Circle the World In Big

27th AM

2011-12-27T04:34:00.000-08:00

Evie is sick now (nothing serious). The year is coming to a close. We've decided to make January our "work on the house" month. We are painting our room this week. It will be "Darjeeling" by Friday. We will be installing picture molding and Scott is building us a new bed.

We are of to a poetry tea later this morning. We'll hit the post office while we're out--gotta mail out more cookies! Sending in our radon detection kit too. Scott's mom's house had very high levels of radon, it turns out. It is most certainly implicated in her death from lung cancer. Please make sure your house is safe. The tests are easy to obtain: First Alert RD1 Radon Gas Test Kit

We have been sucked into the early 1900s through WWI. I love it when things collide. "Downton Abbey," "Maisie Dobbs" (series by Jacqueline Winspear), "Perfection Salad," the soccer game truce of 1914. History is alive and under discussion at home right now.

Off for some dark running. Maybe I'll post a picture again someday.

My head is generally more organized than these posts.

Ho Ho Ha!

2011-12-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

And now I have the flu!

We had folks over for Solstice and singing last night. Really some of the best people in the world. I didn't eat a drop of the apparently wonderful soup. I spent the night awake, feverishly counting glass wings (???).

Much better today. Had to cancel our annual Christmas blood donation. I don't think they want my germy fluids!

Cozy night in with Scott, Evie is out at the farm doing elfy things.

We need more snow. Other than that, things are great.

Films

2011-12-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Solstice!

I am pretty much only adding to my documentary list.

Making more plans, installing new smoke detectors. Fun stuff.

43

2011-12-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

Scott is 43 today! More later.

Back in WI . . .

We made it

2011-12-09T03:31:00.000-08:00

We made to the house by 11:30. We passed through bands of snow and sometimes it was beautiful.

It is surreal being here. Since we live so far away I feel like we haven't really grasped the fact that Scott's mom is really and truly gone. We will never see her again. Her voice is still fresh in all of our minds.

Right now the packing just seems like a job. Sometimes memories will make it seem like an ending, sometimes it is just vacuuming endless mouse poop.

What is missing is her. This house has always oozed hospitality. Never mind the fact that she ran it as a bed and breakfast. We never experienced that side of it. When we were here generosity oozed out of every corner, comfort sated us every day. Jean loved to throw a party. Jean loved to make people feel special. As family we didn't feel like guests, we always felt like we belonged.

Now we are packing boxes and throwing things away. We are marveling at things like the brand of rum she kept on hand for ONE person--just in case he came by. Her pantry shelves are bare now. That's how we're all feeling. A little bare without her.

So we left . . .

2011-12-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

. . . and great silliness ensued.

Let's see . . .

Evie sat on a chocolate covered pretzel, it melted, use your imagination.

I got pulled over in OH because my tires touched the white line (next to the break down lane) three times in a mile. Officer Ohio was just trying to make sure I wasn't falling asleep at the wheel. Scott says he is going to turn my warning into a Christmas ornament with glitter glue.

We hit a crazy, freako, blizzard of doom in western PA. Thanks to Scott's sheer awesomeness we managed to make it to our goal city.

We ate a crappy meal at a place with not a single vegetarian option--I was that annoying customer who asked for something not on the menu, oy!

I am now fantasizing about some sort of back-rack, twisty table to return my back to its original state, the truck is in a mess and we may have 6 inches of snow out our door in the morning.

Great start!

Skills

2011-12-02T03:54:00.001-08:00

Awhile ago Scott asked Evie to change the oil on one of our vehicles. Evie said, "Sure, if you'll show me how." Scott said, "Actually, you need to find out everything yourself." "Okay," was her response.

Yesterday she changed the oil on our truck in preparation for going East. It involved two trips to the auto parts store, several hours, the owner's manual, the computer and Scott's enthusiastic company. I have never changed the oil in a vehicle. We have someone else change ours regularly. Scott's brother thinks we're nuts. For him, vehicle maintenance is like breathing.

When Evie finished, her smile was a mile wide. Then she backed the truck down the driveway so they could clean up. You should have seen her smile then!

There is no question that it is faster and cheaper (for us) to have someone else change our oil. There is also no question that offering a challenge to Evie to find out something we don't know is worth the time and money.

Gotta love learning new skills!

'Tis the Season

2011-12-01T03:40:00.000-08:00

We're actually getting ready to head East to help pack up Scott's mom's house. It will be a challenging trip. We are driving our truck so we can bring stuff back. We hope it doesn't snow until we're home again. We will be missing Scott's mom a lot. There is a lot of work to do. We will be missing a lot of holiday events at home.

So, we are gettin' our holly-jolly on a little early this year.

We chose our Heifer Project gift (an annual family tradition).

Our tree is up. It gets decorated this weekend.

My creches are out. I didn't photograph them all. The hardware one is my very favorite. Made for me by Scott a year when we had NO money at Christmas time.

The stockings are hung.

And truffles are made (round one, anyway).

Evie gets to participate in Truffle Mania with her aunt this year ( a major benefit of our trip East)! She experimented this week with ginger truffles. She carefully organized 4 experimental batches with different techniques etc. We got to be the taste-testers (yes!).

Somehow that led to looking online at various culinary programs. She has already pretty much maxed out the possibilities at our community college by just living her life. Programs at the CIA and Johnson and Wales really caught her attention. As did a pastry program in Chicago. I have to admit that the CIA program looked spectacular--a bachelor's degree in baking and pastry arts with paid externships, travel abroad, a residential program, business classes. I wonder if she'll go that direction or just start her bakery and run with it. It seems to me that after a long run of La Fortuna work, 4 years at a residential cooking school would be a nice break!

First, Chicago

2011-11-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

This is one of those posts that can't possibly detail everything that has happened since the last post. Nevertheless, this post was prompted because so much has happened. We are going to stick to some highlights. This might be a two-parter.

Thanksgiving was lovely and low key. I have no pictures.

Friday after Thanksgiving we headed to Chicago for an Aikido seminar. Evie got to train with Mitsugi Saotome Sensei, a man who lived with the founder of Aikido for 15 years. Saotome Sensei is 75, looks 50 but smokes like a chimney so who know how long he'll be around. The dojo in Chicago was the most beautiful I have seen so far.

There were close to 60 people there. Surprise, surprise, Evie was the youngest. When she checked in the organizer said, "So, you're in college?" Evie shook her head. "High School?" Head shake. "Middle school?" Evie says, "I'm 11. I don't go to school." Bug eyes from the organizer. We later hear from him that Evie has blown everyone away, they can't believe her power and focus, technique, yada, yada, yada. He warns us of burn-out. We tell him this was all her idea, we just drive her places. Bug eyes again. I think they will remember her.

While Evie was aikido-izing, Scott and I explored the city. We went to the Field Museum to a disappointing exhibit on Ants and the Museum of Science and Technology for a fantastic permanent exhibit about the space program. Scott go to see an real Apollo 8 capsule, something he has always wanted. We took trains and buses and had a blast. Evie got to be on her own in the big city during breaks. She chose to go to a bakery for lunch near the dojo and read her book. I was a little worried that the seminar organizer knew she was 11, I was hoping he wasn't going to swoop in and tell her she has to "find an adult" or something. I will admit I was slightly nervous about turning my daughter loose in a strange city for hours but interestingly I wasn't nervous about HER, I was nervous about other people. She loved it and gained a lot of confidence eventhough she didn't venture too far from the dojo.

Who-ville gingerbread village at The Museum of Science and Technology

One panel of an exhibit on shoes at the Field Museum

We stayed with old friends from Madison. We had so much fun with them, playing Bananagrams, eating and laughing our heads off. I really do love the energy of 8 and 11 year old boys! On Sunday they told us where their favorite panaderia was, so Scott and I went to get Mexican pastries and tamales for breakfast. I shyly used my Spanish--I gotta get more practice.

It was a short, great trip.

Lost

2011-11-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

I don't sleep much. During the work season I don't read much. That combo means I almost never dream. Lately I have been tearing through the novels and getting more sleep. Dreaming is fun.

Haven't blogged in a few days because I have been reading aloud every spare minute. We have all been dragged into the world of Panem--back later.

Twirly Swirl is back!

2011-11-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

Twirly Swirl Grand Opening, October 2009

Twirly Swirl Fall Tea, November 2011

My mom and Evie held the Twirly Swirl Fall Tea yesterday out at Still Point. There has not been a TS event since the grand opening back in 2009. It was a small, lovely group in attendance.

My mom and Evie planned and baked and baked and planned. Evie's schedule is piece to behold!

After we all ate delicious things the gaggle of girls went out to play Capture the Flag until dark, the adults stayed inside and laughed away all the calories we had just consumed. It was an excellent, excellent day.

(My mom looks the same, Evie has changed so much. Also, the sophistication of recipes undertaken this year was miles above the original event. All yummy.)

Thinking about CA

2011-11-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Life is speeding ahead and there is so much to write about. Before I move on I want to record some thoughts from our trip West.

1. We really like spending time as a family. We all have friends and activities and home and we like those too. It just really struck me how we enjoy each other. Unfortunately I think that kind of family dynamic is increasingly rare. Not sure why . . .

2. Seeing the HUGE agricultural operations and the people working as migrant labor made me tremendously sad. We drove by acres and acres and acres of brussel sprouts. How many brussel sprouts really get eaten in this country? There were fields of artichokes and truly endless fields of black plastic rows for strawberry production. We saw the portable bathrooms that get trucked to the field so workers can use them and wash to prevent E. coli outbreaks. I thought about how much money and how many resources it takes to bring those strawberries to WI. I thought about how good WI strawberries taste. I thought about how unfair it is that people work for so little money, fear for their families, can't use public services . . . I am sad that so much food gets thrown away every day and that the children in this country will die younger than their parents because they eat strawberry flavored things made in China and have no idea how to grow a strawberry.

We saw the Dole and DelMonte compounds--acres of buildings and greenhouses, all behind gates and hidden from view.

Is it just that people don't know? Or is it that they don't care?

I can't quite articulate why these fields bothered me so much. They seem inhuman.

3. Whales (including dolphins) should never be kept in captivity. Do some reading. Think hard about this and then tell others. We met a woman who has dedicated her adult life to this. She shared a lot of information, made her opinions clear and also asked us to form our own opinions. My ideas about conservation and preservation have changed.

Back to our regularly scheduled life . . .

Monterey

2011-11-12T04:33:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning we got up and headed to Monterey. I wished for a cute, independent coffee store and around the next bend stood a caboose with the word COFFEE about 3 feet high. Love that!

Stopped at the first beach we saw because Evie HAD to get in. It was a steep beach with dangerous currents and we decided to dip a toe and look for a better beach later on.

The scenery was amazing. We saw so many fields of artichokes, brussels sprouts and strawberries. This will be a different post, it really affected me.

On the way to Monterey we stopped in Marina at Forno Bravo, home of our pizza oven! The whole excuse for this trip was to stop here because we are interested in becoming dealers for them. Now folks (and restaurants) can buy ovens from us. We will help them find a mason (if necessary) for installation and even help them learn to use it. LOVE the company, really excited about this.

We checked into our hotel in Monterey and immediately headed to the beach. The water was 54 degrees, Evie and I went swimming anyway, the locals thought we were completely nuts. I couldn't feel my feet for an hour afterwards. We had yummy, yummy sushi (veggie maki rolls only) that night.

Tuesday was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The guidebook has said to plan 2-3 hours there. We spent 7--opened and closed the place. Amazing research facility, amazing aquarists. We loved all the programs, especially the otter feeding and the open ocean feeding. If you are in the area, go.

On Wednesday, on the spur of the moment, we decided to go whale watching. We took Evie in the Atlantic many years ago, we were all keen to go again. We went with a company staffed by a marine biologist. She was amazing. We were on the tail end of the humpback season in the area and we saw them! I cry every time I see whales. They are majestic and awe inspiring. Of course we saw sea lions everywhere (they are like ducks around here), sea otters, murres and even some harbor porpoises.

Lots to process from this trip--parts of that are for another post.

Still going . . .

2011-11-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, we are actually home now. We have AMAZING friends who help us with our cats and home when we are away. It is a real luxury.

Now, where were we . . .

Sunday morning we jumped out of bed and headed to Mt. Tamalpais. If you have read the Percy Jackson books or the The Alchemyst books, you will know that Mt. Tam is a big deal. The real deal was just as spectacular. We took a four mile hike with a 1000' elevation change. We walked among Redwoods and Douglas Firs, the richest moss you can imagine and a babbling brook that really seemed to talk. We have hiked a lot, all over the world, this was my favorite hike ever.

Did I mention that olives grow everywhere? Evie and I couldn't get enough. They were only $4/lb. at the grocery!

Sunday night brought more Aikido at yet another dojo. The Sensei at Heart of San Francisco Aikido is a good friend of Evie's favorite sensei and she had emailed saying Evie was coming. There is a string connection between this dojo and Evie's dojo so she was welcomed with open arms and hugged about a million times. Again, it was a very experienced class. It was interesting that it was much more segregated by rank than her dojo in terms of practice partners. Interestingly, Ruth Sensei honored Evie by asking her to take ukemi for her and after that Evie was in high demand from even the most senior students. This style of aikido was very familiar and comfortable to her and she really wowed some folks. I got to play with an 8 month old the whole time so we all enjoyed that class. More Humphry Slocombe followed (duh!)

We saw Occupy SF in the financial district. It was sad. It seemed they were just hanging on, not pushing forward.

We tried to take a geology tour of SF but the book we were using was almost 30 years old. We did find a cool park though.

At the start of our trip we made a conscious decision to not visit any chain stores and no stores or restaurants that weren't owned by locals--grocery stores included. It seemed easier in San Francisco than at home.

2011-11-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

We spent our first full day in San Francisco at the Exploratorium: the museum of science, art and human perception. There were so many fun things to do an see. Scott's favorites were experiments/demonstrations having to do with physics. My favorites were about the way humans can misperceive things. There was a hilarious story told (Red Riding Hood) using all real words but not the words of the story. If you just listened you could make it out, if you followed along reading it it was nonsense--Ladle Rat Rotten Hut. Evie enjoyed the magnets, spinning sand and optical illusions.

That evening we went to Tony's Pizza Napoletana. Tony Gemignani is a pizza maker Scott was familiar with through online stuff--he has an oven like ours etc. I mentioned to our server what we do as our business and that this visit was a pilgrimage of sorts. We ended up with free appetizers and a long conversation with Tony! We talked about pizza and ovens and the business--he was very interested and friendly and it was very cool to be a part of the pizza professionals world.

We slept somewhere in all of this.

Saturday morning brought us to Aikido West. Some folks Evie trained with in Madison recently moved back to San Francisco so they met us there (actually, we met them randomly at a stoplight on our way there!) It was a big, very accomplished class. It was a different style of Aikido than Evie has experienced before, she enjoyed it immensely.

That afternoon we hiked the Land's End hike down to the ocean, it was gorgeous. We stopped at Humphry Slocombe--the first of three times during our one week stay--check out those flavors!

I think that's enough for one post!

Away

2011-11-09T05:17:00.000-08:00

We are still in Monterey, CA as I type this. We will head home tomorrow after an epic trip. I wanted to start recording some of our adventures while they are freshest in my mind.

First, we stayed in a treehouse. A real treehouse.

It was tiny and cute and 25' up in a California Live Oak. The couple who owned the treehouse also had chickens and a dog and kids. There was a bathroom and a tiny, almost-a-kitchenette in the basement of the main house for our use.

It was a fun and awkward place to stay. Hard to use the bathroom in the night, and you had to be careful not to crack your head turning over up in the loft. It was neat to sway with the breeze. Turns out the owner was doing some work on the roof and on the third night, during a rain storm, the treehouse started to leak and water poured in onto the beds. We ended up in a hotel for that final night--no harm done really. We all liked the treehouse, we were also ready for the comforts of a hotel.

the count

2011-11-01T09:28:00.001-07:00

6,978

That's how many pizzas we made this year.

I am going to sleep now.

I am sticky

2011-10-29T15:09:00.001-07:00

Today started with blueberry scones. Scott said they were the best ever.

Next we finished the hinkypunk. (You can't tell in the photo but the lantern really lights up!)

Then we went to our local

and pressed 2 bushels of apples. We came home with 6 gallons of cider.

Tonight we are making spanakopita and curry/honey roasted cauliflower.

Then I plan to beat everyone at Bananagrams.

Ummmm . . .

2011-10-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

We are all getting used to our new (read: non pizza making) pace. Do we really have time to sit and read a whole novel if we want to? What house projects need to get done? How do we do stuff all together? It sounds kind of weird, but we are relearning how to just BE as a family.

Yesterday Evie and I read aloud.

I watched Two Million Minutes, Scott joined me for Please Vote for Me.

Evie finally painted the Hinkypunk.

We made dough at the commercial kitchen for our last scheduled gig of the year.

Evie and Scott scouted the locations and times for the dojos and classes Evie will be visiting next week in San Francisco.

We watched this TED talk. We just hit the "fascinating" link on the left side of the main page and went with the first thing that caught our eye.

That led to an exploration of infographics and a discussion about whether that would be a good format for our holiday letter this year.

That led to a discussion of how to clearly convey information. We ended up at the Duarte Blog (that happens a lot) and we laughed ourselves silly watching the video about the "Turbo Encabulator" about 6 times.

That's all, and I think it is enough.

Library Love

2011-10-27T04:33:00.000-07:00

I hate the new LINKcat. If you are local, you know what I mean. However, I love our library. I have been there every day this week to pick up holds, which of course leads to browsing, which leads to walking out with more than I planned.

Life is kind of like a good library. You make some definite choices (like putting a particular book on hold) and then you may or may not follow through (just because you checked the book out doesn't mean you'll read it). Browsing the library is kind of like browsing through life. You keep your eyes open for interesting things pause occasionally, and sometimes change directions.

Just as you can find info about ANYTHING in a library, in real life, you can find info and a real live person who might be able to share what they know.

HourSchool is exactly that--peer-led, social-driven learning.

There was more Hinkypunk making (pictures coming).

Swimming

Meetings

Movie

Books

Evie made dinner.

I joined Pinterest.

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Life is like a giant library, you never know what you're going to find." Thank goodness!

Loving

2011-10-26T04:06:00.000-07:00

I am loving Zumba again. Between Groupon and Living Social deals I have been accumulating all sorts of great fitness deals. I am back at my favorite Zumba place for 10 classes. I love that the classes are men, women, young, old and all fun.

We watched the 2nd Zorro movie last night, silly fun.

Worked on the Hinkpunk lantern--gotta get it all done by next week.

More plans made for our San Francisco trip.

Scott clean his office, we reorganized and hopefully came up with a system to keep it under control. It was a big deal. Ten years worth of accumulation. Really.

Soft polenta with veggie sausage and romanesco for dinner.

Aikido and aikido videos for the kiddo.

Lovin' Mumford and Sons.

Accumulating movies that challenge the western educational paradigm (whole post eventually). I read the discussion notes from Schooling the World--powerful stuff.

What will happen today?

Odd

2011-10-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an odd day. Kind of ordinary, kind of unsatisfying for me. Evie and Scott did a lot more.

Scott organized and rearranged the garage so we can fit the trailer in next week (!)
Evie and I recorded her lines for the next HP installment (book 3, chapters 10 & 11), she likes to listen to them while she runs.

I flitted on the computer tried to read, flitted some more.

Evie and Scott went to Aikido, Evie came back giddy as usual.

Here are some places I flitted:

Pandora - Mumford and Sons (love)
Zero Tuition College
Schooling the World I ordered the film and downloaded the discussion notes, wanna come over?
Earth Calendar
Darell Hammond: If We Don't Let Our Children Play, Who Will Be the Next Steve Jobs? (read ALL of Hammond's blog posts)
Food Science - Hulu

Fuzzy brain this week.

Halloween part1

2011-10-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Homeschool Halloween party on Saturday night. It was held at my parents' house but I wasn't on the planning committee so we just got to show up! Evie went as Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow. Strangely there are no pictures of Scott and I. We went for a slight twist on classical Greek myths--I was Afro-Tidy (Goddess of large curly hair ad cleanliness), I carried a feather duster. Scott went as my husband, Hefixtus (God of home improvement), think toga and tool belt.

We're trying to tie up loose business ends and find the energy to do all those projects we put off all summer.

We'll see what the week brings.

Anybody Out There?

2011-10-21T03:46:00.000-07:00

I love reading other people's blogs. Having taken nearly the entire summer off, I think I have lost most of my readership. So, I guess I am blogging our days mostly for me now--I'll have to watch the philosophizing!

This week we made and cancelled plans for a most excellent obstacle course day--darn weather!

Started working on a Hinkypunk. Oh how I LOVE papier mache!

Stared at our freakishly adorable cats.

Took cool pictures of random happenings.

And got rid of all our green tomatoes (pickles on the left, salsa on the right).

We watched a LOT of Chopped (hurrah for Hulu), there was yoga and Zumba and swimming and Aikido. We started a book about the history of algebra and finished a book that at first glance seemed aimed at a much younger audience. It was not. It was a rollicking and hilarious read-aloud.

Scott was away this week working on things back east. Sad and challenging work, to go through the stuff of a lifetime.

We have two (2!) parties this weekend, one more pizza event on the calendar this year and lots of travel plans. And, I really need to scrub the kitchen floor.

Butts and Buts

2011-10-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went rock climbing with friends. It was an easy, silly day with gorgeous weather and enough challenges to make it interesting. As usual, most of our pictures are of people's butts.

Believe it or not, that brings me to another subject. People ask about our family life a lot. We are a gregarious family with a business and a seemingly "happy-go-lucky" attitude. Often we hear, "But, what about insurance?" "How did you save enough to start your business?" "But what about college?" "But how do you . . ." "But how can you . . ." I laughed out loud last week when a mom made a comment about our family having it "all figured out." "Are you kidding me?" I replied. We are just living life. Making plans but not KNOWING for certain anything that is around the bend.

Everyone is afraid to jump off a cliff. How do you jump into unschooling? How do you start a business? You take a picture of the "buts" for reference, and then you keep moving forward. Be honest with yourself and have the courage to do what you know is right. We all have our own comfort levels with risk. As a society, we have lost the ability to accurately assess risk (in all its forms). If you want to take a leap and a "but" is stopping you, ask yourself (honestly) what are all the possible outcomes. It might be a disaster, BUT, it might be wonderful.

Long Day

2011-10-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

Spent the day serving pizza at a renaissance faire. Made for a long but fairly enjoyable day. I don't often post work stuff here so I thought I would include a picture of Evie and I when we were only slightly floury! (We don't always dress that way for work!)

We're off to a party today with our first apple pie of the season. We'll be rock climbing with friends tomorrow. Good stuff.

Random picture of one of our very cute cats.
This is her reaction to the economic news this week.

Whad'ja do today?

2011-10-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

We built a playground. 200 volunteers can accomplish a lot in a day. I may have mentioned KaBOOM! a few million times already in this blog--they're the ones who made the playground build happen today. It made me happy to spend the day with interesting people creating something cool. It made me sad that litigation, fear, the inability to accurately assess risk and the pursuit of "academic achievement" have robbed our society of play.

Today WE played.

The weekend

2011-10-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday we worked. It was a lovely wedding in our favorite state park. They were a sweet, earnest couple with big plans--love 'em. One of the bride's best friends dressed in a chicken suit for the ceremony and all the groomsmen wore pressed plaid shirts, gotta love that!

Today included a long run for me (7 miles) just because I hadn't run that far in a long time. I still got it! Aikido for Evie. I think she may move into the dojo soon, she wants to spend every waking minute there.

Silly, exploring errands in the afternoon. TV tonight. Work day out at Mom and Dad's tomorrow, more aikido. Books, books, books. This week and next are packed with adventures with friends. Yay!

Busy

2011-09-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

We are stretching our time and ideas. Trying to find more and more and MORE time to do things and see the friends we missed so much during our busy summer. Personally, I (Jen) also need to find time to sleep and sleep. Work is still present on the weekends.

Thursday saw us out in the country with good friends for a day of sewing, eating and laughing 'til we almost peed--yeah, that kind of good friends!

Today Scott got his much longed for LCD flat panel TV. Bittersweet in that it came from credit card bonus points that can't be used by his mom.

We took a trip to Barnes and Noble and wrote down 1263 titles and games we will be looking for at the library. I also had a salted caramel mocha from Starbucks--it may be my new vice.

Next week holds a warm up in weather, not too happy about that but it will mean we can work outside and put things to bed for the fall.

Life moves trippingly along . . .

possibilities

2011-09-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

I wish I took more pictures. I don't really know what I would take pictures of, it just seems like our days are escaping. The frenzy of the summer led to the demise of our habit of me reading aloud -- a lot.

We started The Wanderer
last night and finished it this morning.

Today brings good friends for Book 3, chapter 8 and 9 of Harry Potter. This project is over two years old now. We would be sunk without these friends.

I think this age (the almost teen years) requires endless opportunities for physical activity, many opportunities for being with peers, challenge (physical and mental) AND many opportunities to do things with parents.

I have so many ideas. Now I just need to find time to make them happen. Hmmmmm . . .

Catching our attention

2011-09-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

It is a rainy, cool morning this morning. Now that our work life has slowed down, our attentions can be turned elsewhere. Here are some things that have caught our eyes.

First let me say that I really dislike when people call science DEMONSTRATIONS, science EXPERIMENTS. You are not supposed to know the outcome of experiments (although you may have a strong hypothesis). That being said, I love playing around with science demonstrations. Here are some very fun sites to explore:

Hunkin's Experiments (over 200 home experiments)

Experiments and Demonstrations (Clicking through this site could take you the rest of your life--in a good way.)

We are headed to the San Francisco Exploratorium in November. Maybe we'll see an episode of Iron Science Teacher.

Slightly more complicated demonstrations here: RMCybernetics - Simple Science Experiments and Demonstrations

We have a friend who works on CERN's LHC (Large Hadron Collider) project (I know, how cool is that?) We have watched two things this week that have greatly improved my understanding of the working of the LHC.

Large Hadron Rap

World's Toughest Fixes - Atom Smasher

All this makes us want to make things, explore things, try things. We look forward to heading to Sector67. Many of our friends are already deeply involved--oh the possibilities!

Scott has been re-doing his workshop, Evie is deep into math-for-the-sake-of-math, I have been reading and reading (my current favorite from this amazing duo: What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets).

As usual, Aikido is playing a strong role in the lives of Scott and Evie. Evie will be attending a seminar with Saotome Sensei in November. She is very excited.

Photo (during her kyu test) courtesy of one of Evie's senseis, Kerry Connel.

What is capturing your attention these days?

Mish Mash

2011-09-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Party at my parents' house, three generations, original play staged, lots of music, singing, violin, awesome.

"Taming of the Shrew" here.

Evie changed out the sink hose. Scott asked her to take care of the next oil change on the car . . . without his help.

Looking at flooring options for Evie's room.

Halloween plans.

Deep thinking about our life.

Made plan reservations to CA in Nov.--we are going to stay in a tree house!

Aikido.

"Forks Over Knives" vs. "Fat Head" (both on Netflix, what do YOU think?)

Triangulations via Miss Leavitt's Stars

Thank you notes.

That's all for now.

A Story

2011-09-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a rabbit named Peter. Peter loved to eat carrots for lunch with his pita chips. Quality, in the form of crunchiness was Peter's #1 criterion. Rabbits really ought not eat carrots everyday, but peter had an addiction.

So, when Peter's people went away, Peter went out to he garden to eat them all! Tragically, when Peter reached the garden gate he fell into a deep chasm. Under ordinary circumstances, Peter would have called for help from pone of the many garden denizens. Venting his fury on the sides of the yawning chasm that he fell into, Peter kicked and thought, and kicked and thought, and kicked and thought some more.

Warily he began to tunnel in a different direction. Xenophobia, common among rabbits, soon set in and Peter found himself torn between a desire to escape and a paralyzing fear of stumbling into the burrow of a mole of woodchuck. Yest he made himself keep digging in spite of his fear.
Zipper-like insects began appearing at his feet, Peter was quaking!

After what seemed like hours of digging, peter broke into a large opening, only to realize that he had dug in a circle. "Broil me in butter and call me a flounder!" Peter yelled when he saw he was right back where he started.

Cacaphonous echoes of his own frustration reverberated through the chasm and Peter began to weep. Digging in to his years of training as a Bunny Scout, he remember that strapped to his back leg was a pouch which contained, among other things, a length of spider silk. Egging himself on as he went, Peter tied the silk around his waist thinking to lasso a tree above. Fortunately, in addition to being a Bunny Scout, Peter was also a world-class rodeo rabbit, this was going to be easy.

"Giddyap!" Peter hooted, as he sent the spider-silk lasso up and over the rim of the hole.

"Hallelujah!" shouted Peter, as the lasso circled the bonsai tree very neatly.

Incrementally, Peter inched his was out of the chasm, whistling all the way. Jalapenos made Peter's eyes water when he finally pulled himself out; he was so tired that all he could do for a few seconds was lie where he fell.

Keeping his wits about him, Peter hauled himself to his feet and peered cautiously through the peppers. Looking for signs of danger but seeing none, he set out in the direction of his family's burrow.

"My paws are like noodles," thought Peter mournfully. "Next time I venture out, I'm bringing my phone!"

*******************
Notice anything unusual about this story? Notice any patterns? Leave your guesses in the comments. We have been having a lot of fun with this book: Creativity Workbook: 100 Exercises to Stimulate Creative Thinking

More fun? According to this website our story is 84% Shakesperean.

Actual dinner

2011-09-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

We worked last night and today, but today's event was a festival we've been involved with, in some capacity or another, for years. It is like a day of talking with friends! We got to make people happy by making yummy pizza. We were done and home by 2:30 so we got to go grocery shopping--as a family!

We looked through cookbooks, noted what we bought at our farmers' market this morning, and then planned a whole week's worth of meals! (We don't work again until next Sunday).

For dinner we had savory corn griddle cakes with hot chipotle honey and a salad made of baby spinach, shaved fennel, roasted beets, orange vinaigrette and toasty croutons with goat cheese. All new recipes, we all liked all of them.

So nice to have such luxury.

High on Life

2011-09-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

The last two days have been some of the best in Lynch family history. Scott and I took Evie and 9 good friends to a high ropes course and then all of the families met us at a nearby state park for a campout.

The ropes course was terrifying. For all of us. We were all pushed to our limits in different ways and coped with different strategies. The group was incredible. I was completely awed by the caring, support, gentle humor, and all around awsomeness of every single kid. I love this age. The kids on the trip were 10-14, most of them know each other fairly well. They are a smart, funny, articulate group. We laughed 'til we snorted on the way there, we have inside jokes that will last a lifetime and all of us, Scott and I included, have a new appreciation for what we are capable of and a new appreciation for our support network.

The campout with the families put the whole experience over the top. I can't believe how lucky we are to have found such a marvelous group of friends. We talked religion, we talked politics, we told jokes, we talked parenting. We laughed and we stayed up way to late. Then we all heard the barred owls at 1:00 and everyone was up and chattering and ready to play by 7 because it was just that good.

Amazing, amazing, amazing!

What one hopes for

2011-09-12T06:17:00.001-07:00

Some days all one can really hope for is pastry.

This is a raspberry pastry concoction Evie made for a potluck.

Some days are filled with so much more. On September 3rd Evie took her first Aikido test. Aikido isn't really like any other martial art. So many senior students showed up to help Evie. So many have helped her this far. She is the youngest to take this test in anyone's memory. She rocked it. Consequently she can now wear a hakama (the black skirty thing). All this Aikido stuff is from her own passion. It is THRILLING to watch in unfold.

Then there are the practical things one hopes for. Scott and I were running an errand yesterday. I always have my cell phone, Evie has never called it. After leaving the phone in the car while doing other things, we got back in an noticed Evie had called. Hmmm. Scott calls her back.

Scott: "You called?"
Evie: "Yeah. I had a problem but I fixed it."
Scott: "That's good, what was the problem?"
Evie: "I blew a fuse when I used the microwave and the rice cooker at the same time. I just went downstairs and flipped the breaker. It is fine now."
Scott: "Okay, see you in a minute."

Scott relays the story to me. We shake our heads in amazement at her capability and confidence.

That's what one hopes for.

Best of all possible disasters

2011-09-11T20:08:00.001-07:00

So our truck died yesterday. We pulled up at a client's house, positioned the oven and it died. We jumped it, moved the truck, it died again. Embarrassing? Yes. A complete disaster? No way!

My parents came and rescued us. The client was totally cool about leaving EVERYTHING there. Good friends lent us a pickup to go fetch the oven today. Our towing company went REALLY far away (job was 45 minutes from home) for a really reasonable price. Tow truck delivered the truck to our mechanic--who was there on a Sunday afternoon! "Can't get to it today," he says. "But I'll be able to look at it for sure tomorrow." Wow! After working seven days a week for months we don't have another job until Friday--we can wait!

Seriously. The BEST disaster ever.

p.s.

2011-08-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

More free time equals more documentaries. My list has been updated (see sidebar).

Coming out of it

2011-08-21T04:03:00.001-07:00

Business is slowing down.

Yesterday we built a slack-line and a catapult. We even went to a friend's house for dinner.

I have missed blogging.

Imagine the possibilities!

Trying to keep it together (and making big plans!)--SCL

2011-06-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

We've been pretty busy the last few weeks--working like crazy, plus I am preparing for my annual trade show and Evie for the county fair (with 22 items entered!).

We are hatching a grand scheme to work our buns off through the fall and take some time (as in months) completely off. We are hoping to travel, so we may be looking to crash on a couch near you. We have an easy weekend coming up with just one event, but it is an hour and a half from here, so we'll be back late. At least we can sleep in the next day.

We're also entering a transition phase here in the house. It's currently a big mess, because we are moving downstairs so Evie can have the upstairs all to herself. She seems to like the novelty of it, and she's been experimenting with sleeping in all kinds of different beds "to get ready for camp." I have not broken it to her yet that she has probably never tried to sleep on a bed as crappy as what she's likely to have at camp, what with the thin plastic-covered mattress and all.

This project reflects the reality of our life right now--things happen in stages, and we arrange the puzzle pieces of work, play, and the rest of it together as best we can. I think I have an easier time of it than the others because I am used to not finishing things. . .

Earlier this week I was really missing my mom a lot, which added to my general feeling of unease that started with a very poor night's sleep. As I was tearing the house apart looking for my wallet (if you find it, please call or email!) I looked under the couch cushions and stumbled upon a pair of earrings mom left here on her last visit before she died.

On the happy side, we have had a wonderful spring of baby animals--baby rabbits in the backyard, baby ducks and geese on the lake, and baby robins right outside our bedroom window.

Cute, but not nearly as cute as baby rabbits, which are, with the possible exception of baby ducks, the cutest animals ever!

A glimpse (JAL)

2011-05-26T06:24:00.000-07:00

We can't seem to remember to blog much these days. Following are some pics of what we have been up to. Evie is sewing like a madwoman. She followed a pattern for the first time this week and loved it. The skirt and pants are the two patterns she made this week. She is just starting a MUCH more ambitious dress pattern.

Work is picking up. I am relaxing about it a bit more this year. Evie snapped some funny pictures of Scott and I making dough at our commercial kitchen last night. We have a wildly busy weekend coming up and a freeze warning--better cover my baby tomatoes.

Scott is building three more pairs of stilts, private clients I think, not a circus this time.

Evie is at Aikido as much as possible.

Carry on.

Back to it (JAL)

2011-05-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

We are back to work, our farmers' market this week was our most successful ever. This is our last totally free weekend until October--nope, not kidding. We invented a lot of things last year and built a lot of things and learned a lot of things. This year will be A LOT of work, but it will be easier.

I have to go learn Quickbooks tomorrow. I am not real excited about that. If it helps run our business though, I can deal.

Evie and I went out to the country with friends today. The girls disappeared. The moms took a walk and saw great things. We harvested ramps and saw this cute frog.

Now Evie is following a pattern for the first time for a project she will enter in the county fair--don't worry, she is making lots of things without patterns too (as per usual).

Busy weekend (EML)

2011-05-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend we all did a lot, Friday and Saturday we went to the WPA conference in Oshkosh. and a potluck which I brought a cake to, everyone liked it, it was chocolate. Yesterday I went to a seminar with Mary Heiny Sensei, she is a 6th dan ( 6th degree black belt) about an inch or two taller than me, and VERY nice. After that we went and had a picnic at a secret park right in the middle of town for Mother's day and Michael's was giving away free sundaes for moms. So we all got one, even those of us who are not moms. The flavor of the day was chocolate chocolate chip, it was very good!

Then today I slept in, while Mama and Daddy made pizza dough, then we played a math game where the goal was to get to 100 first, but the first game I won with 1026 (and no I do not mean 126) the second I got 77.255 and Mama got -96.725 so if we were also playing to -100 she could have won, and the third game I won in one play where I went from -58 to 113.8 at one time. After that I made biscuits for an afternoon snack and we had lunch. All in all a pretty busy weekend.

Using Time (JAL)

2011-05-03T03:45:00.000-07:00

planting potatoes
talking to old friends
talking to new friends
learning details
reading profound books
getting my butt kicked at a new boot camp class
getting excited for farmers' market
making a website
planning a conference talk
snuggling a kid under-the-weather
buying a book for said kid just to see her light up
making decisions
remembering and crying
remembering and laughing
endless shoveling
marveling at birds and baby bunnies

looking towards more of the same

New Beginnings (JAL)

2011-04-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Evie and her aunt putting the finishing touches on Jean's 70th b-day cake, just one week and 3 days before she died.

We are all back in WI now. I think we refer to Scott's mom (Jean) approximately 34 times a day right now. About the same number as when she was still alive. Sometimes we are laughing, sometimes tears start. It is a new chapter in our lives.

Hanging laundry with Jean in 2007.

This week's loads.

Two of my new raised beds.

Yesterday I hung laundry on the line for the first time this year. Jean was one of the only people I could call to tell I had hung my laundry. I always sent pictures and she always admired them. (Totally dorky--I freely admit it.) I made some new raised beds too. It has been brutally cold this spring so I haven't planted anything. Our bulbs are blooming though and that is a start.

Our first day of work is tomorrow. We get to provide food for a fundraiser for a friend who is hoping to compete in the 2014 Olympics in speedskating. We are so confident of his chances (he is the real deal) we have started saving for our tickets to Sochi. The first day of our new work season represents a new start. We will work incredibly hard over the next six months. It will probably be easier than last year, but still very challenging. What will it bring? We are hoping to work on our work/life balance. I'll let you know.

We are speaking at our state home education conference next weekend. The theme of the conference is DIY. Scott is doing a session on sourdough baking and we are doing a session as a family about business development. We are working on our presentations today. We bought new sheets for Evie's bed and new underwear for me (TMI, I know!) I read an accounting book this week and kinda' got into it! I have to learn how to use Quickbooks.

We are facing a lot of new beginnings right now. I guess we'll just charge ahead.

A Daring Adventure

2011-04-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

Jean Hood Lynch
March 14, 1941 - April 19, 2011

She was a lover of beautiful things, natural and human made.
She was a devoted community servant.
Her gift was hospitality.
She was adventurous and opinionated and fabulous.
She lived the words of Helen Keller,
"life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
We will miss her so, so, so much.

Nearing the end (SL)

2011-04-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

We've been in Boston for about a week now. Jen has alluded to hard times over the past few months. Much of that has been the fact that my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer late in the summer. We are with her now at home, going through a difficult process of learning how to say goodbye to each other. We've been sharing lots of memories from times recent and long ago. I think we are as ready as we can be. Very sad times for us. For those of you who know her, please keep her in your thoughts.

First Spring Nature Walk (JAL)

2011-04-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! We took a short little walk at our local Arboretum this afternoon and look who we found!

It is a baby Great Horned Owl! Great Horned Owls use discarded nests, piles of sticks or even hollow trees instead of building their own nests. We saw the mama of this little one, she was watching us but we crept quietly by. We were SO close!

We also saw another mystery bird--still investigating . . .

UPDATE: The mystery bird was a Woodcock! Here is an awesome photo, it is not mine.

Make It Count (JAL)

2011-04-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was election day here in WI. In Madison we voted for mayor, county executive, some city council officials, school board etc. and statewide we voted for Supreme Court Justice. On February 15, Scott, Evie and I headed to our Capitol building to watch the hearing on Senate Bill 11. Since then we have been at the Capitol A LOT! Perhaps you've heard about the kerfuffle in our state? I mildly regret not blogging during those first intense weeks of protest and demonstration. We are living through amazing events and participating has been the most amazing experience of solidarity and determination. I have too many pictures to post and few of them capture the spectacle, but here are a few (there is a point--keep reading):

As of 1:00 pm today we are still biting our nails over the Supreme Court vote. It will come down to tens of votes. Every vote counts.

Last night I went to hear Sir Ken Robinson. He spoke about creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value. He described imagination as the "ability to bring about things that aren't there. Creativity is applied imagination." He talked about the world crisis of creativity and finding ones own talents. I enjoyed the talk immensely and one of the most profound things I took away from the talk was that we only get one go around, we have to make this life count. How shall we do that? Why is creativity the answer to the problems of the world. He told a story from his book about Bart Connor (the gymnast) and the encouragement he received from his mother to do what he loved. Creativity will positively reform society.

This morning I asked Evie what she REALLY loves right now. She said, "Aikido." We spent the next four hours with me listening and watching and asking questions. It was great. She bubbled, I bubbled and I learned a lot--even some about Aikido! What will happen when I encourage this creativity?

In everything, make it count.

Goats (EML)

2011-04-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today I met some VERY cute baby goats who were only born a few days ago. There are two sets of twins. One set's names are Rocket and Star. Rocket is older by a few minutes and he is a boy. Star is a girl and much darker colored than Rocket, he is mostly white and gray, has a stripe down his back and is a whole lot bigger than any of the others. I got to hold Star, she is black with white legs and white stars on her back and head.
The other pair is Sunny and Midnight. Sunny is a girl and is older than Midnight. She is also black and white. Her twin brother's name is Midnight. He is all black except for a little bit on his legs which is white. Midnight likes to jump backwards but other than that mostly he likes to sleep with his sister. They stick together a lot.
They are all very cute and fun to play with. Rocket likes to chew on pants.

Sunday--all over the map (SL)

2011-04-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

I did miss running over the winter--it's when I listen to the news and catch up on what's going on in the world. Got caught up on TV and movies on the treadmill over the winter, but now that the streets are clear, it's nice to get out and see real stuff again, including bikers, wildlife, and other signs of spring.

Took Evie to Aikido. The Sunday sessions twice a month are focused on Ukemi, or the art of moving away from harm. It's extremely philosophical practice, because part of it is to practice Aikido in a way that helps your partner to learn the techniques correctly. It's a small and fun group. They did an exercise called "advantage/disadvantage" in which you make the smallest adjustment possible in order to turn your disadvantage into an advantage over your partner. It's fascinating to see how much more subtle are the movements of two black belts doing it compared to the much bigger and more obvious choices made by junior students. Really fun to see what mastery looks like (although of course nobody will ever admit to mastery. . .the more you know, the more you have to learn, and all that).

We then ran some errands, including a visit to one of the new-school shopping malls. Perhaps you've seen them. They have condos attached. It does make me realize how far outside the mainstream we are when I can't fathom how anyone would ever want to live at the mall. Stopped in at Whole Foods to graze on some free samples and to recycle some #5 plastic (they participate in a cool program called Gimme 5)

Afterwards, went to a very cool choral performance of Missa Gaia (Earth Mass) featuring Jen's dad as part of the ensemble. It was a really ambitious undertaking, several months in the making. It incorporates lots of poetery from diverse sources (Wendell Berry, the bible, etc) about caring for our earth. I have to say that while I totally appreciated both the content and the technical achievement of pulling it off, I did not love the music. Like much modern choral music, it's a little short on melody for my ear. Those who know me may observe that I am hardly qualified as a music critic, however, as the only way I could carry a tune is if it had a handle.

Then a fun dinner out with the in-laws. Monday is back to office work, and lots more Aikido (yay!, or as they say in Japan, Sugoi!).

Etc. (JAL)

2011-04-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

catering for 24 for three days--21st time I've worked for this group!

Long walk to a fun park with the family.

grocery shopping

frustration over RIDICULOUS health care costs, stupid insurance and bills, bills, bills

realizing I would prefer to get my health care from a vet--totally reasonable costs and WAY more face time

Stone of Destiny

Zombie March to the Capitol Election night is going to be a wild one!

new towels from MIL--she read my selfish mind and got awesome colors (LOVE!)

Signifi(cants, cance) (JAL)

2011-04-01T03:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good one! I am increasing my running mileage this week to 30 miles, I'd like to keep it about there when I am not training for something. Running this week has allowed for a lot of wildlife viewing!

After we had all had breakfast I headed to the grocery store, I am catering a doula training for the trainers I first worked with back in 1997! This will be the 22nd doula training for which I have provided food--time flies!

Scott did office work.

Evie went to the hardware store by herself for the first time. She bought more parts for the clubhouse.

Evie and Scott went to Aikido while I cooked a million things. I helped Evie install carpet in the clubhouse and then I got the mail . . .

We learned that Evie received a partial scholarship for a camp she really wants to go to this summer! She wrote a great essay and got a wonderful recommendation from a sensei at the dojo. She pretty much danced around for the rest of the afternoon singing the camp song (I went there as a kid too) and decorating the clubhouse.

Easy weekend coming up, April is our last month without pizza business, then all heck breaks loose. I think we are all more prepared for the workload this year and heaven knows we NEED the money! We are tying up ends (loose or otherwise) and soaking in our last bits of leisure.

Happy April!

Clubhouse (EML)

2011-03-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I started turning our old chicken coop into a clubhouse. I cleaned it and bleached it. Today I went to Menards and got Royal Cameron (blue) carpet. I primed and painted it Jazz (blue), and Zinnia ruffle (pink) I am planning to put the carpet in and make curtains tomorrow. The whole clubhouse is VERY big.

Who were we kidding?

2011-03-29T14:18:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been over a month since I posted. I thought I was shutting the blog down. I just didn't know what I wanted to write about.

Here it is.

I am tired of writing about unschooling. Occasionally I may have an opinion (okay, I always have a lot of those). What I want to record is what we are all doing. It is really a selfish aim. I love going back and reading things from when Evie was 6. I want to record what the heck we do each day. To that end, Each of us are going to take one day a week to blog. Maybe it will be a list of what we did that day. Maybe it will be rant about politics or emerald ash borers or a recipe for angel food cake. The point is, this is our life. I hope to "be the change I wish to see in the world" (Gandhi).

Enough with the philosophizing (although that is not out)--let's live.

Today, Evie glazed two windows. I have never done that before in my life. She is re-habing the chicken coop to be her clubhouse. yesterday I built a greenhouse. It reached 120 degrees today. The maximum outside temperature was 45 degrees.

We are having friends over to watch Dralion on DVD because it is cheaper than going to the real show, and that means we will have enough money to go roller skating tomorrow night-complete with limbo and a disco ball.

We're back baby!

Hiatus

2011-02-07T06:22:00.001-08:00

I am done blogging for awhile. Maybe I'll be back someday, I've no plans to delete the blog, I really like some of my old posts.

Thanks to all of you who have read here over the years, thanks to all of you who are still writing. I will be visiting.

Really a lot of snow

2011-02-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

Spent last night worrying our furnace vents would get drifted in, spent 6 hours today shoveling. We had a drift in front of our garage that was over my head and a corner of our roof with over 6 feet of snow drifted on it. Had some fabulous help from a neighbor with a snow blower for the giant drift. Evie and I did the rest, our screen porch was completely encased in snow and had 8 inches standing in it.

After a hot shower we went back out to explore the neighborhood. It is snowy.

We read, watched an episode of The Story of Maths, played with decimals, answered email, read and we started our first ever family fan-fiction festival for February! Each week one of us will pick a book series and a scenario and we will each have one week to write a story. Evie picked Harry Potter for this week (big surprise), the scenario involves all of the off spring of the primary characters and their interactions at Hogwarts. I haven't written fiction in a long time and it is fun!

Scott is out in MA, we Skyped for dinner. It was pretty cool to take the computer outside to show him our shoveling handiwork. Gotta love technology.

We're beat. Plans for epic game of Capture the Flag tomorrow, it is going to be a cold one!

Interlude

2011-01-30T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here is what Scott did yesterday.

Subtle

2011-01-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying that I am interested to hear comments on this one. My thoughts are more observations than a coherent thesis. It is like I have an itch that I can't quite scratch . . .

Evie loves Aikido. She loves to run. She loves to sword fight. She loves to wrestle. She has amazing body awareness and loves to use her body.

I have observed that girls, around the age of 9, often have a plummet in self-esteem. I haven't noticed this to the same degree with girls who do not go to school. Everyone one of the neighborhood girls around here has succumbed to it.

It is no longer the case that our society segregates play along gender lines as blatantly as it used to.

There are amazing resources in existence to foster "strong girls." Is calling attention to "strong" as bad as working to suppress that trait?

Nature vs. Nurture is still a debate. It is not an either/or question.

Our children are only one generation removed from the "Free Te Be You and Me" generation.

Our society starts to demand a separation of "work" and "play" around age 10.

Our society condemns fighting but is steeped in violence. "Control" is seen as the ultimate virtue.

I'm not sure where all this is going. It has been nagging at me that Evie has wanted to have sword fights and battles but they have been hard to come by. Is it because she is a girl? Is it because she is almost 11? Is it because kids aren't encouraged to run around on their own anymore? This period of growing up is the time for defining oneself, testing oneself, finding adventure, exploring limits, forging alliances, working on emotional life. Sometimes that takes battles. My fashion-loving, Barbie-owning, pink-wearing girl is ready with her sword.

Power

2011-01-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

Not sure where I am going with my thoughts on the subjects of power, autonomy, confidence and labels--I am sure there is a good blog post in there somewhere but it isn't ready to come out. So, I will leave you with a few pictures from a gathering yesterday where folks made foam weapons (oddly we had all that stuff at our house . . .) and then fought and played Capture the Flag, Percy Jackson style.

The fighting and running and cheering is what started to clarify what I've been thinking about, but it's not quite there.

Evie had an AWESOME time.

I have a moment

2011-01-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

Today has involved a long, seemingly effortless run. When I am next writing crabbily, please email comment with the words "RUN, RUN, RUN." It is an amazing antidepressant.

Homemade croissants for breakfast, Ella Enchanted shared with a friend, swimming, selling books, collecting worn-out foam noodles, preparing for tomorrow's foam battle (more on that later), thinking about the State of the Union speech, getting ready for NOVA and 1/2 price sundaes at Dairy Queen.

Someone wise and lovely recently blogged about people keeping tidy homes. I do like tidy, but I also like "project mess." These pics were snapped early this morning.

I am loving Facebook and ideas and plans right now.

A day well lived!

Some Effort

2011-01-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it just takes a little effort on my part to get stuff movin'. Today we made this:

Day

Night

And I got out some old display pieces (remember these?) and asked Evie if she could think of something cool to do with them. A fashion exhibit, of course! The theme is "The Plant Kingdom." The living room is a mess, the iron has been going all day, one outfit is done, plots are being hatched for its hanging, paper found for descriptions. Haiku, perspective drawing, the doppler effect and optical illusions have all entered the mix.

I made chocolate snack cake today. Thank goodness for Depression-era recipes because all we can afford is Depression era supplies right now! Actually, I am secretly enjoying the NEED to be frugal and dig deep in the pantry. We had budgeted for making croissants this week so Scott and Evie are making the dough as I type, they will get baked tomorrow. Scott claims that after all the turns there will be 756 layers. I told them I wanted mathematical proof. I just heard Evie multiplying largely in her head--I might have to eat my croissants with crow!

Started reading The Shakespeare Stealer aloud, not very lyrical writing (I am craving story-craft) but an intriguing enough story so far.

Went for a family ski, beautiful golden light in the park. What will we do tonight?

Dollar Store

2011-01-24T15:17:00.000-08:00

Went for coffee with a friend this morning, ate a delicious cupcake (salted caramel). Came home and watched "The Magic Schoolbus" in French with Evie, starting planning for a trip to Quebec (not anytime soon).

It was a day full of errands, some art works in progress that shall be revealed tomorrow. Sixteen degrees feels downright balmy after the sub-zero temps of the past few days, I contemplated going skating in my bikini, I opted for running in regular clothes instead.

Did lot of errands with the whole fam, visited the always hilarious Dollar Store looking for foam noodles (wrong time of year) and ended up at Hobby Lobby--oh the possibilities! Evie bought ten pounds of air dry clay.

Early dinner, 3 hours of Aikido, we have a family challenge out, tomorrow we will each share something to amaze, interest, edify or amuse the others. Maybe there will be pictures.

Keep it moving

2011-01-23T07:48:00.000-08:00

Friday Evie and my mom went to the store where Evie's sewing machine came from to get a lesson on its various features. Evie learned a ton and came home and showed me. This is not my grandma's sewing machine! Evie and I sorted fabric and cleaned up her studio--I wonder what will be hatched there next.

Yesterday we spent the day the Folk Ball! We took a Celtic Singing workshop and then one on Scottish dancing. The singing workshop was really fun, we had friends there with us and we will attempt to remember the songs today! The dancing workshop was somehow more satisfying because we had to figure stuff out. It was also frustrating because some of the participants just couldn't catch on. We were invited to dance with the Madison group any time and about 5 people asked Evie if she would like to take the kid's class. She has a friend who has done it and reports that it has the usual problem of kids classes which is kids who don't want to be there and so goof off and ruin it for anyone else. The class is at a convenient time and free, we'll see what she decides.

The night ended at the giant Folk Ball, an annual Madison tradition with live music of the Balkans and endless, sweaty dancing. We have gone for years and this was definitely the most fun as both of us could figure out the steps much more easily. There was one dance I just loved that involved snaking lines but also partner dancing and being twirled up to a new partner every time. I love that there are people in their nineties, people in their twenties, kids, some in folk costume, some in full Goth regalia, lots in t-shirts and jeans. We saw tons of people we knew--no great shocker that such an event would draw heavily from the "no school" crowd.

I have been devouring The Tudors on Netflix. I love the description given that it is "historically loose and visually lush," just what I have been in the mood for.

Bad neck pain has been keeping me careful, went skiing gain yesterday, back to running today. Running always feels good. If only I could always remember that!

I am having lots of ideas around the question, "What if . . ." more later.

Thank you

2011-01-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

I am so glad I wrote my last post. I really appreciated the comments and have, to some extent, been able to pinpoint part of my hesitancy in continuing to write. It is embarrassing to not be on top of things. There. I have said it. I have always been one of those people for whom "it" comes easily. Parenting a wee one was a piece of cake (more or less). Uncertainty makes me queasy and I have been bothered by the idea of writing about struggles--whether personal or familial. Then I realized, I read other people's blog because they are honest and real and I can relate. Hmm--maybe I could do that too!

So, for those of you who have been reading for years, thank you. Things are about to get messier. For those of you who are new readers, it ain't all wine and roses. Okay, it is probably a fair bit of wine. (She wrote with a glass of Grenache by her side.)

The last two days have been nice. Evie and a friend re-furbished a doll house that was made for Scott's grandma, it is a replica of her home library. The great Harry Potter project continues with Evie memorizing lots of lines. We (E and I) started translating some Latin fairy tales today, just for fun. Evie really wants to learn French, and seeing as I speak it fairly well I think I can help. Between HP and learning French, Latin seemed to make sense. It is fun to see her eyes light up when she makes a connection in the languages.

I am more grateful than ever to have friends with kids older than mine. I am grateful that they are so generous in giving their time and spirit.

My goal for this year is "letting go of perfect" and once again, a child shall lead me.

Not really a crisis

2011-01-19T09:13:00.001-08:00

So here's the deal. I love reading people's blogs. I have loved writing this blog. This blog started as a way to keep track of our unschooling days. The thing is, Evie is almost 11 now and kind of has her own life. I am thrilled for her and not so crazy about it for myself. I miss being the one to think up things to do, spark her imagination with books or play, have small ideas that turn into big fun. Don't get me wrong, we are still peas in a pod, have tons of fun together and I think she is about the best daughter ever. We are in a state of transition--she is definitely not ready to move out or anything, but my role as "Mama" is changing. I find myself reading more blogs of folks with little ones because I kind of miss those days. I am not really all that interesting and trying to figure out who to be when I am definitely not done being the ever-present Mama, but I am not an empty-nester either, is challenging. I don't really feel like writing about my life, OUR life is a challenge to document. I think it would be a shame to shut down the blog but I sure need a dose of purpose to keep going.

Anybody have a story to share on this one?

Exactly What

2011-01-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

It is 5:00 pm. I will tell you exactly what has happened today.

I woke at 3:00, feeling poorly and worried about an injured (we think) kitty. I watched 3 episodes of "30 Days," 2 of "The Tudors" and the end of a really silly movie called "She gets what she wants. I finished my novel. I ate breakfast. I drank a ridiculous amount of tea and coffee. Evie woke up. We watched Star Trek while she ate breakfast. We all co-existed in the house, reading our various books for the majority of the day. I shoveled and took a walk. We all ate lunch separately while we read some more. We play Bananagrams, Evie and I played Sorry!, I read out loud. I started two more books. Evie started her 5th in 2 days. They have not been short. We are going to to eat french fries now. I am going out in my pajamas. I have done a lot with our cats today. I am sure we will end with more books.

That's it. Exactly.

Fashion Show

2011-01-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

The fashion show was amazing. Evie has been working on this since September. She made 14 outfits, in 8 categories. She designed everything, sewed everything, wrote her own descriptions, chose and mixed the music, organized how it was going to happen, wrote her program bio, taught two friends to use the sewing machine, made arrangements to borrow things she needed, pet sat to make money to buy fabric, etc. etc.

My mom was instrumental in making it happen. The sewed together, planned together and enjoyed dreaming together. My dad built the runway, the show was held at their house. We had family present and some amazing friends.

Evie did this project with two friends. Her two friends also made many outfits. Their investment in the project was different than Evie's. Evie learned about stating expectations. She learned about friends who are willing to do things they are not crazy about because they want to be friends. She learned that she is very self-motivated and driven. She learned she has more control over her own time than many other kids her age. She learned about exhilaration and disappointment being present in almost the same moment.

It was a great experience. I expected to--actually, I wanted-- to write a glowing, exuberant account of the whole thing. I find myself having procrastinated this post for days. My heart was torn out on a few occasions over the last months when Evie felt such profound disappointment over things and learned to negotiate. I found myself wondering if I was crazy for supporting Evie in this. I fought for her being taken seriously.

I also enjoyed hanging out with her friends, I enjoyed watching them gain skills and think creatively. I loved watching Evie work and rework designs and then bring them to life. I am in awe of her creative writing. I am enormously proud of all three girls. I hope their families are just as proud.

This was a BIG deal in our house for a long time. Now it is over. We have pictures and a video. Now we will do something else. I think that is all I am going to say about it.

Feeling Pink

2011-01-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Just playing today. Probably won't stay pink for long.

Where to start?

2011-01-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

This morning we hung one of Evie's Christmas presents. Scott's mom's father brought back these six prints from Japan after World War II. Not only are they a piece of family history (one of Evie's fave presents in general) they are also Japanese (Evie's favorite country). To top it off, one panel depicts stilt-walkers, another depicts a lumberjack! It is like they were made for her! We cleaned them up a bit and wired them to a bamboo pole. They look awesome!

Then Scott fixed our couch. The left half has been sagging in a major way--as in my aunt could barely get out of it the other day! We had just been to a party recently where a woman described how she opened up her couch and fixed the springs. Scott did the same. It is like a new couch. That combined with my recent mind-bogglingly stellar clean up of a cat puke so colossal that Scott thought we would have to torch the couch, leads me to believe to believe that we are some sort of genius fix-it pair. Maybe.

Aikido again. Apparently Evie really surprised a rather large opponent when she neatly toppled him. She may be shorter than everyone else but that girl is grounded--and has some fierce hip action.

Then we went to see Tangled. Great movie. Can't imagine a little kid would like it or understand it at all.

Evie's fashion show is on FRIDAY!!! It is worthy of a post unto itself. She has worked so hard on it. That will have to be another day.

A sign?

2011-01-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

Not my best day today.

On a walk with Evie this morning we encountered this:

Who leaves Beowulf lying on the sidewalk? We took it home. I wondered if it was the Universe telling me to prepare for an epic struggle. Yeah, one of those days.

We made fresh mozzarella today. It actually worked (we have tried before, it didn't go well.) It was tasty and a very nice and silly family project.

Evie asked Scott to teach her how to grind off metal pins in an old pair of skates and how to drill holes on an angle. They are in the basement, I just balanced the check book.

Tonight is a long Aikido night (2 1/2 hours) so I will be home alone for a long time. I plan to indulge in a documentary binge.

Note: Scott read this entry late in the day and said, "I'll tell you what it meant when you found Beowulf on the sidewalk, it meant you got a free book!" Damn optimists! ;)

Abundance

2011-01-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

Here's to more of it.

That's All Folks!

2010-12-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

Evie spent the day with friends, she was so happy to see them! Scott and I spent the morning making plans for La Fortuna and the afternoon cleaning. We spent the evening making gum paste flowers for a party tomorrow, watched the last episode in From the Earth to the Moon and read more of the incredible story of The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor We are never really up for staying up until midnight so we drank a toast to 2010 at 8:00 and that's all there is. Here is to a spectacular 2011!

Pondering

2010-12-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

Headed home soon.

So much WORLD!

2010-12-23T05:49:00.000-08:00

We have been having so much fun! New York City was great (as always) and now we are happily ensconced in MA with cousins and grandma and aunties and uncles and cookies. We went snow tubing last night and we are off to Revels tonight. I have nothing profound to say in this post, just a record of what and where we are right NOW. That is profound enough!

Where?

2010-12-19T02:31:00.000-08:00

Guess where we are? I haven't been back to NY since 1996. It is wonderful to show Evie the sights. The museum at the Fashion Institute was awesome, we wandered, toured St. Patrick's, explored Central Park, met up with an old friend, watched the windows at Macy's, ate a pretzel from a cart, ate at a hole-in-the-wall Korean place, ate at Eataly, watched the skaters at Rockefeller Center--and we're not leaving yet!

What a wonderful adventure!

Time

2010-12-14T05:41:00.000-08:00

A few things to say this morning.

I think penmanship is irrelevant. Learning to write in beautiful ways should be an undertaking of desire and joy--not mandatory.

I thinking reading an analog clock is still a relevant and important skill.

I think children deserve to be in charge of their own time. Their plans and desires should have equal weight in the household. Everyone must make compromises. Sometimes it is first-come, first-served.

I think wandering is good.

I think that is all I should say for now.

SNOW!!!

2010-12-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

Serious snow here . . . after a day of rain, yikes!

Here is a cool animation about the scale of things in our universe and beyond: Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool

In the past two days I have heard mention of Archimedes Death Ray on both MythBusters and in the first episode of a fascinating series we are watching called The Story of Maths.

Also from the category of "connections" I have heard (and learned for the first time) the word borborygmos which means "audible abdominal sounds." I learned it from Scott's screensaver and later heard a discussion of the word on NPR.

Go figure. I encountered two new things and then has them pop up in my life again in a matter of days. Gotta love connections!

Daisy Dukes

2010-12-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

Hilarious unschooling moment just now. It went something like this:

It started with rendering lard.
Moved on to stereotypes about the South which led to . .
Dukes of Hazard (complete synopsis given by Scott).
Evie excitedly shouts "I just read about 'Daisy Dukes'" in my fashion book!
Which led to a description of Boss Hogg's wardrobe, which led to a discussion of his full name (Jefferson Davis Hogg) which led to a discussion of the episode where his "good" brother is on the show--his name was Abraham Lincoln Hogg. Evie says, "Hey! The Civil War! North vs. South! The Confederacy! " Which led to Scott and I recounting a fascinating story we read in a recent genetics book regarding Abraham Lincoln and Marfan Syndrome.

So that is how Daisy Duke connected lard to Marfan Syndrome with a little bit of the Civil War thrown in for good measure. It is all about sprinkling as many dots as possible and seeing how they get connected!

Celebrate

2010-12-07T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here

There

Everywhere

It has been a heck of a year. A lot of good, some very bad. We have an opportunity for real rest now. We are a month into that opportunity and I haven't quite "gotten it" yet. This weekend was a start. We had a fun Christmas Chemistry lecture, an amazing choir concert that we never miss, St. Nicholas day and a warm, lovely 1st Christmas at my parents' place. Rest, silliness, good food, genuine presents and great conversation were all there. I am off to practice resting some more now.

After

2010-12-01T07:03:00.001-08:00

We are home from a wonderful trip East.
It is snowing.
I have all sorts of crafty decorating goodness to do.
I am totally in love with my kid.

Life is good.

Things you should know

2010-11-17T06:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I run across things I just have to share. Here are a few of these things:

The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company

Holiday Traditions Exchange 2010m

Games, not school, are teaching kids to think. None of us happen to be gamers in our house, a good read anyway.

Explore the British Museum

Fashion Institute of Technology - The Museum at FIT

Never Dull

2010-11-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Spent Tuesday voraciously reading (and finishing) this. Radioactive Boy Scout anyone?

Evie made this while I read.

Then we went to see the Rockettes, hung our traditional Christmas ornaments made by my grandpa for my parents' wedding, skated the long track at the Pettit National Ice Center and made Pad Thai. Oh, Evie planted 125 tulip and daffodil bulbs.

"We" who?

2010-11-10T02:37:00.000-08:00

I have noticed something. When kids who don't go to school (have NEVER gone to school) hit age 9 or so, suddenly they leave for school in droves. Just happened with two kids we know. First of all, I applaud parents for listening to their kids and following their wishes (both these kids asked to go to school).

That being said, I am curious about why this happens so often whether precipitated by child or parent. I have some ideas.

When kids hit that 8/9/10 age they enter a new stage of being in the world.* They are no longer "body-centered" and suddenly there is a realization of what an incredibly tiny part of the universe they occupy, instead of the previous years when they ARE the whole universe. With this shift in being comes the huge hammer-blow of realization about mortality. Puberty is beginning and bodies are changing and there are so many other people in childrens' lives. They are gaining skills of independence. They are building their own communities.

Here is where this matters for school-free families. These new emotionally-centered children are building new definitions of "we." Whereas the family has been the core community up until this time, children now want and need to build strong relationships with people outside the family unit. This is healthy. This is good. Kids need to define their own "we." This does not mean that the "we" of the family goes away. Far from it. Having the physical and emotional support network of a strong family (not necessarily biologically linked, just permanent) means that kids have a safety net to try on all the other identities they are curious about. A child's "we" outside the family will change again and again as friendships come and go, interests change etc.

Kids who are desperate for a new "we" want to go to school. Parents observe moody, restless kids and think maybe school can provide something they cannot. Here is where I jump on my soap-box just a bit. It is not our job to TEACH our children (as in "teacher"). It is our job to live fulfilling and interesting lives and to trust that children will learn where there is something to learn. To quote John Taylor Gatto** "When you want to teach children to think, you begin by treating them seriously when they are little, giving them responsibilities, talking to them candidly, providing privacy and solitude for them, and making them readers and thinkers of significant thoughts from the beginning. That's if you want them to think." I don't think institutional school can do that. So, when the family "we" cannot provide the stimulation or opportunities (with friends, in the community etc.) to form new "we"s for kids, school seems like a good option (i.e. "There will be so many kids!")

So--I am of the opinion that our job as parents of children of this stage of growth, it is our job to cement the "we" of our family by offering as many opportunities as possible to try thing WITHOUT the family. I want Evie to have a close group of friends. She does. I want Evie to be comfortable in a variety of places/situations. She is. Her personal identity is strong and growing because she has the opportunity to form a variety of "we" groups and she knows that the family "we" will always be there. Evie has never asked to go to school. Occasionally I ask if she has ever thought about it. She has no interest. I think school can be another option for kids to form their new "we." But, at what cost? An institution where conformity and allegiance to the literal and figurative ideas of absolute authority endangers the delicate process that kids are navigating on their way to maturity with healthy, curious, fully conscious minds intact.

Children need to define their own groups of "we" as they grow older. Parents have the responsibility to help make that happen. School is not a reasonable avenue for making that happen but can look pretty enticing.

That is what I am thinking about today.

*As I may have mentioned 10 or 20 thousand times on this blog, Natural Learning Rhythmsis my favorite book on this topic.

** From The Public School Nightmare

You Never Know

2010-11-07T04:11:00.000-08:00

You never know what is going to capture the imagination of your family. Today we spent the morning with me reading aloud from The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. We have had to start reading during the day (not just before bed) because it is so compelling and interesting and we always need the computer near by to look things up. Yesterday's chapter about "Poisoner's Corridor" and the story of the radioactive Boy Scout had us completely riveted. It led us to this download and this website--complete with requisite crazy, white-haired scientist professor. I think it is just his normal hair though!

In the afternoon Evie and I went to see The Marriage of Figaro. We were in the very highest section of the theater, only one row above us. The seats were perfect and we brought binoculars. It was Evie's first time at the opera. I love opera and Marriage of Figaro is a hilarious, screwball comedy. Evie says she loved it. We laughed, sat on the edges of our seats, rolled our eyes, grabbed each other arm and sank back in our seat, so satisfied by the music. As I predicted to Scott, the audience was comprised of old people and hipsters. I think about 4 kids in the entire theater and maybe 100 of us 30-somethings. Evie wore a gorgeous, flowy scarf/cape Scott's mom had just given her. As we passed two older women one said, behind our backs, "Well, look at that young one! She's the most elegantly dressed here!" Evie beamed, grabbed my hand and said, "It is the whole spectacle of the opera, isn't it!"

We came home, ate dinner and watched the next installment in From the Earth to the Moon . You never know what is going to capture your imagination.

Watcha makin'?

2010-11-06T05:59:00.000-07:00

There is no point in trying to keep up with every day. An occasional "check-in" will have to suffice.

Today the answer to the question was, "A flashlight!" There is no question that soldering is fun.

The bigger answer is, "A Life." Yes, it is capitalized.

Here are a few more thoughts on the subject: Matthew Crawford on The Colbert Report

And this.

And if you're hungry, this.

They are all worth clicking to. Then go out and make your own.

Halloween

2010-10-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

We started our day with the Madison Mud Run. The race is approximately 5 miles (give or take) and involves 16 obstacles including a river crossing in waist-deep freezing water and concluding with a GIANT mud pit through which one has to crawl. Costumes were encouraged. We went as the three little pigs.

Before

After

Discarded shoes

Evie won 2nd place in her age division.

We ran the race in 53 minutes and 3 second. A good way to start a wacky day.

We finished with friends over for dinner and some trick or treating. This is a post for recording a day, deep thoughts (and there are some) are for another time. Not many photos from the evening, here is one:

Morgan le Fay

The new American Gothic?

2010-10-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

Here we are ready for work today. It was our last scheduled public event for awhile. What an interesting ride so far!

Recovery

2010-10-26T02:02:00.000-07:00

Papier Mache
facepaint
Monster Mash radio
staying asleep
rain
wind
travel
thinking
WIND (oh the wind)
running
movies
snuggling
baking
crocheting (sort of)
kissing cats
making plans
swimming
aikido

We are figuring out a life all over again.

A Few Thoughts

2010-10-22T07:54:00.001-07:00

I had a few thoughts combined with a few moments to write them down.

1) I had a funny conversation with a neighbor recently about her child in kindergarten. The mom was expressing amazement at being in the classroom with her daughter and "all she is being taught." She went on to ask how I ever managed to teach Evie "blah, blah and blah." I chuckled (mostly to myself) and said that except for once showing her my way to tie a shoe, I wasn't sure I had ever directly taught her much. Brings to mind the quote from Einstein, "I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." Hmmm. Interesting to think about.

2) Our week has been very different. The pizza business is slowing down for the season and we are having to relearn what to do with ourselves every day. It really brought to mind the idea of "de-schooling." We have watched a lot of TV this week, lazed around and tried to reacquaint ourselves with the idea of "our own time"--a little disorienting actually.

Lots of unexpected bills this week too. New catalytic converter, new stove.

Here is the new stove, looks basically like the old one, I had to take a picture because it will never be this clean again.

Fashion continues as well, here is the handmade crinoline under the two taffeta skirts, the bodice is not yet attached. Wowza! Evie said she loves the fabric cutter she always gets at the store because she didn't even bat an eye when Evie asked for 8 yards of tulle nor when Evie told her she was making a crinoline for a tafetta ball gown. I wasn't with her, I wish I had been! ;)

Moving Along!

2010-10-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

Last Farmers' Market of the pizza season! What a ride! We have some private catering lined up, maybe a few winter events . . . could be a lean couple of months!

Had to buy a new stove.

Bought a truck cap (still can't believe we own a truck!)

Signed up for the Madison Mud Run. We are going as the three little pigs.

Theater today followed by coffee with good friends.

Leaf raking.

LOTS of "Cake Boss."

Crinoline making (wait for the pics!)

Three (3!) regular family dinners this week!

Lots of Aikido and swimming and running.

Dinner

2010-10-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a LOOOOONG time since Scott has had time to make dinner. It used to be the norm and he was always finding new recipes to try. Tonight's dinner was thanks to the food blog on NPR.

It was so yummy and a semi-momentous occasion so I took pictures.

Stir-fried winter melon in Xiaoshing Wine with Rice.

Super Slaw (this is a family favorite, cabbage and peppers with a
delicate ginger/peanut dressing.)

Peanut smoothies. These were SO yummy! Milk, peanut butter, honey and ice.

That's the Way it Goes

2010-10-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

Possibility.

Probability.

Sometimes that's just the way it goes!

Let's do it!

2010-10-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bloggers really inspired me with her latest. Of course it is all about PLAY! Let build a Pop-Up Adventure Playground!

In On the Act

2010-10-12T03:00:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I play too. Do you like my pen name?
Click twice to enlarge.

All the Time

2010-10-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

It is pretty much all sewing, all the time around here lately. I wanted to doing something nice for Evie so we went to the fabric store Sunday and got a little crazy (think a bit of brocade and taffeta). I also bought her this book for which she has eschewed all other reading since we got it. We're organizing the sewing room, making changes. The focus, creativity, risks and determination are awe-inspiring. It is interesting to watch this passion evolve. At first she wanted nothing to do with what anyone else thought sewing should be. Now she is reading and asking questions and trying things--soaking in the knowledge and experience of others and making it her own.

Once again, work and life and play are not separate. Lucky girl.

Play is Constant

2010-10-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

Outside

2010-10-08T04:04:00.000-07:00

Today we played outside.
It was nice.

Playing

2010-10-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday brought the latest installment of Harry Potter (book 2, chapters 8 & 9). Finally all five girls, from their tight little group are involved. We had a feast to eat and a feast for our eyes. All other family members were present plus a bonus grandma! Every time is better, more creative more hilarious, more fun. The audience even got sorted this time! (I was in Ravenclaw.)

Sunday brought another party. We read a play written by the amazing Dan Bradley, who also happens to be an amazing dad of two amazing girls--two of Evie's dearest friends--and wife to a spectacular woman. All in all, we are big fans of the whole family. We had three generations from three families as various grandparents joined us. The play is a hilarious political satire delivered with many inside jokes about Madison and an overall message about the value of collective, grass-roots effort. It was SO MUCH FUN!

As if that weren't enough, we then went to Aldo Leopold's shack (also "in the family"--just not ours) to watch the cranes (mostly Sandhills) come in for the evening.

Then there was food and telescopes and laughing. Oh how we all needed to play. Thank goodness we did!