Athena Academy

2012-01-31T20:26:00.000-06:00

2008-05-12T20:55:00.000-05:00

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes

Molting Cicada

2008-03-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

SCHOOL

2008-03-13T17:28:00.002-05:00

Abandoned

2007-11-06T07:54:00.000-06:00

We seem to have abandoned this blog project. ALTHOUGH ... not.
We've had some changes, some upsets to our routines, life happening, and we're trying to figure out a different blogging program with more capabilities.

It's the 8th day before Halloween.

2007-10-26T09:19:00.001-05:00

Note to Self:

2007-10-13T10:10:00.001-05:00

Lulu.com - self-publishing

2007-10-05T22:55:00.000-05:00

2007-09-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

She softened
gradually, melting
in the light of the
sun, all the while
thinking O, this
is what's its like to
be a planet
& suddenly
it was over
& the universe expanded
by one.
Brian Andreas

from Tarot Truisms

This reminds me of the Goddess.

2007-07-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

We're starting a gallery here ...

2007-07-15T18:29:00.000-05:00

... a gallery of THESE paintings. There are 2 paint-by-numbers of cats. Belly finished the first one and is working on the second. She said she loves doing them. She said we should get a whole bunch of them and then put them together and make a "cat gallery like Andy Warhol." Notice a pattern developing? Saving tattoos for a sleeve ... painting-by-numbers till you have a Warhol. Lofty goals indeed! You go, grrl!!

P.S. After I took the picture, she told me to "Go in there and post it on Athena. I don't even mind." This has become our daily portfolio. :)

I might as well get used to it.

2007-07-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

That's what Miss Belle told me tonight. She said that I might as well get used to it that now that she's older, she'll be having more opinions.
More opinions on what?
More opinions on things.
Like what.
Like things. And I'm going to need to to spend a lot more time with my BFFs.
What?
Yeah, like me and my BFFs just hanging out and doing stuff together.

I believe she made the same announcement to her father earlier in the day. I wish he would learn how to use the new blogging system and COMMENT sometimes. Miss Belle, there's an old saying: You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. There's a somewhat newer old saying that goes: You can lead a horse to water, and then you can salt the water. Or something like that. It was unusual. I'm not sure what it meant.

My youngster has started a collection of tattoos for a sleeve.

2007-07-13T22:41:00.001-05:00

We partied like rock stars at Toys'R'Us this afternoon, and when we were leaving, Chrissy got Belly a tattoo from one of the coin machines. She said, "Oh, I hope it's the rose!" And guess what? It was. And she just reminded me about it. I told her she could put it on tomorrow or save it for a special occasion. She asked what kind of special occasion? So I realized that tomorrow will be special occasion enough and told her she might as well just put it on tomorrow (Sharon would've said "might of well"). And that was GRAND. But then she thought about it a bit and decided if she actually SAVES the tattoo, then she can save up a whole bunch more and make a sleeve. At first, I admit that I did not get it at all. Then it dawned on me, "You mean you would save the tattoos and put them on all at the same time to make a sleeve?"
"Yeeeesssss." Finally I had gotten it.
That is a very cool idea. We'll see how it goes and keep you updated.

He HAS to, MOM!!!

2007-07-13T21:48:00.000-05:00

Miss Belle was OUTRAGED when I was walking through the room just now ... She and her dad are watching "Man vs. Wild." It's brutal. It's like they dump these guys out in the wilderness without anything but a shovel and a handkerchief. Uh ... (and a camera crew) ...

Anyway, I was walking through the room and the guy had a turtle under his arm, stabbing it between its shells. I couldn't believe that my eyes were seeing something so awful. And then Belle said something that put it all into its context for me --- "He HAS to, MOM!! What would YOU do if you got out there without any food?!?"
Gee. I wasn't really thinking of it like that. Why are these people putting themselves in these situations anyway? Are we learning anything? Please share.

Sweet Dreams!

2007-06-30T23:16:00.001-05:00

There's a full moon tonight and Miss Belle is sleeping in her very own bed in her very own room. It's the start of something new. Her two front teeth are loose (very) and she's about to be 7. She is really getting to be a Big Girl! I'm very proud and happy that she chose to start this transition tonight.

Edited to Add: It's a BLUE MOON tonight.

avocado forest dancing in the rain

2007-06-27T19:12:00.000-05:00

i really created this outfit. it took some snips on the bottom, and snip off the zipper and waist part. i was making it with an old skirt of my moms. it already was getting torn. but if you keep it you know you cam make something. this avocado forest cloak was pretty comfy. it keeps you warm. i was watching TV with my mom and i was wearing it. you should try it sometime, if only i had a bigger one. i bet we have some more.... anyway, i have some pictures of it, it quite simple really to make one.

These are the times that will make such fond memories.

2007-06-27T12:41:00.001-05:00

When you're into rescuing animals, you don't always get the cute, cuddly ones. Ed's family is planning to move, so yesterday was the day that they had planned to drop ol' Ed off at the pound. With my approval of course, he was dropped off here instead. He brought his industrial-sized litterbox, litter, food, etc. Easiest rescue ever. He didn't care for the car trip, so I made him comfortable in the bathroom where he could be by himself and kinda GET OVER IT and maybe revert back to a sweet, lovable kitty. Yeah, right. That was yesterday. He's still in the bathroom -- seems to have taken up residence between the toilet and the wall. Anabelle has posted warnings on the bathroom door:

Starting with the one on top and traveling clockwise, these signs say:

Better watch out!
If he's eating, get bitten!
(drawing of cat with obvious fangs) and "hisssssss" written by the mouth
Go away! Or get bitten.
Beware! Bad cat inside.

He is pretty bad. I'm still giving him the benefit of a doubt. He's about 6 years old and his whole world turned upside down yesterday. He's a little disgruntled and he's telling us about it. Always in the back of my mind is the question: Is this how he's ALWAYS going to act with new people? Because if so, it's going to be virtually impossible to find him a home. He can't just take his bad attitude outside because his front paws are declawed. I have hope for him, though. One thing about Ed ... he's a BEHEMOTH. Ed is a big, big boy. We tried to weigh him yesterday and it's somewhere between 21 and 22 pounds. More to love, right? If he'll ever allow it. Here he is in his Safe Spot:

He's a very handsome guy -- just has some poor social skills. Will update.

It's so much a part of our culture ...

2007-06-19T20:05:00.000-05:00

... that no one seems to question these things anymore. I'm wondering why I noticed and also wondering if that makes me too sensitive. Hmm... Perhaps the sensitivity is a by-product of being informed. Anyway, Lake Cities Libraries are having some absolutely AWESOME summer reading program activities EVER. A couple of weeks ago, we went to the kickoff, which was Tipi Tellers. We got to sit in the tipi, listen to stories, hear about customs, AND the library gave out free dreamcatchers, keychains, etc. etc. Waaaaaay cool. But that's not what my story's about.

Today my story is about the program we attended this morning called Mobile Dairy Classroom - All about real cows, dairy farming, milking and the processing of dairy products. All ages.

Okay, it was a really great program. The speaker was excellent. The cow in the back of the demonstration truck looked almost blissful. We were all there to learn about cows and dairy farming. And milking -- that's always fun. Uh ... and the processing of dairy products.

This is an aside -- When we went to Rehoboth Ranch a month or so ago, we also learned about the processing of dairy products. But it was an organic farm. And dairy goats. And they showed us on a picnic table under a tree how to make cheese with raw goatmilk. And they had samples. It was pineapple cheese on cinnamon raisin bread. Yummy. She had planned to make a different cheese, but when she realized they only had the cinnamon bread, she made an impromtu decision to switch to pineapple. It was delish. Truly. And she didn't have to run out for supplies, either. Everything she needed was right there on that picnic table.

Back to my story. After awhile, after standing in front of that truck and letting the man's talk wash over me, I started to wake up a little. Hold it! This was more than just cows and good times. This was the Dairy Is Good Show. We were talking about how if cow's milk can raise a tiny calf to be a big strong cow, just think what that milk can do for you!!! So I glaze over the fancy lettering on the back of the white truck. Seems I'm being educated and entertained by Southwest Dairy Farmers. Wow! Suddenly I realize this is more than just a guy from down on the farm. This guy is totally selling dairy and dairy products to little kids who came to see the cow. By the way, with their usual exuberance and courtesy, the library ladies handed out free cow suncatcher keychains for the children to paint. Cool! We're racking up all kinds of neat things for reading and going to summer reading programs.

So we got in my car and mi compañero constante asked me what I thought of the show. And we talked about it. I really wanted to be brimming over with fun recaps of what we'd learned, but it wasn't necessarily bona fide wholesale accurate information. It was information from only one side of a complicated story. Yes, he did mention that they keep the cow pregnant so she will continue producing milk. He didn't mention the part about how they take the calf away as soon as it's born, or what might happen to the calf.

As if my mind wasn't already overboggled by realization of my crunchiness vs. the thought that SURELY I wasn't the only doubter in the crowd, he made a comment that was prefaced with something to the effect that it's "something we all know" about how when a baby drinks formula, they're getting the same vitamins and minerals that milk will give them when they are old enough to make the switch. Well, I know that there are many perfectly valid and "acceptable" reasons why a mother would choose to use formula. One of them being that sometimes it's not even a choice. But anyway, there are requirements in place by the World Health Assembly that prohibit the advertising of ... well, UNICEF says it like this:

"Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute."

OH! And another thing he said. Of course, as happy and content as this cow is, she might sometimes get sick. And if she's sick, her sickness might get into the milk. So you can give her a shot of antibiotics and make her well so the milk is good. I'm shaking my head here. I'm starting to groan. He's right! By golly, we want that cow to feel better right away and we want good milk. He left out the part about how those antibiotics are being transferred into the humans who are drinking the milk creating antibiotic resistant strains of human pathogens. That part's not so good.

Part of our observation as unschoolers is that much children's television programming involves commercial breaks. And it's been a very hard concept to realize that there are companies who will make their product look like it's the very best thing in the world, not because IT IS, but because THEY WANT US TO BUY IT. It's truly a tough concept. Even for me sometimes. But these guys are upfront at Southwest Dairy Farmers. They tell you right away:

The Southwest Dairy Farmers is an alliance of dairy farmers from Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. These producers have pooled their resources to provide consumer education in nutrition, to promote dairy product use, and provide dairy product information. [The highlighting is mine.]

Really, milk and cookies are as down home as "Leave It To Beaver." The population, the larger part of the population, doesn't seem to question where their milk is coming from. They think the only thing in their milk is ... milk. Sometimes I wish I could be like that. Here's how easy it would be -- The told us all that "You know those flat little slices of cheese?" [lots of nodding heads and raised hands] "That's one serving." He held up a little carton of "school milk" and described that as another serving. And then "those little plastic yogurt containers" can make your third serving. And that's all you need to be healthy. The food pyramid used to be so simple. The food GROUPS used to be so simple. Not anymore. Not if it inspires this much internal debate.

And speaking of the World Health Assembly, International Nestle Free Week will be July 2-8, 2007.

I was just thinking about how it seems that the acceptance of dairy products as necessary for health is largely remaining unquestioned. It's become our culture.

Women in Art

2007-06-18T20:27:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Kristen for sharing!

Look what someone dumped on the road by the creek.

2007-06-13T21:28:00.000-05:00

Tiny. Very, very tiny.

another idea

2007-06-11T22:13:00.001-05:00

We also had a new idea for a journal we want to keep. This is a note for me to remember tomorrow. :)

Now THAT'S tired.

2007-06-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

Belle and I went swimming at the lake tonight. She did, I just waded around. But she met two new friends. I'm on my way to bed, but wanted to post what Ben just told me. I told him that Belle was so tired her legs were hurting. He said she told him that the lights had gone out in her legs. In the shower, she told me she thought her legs had already gone to sleep. Lights out is REALLY asleep. Now I'm going to bed.

I loved that movie. Really. Loved it.

2007-06-08T21:54:00.000-05:00

I thought it was awesome that *** ******* won. And that he didn't even know he won. It really, REALLY spoke to the idea that the object of ANY game is to have FUN! And I love the idea of being inside, riding the tube ... I would see this movie even if I wasn't taking my child. It's a good one.

*** logged back in and edited for spoilers.

The snakes are alive and WELL.

2007-06-08T11:47:00.000-05:00

When we were preparing the gardens over a month ago, we found these snakes. We found them in separate places at separate times, so not sure if they're related or not. Either way, they are thriving in the habitat we put together for them and today we had a little surprise.

First of all, their habitat is an aquarium on the back porch. Since both of them (as well as many others) were found in the compost, we can assume they enjoy compost. And the bugs that like the compost! Anyway, we have a layer of soil in the aquarium, which we follow with a fresh layer of compost about every week. A little over a week ago, we put two pieces of bark in the tank for them to hide under. They immediately wriggled their separate ways under the two pieces of bark. Today Anabelle wanted to hold them for awhile, so I lifted one of the bark pieces and they were BOTH snuggled up underneath. Snakes in love!

Storm Approaching

2007-06-06T10:08:00.001-05:00

We went to the beach on Monday. After an hour, we could hear thunder all around, and this was the view from our blanket. We loaded our stuff and got ourselves home before the storm hit. It was a BIGGIE, but only lasted about 30 minutes. This has been the strangest season ... rain, rain, and more rain. Big storms and flooding. The newspapers have announced that the North Texas drought is finally OVER. I know I'll be wishing for this rain to come back in a month or so, but right now, I just wish we could plan an outdoor day without worrying about THIS.

She's been thinking about it ...

2007-06-04T16:23:00.001-05:00

We were very upset about the birds this morning, but neither one of us really had a lot to say about it. This afternoon, we went to the lake for awhile and then came home because of yet another thunderstorm. Anyway ... Belle was taking a shower and called out to me that her "friend" (a girl she met at the beach) told her an eagle might've gotten the baby birds. I told her I don't think we have eagles around her, but perhaps she meant "hawk." And I told her that I have seen a hawk on top of the utility pole in front of our house. Just once. But no eagles, not in this part of the country. And I haven't seen any owls, but I told her the girl might've meant "owl." Belle believes it was "hawk." I told her it could've been a squirrel or a cat. There are really lots of possibilities. We just KNOW it wasn't RayRay, because he was in the house. Like the best boy he is. The nest had already been decimated by the time Ben left for work, so it was during the night or the very early morning.

Finally, she asked me, "Would a hawk eat a pinky?" I said, "Yes, probably." And she summarized that because she had seen the pinkies that Christopher used to feed his snake, and she knows what a pinky looks like, maybe the hawk thought the baby birds were big pinkies. I argued, "But pinkies aren't that big," and she replied, "I said the hawk might've thought they were BIG pinkies. Yeah, she did say that. She's really been thinking about this!

DISASTER! Nature can be cruel.

2007-06-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

The nest is empty. Maybe you can tell from the pics that the tall shrub is directly in front of a brick fence. It appears that something probably got on the fence and came down on top of the nest, breaking off some of the branches that helped support it. Although heavily damaged, the nest stayed, but the babies were probably dumped out on the ground. And we can't find them anywhere. Great sadness. The mother and father are still there, hopping around in the trees just above the nest location. Notice how there was a paper towel in the inner structure of the nest -- that probably came from the compost pile. I wonder if the babies had started making enough noise to attract predators. The fence made it easy for an ambush. If you look just below the nest, you can see where one of the branches broke.

Good Dog, Dovey!

2007-06-03T17:54:00.000-05:00

I was in the kitchen putting dinner together and Lovey Dovey snuck in behind Ben when he came back in from the yard through the kitchen door. But she was feeling guilty about it, so she just stood at the edge of the kitchen. When I acknowledged her presence by saying, "Hi Dovey!" instead of "Out!" she stretched her front legs and went to the living room to lie down. She's a good dog.

Eyes are open and they're huuuuungry!!!

2007-06-03T14:49:00.001-05:00

The mother was close by and she was doing that constant short sharp chirp that she does that told the father something was up. So he came down and really let me have it. He made the same cheeping noise, but paced back and forth along the fence just a foot away from where I was standing, occasionally shaking his feathers at me. Here's the proud papa:

Our Own LOL Cat

2007-06-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

Miss Belle decided on the caption.

This is fun: LolCat Builder

Belle insisted that I submit the above to I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER. This is pop culture, folks. BTW, not all of the ICHC site is g-rated, so you might want to look at the pics ahead of time to see what's funny and appropriate.

One-of-a-Kind One Love

2007-06-02T19:05:00.000-05:00

This is the Rastafairy (at least that's what I think of when I see her) that Christine painted on the new wooden seats for Anabelle's hand-me-down swingset that Michael and Katherine used to play on. Does all that make sense? It's an awesome swingset and it's the custom personalized swings that make it the best.

Looks like a good place to be.

2007-06-02T18:59:00.000-05:00

Anabelle has been talking, talking, talking to her daddy. Telling jokes, hanging on the trapeze bar, and talking some more. I just noticed how it looks like a little oasis out there -- observe how Lovey Dovey is staying close to Ben.

Sometime or another, one of us is going to need to go back and post some of the Dog Days pics -- CUTE!! Belle and Jolene were the first entrants in the trick contest. They both gave an outstanding performance!

Saturday Bird Update

2007-06-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

Aside from dropping in occasionally, the mother doesn't seem to be staying on the nest very much. Perhaps she nests all night, though. When taking these photos, I don't focus or anything (as you can tell) -- I just hold the camera at an angle above the nest and then snap. I just love what I can do with my camera.

The wings aren't tucked closely under the body anymore and the fluff is turning to obvious feathers.

But at the amazing little back ... You can see the four rounded "shoulders" on either end of the delicate spine ... You can even still see the veins running beneath the transparent skin.

dog days

2007-06-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

today was dog days and guess what? IT WAS ABSULOTLY FUN!!!!! we got a glamfur shot of buteful joline! bounce house! jolines forchene! clifford! no, really CLIFFORD!!!! thogh we got all sweaty..... but it was sooooooo much fun!

Summer Reading!

2007-06-02T10:04:00.000-05:00

Not quite sure what the difference is between summer reading and reading all the rest of the year (except maybe reading on the beach!) but we're all excited about the PROGRAMS! Yesterday, Belle and I BOTH signed up for the summer reading program at our local library. There was a kickoff and Captain Readbeard was there to tell us about his favorite pirate books. The very first book of the summer reading program was ... Don't Mention Pirates ... Miss Belle and I are going to post our reads all summer long. Somewhere on the sidebar. It's a work in progress.

Belle is also signing up for Scholastic's Summer Reading Buzz. Details: Every book you read and log feeds the Reader Meter. For every 4 books you log, Scholastic will donate 1 book to Reading is Fundamental. And because one link leads to another, be sure to check out the RIF Reading Planet.

FATHER AND MOTHER EARTH AND THER BABY, BABY EARTH

2007-06-01T09:14:00.000-05:00

I am anabelle athor of this story of father earth and mother earth and there baby, baby earth wich we live on. And if anybody in the whole world has moved, half of father earth is lost. Mother earth has half lost if somebody on her side moves to father earths side. Father earth gets the half that mother earth has lost. If father earth loses that person he loses a half of him. Mother earth gets his half he has lost. And the person has no idea that father earth is loseing a part of himself. And no idea mother earth is loseing a part of herself. As the person moves more and more pieces fall of mother earth and father earth. The earth never losesa part of itself. It cannot stop the person from moveing. Baby earth is always one pice and never loses a part of itself. Nobody knows if baby earth is a girl or boy.mostly Everybody thinks it is a girl. I most think it is a boy becase of the buleness.i hope most people are right about every guess. I most think it can be proved boy. Lovely afternoons are made out of stardust light and beautiful sunlight. Mother earth produces this lovely stardust light and beautiful sunlight. Becase father earth produces the gloomynees on raniy evenings. And also produces all night darkness and anything unpleasant about the earth. Heavy rains and then mother earth will come along from the sunlight supermarket in the souler sytem. On sunny days father earth will be at work. He brings dark candy to mother earth and lovely purple candy to baby earth cause baby earth is much too young for dark candy. Whats the age of mother earth and father earth? No one knows. Mother earth also helps mother nachere to build strong ang grow. Mother nachere Is mother earths 2nd child.

MOTHER EARTHS HELP OF FOOD

Have you ever wonderd “ how was half of the food I couldn’t produce?” well for instinse, you can have a trip in a FARM GRDEN it has lots of tasty fruits an veggies. Sometimes mother earth can make these tiny things that grow plants. These are calld seeds and many people use them in their garden, for exsaple, green beans, canalope, cucober, and so on. Sometimes the corn is farmed by farmers.

HOW SHE AND HE WAS BORN

No one knows. Thogh they did appear when the soulr system was born. And then they took care of earth.since of there names….. they named there planet earth after there last names…..also a great idea from the sun….. the sun helped everyone grow

HOW EVERYONE GREW OLDER AND YOUNG

Not everyone grew here in the soulor system. Mostly it was mother earth and father earth who were growing since the had parenthood….. but the sun! useful grouth! Baby earth was growing just becase she was near the lovely growing method. But so many planets stayed babies, yet Pluto is one of them. Every planet must be far far away from the sun
If its still a baby,

The baby birds are two days old.

2007-05-31T21:21:00.000-05:00

Seems like I should think of some kind of lol cats caption to put on the pic of the two fuzzy little babies, with their backs to the world, end to end...

And in other news ... THIS is the face of HAPPY:

You know how your dog is always happy to see you when you get home? How they dance back and forth along the fence? Belle had a dental appointment in Flower Mound today and we always take the backroads where all the really cool horse farms dot the landscape. So we're driving along and we see a field of horses and one of the horses begins to trot, then gallop, then run toward and along the fence. There was a white Lexus in front of me that slowed down to turn. As the car turned, ALL the horses began running to the fence and followed along as that car drove down the entry. WOW!!! Can you IMAGINE a greeting like THAT???

Blue Moon - How should we celebrate?

2007-05-31T10:15:00.000-05:00

This is the second full moon this month. When two blue moons occur in the same month, the second one is referred to as a "blue moon." Well, that's just one interpretation/definition. This morning, I have to get ready to take Belle to get her newly refurbished palate expander. In the meantime, I like this Blue Moon Edition on today's Thursday Thirteen. *whew* I will post my 13 later this evening (hopefully!)

The Babies Tonight

2007-05-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

The baby bird on the right seems stronger, or hungrier, or simply more outgoing, than the one on the left, which always seems to stay tucked beneath its sibling.

Wander the Web Wednesday #2

2007-05-30T18:07:00.001-05:00

The idea is to highlight 5 links that you feel would be new to other readers.
They can be daily reads, or personal favorites.
They may even just be something fun or freaky or just plain facinating that you stumbled into recently.
If you want to “play along” make a list on your site and link to it in the comments. Of course I’d appreciate a link back. You may use the graphic above, do not hotlink, simply save it to your own computer.

Even before Belle was born, I longed to subscribe to this magazine. I'm wondering if it might be something nice for her 7th birthday next month: New Moon

I've been thinking about food a lot lately: Macrobiotic Cooking. I have The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics: A Philosophy for Achieving a Radiant Mind and a Fabulous Body, but I can't find it in all this clutter!

And that points me to Declutter 101.

Miss Belle and I both agree that she would like to try a chore chart.

One more ... let me think ... Oh! We want to go here: Fantasy Island

Little Yogi ... Reading

2007-05-30T17:46:00.000-05:00

The babies look a little like ...

2007-05-30T17:34:00.000-05:00

BABY LOUIE

Compare these photos to the photos in the previous post ...
...

FYI: There is no Wikipedia entry for Baby Louie. Someone should write one.

Baby Cardinals!!!

2007-05-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

They've hatched!!! I checked on them yesterday afternoon, and they were still eggs. Then Ben checked them in the evening and *thought* there might've been one baby, but wasn't sure. We woke up this morning to a loud, pouring thunderstorm and all we could think about was the mama on the nest. Well, I just went to check and here's what I found ...

Both eggs hatched ...

They are kind of curled around one another. One has its head on top and the other one has its head tucked underneath the one beside it. Looks at the tufts of fluff!

Awwwwww.......

This time, the mother didn't fly up in the tree to scold me. She hopped all around on the ground beside me. I was out there for less than a minute, but she was ON THE JOB. Such a good mama.

Egg Update

2007-05-28T11:38:00.001-05:00

No changes.

Sunday Driving

2007-05-28T11:21:00.001-05:00

Well, we took the pickup out to the "country" yesterday. I have put country in quotations because we made a disappointing discovery -- All the roads that used to be backroads have now been taken over by weird little developments. You'll be going along, make a turn onto a road that SHOULD be a dirt road or backroad and all of a sudden, there will be a NEIGHBORHOOD. Even if it's just one row of houses, they're there. Out in the middle of nowhere -- little boxes on the hillside. Anyway ... I pictured us as caped crusaders saving the turtles that were trying to cross the road. This guy in particular was something of a mystery:

From a distance, we thought he was a snapper, but up close, he didn't seem to be. Seemed to be a water turtle though, because of the flat back.

WHO KNEW that tarantulas don't bite?!?! Ben knew ...

And I could've sworn from reading the newspaper articles several months ago that this had been covered up. Seems that the good people of Pilot Point got themselves all in an uproar because an artist had painted this on the side of his own building ...

So anyway, it's NOT covered. At least not anymore. And Anabelle was wondering about the meaning of pornography. Here's the definition from dictionary.com: obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit.
And because I know the next question, here's the definition of obscene: offensive to morality or decency.
In other words, it upsets people. But only some people. Other people appreciate the art. Some things DO match those descriptions, but not art. The obscenity in this case was that the artist had to cover his work for awhile. JUST MY OPINION.

P.S. I found the newspaper article: No Nudes Allowed in Texas
Ah! And here's the pic where it was covered: Censorship

PARTAY!!!!

2007-05-28T11:19:00.000-05:00

The graduation party was at our house. It rained. Isn't it funny how the raindrops show up as little orbs? I couldn't have made the picture look like that if I had TRIED, but it's pretty cool the way it is.

Melon Art

2007-05-28T11:11:00.000-05:00

Belle took these photos at Thai Ocha restaurant. Yes, they're real.

After that, she got artsy by taking another photo of the floating flowers. The flowers are NOT real ...

KitKat Graduates!!!

2007-05-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

It seems impossible that little Katherine is all grown up and graduated from high school. It was beyond the usual big deal because she was the first graduate since ... 1992, I think. That's because they only reopened the "upper school" 4 years ago. What will be next for her? She's been accepted to several colleges so we will just have to wait and see.

Drama Queen

2007-05-26T23:53:00.001-05:00

Anabelle has LOVED her theater class and Thursday was the last day. The title of the class was "Fabulous Fables," so the class had made their own fable, and created their own characters. Belle was a dog named Loretta. She stayed in character throughout the performance by periodically scratching at her ears ...

Only two eggs now ...

2007-05-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

There was another big thunderstorm on Thursday, so afterwards I went out to check on the nest.

What happened? I checked all around on the ground, but didn't see any signs. Someone suggested that a bluejay might've stolen it. There are LOTS of bluejays in the yard, so this is certainly a possibility. They come right up on the back porch to eat the dog food right out of the bowl. After another big thunderstorm yesterday, I only looked out briefly today -- the mother was back on the nest. Will be so exciting when the babies finally hatch!

A Miracle Among Us

2007-05-22T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well, the original goal was to trim the hedges out by the fence. The fence is brick, probably 6 feet tall, and the shrubs are taller than that. So Ben was cutting them back a little, of course. Except he started pruning them instead of trimming them, and they ended up very unique. Not even halfway down the fenceline, he found a nest. So no one touched it and he left those tall shrub branches intact. And the mother returned -- a cardinal!

When the flash went off, she left the nest and I zoomed the lens in for a shot of the eggs ...

While I was taking the pictures of her nest, she flew down to the fence and began to chirp at me -- single chirps, loud and repetitive. When I moved my camera to take her picture, she left the fence and flew up to a nearby tree to continue her tirade:

Very shortly after she began her chiding chirps at me, a male cardinal appeared and began making the same sound in my direction. Was it the father cardinal or just a passing citizen? From this, Junior Scientist Belle and I deduce that when the cardinals are making their sing-song, lyrical sound in the trees -- they are simply communicating with one another, or possibly just greeting the day in a happy way. Like Snow White singing, "Whistle While You Work." But when they are making short, sharp chirps in a cadence pattern -- they are sending a signal for help or emitting a cry of distress. And it may be a GENERAL cry of distress, or it may be a specific cry for fear of her nest that causes just the father cardinal to come to the rescue. Will need to research further.

Let's go to the moon tonight!

2007-05-22T18:51:00.000-05:00

But just for a visit ...

Wander the Web Wednesday #1

2007-05-09T17:49:00.000-05:00

This is PERFECT! I bookmark so many websites that it gets overwhelming at times. So today I read about this on one of my favorite blogs, A Blog of Two Witches. The graphic and info in italics is from their website:

The idea is to highlight 5 links that you feel would be new to other readers.

They can be daily reads, or personal favorites.

They may even just be something fun or freaky or just plain facinating that you stumbled into recently.

If you want to “play along” make a list on your site and link to it in the comments. Of course I’d appreciate a link back. You may use the graphic above, do not hotlink, simply save it to your own computer.

Okay, my first URL was recommended to me today while Belle and I were on a field trip to Rehoboth Ranch, an organic farm in Greenville. If you're going to eat meat, this has all the information you need: EatWild.com.

Belle's favorite new site is Webkinz. We absolutely cannot find these for sale anywhere locally, but we've ordered from an independent seller on Amazon and anxiously awaiting our new pet.

A friend recommended ALEKS, but I haven't had a chance to go in and look around yet. Appears to be an excellent math resource with a FREE trial.

APConnect! is "the online network for Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas, USA) families interested in attachment parenting and natural family living." It's been a favorite for quite awhile, but I forget to go check in for updates. I'll put it here first, then add it to my permanent links, so MAYBE that will help me remember.

Angela sent me this cool page for drawing a giant labyrinth with chalk -- as soon as I get a chance, I want to explore the rest of the Kiddley site.

When things get quiet later (?) I'll post about our field trip today. Both of us learned a LOT!!!

Recording

2007-05-06T12:35:00.000-05:00

Anabelle has written (another) song. But now she is learning the ins and outs of recording. I think she could probably do this ALL DAY. Of course, she writes her own lyrics. Then Ben plays the guitar. They add it all together on the four-track and then VOILA! I really wish that Ben would figure out how to use Blogger so he could write about this stuff himself. I don't really understand it at all. I like the song, though.

Stuck in the middle of nowhere
Feeling lonesome and seasick
My guitar is all soggy
And I'm feeling lonesome and blue

Hang on! That's just the beginning! The backup guitar sounds suspiciously like the Cult.

Coming Soon: Fruits and Veggies!

2007-04-30T16:01:00.000-05:00

We had "issues" with our garden last year, so we're doing it differently this time. We're trying the peat pot method. So, after planting, we lined up our pots by the driveway -- it's the sunniest spot for now. The pots are in alphabetical order: beans, cantaloupe, cucumbers. We should have seedlings ready for thinning and planting in 7-14 days. Will update.

We're still working on "Pride Rock" (the higher part of our yard that's kind of disconnected from the rest of the yard), but it's becoming obvious that any kind of garden in that area will have to wait till next year. Our compost pile is HUGE and needs quite a bit more work. And we still need to prepare the ground -- kill the grass (weeds), etc. In the meantime, we'll continue to use the smaller gardening beds. Still must figure out some use for the dog run. I would LOVE to put some kind of archway between the brick fence and the house and plant some kind of climbing something-or-another to make a canopy. My Uncle Frank used to have a grape arbor out by his house in Ringgold or Goldburg (I seldom know where one ends and the other begins) -- should go out there and see if any of it is left for cuttings. That would make it xxxxxtra special!

I don't always read the fine print.

2007-04-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

This was actually Saturday, but I'm just getting around to the blog. Belle and I had a marathon shopping trip to Target. Just, you know ... one of those shopping trips where you basically hang out at the store and buy all kinds of stuff that you never thought you needed. Anabelle's prize was this squid soap that is for teaching kids how to wash their hands. Whatever. The top of the soap pump has an orange ink thing that stains the hand and you wash it off. I will say that on her first try, she did NOT get all the stain off. Anyway ... she came flying into the kitchen playing with the squid. And because I'm completely uptight about *some* things, I was all like, "Well, now you took the squid off and it's just soap. The whole idea of that soap is that it's a squid and squirts ink on your hand." Blah Blah. Etc. Etc.
She protested, "NO! The box says it's a FREE TOY!"
"Whatever, Anabelle. Just take it and go."
"No, really ..." and off she went to the recycling bin to find the proof.

I stand corrected. And you know, I need to remember that some things just are NOT worth arguing about.

Prepare for blastoff!

2007-04-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

I finished sorting a bunch of orders today, so have some HUGE cardboard boxes. Belle waited patiently until the biggest box was empty, then she played in it in the living room for most of the afternoon. She colored the "walls" and put books, scarves, etc. inside. Anyway, the box has been taking up the living room for long enough, so it had to go outside. I showed her how to flip it over and use it for a Magic Schoolbus. I set up the game: Get in the bus, close the doors, and when you open the doors, you'll be in some new place. She protested, "But I'll need someone to cut the doors for me!" I showed her how to use the flaps of the box for doors and close herself in -- told her that she could do it all herself -- "It's better if you figure out a way to do it yourself instead of having other people do it for you. That takes some of the magic away." Now I'm thinking about what I said ...

I have monkey eyes.

2007-04-23T17:31:00.000-05:00

This morning, Belle hopped on top of me and snuggled. I thought to myself, "Good," and attempted to go back to sleep. Pretty soon, though, I felt the STARING. So I opened my eyes and looked right into her eyes. AND SHE SAID, "Your eyes are big and round, just like that monkey in my dream." I'll let her explain the dream ...

the monkey had eyes that where big really big! it lookd like it was screaming and his eyeballs where about to fall out! i mean they where really big! it was in a monkey hole in the grond so it had a millon bannanas in it and then i saw it the monkey it ran over from its hiding place someware in the hole and lookd up and saw me and ran back.

Screaming Like a Girl!

2007-04-23T16:25:00.000-05:00

I've always disliked that expression, but today I couldn't help laughing about it. Belle and I went hunting crawdads down at the creek. Great fun, although we only caught one. After we were done with our hunting, we were just playing around in the shallow water. Belle was in the water and I was standing on a rock when I saw a small snake come out from under the rock -- I said, "There's a snake!" Her eyes went as big as dinner plates and she yelled, "WHERE?" I pointed down to where it was right by me and when I did, it slithered through a hole in the rock and headed into the water. Anabelle SCREAMED and then she took a deep breath and screamed some more, all the while trying to get out of its way. It did look like it was going straight toward her, but made a sharp right turn when he got a little closer and heard all the ruckus. She got out of the water and we watched while he swam along for awhile and then headed for the grass on the other side. That's when I realized what I'd heard and just laughed and laughed while I said, "I don't think I've ever heard you scream like that. THAT is what they mean when they say 'screaming like a girl'." I hate to be stereotypical, but it was REALLY funny. The snake was about a foot and a half long, skinny, black with light stripes going down the sides.

We redirected a stream which was loads of fun. All the water had kind of stagnated in one direction, so we moved some rocks and got it flowing FAST back down into the creek. Anabelle shouted out, "This is FUN!" At one point, she even wondered why we were the only people who were there because it was so much fun. It was like, why were we the only ones who knew the secret? We wish we could figure out what all the little snails are. There are tiny dark snails that are IN the water, stuck ALL OVER the rocks. We also saw regular standard blue dragonflies, but then some other kind of dragonflies with dark markings on their wings.

Found lots of fossils, but also located some small red rocks that we would write with. The one that wrote best of all was actually an orange rock with a red tip. Not sure what that was ... we must FIND OUT!!!

Quote of the Day

2007-04-22T19:59:00.000-05:00

I just added this, so it will be changing every day. But I want to be sure to always remember this particular quote:

Quote of the Day
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
James Thurber

Tomorrow is Sunshine Happy Garden Day!

2007-04-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

That's what we've decided, Belle and I. After an unseasonable (and mostly miserable) cold spell, the sun came out today and we got to be outside in the yard. I pulled all the big, spiky weeds out of the front yard and she put them all in a basket to make salad for her dolls. Then we went to the backyard and gauged the growth of wild mint, wisteria, etc. since last year. I found a tiny oak "tree" and pointed it out, telling Belle that's what it looks like when an acorn starts to grow. She started digging around it to pull out and replant before Ben mows, and she found an acorn that was just starting to sprout. Maybe I've been sheltered, but I've never seen anything like this -- I think it's amazing and beautiful.

Anyway, we've declared tomorrow "Sunshine Happy Garden Day" and all we'll be responsible for (mostly) will be hanging in the yard -- cleaning up, preparing for the vegetable garden and so on ... YEAH!!!

Knitty Gritty would rate this 'A' for 'Advanced'

2007-02-07T21:19:00.000-06:00

Belle was in her playroom FOREVER so I finally went to check on her. She was sitting in her rocking chair in front of the mirror ... knitting. And she told me she had learned a new way to knit and announced, "Knitty Gritty would rate this A for advanced!" It looked like she was increasing with each row, somehow. She was making a triangle, basically. There was one stitch at the bottom, and she was increasing with each row, so that it was a perfect triangle.

Our gingerbread house cratered.

2006-12-23T20:13:00.000-06:00

But we tried! I think I've had the kit in the pantry for AT LEAST 2 years. In some of my clutter purging, I've thought about tossing it, but I just held on ... So tonight, Belle and I attempted to build a gingerbread house. We got the walls up. We got the roof on. We got a row of candy down the center of the roof. And then things started heading south. One of the walls caved in and the "frosting" was too flaky to recover it. Next year, we'll start EARLIER and we'll start from SCRATCH.

Write your name in RUNES

2006-12-22T20:56:00.000-06:00

This is fun: Write your name in runes. I tried to copy the pics of our names to post here, but it only copies one rune at a time, and I'm just not that patient right now. I'm actually in a flurry of Solstice surfing, which is NOT what it's about, but nevertheless ... Ben is playing a money game with Belle, so I have a few moments to myself and this is what I do with it. Several years ago, I could cast runes, but I'm not even sure where to find them now. I've thought often about making a new set, though. Maybe that will be a new year's project for Belle and me.

Happy Yuletide!

2006-12-21T21:57:00.000-06:00

Twas The Night Before Yuletide
C.C. Williford '

Twas the night before
Yuletide and all through the glen
Not a creature was stirring, not a fox, not a hen.
A mantle of snow shone brightly that night
As it lay on the ground, reflecting moonlight.

The faeries were nestled all snug in their trees,
Unmindful of flurries and a chilly north breeze.
The elves and the gnomes were down in their burrows,
Sleeping like babes in their soft earthen furrows.

When low! the earth moved with a thunderous quake,
Causing chairs to fall over and dishes to break.
The Little Folk scrambled to get on their feet
Then raced to the river where they usually meet.

"What happened?" they wondered, they questioned, they probed,
As they shivered in night clothes, some bare-armed, some robed.
"What caused the earth's shudder? What caused her to shiver?"
They all spoke at once as they stood by the river.

Then what to their wondering eyes should appear
But a shining gold light in the shape of a sphere.
It blinked and it twinkled, it winked like an eye,
Then it flew straight up and was lost in the sky.

Before they could murmur, before they could bustle,
There emerged from the crowd, with a swish and a rustle,
A stately old crone with her hand on a cane,
Resplendent in green with a flowing white mane.

As she passed by them the old crone's perfume,
Smelling of meadows and flowers abloom,
Made each of the fey folk think of the spring
When the earth wakes from slumber and the birds start to sing.

"My name is Gaia," the old crone proclaimed
in a voice that at once was both wild and tamed,
"I've come to remind you, for you seem to forget,
that Yule is the time of re-birth, and yet . . ."
"I see no hearth fires, hear no music, no bells,
The air isn't filled with fragrant smells
Of baking and roasting, and simmering stews,
Of cider that's mulled or other hot brews."

"There aren't any children at play in the snow,
Or houses lit up by candles' glow.
Have you forgotten, my children, the fun
Of celebrating the rebirth of the sun?"

She looked at the fey folk, her eyes going round,
As they shuffled their feet and stared at the ground.
Then she smiled the smile that brings light to the day,
"Come, my children," she said, "Let's play."

They gathered the mistletoe, gathered the holly,
Threw off the drab and drew on the jolly.
They lit a big bonfire, and they danced and they sang.
They brought out the bells and clapped when they rang.

They strung lights on the trees, and bows, oh so merry,
In colors of cranberry, bayberry, cherry.
They built giant snowmen and adorned them with hats,
Then surrounded them with snow birds, and snow cats and bats.

Then just before dawn, at the end of their fest,
Before they went homeward to seek out their rest,
The fey folk they gathered 'round their favorite oak tree
And welcomed the sun 'neath the tree's finery.

They were just reaching home when suddenly it came,
The gold light returned like an arrow-shot flame.
It lit on the tree top where they could see from afar
The golden-like sphere turned into a star.

The old crone just smiled at the beautiful sight,
"Happy Yuletide, my children," she whispered. "Good night

Radishes

2006-12-21T21:53:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, we planted carrots, radishes and green onions in each of 3 different test tubes so we can watch how they grow. It's only been 3 days and the radishes are growing like CRAZY. Some of them are half an inch tall. So we went in and thinned them out so that there would be room for the strongest to grow. The carrots are barely making a motion (we can see it in the dirt through the glass of the tube); and the green onions are getting a small sprout (also under the soil).

Belle learned how to work Sudoku puzzles today and she's doing VERY well, but not all that hooked on it like I thought she might be. She's spent most of the evening playing doctor's office with a broken keyboard and her plastic headset.

Our Gifts This Year

2006-12-16T22:04:00.000-06:00

Well, as evidenced by the lack of new posts, we are staying very busy. But not in a "good" way. Just busy. So I told Belle what my gift to her will be in the new year -- It will be the gift of my time. And she has promised to give me more of her time as well. We are so caught up in the busy-ness that we are losing track of ourselves.

In the morning, we will be planting a carrot, a radish, and a green onion in individual test tubes and watching them grow. Will hopefully keep track of that here. Many pics to post, but not sure when I will have a chance to catch up.

A Haudenosaunee "Thanksgiving" Prayer

2006-11-23T09:23:00.000-06:00

I don't know who wrote this, but I think it's lovely ...

GREETINGS TO THE NATURAL WORLD!

The People
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Waters

We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms - waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water.

Now our minds are one.

The Fish

We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Plants

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

The Food Plants

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Medicine Herbs

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning, they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.

Now our minds are one.

The Animals

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

Now our minds are one.

The Trees

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.

Now our minds are one.

The Birds

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds - from the smallest to the largest - we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

The Four Winds

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one.

The Thunderers

Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.

Now our minds are one.

The Sun

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.

Grandmother Moon

We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

Now our minds are one.

The Stars

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

The Enlightened Teachers

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers.

Now our minds are one.

The Creator

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

Now our minds are one.

Closing Words

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.

Our cats must REALLY love us!

2006-11-08T20:20:00.000-06:00

Okay, yesterday I rescued a mouse that was trying to get away from one of our cats (outside). While the cat watched suspiciously, I covered the mouse with a flowerpot, slid a piece of cardboard underneath, and carried the mouse to a big tuft of pampas grass to release. And then today, there were two dead mice outside -- one on our porch and one on the sidewalk leading to our porch. Needless to say, this is a difficult concept for a 6-year-old to accept. "Gifts" from cats, however well-intentioned, are always great tragedies. I suspect we'll soon start a graveyard.

Butterfly Rescue

2006-10-29T10:31:00.000-06:00

Anabelle rescued this butterfly out of the pond. She then kept it on the pine needle until its wings were dry enough to fly away.

Math Whiz

2006-10-26T00:07:00.000-05:00

Well, I don't like Bratz dolls, but I've relaxed my stand on refusing to allow them in the house. That was making them FAR too coveted. So now Belle is allowed to have them IF she pays for them herself. Today, she really really wanted a Diamond Bratz Kid or whatever they're called. I told her they were $20 and she needed to use her own money. So she pulled out her change jar and started counting. I told her to just get the quarters and make stacks of 4 until she got to $20. I can't BELIEVE how fast her brain clicked on that -- As soon as I said it, she wailed, "But that's EIGHTY quarters!" like it was going to take forever or something. I just couldn't believe she figured it out that fast.

Wealthy Witches

2006-10-22T14:23:00.000-05:00

Anabelle was coloring a picture of a witch and she asked, "Is the witch our goddess?"
"Well, yes, in a way…"
And I explained how that picture of the witch in the pointy hat, etc. was the product of something else. I asked her if she remembered those people who started believing a different way and wanted everyone to believe the same thing as them. She did remember. So I told her they made the picture of the witch look “scary,” when really, that’s just an exaggerated version of the Crone. And as she colored a picture of “Lil Witch,” she told me this:

"This is called a Wealthy Witch."

"Oh? What is a Wealthy Witch?"

"They help god to make healthy people. So actually, we weren’t ALL just made from god.
"And a Wealthy Witch can look any way you want it to look. It can look any way it might be.
"And sometimes … A Wealthy Witch might seem like a ghost, but they help to give birth to children.
"Yes, they’re in the hospital and they might seem like a ghost because they’re invisible, but really they’re helping to give birth to the children.
"There are lots of different kinds of Wealthy Witches."

I won't explain my own interpretation of this. I think hers is interesting enough.

SARA, Anabelle's BEST PET EVER

2006-10-15T19:30:00.000-05:00

Anabelle loves her Leopard Gecko and claims it is her best pet EVER. That's a pretty big claim, considering how many favorites she's had in the recent and not-so-recent past. Anyway, Sara is the lucky one and here are a few photos to show how big she's getting. She was just a little baby when we got her, but she's growing ...

And as she grows, she's getting stronger and stronger. She really scrambles to try to get out of the hand and look around. We have to be really careful of her tail. It's nice and fat like it's supposed to be on a healthy lizard, but everything we've read says that it can break off easily. Even though she could grow a new one, there's the risk of infection if it comes off.

Here's a nice pic of Sara in all her gecko glory ... I have to admit, the little lizzy hand on the little thumb is really cute.

Anabelle wrote a story ...

2006-10-15T15:05:00.000-05:00

We haven't read The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but Belle claims it as her inspiration for the following story:

The Fourteen Dancing Princesses

i am let me tell you a story here it is:
once apon a time thare where 14 danseing princesses
trare father was a king and a warrior he was alway's thae gard warrior
and garded the whole kingdom and was soon in a big war.
the pricesses ware vary vary vary scard of thare father in a big war.
they where so scard that they dressd up as MEN!
and refused to join the big war and fight and pertect thare father.
they soon noticed that they coud not do it BUT!
they soon noticed that they really did IT!!!!!!
and thare father was still alive
and they all whare as happy as can BE!
and they all lived happly
ever after
the end.:did you like it?

I often see myself in Anabelle's eyes ...

2006-10-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

... I mean, not only am I looking into the eyes of my daughter, but I am seeing my own eyes looking back at me It's hard to describe. It's like I could look in a mirror and look into my own eyes as a child. And that was never more true than tonight. See for yourself --

Seriously, can you even believe that my mother ever took me out of the house???

However, I'm not quite sure that my eyes ever looked quite that ... animated. Therefore, Anabelle makes even these glasses look GOOD! JEEPERS CREEPERS!!! Where did she get those eyes?

Baby Coming

2006-10-05T18:04:00.000-05:00

This is one of Anabelle's recent creations. When I took this pic, the paint was still wet. I commented on her cool choices of color and asked her to "tell me about this picture." And you notice the shapes in the middle stripe? Well, that is the beginning of a baby ... kind of reading the symbols from right to left. Starting from the right, you notice the beginning cells that get together to make a baby. When you see the first circle -- that is when the cells first meet. And in the last circle, you see that the cells are starting to divide. I asked about the designs in the top stripe and she said, "Those are just more of the mother's cells on top." I asked her what the title of the piece would be and, after brief thought, she decided to call it "Baby Coming."

The Rule of Three

2006-10-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

I just explained the Rule of Three to Anabelle for the very first time. She is endlessly fascinated with incense ... We just cleaned the stove till it shone and then lit incense on top of it -- The stove is where we fix the food that nourishes our bodies, so ... we want it to be clean and we want it to be blessed. So anyway, OF COURSE, she wanted her own incense again. And I told her that she can't just carry incense around the house all the time -- she needs to form an intention with it. So her intention is to continue our house blessings until we finally have it clean like we want it (it's slowly headed in that direction after our clutter issues are being worked out with the use of industrial-strength garbage bags). And the reason this matters to her is so that we can have a HOUSE PARTY when it is finally cleaned the way we want it. YEAH!!!

Oh, anyway, the Rule of Three. It was just kind of a "milestone," because it was the first time I've mentioned it to her. When we were discussing "intentions," as usual, Spiral Rhythms was playing in the background. And just at that moment, the song said, "Ever mind the Rule of Three." So it was the perfect time to introduce the concept. I just told her that whatever thoughts and actions she sends out into the Universe will come back to her three times. So she must make sure that what she puts out into the Universe is what she wants to come back to her. She just trotted through the classroom with her incense, so I suppose the classroom is now blessed. :-)

Did you know that Buddha is a goddess?

2006-10-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

This is not the first time Anabelle has presented me with this theory of hers. A few weeks ago, she told me, "Buddha is the Goddess of Everything." So today we talked about it. When she said that Buddha is a goddess, I replied, "I don't really think so. Everyone came from the goddess, but Buddha was not a goddess." And the young genius replied, "Since everything came from the goddess, everyone is a goddess." *phew* Not sure how to respond, but it seques perfectly with the idea of the Christ-Mind.

And because we're ECLECTIC ...

2006-10-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

After our wild goddess dancing in the kitchen last night, Anabelle read something about komodo dragons on the side of her shampoo bottle. And said asked, "How did god make the first komodo dragon?"
"Hmmmmm.... I don't know. What do you mean?"
"I think komodo dragons were probably the first animals on earth."

All the interest with firsts came with our last trip to the beach area of Lake Ray Roberts. We always find lots and lots of little shell fossils and it started a discussion of what the earth was like before there were people. And then, of course, Anabelle started to wonder about The First Person. From my notes on that day, I found this:
"What if, instead of 'one first person,' a whole bunch of people began to appear at around the same time? What do you think?"
"I don't know ..."
Anyway, we talked about Native Americans, Columbus (because he's the one that used the word "Indians" and WHY he used that word), Pilgrims, christianity in England, etc. etc. We talked about how all the people in America today, except the Native Americans, were originally from somewhere else. And so on....
It's actually morning right now and I'm much better at blogging in the evening. Just wanted to post about god and the komodo dragons.

You're the rain and I'm the sun ...

2006-10-01T20:33:00.000-05:00

So it's Sunday and you know ... a lazy day. And Anabelle and I were cooking dinner, shrimp stirfry. And Anabelle made the stirfry. The whole thing. And while she stood and stirred endlessly, I told her, "That's why they call it stirfry," as if it were a history lesson or something. And while the sauces simmered, we danced. The song that brought us together was "Dance, My Children, Dance" by Spiral Rhythms. I'll get to the lyrics, but what Anabelle and I learned was this ...

We found ourselves dancing in a circle, sometimes slow and sometimes fast ... Sometimes by ourselves, and sometimes with our arms linked ... but always in the circle. And we began to talk about how that must have been what the first people on the earth felt like. That they would gather together in circles to honor the earth, our first goddess. And we talked about how perhaps the first goddess may very well be Mother Earth. Which led to a discussion of circles and cycles ... inhale, exhale ... dance ... under the moon ... in a circle ... around the fire ... together. Which led us to compare (because it's Sunday) what the very first people on earth worshipped and all the other kinds of worship that there are nowdays. And how all those religions all started with our common ancestor ... the first people dancing in a circle, around the fire, under the moon. *whew* It was like a history lesson or something. And all the while we twirled around the kitchen together, dancing and laughing ... worshipping.

And as we danced, Anabelle began to narrate our movements -- She said, "We move forward and backward, together and apart -- When we're like this, you're the rain and I'm the sun. But when we move back like this, I'm the rain and you're the sun." And she explained to me this ...

thare woud be no sun or rain if thare was no earth that we live on. anabelle

My daughter is a genius. And here's the song to which we were dancing:

Dance, My Children, Dance
(PJ Seale 2002)

I call the earth, the fire, the wind and rain
Dance my children dance
To guide you on this mortal plane
While you, dance children dance

I made the ground soft beneath your feet
So you could, dance children dance
And the fire to bathe you with it’s heat
While you, dance children dance

I made the rain to fall to cool you down
While you, dance children dance
And the wind to blow you dry again
While you, dance children dance
I made the sun by day and the moon at night
So you could, dance children dance
So you’re always in my loving light
While you, dance children dance
And you dance with the
Sun and the moon and the wind and the rain
And you dance with the earth and you dance with the flame
And you dance with the stars in the velvet sky
All things dance in the circle of life

So I call you to my circle now
Dance my children dance
In peace and love and togetherness
May you, dance children dance
Always, dance children dance
All things dance, children dance

Amazon has my number.

2006-09-30T10:45:00.000-05:00

You know how they send those e-mail recommendations every so often? Well, there are usually at least one or two books that are right on target. But this morning I got a list of books that makes me want to drop some money in the Amazon coffers! The Unprocessed Child: Living Without School, Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting, I Believe in Me: A Book of Affirmations, Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You and Your World, Fairy Island: An Enchanted Tour of the Homes of the Little Folk, Making Waldorf Dolls. Do they know me or WHAT? Seriously, this was the list of recommendations in ONE e-mail. All my book-ratings and reviews have finally produced a perfect list of recommendations.

What did we learn today?

2006-09-29T23:34:00.000-05:00

Well, it would be hard to say in so many words. But I know the day was filled with moments of spontaneous insight. What's funny is ... by the end of the day, I always find myself asking, "What did we learn today?" Kind of like ... "Tell me one thing you learned today." And even though I know we learned a huge amount, that filled our hearts and spirits as well as our minds, it would be difficult to take a test on it or present it as a factoid at the dinner table. Interestingly enough, my mother asked me yesterday, "If you are a homeschooler, how do you ever learn to take tests?"
Hmmmm..... "Why would a homeschooler need to take tests?"
"Well, so they can take tests. You know ... when they're adults."
"What kind of tests will they need to take when they're adults? Cholesterol tests? Yes. Hearing Tests? Probably. But history tests? Probably not."
Okay, both of us were missing the mark entirely. She knew exactly what she was trying to ask me, and I knew exactly how I was trying to respond, but we were speaking from two different worlds. Homeschooling is a new concept for her, as it is for many people in my family -- she has no point of reference. So she asks. And because the concept of sending my child to public school is just as unusual a concept for me; or allowing other people to get paid to spend the day with my child because I don't have the patience to do it myself ... Well, that is my world. So we try to communicate about these things, but we're speaking from completely unique perspectives and it just takes us a long time to understand. But we try. We really try and eventually, even if we may not really understand, we are able to embrace each other's need to be heard.

I don't know what we learned today. After a full day, the three of us ended up hanging out at Barnes & Noble for over an hour. Maybe even for over two hours. Anabelle read all the new picture books that are out. She really enjoyed The English Roses, but wanted me to read it to her and it was just a long book, so I didn't. Then she read joke books -- I've never heard so many silly knock-knock jokes at one time in my LIFE. And finally, at checkout, she hugged me and buried her head in my stomach and said, "You smell soooooo good at night." And I know the smell she was talking about. It's kind of a warm mom smell. And the only one that ever has it is your mom. And now I have that smell. Awesome ...

And then when we walked out the doors of the bookstore, she threw her arms out, smiled up at the sky and shouted, "HELLO WORLD!"

It's hard to really describe what we learned today.

Well. Anabelle wants HOMEWORK.

2006-09-28T00:57:00.000-05:00

But she doesn't want the homework I provide for her. She wants the kind of homework that she wants. Whatever that may be. Period. Usually it's math. The math from our curriculum books? Noooooo. The math that we write down ourselves or just call out to her. I'm thinking it may be time to start trying to impose a *little* more structure on this whole thing. Maybe a notebook would be nice. A notebook with completed HOMEWORK assignments. We shall see...

Speaking of reading ...

2006-09-10T16:13:00.000-05:00

Because Anabelle IS such a proficient reader, I'm wondering about word attack skills and spelling. One of the best "tips" I've discovered is keeping a dictionary on the dining room table. She LOVES to look through the dictionary and learn new words. The dictionary we're using is one of those big, fat, humongous dictionaries from Reader's Digest that belonged to my great grandmother. Went to B&N the other day and looked at all the different choices for children's dictionaries. Tough call.

"Classical" Education, Well-Trained Mind, ETC.

2006-09-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

Talking about unschooling made me take a good hard look at our "curriculum." I would have to say that it's eclectic, with a strong lean toward the classical. I haven't read the latest edition of The Well-Trained Mind, but when I did read it, the thing that stuck in my mind was that learning to READ is the job of the kindergartener. So that's done. Anabelle can read just about anything you put in front of her. Seriously! I had bought the entire "Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" -- everything available, the COMBO PACK -- and we never opened it. I forgot the reason, but Peacehill Press had made a mistake with our order and by the time it arrived, we were already smoking along and it was just too late to go back to a phonics approach. So it's whole language and literature-based all the way now. We're going to use the Language Lessons and Story of the World, though. I've got to say that I really LOVE SOTW, but we are moving through it very, very slowly. I can't seem to flesh out a "plan" for working through the book in a 3 year period. I'm just anxious to mummify a chicken. ;-)

Anyway, now that we're officially first graders, it seems to be time to read the revised edition of WTM and finally start working my way through The Well-Educated Mind. It kinda freaks me out at times. Anabelle is only 6 and, when I read all this stuff, I want to do it ALL and I want to do it NOW. I guess I could start by getting that classroom organized ...

"Un"school RULES!

2006-09-10T13:51:00.000-05:00

Anabelle never really liked the sound of "un"school and I can't blame her. But we seem to be moving in that direction. I mean, the two of us are just about the epitomy of *spontaneous*, so it seems to work. We were at the lake the other day and some ladies asked Anabelle if she had come to the lake after school. Belle told them, "I'm half homeschool and half unschool." That was the first time she really tried to incorporate the whole idea of unschool into her repertoire. Really, I'm of the opinion that it's just a word. However, that's certainly NOT the way the "Radical Unschoolers" look at it. Anyway ... We had been at the lake for hours and learned quite a bit and I had finally explained to Belle that it was pretty much what I had been trying to tell her that unschooling is like. So it was on her mind. Anyhoo ...

That said, we're still putting the classroom back together and it's looking pretty good. I can hardly wait to start moving back toward a rhythm of some sort.

The lake was waaaaay low the other day, but also nice and clean because of a weekend rain. Until the last hour, we were the only ones there. Ellen and I had brought out books to read, but since the place was deserted, I ended up spending my time playing with Anabelle. She picked up shells and I picked up fossils. And we walked all the way up and down both sides of the shoreline as far as it was possible. We dug up clay, caught a baby frog, etc. etc. etc. It was so much fun that I'm kinda anxious to go back. We actually haven't gone AT ALL this summer because it was TOO HOT. Yes, it was too hot to go swimming. We tried to stay close to air conditioners. Relaxing and having fun together brought up all kinds of conversations and I can't exactly remember how they started ... I know we had a long talk about the difference between the lake and the ocean ... And Anabelle said something about the "first people" that were here, and I said they were Indians; Ellen corrected me and said they were Native Americans. That led to a discussion of WHY they were originally called Indians (Columbus) and then how most of us are actually from Europe and HOW that happened (Pilgrims, Mayflower). I figured that was pretty first grade ... later we can talk about immigration, etc.

One side of Poppop's family (Viets) was either German or Dutch. It started in the 1600's with a physician who ended up in America because of a shipwreck. There is a BOOK of the Viets family that goes all the way from then until about the time Poppop's parents were married. I think the next thing we need to make is a family tree. Perfect, because that's exactly where Story of the World starts.

We seem to be off to a slow start this year...

2006-09-06T20:49:00.000-05:00

...but that's okay, because we're learning how to improvise and we're learning lots of other things as well. Since Momo is at the Senior Center now, we go up there at least 2 or 3 times a week. Anabelle has made MANY new friends and loves to participate in the activities. She is very kind to everyone and they absolutely love her. As I watched her strolling around the room during Bingo yesterday, it reminded me of when I was a little kid doing the exact same thing at Bellmire.

We've also been doing a lot with Girl Scouts -- FUN! Anabelle had started guitar lessons, but isn't so sure she wants to continue. She'd like to take piano instead. I think! She may have changed her mind already. Then there's karate that's about to start and we're trying to decide about theater classes in Arlington.

We're still working on the organization of our classroom and that gets a little *slow* at times, especially since we tend to get distracted when we uncover books or games we'd forgotten about. Ben taught Belle how to do card tricks and from there, I taught her to recognize the different "suits" in a tarot deck. From there, she made up her own "magic" tricks.

And here she is NOW, so it's time for me to quit blogging.

this is the best

2006-09-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

a little gril's mom created this blog it's the best!

New Blog!

2006-08-16T14:18:00.000-05:00

I'm very excited about participating and reading your blog! Thank you for inviting me.

Dad