Pondered In My Heart

Yarn Along: The Crocheting Mad Hatter Edition

 

Linking up with Ginny for her weekly Yarn Along of current books and projects. (Pretend there's a crochet hook stuck in that sweet little graphic she made.) I've been busy making more hats since last week's post. First up is my new spiral hat in cream wool, inspired by the ones Justamouse made. Don't you love the green one she did? The free pattern is here: Divine Hat Pattern. It's very clever and it was so fun to work up and watch the spirals form. It's also nice and roomy which is good for me as I don't like anything too snug on my head.

At the same pattern site I saw this Lattice Hat (also a free pattern) which looked kind of cool. Mary Rose said she would like one, as hats are currently in fashion at my house, so this is what I'm working on right now. I actually was almost finished with it but wasn't pleased with how the lattices turned out, so I went back and looked at the pictures and realized I was doing them wrong. The directions are very clear and there are helpful pictures, but I hadn't previously looked at them. (ahem) So I ripped it back and started them over, and this time I've got it right.
I've just started reading Never Too Late by John Holt which I 'just happened' to come across. It immediately caught my eye as I often the lament the fact that I have no musical talent, having never studied music as a child. The book is a memoir of the author's early musical influences (or lack thereof) and leaning to play the cello in middle age. So far it has been interesting to read of how this man had so little music in his early life, yet remembered so well the tiny bits he was exposed to. It has me contemplating my own childhood musical memories, and wondering indeed what the possibilities are for learning music later in life.

And back to the hats, I said I'd show you Jonathan's new hat this week which is now finished. Since the striped hat didn't fit him I offered to make him something else, and he requested a slouchy beanie rather than a close fitting hat. After searching a bit for patterns and looking around on etsy for inspirations I decided to just make it up as I went along. Half double crochet crown, mixed with some double crochet for the body and a single crochet brim. It got super slouchy as Jonathan kept requesting the brim wider to cover his ears snugly and so it got longer than I anticipated. But I love the look.

And when his brother saw it he said, Dude, that looks cool. It's kind of medieval. I want one! How could any crafty lady refuse that bait? And so I made slouchy hat number two in the same light brown wool as Mary Rose's. Josiah wanted a brimmier looking brim so I used alternating front post/back post double crochet.  This one is all half double crochet and it's very warm.

Both guys are happy, and so is their crocheting mama.

Do visit Small Things for more Yarn Along goodness, and thank you to Ginny as always for hosting.

Wordless Wednesday: Lizzie and Lazzie

 

 

(musn't neglect her ears)

 

Weekending with Music

 On Friday evening we had the final proof that the siege of sickness was over and we arrived at that long awaited moment of having jolly music back in the house. 

 (It was such a momentous occasion I called my mother to hear the accordion through the phone.)

Eliza was overjoyed to once again have live music to dance to.

As I previously mentioned, we are unabashedly still making up for lost time and indulging in the Christmas spirit.  Friday was the Octave of the Epiphany, so it actually was quite fitting to have a carol sing around the piano.

While not everyone in the family enjoys singing, some clearly do.

Eliza was thrilled to be singing her beloved Christmas carols with everyone.

On Friday we also received a long awaited package from far away.

 I should say Michael and I were awaiting the parcel; its recipient had no idea another Christmas gift was on the way.

Coming straight from Galway, Ireland from the man who made it. For Mary Rose, because she asked for one.

A bodhrán!

It is not typical for the children to receive such an extravagant gifts for Christmas, but Mary Rose dearly wanted a bodhrán and it was the only thing she asked for (other than a brown sweater). We do love having a family that makes music together, and so we were delighted to fulfill her request.

And of course we knew she would share it.

Everyone always takes great interest when there is a new instrument in the house, and so it goes. Everchanging pairs and clusters of musicians can be heard throughout the house as they switch off on the instruments and make merry. Here's a bit of their impromtu jammin' on Sunday evening.

Mary Rose has a clip with Morrison's Jig  and more on her post; Josiah has the Road to Lisdoonvarna (and general nutsness) on his.

And no, we're not a bit Irish!

Yarn Along- the crocheted Christmas gifts

Joining Ginny for her weekly Yarn Along, that lovely linky party of luscious yarns to knit and yarns to read. Here I am posting all the gifts that were crocheted this Christmas, not just mine but all the household crafters. As you will see, we like to stick to small projects when we crochet.

Here we have two little stocking stuffers - Anna made her Dad a cotton wash cloth and Mary Rose made him a wool cup cozy - Pattern here, although we made ours bigger to fit the large mug. Exhorted by the children, I am reading through Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle Earth that they love to peruse. It has some of Michael Hague's work which we are fond of as his was the first copy of The Hobbit my children ever read. Naturally there is plenty of John Howe and Alan Lee, whose artwork so influenced the movies. But there are other artists as well and it's interesting to see the different styles and interpretations, and to hear the kids' remarks like that balrog looks like a jack-o-lantern...(which it does)

Back to the crochet - Jonathan worked up this handy cotton bag to hold the checkers to the set he made for the little girls. I like how the greens complement the vines he burned on the board.

I made Anna this slouchy hat in a soft grey wool, and apparently she is fond of it as she wears it every day. I think this was my first time using puff stitch, and it makes the hat very thick and warm. Pattern here. 

Here we have Eliza modeling what we call my new Wee Willie Winkie Hat or nightcap that Lydia made for me out of a cream wool. It is of Lydia's own design, similar to one she designed for Mary Rose last year in red (inspired by the book Happy Little Family).

As you can see, Kateri is fond of my new hat as well. (to see me wearing it you'll have to visit The Saracen's Head later on, if I let Lydia post the picture)

Kateri has usurped another hat as well. I made a Moriarty Beanie of striped black and grey wool for Jonathan for Christmas. Pattern here, but note it is written in UK terms, US equivalents are in the notes. I made this during one long night I was up with a feverish sickie, and thus distracted I didn't think once to check the gauge or sizing. I just kept going round and round in those neat spirals praying Hail Mary after Hail Mary. It wasn't until Christmas when I went to wrap it and realized how small it looked. Kateri has since 'claimed' it for her own, and who could argue? It looks perfect atop her curls, so I added the flowers and it's a done deal.

It's a great pattern, but "check your gauge"! And stay tuned next week for Jonathan's new hat, which is neither striped nor a beanie.

Anna Ruth made 'his and hers' black wool scarves for Michael and me. His is plain, while mine has a scalloped edge. It's very warm, goes with everything, and I love it. I'm wearing it right now.

Here's a little quickie headband I made up for Eliza:

And here is the beard I made for Josiah. We kind of tease him, as every time he gets a nice one of his own going he has to remove it since he is required to be clean shaven to serve at Holy Mass. So I made him a nice wool one as a stocking stuffer. I just made the pattern up as I went along, using popcorn stitches to give it some texture.

I think he looks quite dashing, but then again I am biased towards hirsute men in general and my husband and sons in particular. Do visit Ginny for lots more yarns of all sorts!

Edited to add, apparently I am not linking up with Ginny as I didn't make the Linky Widget deadline. Explorer crashed on me and ate my post last night, and alas I am now too late for the party. Maybe next week! :-)

It's a New Year Daybook

Outside my window- It's a clear, cold dark night.

I am hearing- Outbursts of laughter as the big kids roast marshmallows over a fire outside with their Pa. They sound cold and jolly. Perfectly toasted marshmallow keep arriving in front of me. And then they disappear.

I am wearing- My standard winter attire of a plaid wool skirt, turtleneck topped with a wool sweater, tights and boots. I am so pleased with these boots I got for my birthday last fall: decent looking leather boots with a comfortable footbed that I can wear all day, every day without hurting my troublesome feet. Hooray for happy feet!

(The rest of the post taken down and written by the scribe, supplemented with liberal doses of comments from the bystanders.) (My family is trying to help me remember how to blog.)(Caution - this post may sound like one of my kids' blog posts.)

I am thinking about- Oh, My bed. I love my pillow. etc. (drat these scribes)

I am reading- Village Centenary (a Miss Read book, from the handy college library, as I read all the ones from the public library)

From the kitchen- Potato cheese soup and oriental cabbage salad for dinner. Still lots of cookies for dessert.

In the learning house- (Everyone is learning crazy stuff, like how to catch marshmallows on fire and blow them out.  Fire safety is a required subject in our state. You should see Jon's - they go up in blue flame. Fire starting also being studied regularly.)

Living the Liturgical Year-  Look. It's still Christmas.  We were so somber for real Christmas (on account of the sick person) that we have to have more Christmas.

Around the house- Well, slowly restoring order, and catching up with the laundry and chores.  Christmas decor remains unashamedly (see above) and the living room is still in the stage where the presents are all lying about in tidy piles according to whose they are. Pretty white twinkly lights will also remain throughout the house as they are so cheery during these dark winter days that can be so dreary.

We are creating- Blog posts, once again.  You could say I am crocheting hats.  Actually, you could say that I am finishing Christmas presents I didn't get done because of taking care of the sick and the sewing machine broke.

I am thankful for- The restoration to health of my family members! (No, she's thankful you didn't catch your beard on fire.) (that too) We have had illness circulating through the family since October in various degrees of severity, with the last few weeks being the grand finale. I am thankful for antibiotics and antipyretics and health care professionals and my nurse's training. I am thankful to have finally returned to Holy Mass in the morning and my own bed at night. I am thankful that for the moment we are all well and the siege seems to be over.

A few plans for the rest of the week- (Aaaay, let's go make a fire.)  No, getting school ramped back up to full term time speed. Hope to do some catch up blogging, Christmas and presents and cookies and so forth. I actually had notes written down for posts about handmade gift giving and boughten gift ideas. (ha)

One of my favorite things- Sitting on the couch with a stack of books and a cup of tea while Eliza reads to me. She received a number of the Flicka, Ricka, Dicka books for Christmas and they have become instant favorites. The sweet stories with lovely gentle pictures are just the right length for her to read aloud and she likes to sit in a chair with a pile of them to read to her dollies.

A picture thought- (Gotta have a fire picture.)

Happy New Year, friends! I'm back! Clearly I remain muddle headed and sleep deprived, but things can only improve, right?!

Merry Christmas!

Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: for this day is born to you a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger.

May you find Him in that manger, this day and every day.

Christmas Blessings of this holy season to you and yours!

They did it! Huzzah!

Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and "fall into a vortex," as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.  (Little Women chapter 27)

My two girls won at NaNoWriMo! That's National Novel Writing Month in which one sets out to write an entire novel during the month of November. "Thirty days and nights of literary abandon." as they call it. The standard word count required is 50,000 words, and Lydia did indeed meet this goal. Young writers are allowed to set their own word goal, and Mary Rose succeeded in finishing the 35,000 words she aspired to write.

Mary Rose truly loves to write, and this is actually her second novel she has finished. She previously wrote a 22 chapter book, although that one took her nine months to complete. I just love this picture of her writing, and when I snapped it I told her it was a perfect 'about the author' picture:

I also love what she wrote on the little bio page on the NaNo site:

Q: What authors and books inspired you to write?

A: All the ones I've ever read.

Q: What is your favorite music to novel by?

A: I don't write to music, because then I would sing and dance instead of write.

Q: What survival methods are you planning to use to get through NaNoWriMo?

A: By writing it! I use a pencil and a notebook so I can write everywhere all the time - in bed, in the car, outside...

 

Don't you love that inspiration! All the books I've ever read.

 

You can read more about Mary Rose's writing adventure over on her post.

And here is a picture of Lydia cooped up in her room for the day yesterday. It was quite an exciting day shall we say of Will she or won't she? My job was to deliver cups of tea and snacks to the writer and to keep the little ones out.  She took it quite down to the wire, but you can read about her adventure over on her post. (it's a hoot)

When I asked her if she's going to do it again next year, she quickly replied, Oh, yes!

Congratulations to all the other NaNoWriMo winners out there! Hip Hip Hooray!!!

Scenes from a Happy Thanksgiving

The Speedwell

The Mayflower

The Pastry Chef

The Perfectly Fluted Crust

The Pie Assistant

The Sustenance for the Cooks

The Apples

The Cheerful Potato Peeler

The Inquisitive Onlooker Gaping at the Pies

The Marshmallower

The Spiced and Sugared Apples

The Pumpkin Pie Man

The Professional Candle Lighter (aka Altar Boy) and The Table Setter

The Place Cards

The Pies

The Young People Toasting Marshmallows

The Happy, Thankful Family at Table

Hope your Thanksgiving was a Happy and Blessed one!

On Creativity: A Sample

I so often get asked about 'creativity' in my home. What curriculum do you use? Do your children take art classes? How do you get your kids to be so creative? Do you schedule in art time? I thought I would try to show you a bit with just one little sample...

We recently watched Wagner's Siegfried  (Part III of The Ring Cycle). Three evenings, three acts, all nine of us, four and a half hours of opera. The rich, lavish Metropolitan production of Wagner's epic music was magnificent.  And every one of us loved it. (Okay, Act III was a bit, er, sensual for our taste - but there you have it, that's Act III for you.) When you experience something so profound and beautiful and epic and otherworldly, it is only natural to want to continue the experience...

Kateri peruses the liner notes

to remember and live it and have it move you still.

Side Note: One nice advantage of watching opera on DVD is the subtitles! So easy for even Kateri to follow the gist of the plot. A funny: as we were discussing the Gollum-esque scene where Siegfried is able to know Mime's thoughts, Michael couldn't figure out how he knew that this power came through the tasting of the dragon's blood. How did I know that? It's not in the text. he asked. From Rush! was the obvious reply, for we had indeed once again read one of our favorite chapters from The Saturdays before watching Seeg-freed. (How could we not?)

Lively discussions about the music, the singing, the conductor, the scenery, the cast, the costumes, the makeup, the interpretations - so many aspects of the performance were talked over as we remembered bits and pieces and our favorite parts and the things we didn't like. The fabulous forging of the sword (how does he sing while swinging that hammer against the anvil?), the dreaded symmetrical boils on Mime's head, the eerie glow of the writhing Erde, the 'artistic license' of the interpretation of Fafner - so very much to talk about!  There is jolly joking as Dad waves a sword around singing Notung! Notung! at the top of his lungs and perhaps there is a mother singing dramatically as she bemoans being awakened from her eternal slumber by her Wotan husband. Parts of the score are looked at by musicians, the orchestral music is blared through the house, little girls play dress up and swathe themselves in scarves being alternatively Erde and Brünnhilde. We have people young and old singing to each other in operatic fashion, making up lyrics on the spot to sing an epic song or to ask to pass the butter.

So when Kateri woke up the next morning and declared she wanted to make a Siegfried scene, I knew I just had to stand back and watch her work her magic...

Do you mean out of paper?

Yes, that would be good.

Would you like a folder to hold your set?

That would work nicely. Thanks, Mom. I like that. Then it can stand up.

Here's the colored paper for you.

The bottom should be green grass and I'm going to make a pond with fish in it. I'll get the scissors and the glue.

Would you like this tree I made for  you?

Oh, yes! That's nice! Thank you!

I have to get to work now. Just call me if you need anything else.

There has to be a sun and a moon and I could put on some star stickers...

I made the Wanderer and Siegfried and Alberich and Mime the ugly dwarf. I gave the Wanderer lots of bling because he had sparkly stuff on him in the movie. See his eye patch? And his big floppy hat. I gave Siegfried his sword Notung and he has his horn and he has boots. I made the singing bird a bluebird. He can sit on the tree branch. Alberich was sort of greenish. How do you like Mime's hair?

Kateri, I love Mime's hair. It's perfect. And I love his tattered clothes.

Would you like a little twig for Wotan's staff?

Thanks, Mom. That's great. He can stand up against this rock.

I made the dragon really, really huge because he is a big fierce dragon.

He has to have fire coming out of his mouth so I'm making lots of red fire.

Can you help me glue on the little bits of orange fire? It's really tricky.

I would be happy to. Just show me where you want them.

Kateri, would you like to use this gray packing paper? We can scrunch it up to be Fafner's cave.

Oh, yeah, Mom. That's really great. I like that. Now he needs lots and lots of gold for his treasure.

I'll find you some gold bits. And here's a gold envelope flap I saved - you can cut it up for more treasure.

Thanks, Mom. Look, I made a big gold ring!

Look, Mom! Siegfried is getting ready to slay the dragon!

When we feed our children on beautiful, rich fare it naturally produces fruit. We don't need to prod or cajole or press or probe. We simply nurture a little bit.  Just like when we read 'living books', our children can't help but want to live the books. It's a natural, intuitive, organic process that occurs when we encounter the stuff of life that moves us. We want to live it and breathe it and touch it and taste it; we want to hear it over and over again. The books we read and the music we hear and the natural world around us we explore and everyone and everything we experience becomes a part of our very selves. And from the wealth of all we encounter pours forth the outflow of creativity. We just have to watch and wait and water and let it grow. We make a path for it to flow. We delight and wonder at the outpouring.

And that's a little sample of how we do 'creativity' in our house.

Friday Snapshots

As we were leaving for Mass this morning I opened the car door to find Mary Rose working on her NaNoWriMo novel. She's so excited to be writing a new novel.

Having finished the Magi-can's Neep-hew, Kateri moves on to Prince Caspian. She's only five.

I could take pictures of her reading all day - I love to watch her face.

Nose to nose, Eliza and her beloved Faustina. She gave her kisses in between the nose nuzzles.

White board masterpiece. This is what happens when we leave three big girls in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Gondor (you can see the White Tree on top), Pellenor Fields, Rohirrim, orcs, wild men, black ships, nine Nazgul, Mount Doom - the works. There's even a teeny tiny Eowyn fighting the Witch King in the middle.

Little Paper Things

Just a few simple paper things we've been enjoying lately-

I got the idea to keep a small book of new or interesting words we come across in our reading or elsewhere. I am frequently encountering new words, and sometimes even after I look them up I can't remember what they mean (I'm old). Anyone can add a word to the book along with a brief definition. (You know how we love having books to write in.) 

 I thought it would be fun to have a book to look through over and over again not only for vocabulary building but also the delight of recalling where the words were encountered.

My original thought was to have a word for each day, but most days end up having several words.

Adding related words is natural as well, as the dictionary can be so interesting.

This is indeed proving to be fun and everyone enjoys flipping through it from time to time to see what's new in there. I used a ready made set of tiny cards on a ring that I had on hand, but it's easy enough to make your own. I made a couple of similar books with a pack of index cards and an inexpensive scrapbooker's hole punching tool, like so:

Just punch as many holes as you can at a time and when you're done with your stack, slip them on a binder ring.

Kateri found them irresistible and asked if she could have one and of course I said yes. She then proceeded to draw pictures and write lists of characters and scenes from Siegfried which we recently watched.

Which brings me to my next point about little paper things- Having neat little blank books and cut papers and things ready to use and easily available is very enticing for young writers and artists. Just like we try to keep fresh ATC's on the art table, it's nice to have materials ready for writing. I have this pretty glass tray that I keep stocked with little books like the ringed cards. I also made up some booklets just by folding a stack of colored paper scraps and machine stitching down the center to fasten them. Little people love making tiny books like this - pictured is one of Kateri's that she's filling with wild flowers out of the field guide.  In addition I keep a stack of paper scraps cut to approximately the same small size, handy for lists or memos or love notes and the like. I like to hack off any clean useable paper before tossing stuff into the recycle bin and the resulting scraps go into this attractive little dish.

Encouraging note writing is always a good thing.

And finally, since it goes along with the paper theme I'll show you my latest method of managing chores. With both boys in college I needed to re-do my chore assignments, so I typed the chores all out on colored paper - one color for each of us womenfolk. Then I punched them all out with a scalloped puncher. (Hint - if you need templates for making punches or stickers or anything this site has a ton of blank templates in multitudinous sizes.) Each person has their own little stack of scallop tags (kind of like a scrapbooker's combination of PEGS and Chorepacks)

It's very simple - when a chore is completed the person puts the tag in a little bowl.

The advantage of the tags is that I can take out tags that don't need to be done on a certain day - like if it's raining I just take out the laundry tags, or if we're very busy I can take out anything that's not essential. The little ones like it because they can carry the tags around and know what to do next. I can easily look in the bowl and see what's done and what's not. If I need to re-assign who does what or add a new chore it's as easy as making a new tag, not a whole new chart of some sort. And I like that I don't have to print out new charts every week and you don't have to find a pen to check something off. So for now it's working very nicely for us in its simplicity. I freely admit I have some girls who use the tags, some who won't touch them, and I might be the one who likes them best. I find it very encouraging to put my little tags in the bowl as I work through my daily tasks and watch my little pile shrink. I'm simple like that.

Wordless Wednesday: "I'm Lucy Pevensie!"

For All the Saints Artist Trading Card Swap 2011

On this All Hallows' Eve I am pleased to announce we will once again be hosting an Artist Trading Card swap with the theme: For All the Saints! 

One of our greatest joys as parents is teaching our children about the saints who came before us - from the earliest history to modern times, rich and poor, young and old, from all walks of life, who fought the good fight and finished the course and are enjoying their eternity with God in heaven. We share their lives and their stories and we teach our children to make friends with the saints and call upon their intercession to assist us on our own journey towards salvation.

Everyone is invited to make ATC's of their favorite saints as we celebrate the Church Triumphant.

Artist Trading Cards are tiny pieces of original artwork created for the purpose of trading with others. This will be the fourth trading card swap we are hosting here on the blog (we also swap cards of Marian artwork in May).  We have had hundreds of families participate, with artists young and old.

St. Joseph and the Child Jesus by Lydia (at age 15), pen

An ATC is precisely 2.5" x 3.5" (6.35 x 8.89 cm) in size - you can buy ready made cards at a craft or art supply store or cut your own from larger pieces of paper. Card stock, heavy watercolor paper or any sturdy paper is good. We usually cut ours from watercolor paper or bristol - a 9x12" sheet will give you ten cards. Their small size makes them fun and non-intimidating to work with.

St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes by Anna Ruth (at age 13), pen and watercolor

Artwork can be of any media or combination thereof -watercolors, acrylics, pen and ink, colored pencil, calligraphy - whatever you like.

St. Peter and St. Paul by Mary Rose (at age 10), pen and watercolor

Once again, we welcome participants of all ages in the swap, from the littlest budding artists - 

St. Therese by Kateri (at age four), pen and watercolor (oh, that spelling!)

all the way through to adults.  One of the greatest pleasures for me was seeing so many other busy moms taking time for their own creative endeavors and to see their individuality reflected in their artwork. Some participants expressed their artistic talent drawing or painting while others demonstrated their creativity through various scrapboook and papercrafting techniques. Last swap I was particularly delighted to receive lovely cards from a great grandmother learning to paint later in life.

 Parents, children, adults, teens - everyone is invited to participate. We look forward to having the repeat swappers who have traded in all of our previous swaps as well as new folks joining for the first time!

 

 watercolor by Lydia (at age 15)

The swap will work the same way as we did it previous times. Here are the details:

• Each participant will create five ATC's to mail out and will receive five different cards from five different artists in return.
• Everyone will send their cards to me. I will sort them out roughly by age group of the creator, and then mail the cards back out to their new recipients. When you mail your cards to me, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope that I can use to send your new cards to you.
• International swappers are most welcome! It's always extra fun to receive cards from a far away place. 
• The swap is open to all ages. This is the perfect opportunity to sit down and create some lovely artwork alongside your children.
• Each card should be labeled on the back with the creator's name and however much info you'd like to share - age (for the kids), date, title of the piece, media used, location, email etc. Last time some participants were looking to connect with others for possible pen pals and the like, so you are welcome to include more info if you like.
• If you are interested in participating please send me an email at kimberlee (at) beadsofmercy (dot) com, and put ATC swap in the subject, and I will send you further information. Anyone can join in and definitely the more the merrier.
• Please mail your cards to me postmarked by Friday, November 18th.

If you have a blog, please feel free to spread the word and you can grab this button if you like:

  

You can see some of last year's saint cards here: Saint Swap 2010

Please note: Trading ATC''s makes a wonderful project for a class or group, but may I suggest large classes swap amongst the members rather than sending the cards to me. I aim to have each artist receive cards from five different people. I learned in a previous swap that if I have large classes participating it can be impossible to do the trading so that people get cards back from five people who are not in their own class, so I recommend you just swap within the class rather than going through the trouble of mailing them. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Happy drawing and painting For All the Saints!

the oldest and the youngest

He is really sick, but his Special Reading Nurse, as she calls her sweet five year old self, reads to him.

For over an hour she read the whole first chapter of The Hobbit aloud to her biggest brother.

Later on, when he felt a bit perkier, she asked for his help to make a list of all the dwarves and the colors of their hoods. Naturally, she added their instruments as well.

Be still, my heart.

And any prayers offered for my patient are greatly appreciated! Seems like the sick season is here early and in force.

Wordless Wednesday: Peter Rabbit in the Waiting Room

Hello Out There Daybook

Outside my window- It's a beautiful, brisk fall day. Blue sky, leaves turning, perfect.

I am hearing- Eliza reading out loud to herself, Kateri chattering as she makes a booklet of flowers, Mary Rose practicing Latin declensions, the wind rustling the trees outside.

I am wearing- I have on this Loft knit tiered skirt in a fall plummy brown color that has become my I-want-to-wear-it-every-day-because-it's-so-very-comfortable favorite, a bayleaf shirt (embellished with a few flowers, of course), a lovely thrifted hand knit cardigan of ivory wool, pomegranate Mary Janes.

I am thankful for- The big kid who has been sick for a whole week is finally better. This morning's quote: 'school is jolly when you are healthy.' Amen and Deo Gratias.

I am thinking about- I am happy to begin thinking about something other than fever and illness, thank you. My brain was really preoccupied and likewise rather useless for the past week.

I am reading- I'm just starting A Little Way of Homeschooling and greatly enjoying it already. I've also been indulging in a bit of a Miss Read binge for fun, retreating to the English countryside in stories replete with natural history tidbits, endearing characters and tea mentioned on every other page. I read some of her books a couple of decades ago, so it's kind of nostalgic for me as well as admittedly escapist.

 From the kitchen- Apples, apples, apples! We get a huge (about forty pounds) box of our favorite (and super cheap) deer apples every other week or so at the farmer's market. I've been making plenty of applesauce and last night the girls made us four galettes. We also made these applesauce cookies  (with half whole wheat flour, decreased the sugar amount and used brown, and butter) yesterday as we were out of eggs. In between apples, we eat lots of chocolate pudding (link is to my homemade mix).  

In the learning house- My three older girls have started a blog! They blog about books and birds and art and writing and all that sort of good stuff. Some of you have already wandered over there, and they always appreciate visitors! (And comments.)

Living the Liturgical Year- I hope to have a post up about the All Saints ATC swap soon! I'm sorry I'm a bit behind, but we do plan to host another saint swap.

A few plans for the rest of the week- The guys have a couple of days off of classes at the end of the week, which will be a nice little break for them and jolly fun for the rest of us who miss them every day. Hope to hit a library book sale and perhaps head back to the mountain for hawk watching, friends coming to visit on Friday. Also hope to catch up on email. We had no internet for a while, and then sickness in the house, and so I've got pile of unanswered mail to tend to.

One of my favorite things/Picture thoughts - Lovely fall weather and happy, healthy kids.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Concentration

 

Arrrrrrrrrgh!

 

Did you talk like a pirate all day?

We had a bonnie pirate lassie

and Red Handed Jack was here as well.

We listened to some of our favorite shanties: Sea Songs & Shanties: Traditional Music from the Last Days of Sail and Sea Shanties: Rousing Songs from the Age of Sail with plenty of Gilbert and Sullivan thrown in as well.

We spoke fondly of Peter Pan, Treasure Island, the Dread Pirate Roberts and the fierce but friendly (and cutest pirate ever) Dread Pirate Dominic. Being very fond of The Pirates of Penzance, Mabel was here for a visit as well.   

All in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day!

That Homeschooling Meme

Well, there's nothing like a meme to pull one out of 'not blogging because I haven't blogged in so long' syndrome. The lovely Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things tagged me for this homeschooling meme. For some perspective: we are long time homeschoolers - none of my seven children have ever been to school prior to finishing high school, and I now have two graduated and in college. We are rather 'eclectic' in our approach.

One homeschooling book you have enjoyed: Hard to choose just one - I think Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's For the Children's Sake, Karen Andreola's A Charlotte Mason Companion, and Elizabeth Foss's Real Learning are some trusty favorites.

One resource you wouldn't be without: Can I say the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Day after day, week after week, year after year - I don't think I could do this (or anything else) without Daily Mass. Confession would be another favorite. And of course to homeschool I can't be without books and my teapot. And music!

One resource you wish you never bought: Hmmn, I hate to mention specifics as one woman's dud may be another woman's fave. Also, some beastly seeming things may one day prove useful - you just never know (kind of like Gollum). I'm thinking of a writing book I bought many years ago for a ghastly forty dollars, back in the day when I would wander the local gargantuan curriculum fair aimlessly buying stuff willy nilly. I never implemented it and it sat on my shelf for years, a sore reminder of my youthful purchasing follies. Then one day I pulled it off the shelf to see if would be worth anything to sell (not much) so it sat around and of course my writing girls picked it up and pored gleefully over it for days on end absorbing all sorts of tidbits regarding subplots and foreshadowing and denouement and epilogue and the like. So you just never know... Maybe someday we'll even crack open the art instruction (VHS!) video course staring at me from the guilt-inducing expensive blue box in the corner there...

One resource you enjoyed last year: Lydia is thoroughly enjoying her bird biology course from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I love how home education allows her to take the time and employ the resources to delve so deeply into subject matter so near and dear to her heart.

One resource you will be using next year: We have just purchased CHC's new poetry course and it looks lovely. We certainly have long enjoyed poetry, but I've wanted a book to help us with the mechanics such as meter and structure as well as assist with analytics and so forth. We're just getting started with it, but I think we will be pleased. We are also delighted with the beauty of the book itself - the lovely quality cream paper, tasteful graphics and typesetting seem quite fitting to the subject matter.

One resource you would like to buy: All the Tolkien and Chesterton we don't already own and have to keep getting from the library. Also, I would like to buy an entire old parochial school library (we actually have friends who have done this). I would be happy to just buy all the old and out of print children's goodies that most modern libraries discard on a regular basis.

One resource you wish existed: How about an automatic math corrector? Or an automatic book re-shelver? Library books without due dates? I would especially appreciate a magical self-recording log book that took notes on everything everyone does all day for our state requirement (and posterity's sake)!

One homeschool catalog you enjoy reading: At this point, I really don't. But years ago I greatly relied on things like Emmanuel Books, Bethlehem Books, By Way of the Family, and so forth to build our library of living books. But in a way the internet and blog world have seemed to replace the reliance on catalogs for recommendations for everything from the books we read to the tea we drink. You get a wide variety of opinions and that personal touch of experience with online reviews.

I admit my replies are rather vague but that's because education in our home is a way of life and there is no one homeschooling resource that makes or breaks our learning experience. I often tell my children that the only thing they do that is not 'educational' is sleep. We have a lot of books, we use a lot of paper and paint, we listen to and make a lot of music, we gather round and drink a lot of tea. We rely on our Faith to nourish us and give meaning to it all.

Tag six other homeschool bloggers! Nadja at Patch O'Dirt Farm, Jordana at Curmudgeonry, Alicia at Chez VH, Lindsay at  My Symphony, Jennifer at As Cozy as Spring, and Jennifer at Wildflowers and Marbles,  (I would like to buy all of the science books she recently posted about, but they would hopefully come with the school library I mentioned) And anyone else who wants to play and hasn't been tagged!

This morning's 'school':
 

Breakfast and birding and writing, all at the same time.

Wordless Wednesday: Flutterbyes