that things are going well with Katie’s transition too. I know it’s an answer to many prayers. Yes – you need to see Breathe on a big screen. The scenery in Kenya was truly amazing. What a movie. Also if you haven’t seen Mr. Church yet, I highly recommend.
Nancy mcmahan says
Allie so happy for your family that some help is available for Hudson. I took care of my mom for 5 years and with loving her and wanting to be her caretaker it is necessary to be able to step back a bit from the caretaking. It only makes it better for Hudson and his family. I am ordering the foot peel. Can not wait to get started on it. Have a wonderful summer.
Allie says
Hi Nan – thank you so much, so good to hear from you. You were quite an inspiration to me, caring for your mom these many years. I know you miss her. Hope you have great success with the foot peel too, I’m so happy with the results. I’ve been really good about putting cream on my feet every night since I did the peel, trying to take good care so they don’t get so bad again. Hope you have a great summer too!
Susie Mandel says
The pictures of Hudson with the horse are so sweet. Glad he is interested–even though the kitty cat was scary. I can understand–cats look like little versions of bobcats–and they have scary personalities sometimes. 🙂 That video was PRECIOUS!!!! And that big sister is a GEM. I’m taking notes on the books to read. Will check out “Breathe,” as we have Amazon prime. I highly recommend “Mr. Church,” which you previously recommended. I enjoyed it. Enjoy the wonderful NE summer! Love to all the Taylors, Susie
Susie Mandel says
P.S. I need the foot peel! However, I need to make sure to steer clear of Julia. She will literally get sick if she sees what’s going on. U-G-L-Y might turn into S-I-C-K here, LOL!!!
Allie says
Susie – for realz? I would never have guessed that in a million years. Hey – hope it works great for you too. There’s a couple days where’s it’s pretty bad – so just wear sneakers and socks or something. But then it goes pretty fast. There were a bunch of reviews where men tried it too. All the men in my life have baby soft feet naturally. What’s up with that? Sheryl was saying the same thing. We spend all this time applying lotion, they do nothing. Ever heard that saying, life isn’t fair? lol. Well it’s TRUE. xo
Allie says
Susie – super to hear from you. So glad you also liked Mr. Church, and the clip of Lydia singing to her brother. SO precious. I know you and Jac will enjoy Breathe. We had nearly 100 degree heat and high humidity today. Eek! Not typical New England summer. It was pretty bad, but then a thunderstorm came through and cooled things down. I’ve been to Ogunquit twice in the last week. I discovered that one of my friend’s sons is working at Barnacle Billy’s this summer. I’m scheming on how I can get connected to whomever makes that blueberry pie at Barnacle Billy’s – because I would PAY to get a lesson on how to make that pie. The crust is so incredibly flaky and light. I WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET!!!! Ha ha ha. And then I will tell you too. 🙂
Susie Mandel says
YESSSSSSS!!!!
Kathy says
Hi Allie, Thanks for the great post! That sister/brother video made me cry… Wow!! I have “Breathe” set to watch on my Kindle. Love the flower photos at the top of your post! Sounds like you have a LOT of fun things going on… Praise the Lord! 🙂
Allie says
Hi Kathy – loved hearing from you! I hope you are well, and that your summer is off to a great start so far. I hope you and Evan enjoy “Breathe”. One more movie recommendation — if you haven’t seen it yet, consider “Mr. Church”. And also “Priceless”. Really thought provoking movies. It’s tough to find good movies these days. I cried on that video clip too, that little Bo singing “hap-EEE”. Just adorable. Thanks for sharing our joy, I’m so grateful to have some special things to look forward to – hope is a beautiful thing. xoxo
Liz says
Allie, I’m so glad things are moving forward for Hudson and hope some of those grants pan out! I love hearing your updates. I’ve read all three books you recommended but will check out We Were the Lucky Ones! Hope you’re having a great week! xo
Allie says
Thanks so much Liz, it’s so good to hear from you. I’m excited about your kitchen and renovations. I love all the slots in your new pantry(ies!) for cakes and platters. Can’t wait to see it finished and I know you can’t either. Understatement. It’s tough living in construction. I just went to the library yesterday and picked up “Irena’s Children” by Tilar J. Mazzeo to read on our Cape vacation next week. It’s the story of Irena – the “female Oskar Schindler” who took “staggering risks to save 2500 children from death and deportation in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.” BTW, the grants DID come through for Hudson, I’m in process of interviewing/hiring respite care providers now. There is so much paperwork involved for each hire, but I’m making headway. Have a super week! xo
Shashi at SavorySpin says
Allie, I have seen that video of Lydia and Bo so many times, but, everytime I see it, I get that prickly feeling in the region of my tear glands! So sweet. I’m sorry to hear that Hudson regressed in his speech for a bit – but am also glad that he is back to where he was now. Is it just me or has he grown a lot taller in those photos? How cool he made a connection with Sunny – did he get to ride too? I don’t blame him for being scared of the cat – then again, am not a cat person!
Thanks for the book recommendations – my daughter persuaded me to read Sweet Bitter and I am trying to force myself through it… I have Kitchen Confidential up next and then am gonna have to check out some of your books. And I have gotta check out Breathe! Am hoping it doesn’t end like Me before You did…
Hoping your week is going well, Allie!! xoxo