At least for a little while. The girls brought in the last basket before the freeze. It isn't an orchard, just one sturdy tree of very small and rather sweet little apples perched at the edge of the yard just before it drops off down the hillside. The moose and deer sampled. The girls gathered what it shared, carefully washing each and piling them into the basket on the counter.
Lord this humble house we'd keep
Sweet with play and calm with sleep,
Help us so that we may give
Beauty to the lives we live.
Let Thy love and let Thy grace
Shine upon our dwelling place.
– Edgar Guest
The local nature center was calling the other day. Actually three little voices were calling me over and over, "Pleeeeease can we go to the deer class?" So I wrapped up the odds and ends I was working on and we piled in the van. Really, there is no end to work at home. We should keep plugging away everyday but if you aren't careful whole days can pass without getting out in the fresh air and wild places. So it was a very good call, except for the very cold part. It's officially cold now.
This week's class was on mule deer. It began in the education center learning about their senses, antlers, and migration habits. They discussed carry capacity, which is the number of animals a given habitat can support. Then they played a hands on games demonstrating the ebb and flow of deer population.
In the middle of the class discussion someone noticed two deer passing just outside the window. Awesome.
They finshed their classroom work and bundled up to go look for more deer on the trail.
They spotted some tracks in the mud on the banks of the stream.
Found more tracks on the path.
Up higher looking and….
Can you see them? It was pretty dark in the little clearing and the phone doesn't play nicely at a distance.
The clouds broke up on the walk back and we saw the sun set on the mountains, now sporting a bit of snowcap.
#worldschooling
They are predicting snow for the end the of week. We got a little preview this morning. Just a few minutes' preview. Just long enough to run out and get the first taste.
Her sister was pretty bummed to find it was all over by the time she was out of the shower and ready. I am pretty sure they will all have had their fill come spring. Right now, though, they have high hopes for Friday.
There's battles to build and cities to burn
carpets to muddy and waking to earn
Someone's to something and
something's to learn.
Venturing out from home. Ride with us?
Learn some and think some
and draw and paint
and sing and dance
and play and work
every day some.
– Robert Fulghum
It started out as a small kindly errand. Little Red set off into the forest….
A pleasant task for a pleasant day…
At her cottage waited dear, sweet Grandmother, feeling a little under the weather.
Unbeknownst to both Grandmother and Little Red, a conniving wolf was shadowing their every move, plotting against them.
When Grandmother answered the door, expecting her young visitor, she was in for quite a shock…
Gasp!
A skirmish ensued…
…alerting a woodsman passing through the forest some distance away…
Little Red, however, was none the wiser as she approached the door.
… though Grandmama did appear very poorly.
Until it became clear that it was NOT grandmother at all!
Little Red ran for her life, pursued by the wolf. Fortunately, the woodsman arrived just in the nick of time and saved the day.
He was quite pleased with himself….
The cast and crew:
Happily ever after. As for the wolf?
Rumor has it he made a pass at the producer after the final performance…
We have been plotting and planning pumpkin designs for weeks but, true to form, we began actually cleaning and carving the pumpkins way last minute. And somehow misplaced the new carving kit. But hey, they totally rocked the whole pumpkin thing thanks to neighbor helpers and big sisters who make last minute runs to get bling stickers and a tiny princess for this year's best in show.
Mama's no carve pumpkin : )
The bibbity bobbity boo bestest pumpkin.
Followed by the bestest Halloween movie night standby made more fabulous by the littles very sincerely asking things like, "So what happens when he goes to kick the football? She pulls it away? Every time?"
yep, every time.
That's the very best part of holidays, the "every time" and "we always" way of them.
We are a little behind and the birthday boy is already a week into sixteen. Since this little corner of the internet is a place for me to make notes of those things I don't want to forget I am putting these here anyway.
First it couldn't happen the day of the birthday because he had a game. Then someone else had something the next day. And EVERYone local needs to be there for cake. It's a given.
So we finally get to cake night and it's late and we are punchy. And for whatever reason my camera setting tester volunteer had made a muscle for me. One thing led to another….
"What? You think YOU'VE got something there? Why you're about to get a ticket to the gun show!"
Yeah.
They are unspeakably corny, but they are mine. : )
"Children need an atmosphere of gladness. Law should not make its restraints hang like chains upon them. Sternness and coldness should have no place in home life or in family government. Plants do not need sunshine and air any more than children need joy and gladness. Unhappiness stunts them, so that their sweetest graces never come out."
~J.R. Miller in "The Home Beautiful"
Starry Sky Journal 