and so it goes...

because there's always time for silly

summerish days are upon us....although i think we're all a little leery to relax into it, seeing as how we've had a few false starts this spring...

it's like The School Thing never happened...but of course it did...and we're grateful, because it's made us all - especially Savannah -- see the joy in our days with fresh eyes.

a bit of gardening was done this past weekend....and to my {possibly ridiculous level of} JOY -- our worm compost is finally ready!!  *squeeeeeeee*

thank you worms....:)

we are pleased....

i realize this is one of the few places i could post pictures of compost and know there are several people grinning as widely as i was when i opened up the lid of our bin.

our adventures in vermiculture started way back here -- and then after the loss of our worms over the winter, and our decision last year to not replace them but experiment in break-all-the-rules composting...we are now reaping the benefits. patience, as they say, is a virtue.

{is it strange that feeding our plants this yummy mixture gave me that same satisfying feeling as when i see my kids tucking into a good meal?}

ahem, moving on.

added to our list of JOY this past week has been a dose of parcel JOY from the beautiful Rose.  having heard that Savannah wanted to learn Spanish, she sent along a few things she just happened to have lying around...;)

oh, how we *HEART* those picture-puzzle-find-it books!!! {and i LURVE tea}

missing from the pile is the spanish vocabulary sticker book that Savannah was reading at the time of the picture -- we amused ourselves greatly with our poor pronunciation for a good hour last evening and that led to a sojourn down memory lane for B and I and plans to research the provided links for correct pronunciation. i just love this organic process of Learning Stuff.

i'm in my own personal heaven with the packet of tea {sipping some chamomile/vanilla as i type} and the arty bits that never fail to delight.  the giant puzzle book and the snap game are going into our backpacks for our camping trip at the end of June. hopefully, the mancala game i ordered will have escaped the perils of the impending postal strike and will go with us as well. {fingers crossed}

in other news, we rescued a baby chipmunk from The Bloody Cat....long tale of high drama and late evening scramble for chippy-rescue supplies and a trip to the Cat Hospital {i KNOW, the irony, right?} where Napoleon* is, i'm relieved to say, convalescing satisfactorily.  {fingers crossed}

so yes, it's all good.


*so named because he is rather small, but evidently quite mighty. ;)

we're still here...

doing what we do best. which is to say....everything. ;)

finding grace in ancient trees...

and, of course, the joy...

it's been rainy days and robin-spotting; decluttering and sparklification; library trips and first-picnics; family, friends and sweet, blessed silence.

and gratitude for this life.

always.

"beloved"

Spring blessings to you and yours...

the week

it's been an odd week....a lot of 'heaviness' in the air. there've been more than the usual number of spats and aggravations in our little abode.  i think cabin-fever has reached it's peak and we're all quite ready for spring.

i woke up this morning thinking i wanted to open the windows. which i did, ever so briefly...but, oh - what a difference! it gives one hope. :)

~
most mornings of late i'm woken by the tip-tapping of doggie feet around the bedroom -- our ancient boy Tyler can't quite hold his bladder like he did in his younger days and nature's call is coming ever earlier. apparently i wasn't quick enough out of bed today and i followed him to Sebastian's room where i caught him lifting his leg against the table (Tyler, that is).  i'm not sure he even realized what he was doing.  thus it is to be an old dog.

~
i'm reading Lord of the Rings -- first time, although i've had the book for years. (GASP! i know, right? where have i been?). i haven't got far - i'm exhausted by bedtime these days -- but i've found the foreword to be of great interest and have enjoyed a quiet giggle at the way Mr.Tolkein views his critics. this also stood out {on the topic of suggested motive and meaning of his story} ...

     "The prime motive was the desire of the tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them.  As a guide I had only my own feelings for what is appealing or moving, and for many the guide was inevitably at fault."


this actually brought tears to my eyes....because i think it's a lovely way to look at life in general; that if we act from a desire to amuse and delight, to share and encourage then we are approaching our lives with a beautiful purpose. inevitably, someone is gonna dump all over it, but that needn't be our concern. i think that's the part i struggle with most....the surrendering of perspective.

~

and there was art commissioned for the downstairs-bathroom wall. i'm on a mission of un-beige -- i don't fancy painting the walls from their delightful shade of industrial beige (far too much upheaval involved there)...i much prefer the splashes of colour a smattering of fabulous art can provide.

from the Creature Feature series...by Savannah

B was away on biz-ness on Friday and Saturday so there were bonus trips to Nanna and Grandad's and the baking of brownies and procurement of ice-cream for a movie night.  we watched Skellig the Owl Man....absolutely wonderful.

and in amongst all that....we just carry on as we are.

sunday...again

where has the time gone?

my current outlet for stress...origami is highly addictive (no scrap of paper is safe)

painting

"peace serpents"  (a Savannah original-concept)

running in with tidbits about deer stampedes

chess

origami

on the phone to Laiba in Pakistan

snow-play

wrapping

writing

meltdowns and hysteria (sometimes even the children)

secrets in the cupboard

headaches and sore tummies

'the christians and the pagans' ;)

visiting

baking

cleaning (not even close to being done that yet)

poetry

knitting (all major projects finished...wooot!)

new movies

a solar system

Black Beauty audio-CD

.....and lots of deep breaths and cuddles.

it's truly difficult to hang onto peaceful life at this time of year.  desperately i'd like to cocoon us in a fortress of solitude...but at the same time, we enjoy (mostly) the hustle and bustle of family and going and doing....

~*~

i'm not one for retrospectives and cringe at the thought of 'resolutions'.... but i am ruminating on some intentions for 2011....an aspect of which i've started over here.. it struck me as a most delightful project and one i intend to continue on past the month of January.

but for now...it's one day to the next until Xmas....and i don't mind admitting, i'll be glad when it's all over. ;)

tuesday was...

warm...

then cold.

walking meditation in the wild wind...searching for the words that darted just out of reach.

paper and scissors and glue

readying the envelopes for our Countdown to Chrimbly (details to follow)

poetry

Jump Start

reading aloud

thoughts of painting....and then painting...

big-ass paper waiting for my latest BIG masterpiece. Sebastian modelling for size perspective

eraser crumbs

toast crumbs

three cups of tea

tacos for dinner

playing with our food

dried-up carrots and motley apples...good for ponies...and food-art (the clementines and peppermints are just visiting)

it was a difficult day.

this side of the full moon leaves me feeling rather drained....it's a time when i want to retreat and not do much. i had a poem that wanted writing and a painting wanting paint but both were an effort and the feeling like i *ought* to be doing either was grating on my nerves.

i may have been a bit snippy.

grace and gratitude. such were the mantras of my day.

it always looks different in hindsight.

tuesday

Sebastian was awake at 4am.  the new moon is just around the corner...i have no other explanation, really. B had insomnia and slept less than four hours. i got up at 5 am, after having dozed while listening to the boy singing along with a DVD.

i had an 11 am appointment at the bank -- discussions of consolidation, an effort to simplify debt.  evidently you're not to be helped if you don't own a home.  which is fine.  we'll carry on as we were...i refuse to believe the cornerstone of success lies in brick and mortar. it's in the banks' best interest, after all, to keep you owing.

and so, when the menfolk lay themselves down for an afternoon nap and Savannah was outside playing,  i went down to the art cave and i painted.

painted away the doubt...which wasn't hard...the doubt clings less these days. it's rather more a half-hearted attempt to bring us back under the umbrella of the Busy World. i have absolute faith that things will turn out just fine.

it isn't finished yet. i still have to do something with the hands. this week we're painting a memory....siphoning emotion onto the paper. and it reminded me that true success in life, as in painting, requires us to be fearless.

autumn....

dawn through the trees...Kerncliff

sure i'm a blog-slacker.....no excuses beyond a bit of can't-be-arsed and a lot of navel-gazing as of late...

moving onwards, however...

we had a gorgeous Thanksgiving weekend last weekend....back-to-back turkey fabulousness at Aunty S's and then Aunty B's.....

can we talk about how much i *heart* pumpkin pie? can we extol the virtues of this noble vegetable?  for years i shied away from the idea of a pie made out of pumpkin (ewwwww!) and then one day i was convinced to try a slice. i've been making up for lost time ever since.  i made the pie for my sister's dinner....and brought the leftovers home...and ate 'em for breakfast the next day.

~*~

at some point over the afternoon at Aunty S's, Sebastian picked up an etcha-sketch type doodle-board thingy (what are they called, anyway?) and proceeded to draw some rather spectacular pirates.  this is a child who rarely has shown interest in picking up a crayon and drawing and has caused more than a few faithless moments of doubt in this crazy unschooling path with his disinterest in all things writing-related.  sure, he paints from time to time but not really.... so here he is drawing rather amazing likenesses on this magnetic-filings-metal-tipped-pen thingamy.  which in and of itself was quite delightful. (naturally, i didn't have the camera on hand)

and being the klepto that he is...he needed to take aforementioned board home at the end of the visit.   once home, he wanted to write the letters of the alphabet. at his request i guided his hand for the upper case letters (i figured they'd be the easiest to start with) and of course there were dramatic interpretations a la "letter-yoga" for each one.

and THEN....to my amazement, not only did he start again on his own....forming perfect upper-case letters (no backwards d's or b's or s's)....he did all of the lower-case. perfectly. without us ever having done them before.

wtf?

seriously. all this from spending time going over this crazy alphabet poster he has where we act out a scene from Sesame Street where Prairie Dawn is trying to do the Letter of the Day and Cookie Monster keeps eating the letters (Cookie Monster played by yours truly).

amazing stuff, isn't it?

which of course prompted a vast amount of navel-gazing on this path we've chosen and how although we've made certain sacrifices in terms of income etc. -- this is some kind of amazing thing.....these great leaps of learning...of pursuing natural inclination and curiosity....this utterly innate ability to learn what we need to know  without having to be sat down and drilled and then assessed and measured on how well we know it.

it's so hard sometimes, to keep the faith in the face of so much criticism and disbelief -- usually from well-intentioned people...which makes all the concern and advice that much harder to dismiss.  because it's the lack of quantifiable proof (in the form of grades and test scores) that makes unschooling difficult to explain to people.  most don't do well with the 'just trust them' speech.  *sigh*

but when stuff like this happens....well....it totally rocks. :)

oh, and also...we made cookies.

lovin' this life...

truly.

rainy Sunday stroll with Emma

this morning, after gobbling down a bowl of cereal (just for my benefit, i'm quite sure) Savannah jumped on her bike and pedaled like fury (pretty much the usual way she rides her bike) to the mailbox to post her entry into a poetry contest. how cool is that? it was in the autumn issue of chickaDEE magazine....write a scary poem using a minimum of five words from their list for a chance at some Halloween-themed book or other. mostly she just wanted to enter the contest.

her creation goes as follows....

dark fog slithers

through shadow skeletons.

midnight monsters

eat you.

she needed a bit of guidance as to what to do with the list of words she chose and what exactly constitutes a "poem" so i prompted her for a verb here and there but the final arrangement was hers.  she rocks.

retaining wall

today was the first day without rain for quite a stretch.....but the chill of autumn is definitely here.  a brisk wind pinked our cheeks and stung our fingers on our morning dog-walk but still, we stretched it out to the long version having been cooped up for too long.

CAPTURED! -- a snappy dresser, as always, he's not actually facing the television.

it was home to curried pierogies for lunch followed by home-made (from a package :P) cookies for dessert. (an interesting scent-cocktail that!).  afterwards, i fiddled a bit with my manuscript and Savannah retreated to listen to a book on CD. Sebastian is playing math games on the Sesame Street website.

cocooning time is upon us....

....but we're down with that.

chess fever

after the kids nagged him to, B set up an informal chess-school in the yard.

they caught on quickly and now our yard is the place to be -- there's an ongoing  tournament.

go figure.

$4 chess set + curiosity fostered = some really thinky kids.

suh-weet.

the horrid humid weather is gone...replaced by rain, glorious rain...and cooling winds. there are subtle shadings of red on the outer-edges of the leaves of our maple tree....a sign of the changes to come.  

a noticeable change around these parts has been increasing  amounts of silence.  the kind of silence that comes with being engrossed in a good book.  Savannah's interest in reading took off at a gallop with the finding of an old copy of Black Beauty.  none of the easy-readers we have lying around seemed to tweak her interest - even the horsey ones.but now she's barreling her way through this door-step-sized tome, quite voluntarily. and lining up her to-read pile with great enthusiasm. which got me thinking about how we assume what kids should be capable of and then force them into self-fulfilling prophecy.  who says that because she's only 7 that she should only be reading books of a certain style, vocabulary and length?  pfffft. here's to strewing the path!

of course the silence rarely lasts....soon there was bickering and accusations flew of someone touching someone else's K'Nex creation and so we gathered the hounds and set off for a walk in the wild, wet weather. we came home to bread pudding....(i hate throwing out the crusts of bread that no-one will eat)...so i found a recipe and gave it a go....

alas.....nobody liked it except for me.  evidently it reminded Savannah too much of some kitchen experiment she'd conducted in the past.  i think it was the vanilla extract that did her in.  i would use less next time anyway.

so  now  we're settling in for an afternoon of tea, art projects and (very likely) a spot of reading. the rain is falling  in a steady drizzle and we are cozy and dry.

we are blessed.

* if you're diggin' the fake polaroids.....you can make your own here - Polaroin

bereft of photos

Because Sebastian is hogging the laptop where all my photos are waiting....a few random things about the last few days...

~ Our (meaning Savannah and I) official new favourite cartoon -- The Angry Beavers -- irreverent, goofy humour, most of which I'm sure goes over Savannah's head...but the deep, belly-laughs are genuine so who cares? She has evidently inherited my warped sense of humour. Add to it the fact it was initially canceled 'amidst controversy' makes it even more appealing.

~ Emma-dog got trapped in her blanket some time during the night. It's the blanket she cocoons herself up in in her crate and I have no idea how long she was stuck. I had to cut her out of it this morning. I'm torn between hilarity and terror - theoretically she could have strangled herself. Then again, maybe she shouldn't have nibbled holes in it.

~ I awoke yesterday to the gift of a dead mouse in the hallway.  I had no idea we even had mice, although B had pointed out that Snowbell has been adopting a Mighty-Stealth-Killer pose every time she comes in the laundry room. Nevertheless, I prefer mice in context,  ie. in barns and fields, and am none too happy with the idea of one in the house. I resisted the urge to photograph the rodent crime-scene...complete with the other two cats gathered around like innocent by-standers. Methinks it's time to re-anoint my peppermint sachets.

And that is how it went....

Holiday Countdown....Reader's Digest version

Yes, I've been utterly lax with the documentation of our countdown. I've given up apologizing for my lack of commitment here, suffice it to say, some days, amidst the sheer randomness of life-as-we-know-it around these parts, the prospect of uploading and posting photos is more than I can bear.....:)  And I'm continually wrestling with the thought that really, who gives a rat's ass what we're up to and why am I doing this again? Excuse the existentialist sidetracking, such is my head-space amongst the holiday frenzy.  Plus we're thoroughly embroiled in the new Mystery Case Files game - Dire Grove.

That said....here's a smattering of what we've been up to. We're a tad behind but finding it all quite scintillating and there are only a couple of things I might change up for next year...

Much baking of cookies has occurred...

Savannah has produced a startling amount of holiday craftiness...she's been like a little elf in the Art Cave/Santa's Workshop...and our invisible tree (invisible because we haven't got one yet) already has a pile of handmade goodness underneath for both two and four-legged family members alike.  I am shamelessly proud of her un-prompted generosity and thoughtfulness. She's powering through scads of paper and glue and paint so I only hope that The Elves got my message and are planning to replenish her stock...;)

Of course, there has been a lot of outdoorsy-ness as well....and sometimes, when the mood strikes, we simply put our snowsuits on over our pajamas*.
 

*NB. Once it darkness falls, no matter what the time (which is around 5:30pm-ish these days), Sebastian likes to don his nightwear...and so our various forays into the night to witness the twinkly, sparkly light displays mean he's most often in his jammies...

One of our annual treks to the Festival of Lights....thankfully they've got some new displays as it was starting to get a bit old.....this one is one of the originals and second only to the train as Sebastian's favourite.

Other highlights  so far have included an attempt at Solstice lanterns, making edible gifts for the wildlife around our 'hood, putting together a big bag of food for the Food Bank, choosing gifts from Plan Canada (we went with mango trees and bee-keeping kits, I bought a home-birthing kit on behalf of my work-chums)....

Today we're off to get our tree to complete the greenery within.....