Daybook: Monday, October 10th

outside my window . . .  the woods are really starting to thin out from the thick greenness of summer.  This might be about my favorite moment of autumn: still enough green to highlight the golds and oranges.

listening to . . . NPR, my corn chowder simmering, Kalliope trying to "cook" with me.

wearing . . . jeans, black top with bright blue tank under.

grateful for . . .  a successful backpacking trip for the guys and a relaxing "girls' weekend" for Kalliope, Artemisia and me.

reading . . . Pride and Prejudice, The Orthodox Church, my most recent "First Things Journal", and the Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

creating . . . or rather I created, a pretty silk flower arrangement that somewhat camoflages the mess in my sink.  With a houseful of people all day, our sink ALWAYS has dishes in or around it.  I'm tired of that being the first thing anyone (read: ME) sees when they enter my kitchen.  So, I made this big arrangement.  It is really pretty (pictures?) and does the job.  I love it!

on my iPod . .  . the SAME OLD podcasts because someone has "borrowed" my iPod sync cord again and I cannot find it.  We have three of these cords, and I still can't keep one in my desk without it being "borrowed"!

around the house . . . I rearranged my kitchen this weekend (I love to take on projects like that when hubby is away).  The bookshelves always just looked messy to me, and they still do a little, but in a more elegant way, maybe.  Messy or not - I live them much better.  Also rehung almost every single piece of wall art in my kitchen...and created a new mantle arrangement.  Oh, and turned my kitchen table on an angle, which I love!  My mother started doing this when I was in my teens.  Maybe it is a mother of a teenager thing?

from the kitchen . . . corn chowder with bacon tonight.  Beef Stroganoff Meatballs tomorrow night.  The bunch of very overripe bananas means there might be a batch of banana bread in my future.

real education in our home . . . The backpacking weekend has put us behind schedule.  Everyone spent Friday getting the boys packed up...and I took the day off of school with Artemisia today, too.  It was a good, quiet holiday.

rhythm and beauty in our home . . . an idea I have for that big flower arrangement is to slightly change out   some of the more seasonal pieces throughout the year.  The main pieces are fairly neutral and should look nice with other seasonal colors.


the church year in our home . . . not much been going on in this area.  I have made a few more icon for our little family altar, but we just haven't been using it as much.  One of the problems is that it sits on our buffet in the kitchen and often becomes a dumping place for little bits of nonsense.  I cleared all of that off and then refilled it with a basket of icons and a pretty houseplant.  Maybe that will encourage the family not to use the buffet as a rest stop.

recent milestones . . . Kalliope started potty training this weekend!

the week ahead . . . "Romans" bible study tonight and boys arrive home, CC on Wednesday as usual, Friday we have friends coming over for chili and a marshmallow roast.

picture thoughts . . .

Autumn Fires

Autumn Fires

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The gray smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!

Friends and fires and smores - they all go well together.

The girls have really enjoyed our newly dug fire pit.  We've had a few fires already and hope to have many more this autumn.  

Our neighbors from across the cul-de-sac came over to enjoy some roasted marshmallows, too.

This is L with our next-door neighbor.  They are both 3 and already becoming good friends.  Hey, they both like cheese puffs - what more do you need in a friend?

Turning 3

Our Little L has moved from Toddler to Preschooler!  She has grown amazingly in the past year.  Here's last year's birthday photo:

And this years:

Notice the blurring of movement...that might say it all.  This girl is a girl IN MOTION!  She's busy talking, and walking, riding and hiding!  

Here are some of our favorite birthday moments . . . 

The kids pulled out the "Welcome Home" banner they'd made to welcome us back from Ghana.  

L received a sweet zebra pillow pet from  a long-distance family member.  He's very snuggly and is now named "Deeba" (that is L-speak for "zebra" if you hadn't guessed)

Farmor sent some new clothes and L was really so excited.  "My clothes?" she kept asking.

Dad-Dad sent a funny blue dinosaur.  L is very interested in dinosaurs.  She thinks they are dragons and she loves dragons because her favorite movie is "How To Train Your Dragon."

Gram and Fred sent a fun book, "Pete the Cat".  L had been introduced to this story through a YouTube video of the book (author telling the story and singing songs).  We love to dance around with Pete and sing, "I love my white shoes!" 

From her family, L got her first "American Girl"-style doll!  She was really excited about this doll.  I think it made her feel like a big girl.  And she is.

Bring on the Cake!

Auntie B stopped by to bring a gift, too.  A magnetic doll set!  

The girls went right to work getting the dolls all dressed up.

And from our friends, and fellow Ghana-parents in Cali, a wonderful book to share!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} -:- October 6

{pretty}

Kalliope and I gathered bags full of these lovely dark brown nuts.  They look like acorns, but littered the ground under what didn't look like an oak tree.  (None of the typical oak leaves I'm familiar with at least.)  Anyone know what these are?  Regardless, they are very pretty and now fill a tall jar on my buffet.

{happy}

Artemisia doing what she loves best - painting!  I'm such a bad mom.  She had to BEG me to paint.  "Mom," she pleaded, "I've been waiting for weeks to paint!"  It was true, she'd been asking and I'd been putting her off.  She's very happy, can't you tell?  

I don't know why I hesitate to let her paint.  She loves it and she is very careful to tidy up after.

{funny}

 A very silly moment. 

{real} 

My perpetually messy desk.  I've heard there is a "bread box principle", which I think means everything on your desk should fit into a bread box or it is too much.  HA!   On top of my white shelf is a radio/iPod/CD player that is almost always on, a photo of hubby in the island of Samothraki, an antique framed card my great-grandmother gave my grandmother, and a stack of slinkies to go in our CC tutor's goodie box.  I wonder what website that is on my computer screen?

I really am a slow-learner

and random photos from the last month. . .


So, I'm not at all sure about this new blogger format.  (I know you may have no idea what I'm talking about...but a lot of my blog readers are bloggers themselves.)  If you blog on Blogger, have you tried out the new format for your dashboard?  Not liking it one bit.

Maybe it will grow on me . . .

Our fun-to-drive Datsun had a good summer.  Soon it will be time to put her up for the winter.

My cats are tearing around the house this morning.  I have no idea what has gotten them so wound up.  It certainly isn't the catnip we bought for them.  Faramir needed to do a report for Challenge A (Classical Conversations - homeschool group) on herbs.  Of course, he chose catnip, and  we bought some so he could videotape the cats and share with his class.  Do you know our weird cats were Totally Uninterested?  All three of them!

Well, one of them sniffed it a little bit, but that was it.  Weird cats.

I spent a couple days making Fig Jam; 32 jars of it!  I do hope my friends like Fig Jam.

How is your school year going this year?  (Homeschool or otherwise)  It has been challenging to juggle all 4 levels: high school, middle school, elementary, and preschool.  Although, I don't really believe in preschool homeschooling, so I'm not sure that counts.  Yet, somehow, despite my best efforts Not To Teach Her, Kalliope has managed to learn to count to 5 and name most of the colors of the rainbow.  Except indigo.  And violet...she just says, "Purple."

You know I jest when I say I tried not to teach her, right?  I just mean I haven't done anything formal.  I really am astounded by what she has picked up.  Maybe this is not surprising.  Maybe I've totally forgotten what most three year-olds should know?

Our first day of school is always celebrated with an ice cream
dinner.  This year I made Lucky Charm Treat (like Rice Krispie
treats) ice cream sandwiches.  Too sweet for me, but the kids
loved them!

Athos, Faramir, and Artemisia are thriving in their CC groups and their studies at home, although they each have their challenges.  Athos is with a totally new group in Challenge 2, but has enjoyed getting to know some new people (being the "new kid" again was daunting).  Faramir, while not totally being the "new kid", has blossomed despite being known as "Athos' younger brother".  And Artemisia is back in class with the same kids she's known since she was 4!

Something I've learned in the past couple of years:  the person teaching your child might be one of the Most Important aspects of her education (duh, right?).  Being able to have complete control over that is another strength of homeschooling.

It has only taken me 8 years to learn that.

Nothing like a well-built firepit to welcome in the autumn chill!

That elderly dogwood tree outside my window

After a long hard season, my elderly dogwood tree has lovely red berries popping out on the branches.  This is wonderful!  We were not sure this old, gnarled and knobbled tree would make it through the construction process.  There were a few, a very few, blooms on it this spring.  That was a good sign, but not a sure sign.   However, those little red berries, not being an horticulturist I must qualify this with an "I think", are a very good sign...and maybe even a sure sign that our dogwood has indeed survived.

Not unlike this blog, perhaps?

This spring there were a few blooms here on this blog, but not enough to say for sure whether I'd keep on blogging.  Not for a lack of desire!  But for lack of energy. . . lack of time . . . and honestly, for lack of anything that felt worth saying.  Or reading.

Those last two are still to be seen, but I feel a slight invigoration.  Like an old tree that has had a long, rejuvenating summer and is now filled with just enough energy . . .  just enough to pop out this first, tiny, lone berry.

outside my window . . . everything is damp and refreshed looking after a long rain that lasted most of the night.

I am listening to . . . morning NPR. Discussing the debt limit debate.

I am wearing . . . still in my PJs!

I am so grateful for . . . a happy week with grandparents for the older kids.

I'm pondering . . . the Church, still. What is it? Where is it? Who is it?

I am reading . . . Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Orthodox Way, The Iliad, The Joy of Fearing God

I am creating . . . a nice clean and ready-for-the-start-of-school school room (before and after pictures coming!)

around the house . . . laundry piles up in the laundry room. Well, the kids are definitely home...and all their dirty clothes!

from the kitchen . . . some special treats for Tuesday, St James feast.

real education in our home . . . working on notebooks and book organization for our school year. This is the easy part.

rhythm and beauty in our home . . . hubby collected a huge pile of rocks while doing yard work Saturday (while I drove to VA to retrieve the kids). We might have a fire pit by the end of the week! Maybe sooner!  Why rhythm and beauty?  Well, we hope that this will become a fun family and friend gathering place.

the church year in our home . . . St James feast on Tuesday... a fruit pancake for breakfast and a nice fish dinner.

one of my favorite things . . . a gallon of "New Black" paint. I have my eye on a few items around here that could use some rehab.

recent milestones . . . Artemisia finally learned to swim - mostly under water! I've still got her signed up for swim lessons over the next two weeks so that she can learn some actual strokes.

the week ahead. . . Swim lessons Monday-Thursday. Our former youth director arrives for a visit Tuesday and we expect to be the center of some of the visiting.

In the mid-morning kitchen

Isn't it odd how a change in schedule can provide you with the opportunity to notice things you don't normally?

The big kids (Athos, Faramir, Artemisia) are off visiting their grandparents.  Hubby is our tearing up the kitchen at a rental house.  And I slept in a little bit (despite Kalliope's best efforts to rouse me by rolling around in bed beside me), which meant I was getting my breakfast a few hours later than usual.  I'm often in the kitchen mid-morning, but I suppose by that time I'm so busy passing out instructions to children that I don't notice how lovely my kitchen looks in that light.

But this morning my attention matched the timing and I did notice.  As I was heating my water for tea (Constant Comment today), I noticed how pretty the light was slanting in one of the windows and falling on the plants just below the window.  The morning sun was just low enough to glance under the lower tree limbs in. Not only that, but the whole kitchen seemed to glow with the light.

But it only lasted for a few minutes and then the sun rose up just high enough to be blocked by the thicker tree limbs.  Now the kitchen stays bit darker until late afternoon when it comes in the windows from the other side of the sky.

Daybook: Tuesday, July 5th

outside my window . . .  the leaves look positively iridescent green while the sky is a pale, slate blue.  I think it can't decide if it wants to be sunny or cloudy today. 

I am listening to . . .  "Aristocats" playing in the next room.

I am wearing . . . still in my pjs!  A late night last night.

I am so grateful for . . .  an unexpected invitation for a 4th of July celebration

I'm pondering . . .  the visibility or invisibility of the Church

I am reading . . .  Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (Paul Theroux), but thinking about putting it aside in order to read the last Harry Potter before we go see the movie next week.

I am thinking . . .  about meal plans for the next few days.  We are expecting an assortment of company coming and going through the week and weekend.

I am creating . . .  a fresh school room.

on my iPod . . .  I really have been enjoying KERA's "Think" podcast.  I'm about ready to purchase some of the mp3s from last year's CiRCE conference.  It was an excellent one and I still haven't listened to any of the talks!

around the house . . .  lots of cleaning up today as we get ready for company to arrive tomorrow.

from the kitchen . . .  Soupe Au Pistou tonight, Chicken Cacciatore tomorrow...still deciding beyond that.

one of my favorite things . . .  our new membership at the YMCA.  The kids have really enjoyed hitting the pool the past couple of weeks.

recent milestones . . . Kalliope has begun working on her initial consonants.  Athos got his first phone (he pays for the monthly texting fees).

the week ahead . . .  my mom and step-dad arrive tomorrow for an overnight.  One of Athos' friends (who is moving to Texas in a month) is coming to stay with us for a few days.  They are going to a concert Thursday afternoon.  VBS decorating and preparations begin this weekend.

picture thought . . .

Have a lovely Tuesday!

{this moment} -- July 1st

{...this moment...}

a moment from our week that I want to savor
visit Soulemama for more

My drying line sags under the weight of delight that is well-used beach towels.