a little gig

wild columbine

My sister Apple (my nickname for her) has gotten me a little seminar gig at the library where she works. I am to teach a Saturday afternoon seminar to 13-18-year-olds about photography. Specifically, expression.


dandelion seed head


I need to go buy myself several disposables to practice on since disposable cameras will be given to the teenagers.

Apple sent me copies of the advertising she has created for the event (she simply went to my on-line photo album and swiped some photos she liked). I am always a little shocked to see my stuff outside of my own realm. When I see it out of my own context, I am always surprised by how much impact it can have. Part of me knows I am a good photographer but another part of me thinks it is all sleight of hand and that I am not so good as all that. If she does any web advertising on their library site, I will post a link.


common clover that everyone tries to remove from their lawn

hens, hippos, and houseplants

After DQ went to school to day, Stinkerbell told me she wanted to make a chicken. Two paper plates, five hand prints, a scrap of yellow, and two huge google eyes later we had this adorable hen. Stinkerbell said she wanted hang it where we hang their artwork but then decided she wanted her to sit with the chicks we made earlier this week. I got it all arranged and then was told I needed to turn the chickies around so that they could face their Momma. :)



Don't you love Sandra Boynton. The hippos are too cute. I think that someday, I will sketch one onto some fabric and embroider one onto some clothes. Today we were listening to Doggy Train and Blue Moo. I think they are every bit as good as Philadelphia Chicken. The songs are very fun.

The Going to Bed Book is one of our first Boynton's. I used to be able to recite the whole thing with my eyes close and turn the pages at the right places. ;)

Take the poll and tell me what your favorite Boynton is. :)


In the kitchen, I have plants, pedestals, mirrors, and other junk sitting on top of the cabinets. Up until Tuesday they were disgracefully dusty. I've been taking down a few plants every day and giving them a shower, adding new soil, and cleaning their area. Now it looks bright, shiny and green up there.

The photos are taken from down in the entry. The blue pot sits on the ledge that goes around the kitchen and is directly above the stairs going down to the lower level.

The section of cabinets you don't see are too dark for plants and have lots of extremely dusty baskets that will need to be cleaned.

I have ideas for redoing some of this are this summer. We will see. Many of the plants have long histories with me. I think the newest is five-years-in-my-possession. The oldest dates back to high school. Many of them are from friends and are meaningful for that reason.

a child's garden

Today the girls decided to play dress-up. They asked for me to put on tinkly music. We don't really have tinkly music so I put in one of my favorite children's cds it is a child's garden of song by Ted Jacobs and it is all musical renditions of poems by Robert Louis Stephenson.

I think I will save my favorite for another day. Here is another.


all night long, and every night
when my mamma puts out the light
i see the people marching by
as plain as day, before my eye

armies and emperors and kings
all carrying different kinds of things
and marching in so grand away,
you never saw the like by day.

so fine a show was never seen
at the great circus on the green;
for every kind of beast an man
is marching in that caravan.

at first they move a little slow,
but still the faster on they go,
and still beside them close i keep
until we reach the town of sleep.



I like that you can see DQ's artwork on the left and I think you can laugh at the fact that while all the rest of the Christmas decorations are put away, the nativities are still on the mantle and you can see some of them above and to the right.

simple things

It is often the little homey things that feel so good, isn't it? Especially those that rehydrate and replenish.

I recently discovered a silly simple pleasure. My girls have a gazillion novelty chap sticks and recently I picked up and used one that was quickly hidden in a drawer in my room. It was is Hershey's Milk Chocolate. However, in a pinch, Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with pomegranate oil will do. ;)

I enjoy scented lotions I have bodycology's coconut lime sitting in front of me at the computer monitor but my favorite all-over lotion is easily Tree Hut's Brazilian Nut Shea Body Butter.



Let's not forget internal hydration. I love black teas and in all honesty 95-percent of what I drink daily is iced tea. Generally, I commit the crime of Lipton (albeit with the addition of two bags of Celestial Seasonings Blueberry Green Tea and one bag of their Blueberry tea added to cut the dirty taste whenever they package up bad crops for our benefit (I drink it straight no lemon or sugar).

However, a treat is Ashby's Apricot Tea which is heavenly, or Stash's Peach Black Tea or Republic of Tea's Cranberry Blood Orange Tea. I think of the three I like the Cranberry Blood Orange best. However, not ever having had them all in the house at the same time so that I could try them side-by-side I couldn't say. The most inexpensive is Stash and I have to order Ashby's on-line but the CBO I can get at the grocery store. But as it is ten dollars for fifty bags. I don't often. :(

a spring walk

today is dq's last day of spring break


the girls dropped chunks of snow in the creek



When the groundhog casts his shadow
And the small birds sing
And the pussywillows happen
And the sun shines warm
And when the peepers peep
Then it is Spring

Margaret Wise Brown

We can check off lines 1-3 and they are promising us line 4 this week. I think it will be awhile before the peepers start their song.



a couple of minimalistic snowscapes (which really look a million times better viewed large and on a monitor calibrated like mine)... ;)

daisy chains and spring chickens

some sweet little spring chicks that the girls made with help




The chicks are cottonballs that have been dyed with a tiny bit of water and yellow food coloring. The eggs are real eggs. Add a couple of google eyes and a beak and you have the cutest babies you've ever seen. ;)


dainty little daisy chain that I made

Frugality

Christmas

Have a Junk Store Christmas

Coupons

Six Ideas for Saving with Coupons

Garden Frugality

Cheap, Non-Toxic Dandelion Killer

Household Savings

Break the Paper Habit

Non-Toxic All-Purpose Cleaner: Homemade Cleaners are Good for Your Health, Finances, and Planet

How to Save Water in the Bathroom

Save Money in the Laundry Room: Reduce Laundry Costs with Environmentally Friendly Tips

Kitchen Frugality

Save Money Making Chicken Pot Pie

Three Ways to Save Money on Food

Save Money in the Kitchen: Reduce Kitchen Costs with Twelve Frugal Tips

Personal Hygiene

Break the Shampoo Habit: Try No 'Poo for your Health, your Wallet, and the Environment

Save Electricity

Save Electricity and Water

Save Water

Save Electricity and Water


General Well-Being

Material Safety Data Sheets: How to Find Information About Hazardous Chemicals in Your Home

hello

I am afraid I have had a rather low profile this week. It was spring break for DramaQueen and I enjoyed having her home and not having to take her to and from school.

I had hoped to stay home and relax and do projects with the girls. We did stay home. However, we didn't do much in the way of projects. I was sick most of the week with a bug that would hit hard one day and seem to improve the next and then hit me again.

It seems to be gone now.

It snowed on Tuesday. All the new snow was gone by Thursday (but the remnants of old snow didn't melt as quickly and still linger). It snowed yesterday and is still snowing today.

Happy Easter to you all. I am a bit disappointed because we will not be worshiping on Sunday. It is our Sunday to work in the nursery. However, I suppose if first-time visitors need a place for their children, it is good we are there so that their children can play and be taken care of while their parent's listen to God's word.

we had snow - just photos - no words

the garden, signs of spring, hopeful things

They like to shovel snow. There is now purpose to their activity - they just move it around a bit.


The near bed with the pole in the middle has irises planted in it and will also have chicory and Shasta daisies, I think. The nearer large bed had veggies last year. This year it will have squash. The far large bed had tomatoes and this year it will have veggies. I am not satisfied with this arrangement but the bunnies are bad and I hate losing plants.


Hard to see but this is the bed in front of the cherry tree. Last year I planted squash there. This year was going to be veggies such as cauliflower and broccoli but given the abundance of bunnies, I think the tomatoes will go there instead.


There are two 'new' beds in front of these pots that I added last year and planted with divided perennials in the fall. The pots are used for starting perennials during the summer or for herbs.


This is my oldest perennially bed. After eight years I divided. Along the house are irises and day lilies that had been there for five years. A word of advice don't wait five years to divide irises and day lilies.


This year's buds and last year's leaves on the cherry tree.



The pink yarrow is starting to unfurl.


Weeds always come in early.


The dianthus never really seemed to die - pretty remarkable for around here.



Because of the RA thing I toyed with idea of not trying wintersown this winter. I often try too much at the beginning of a new endeavor and push too hard. However, when I saw Connie's plants I decided to do it. This is my start. There are several flats of petunias, as well as chicory, Shasta daisies, and bachelor's buttons.

Planting seeds in the winter while waiting for spring is high on the list of hopeful activities we can participate in.

When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

The books talked about it [the heart] as if it were a sump pump stuck down in the muck and mire of somebody’s backyard. Never in all my scientific reading did I encounter anything that talked about a broken heart. Never did I read anything about what the heart felt, how it felt or why it felt. Feeling and knowing weren’t important, only understanding. (79)

Reese, your books might not tell you this, so I will. Every heart has two parts, the part that pumps and the part that loves. If you’re going to spend your life fixing broken hearts, then learn about both. You can’t just fix one with no concern for the other. (80)

When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

This novel is predictable but it is still a thoroughly enjoyable book. What I love about the first quote is that even though he doesn't follow up on it there is an implication in how the textbooks treat the heart. It is how we treat the heart too. We just assume it can always handle all the junk we feed it both physically and emotionally. We treat it as if it were a sump pump and not the wellspring of life.

Book Review
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