Wordless Wednesday: Sisters

January Gardening Thoughts

 I've been doing some of the most enjoyable work of gardening: watching my garden fill with snow while warm inside, drinking tea.

Of course, I'm dreaming about what to plant in the spring!

Winter is the perfect time to do this because the garden is as empty as it gets.

January is for: tea, flowers, and paper snowflakes

Also, now is the time to buy plants and seeds from all those lovely garden catalogs which have been piling up since Christmas!

My eyes are always bigger than my garden, and I'm always thinking I can squeeze in a few more plants than I actually have room for...

But then, some plants won't do well, so the space often comes out fine anyway.

And I have been known to turn a bit more yard into garden on occasion... 

The Zoomlians are convinced that it is part of a long term plot to have no yard left to mow by the time they all leave home.

Here's what I've been dreaming of:

 The pictures (and the plants I'm getting) are from Great Garden Plants (not getting paid, also, not an endorsement until I actually get the plants in April!).  I am giving them a try because they seem to ship good sized plants for a good price.

Anyway, those are the plants I'm building the garden around, and in my mind, they are lovely, large, disease and pest free, and there are no weeds to be seen.

Which is why January's garden work: forming the vision, is the most fun!

Poem of the Week: Midwinter

Midwinter

By Sophie Jewett

All night I dreamed of roses,

   Wild tangle by the sea,

And shadowy garden closes.

   Dream-led I met with thee.

Around thee swayed the roses,

   Beyond thee sang the sea;

The shadowy garden closes

   Were Paradise to me.

O Love, ’mid the dream-roses

   Abide to heal, to save!

The world that day discloses

   Narrows to one white grave.

HT: Poetry Foundation

Image HT: Michael Fellowes

Happy Birthday, Klenda!

It was Klenda's golden birthday!




 She got a ton of gold themed presents.




And we decorated with loads of gold, too!

And golden candles on her cake

We all had a wonderful time!!

And we'll do it again with extended family when we are all healthy again!

20 Wonderful Things About Our Golden  Klenda
1. She wears really cool boots.
2. She has amazing art skills!
3. She stands up for what she thinks is right.
3. She plays the piano a bit and guitar a lot.
4. She loves to read great books.
4. She has the same birthday as the Fourth Doctor.
5. She is a loving and supportive sister.
5. She loves to learn.
6. She seems to be able to teach herself pretty much anything. 7. She has a great sense of style.
7. She's a careful driver.
8. She sees more colors than I do!
9. She sees beauty everywhere.
10. She's a fun dancer.
10. She's never overslept and missed her train!
11. She's part of the BCC Crew.
12. She's an integral part of Team Valtapaz.
13. Her chocolate buttercream pie is swoon-worthy.
14.  She's a talented and creative cook.
14. She's an excellent baker.
15.  She's got a green thumb.
16. She's always up for an adventure.
16. She always does more than the minimum.
17. She's an out of the box thinker.
18. She makes great mixtapes.
19. She's always willing to lend a hand.
19. She's very good at puzzles.
20. Her critical thinking is the key to her success.
20. Her love of God shines.

Sick Post

The Emperor got a bad cold last week, and it has slowly spread through the house, bearing coughs, sneezes, fevers, sinus infections, ear infections, and the odd eye infection.

So weird!

This probably wasn't helped by our decision to push through it and help a recently widowed friend move in 18 degree weather... But it was totally worth it!

We are on the mend now, although I still am watching the last kid who hasn't gotten it yet... More acttual blogging soon.

Poem of the Week: I am Happy Living Simply

“I am happy living simply”

By Marina Tsvetaeva

 

I am happy living simply:

like a clock, or a calendar.

Worldly pilgrim, thin,

wise—as any creature. To know

the spirit is my beloved. To come to things—swift

as a ray of light, or a look.

To live as I write: spare—the way

God asks me—and friends do not.

1919

 

New versions from the Russian by Ilya Kaminsky and Jean Valentine

Read the translator's notes

 

HT: Poetry Foundation

Awesome Geography: Morocco

 Casablanca anyone?

For our art project we did these cool repeating patterns based on Moroccan tiles.

This was more fun than I had thought possible: the adults and the kids colored for a long time!

Our snack was couscous.

Our active project was dinifri, but we ended up spending most of the time with the art.

And now I am all caught up on Awesome Geography.
Perfect!  Our Awesome Geography planning party for the next semester is next Friday...

Wordless Wednesday: A Foot of Snow

Feeling Arty

One semester in at the Schuler School, and Klenda is loving it!


 She's been doing sketching and portraits.







She's been doing watercolors and landscapes.

 And sculpture and anatomy.

And oil painting, including this one that she gave me for Christmas!

And in another display of artistic talent, she created this Ranger cloak for Oob (also for Christmas). He has been enjoying the Ranger's Apprentice books.

Awesome Geography: Italy and the Vatican

 Trying to catch up, waaay back at the end of November we had our class on Italy and the Vatican.  This was fun since Miss Shelli had lived in Rome and married a Swiss Guard!

For our art activity, in a nod to both the Vatican and Ancient Rome, we made mosaics.


I had originally planned to do them with scraps of paper, but we had done an all paper project the last time, so we switched to putting plaster in disposable tupperware lids.

The kids drew a picture with a toothpick, then filled it in with their choice of beads, shells, beans and random items.

They all turned out quite beautifully!

If you want to hang the mosaic later, you can stick a paperclip in to make a hook.

 Our snack was gelato - a huge hit!

Our active activity was gladiator games with Nerf weapons, also a favorite!

Mike has become the bird mascot for the class, and he loves seeing all the people and trying to nibble at all the mosaics.

Poem of the Week: The Bear

The Bear

By Susan Mitchell

Tonight the bear

comes to the orchard and, balancing

on her hind legs, dances under the apple trees,

hanging onto their boughs,

dragging their branches down to earth.

Look again. It is not the bear

but some afterimage of her

like the car I once saw in the driveway

after the last guest had gone.

Snow pulls the apple boughs to the ground.

Whatever moves in the orchard—

heavy, lumbering—is clear as wind.

The bear is long gone.

Drunk on apples,

she banged over the trash cans that fall night,

then skidded downstream. By now

she must be logged in for the winter.

Unless she is choosy.

I imagine her as very choosy,

sniffing at the huge logs, pawing them, trying

each one on for size,

but always coming out again.

Until tonight.

Tonight sap freezes under her skin.

Her breath leaves white apples in the air.

As she walks she dozes,

listening to the sound of axes chopping wood.

Somewhere she can never catch up to

trees are falling. Chips pile up like snow

When she does find it finally,

the log draws her in as easily as a forest,

and for a while she continues to see,

just ahead of her, the moon

trapped like a salmon in the ice.

HT: Poetry Foundation

CIimbing the Walls

 For Christmas, our cousins gave the kids passes to an indoor climbing place called Climb Zone.


It was amazing!

And super fun, and very photogenic, if you'll excuse another photo heavy post!

 They had walls for all ages and climbing abilities which allowed our noobie climbers to start slow and gain confidence.


And our expert climbers still had fun challenges.

Really a fun few hours!