little pink houses

 

Such a time we have had. Sunrises, sea breezes, fado serenades, and yes…

 

lisbon web

beautiful pink houses. 

We are mostly unpacking and some of the crew are gearing up for one more trip. Hope to share more in coming days.  My body had enough today though.  Sidelined by a migraine.  So this is all for tonight. 

(ps. there are website changes in the works, general housecleaning that is much overdue.  The facebook page is really good place to check in and keep in touch.  Sometimes there is only time to post there. Thanks!) 

Under the apple trees

 

“My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my friends under the apple trees.” 

– Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

I imagine I will fancy myself standing among these trees long after we leave this farm. I will close my eyes and see boys tossing apples to each other, dogs chasing after. Juice dripping down smiling chins. This is a blessing.

 

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Autumn breakfast

 

"Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly arranged and well-provisioned breakfast table."

– Nathaniel Hawthorne


 toast web
Breakfast is one of the few meals I tend not to mess up too terribly. Well, a wee little bit if I am reading and cooking at the same time.  The overall success rate is encouraging though. 

A perfect fall breakfast to share today, a pumpkin French toast using a recipe similar to this.  I made sandwiches of the bread with cream cheese first and then dipped in the batter.  Delish. 

living and learning lately

 

So this was September in a nutshell:

 

doing geo-puzzles EVERY school day

then coloring coordinating maps

measuring the distance between countries in South America (B's idea when he figured out how the map key works)

making tortillas – because we were hungry, but they tied in nicely with above

pattern block cards –  oh magnetic pattern blocks, where have you been all my life?

picking apples – making applesauce

math games - they've become wild for anything involving dice

playing British football.  Five days a week. Think: little league in the States.  High school football in Texas.  Somethin' like that. Jury is still out….

discovering the source of the unholy smell in the closet wall (hint – disproportionate size to smell ratio) 

geometry.  Just geometry.  It gets its own line. This helps.

caves of Lascaux impromptu project – there was an article years ago called How a Textbook Mom Does Unit Studies.  I would be like the inverse of that.  I am a unit study mom doing textbooks.  I try to pull out easy projects to go along.  This went with the prehistory chapter.  We lined a closet in brown paper. 

and… planning all the trips in October.

 

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