no words, just pictures tonight
Portugese Sunrise
So… Portugal. I didn't tell anyone we were even going until the trip week was upon us. We planned to take this trip two years ago. I spent it in the hospital instead. Though we have gone many places since, somehow this trip just struck a little fear in my heart, remembering. It felt a little jinxy to mention it as certainly as I had then. My body did fight back some on this trip but we made it and we saw so many beautiful things. The best moments traveling together are these though – the together part. While we love the big family trips, these shorter adventures with just a few of the kids make for a gift of one on one time with them.
I am really grateful my guys were game for getting up in the wee hours to walk to the marina with me to watch the sun come up over the water. I have spent so many years stealing every moment of sleep possible – since they are always elusive in our family. It's sort of counterintuitive for me to set the clock on vacation, but it was so very worth it. We were alone on the boardwalk, save for a few early morning runners, and it was magically still.
Well, it was magically still until Kieran was completely awake and feeling his oats. ; )
The other awesome part about traveling with my guys? They carry my stuff. I owe you one, Aidan!
through a window in Wales
I keep coming back to this image, one of my favorites of our recent travels. The landscapes are breathtaking, but I'm always drawn to the faces.
little pink houses
Such a time we have had. Sunrises, sea breezes, fado serenades, and yes…
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.
Autumn breakfast
"Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly arranged and well-provisioned breakfast table."
– Nathaniel Hawthorne
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.
Sandringham, the royal family's country estate where Will and Kate have taken up residence, has been checked off the bucket list. We made a super high speed visit late in the day. Turns out you can't actually go into much of the main house so it worked out fine. The bit we saw was just stunning. It is of more recent vintage than many of the estates open to the public and is still in regular use. Hence, it is spit and polished through and through, yet still has an air of family home to it. That is, if you are the royal family.
There were a couple of very cool things we stumbled upon. One of the rotating exhibit spaces featured a collection of photographs of the Queen from the 50s-today. I think we learned more about her majesty from this exhibit than all the history I have read. (which admittedly isn't all that much…) Perhaps I just read her wrong from her pictures in the press. These showed a vibrant, somewhat mischievous woman who is still riding her horses in her 80s. 80s!
There was a collection of the Christmas cards people have sent over the years.
And several garages full of various vehicles that have transported the royals over the years from horse drawn carriages to cars, including a collection of perfect little tiny models that were given to royal children over the years. Who knew?
A delightful day out.
The orchard in the morning
They have a saying in Suffolk, England,–
"At Michaelmas time, or a little before,
Half an apple goes to the core."
– Wild Apples, Thoreau
I have no crafts nor helpful hints to share. We began some feast day projects but they remain unfinished. Too many things vying for our time this month.
Instead of busy-ness I marked this change of season with a walk through the orchard one very early morning before the children were even awake. It was the first really foggy morning this autumn and I have missed those. I wandered out among the trees, stepping carefully between the tiny mushrooms, getting the hem of my pajama pants wet from the dew.
The day promised to be as impossibly full as those that will follow for a little while, but it started with a deep breath.
yes days
I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.
~e.e. cummings
Starry Sky Journal 