Gardening!

Today we have been gardening.  I picked up lots of plants at the Friends School Plant Sale Mother's Day weekend.  Lots of rain has kept them sitting in their pots.  No longer!  Now we have seven tomato plants, basil, thyme, chocolate mint, sage, rosemarry parsley, potatoes, peas, and tarragon planted in our front lawn. 

The apple trees are keeping all those vegetables company out front.  We put in two bare-root saplings about a month ago.  Until recently they've looked like sticks in the ground--the new leaves sure spruced them up.  Hopefully we'll have apples by the time Charlotte is five.  Our large walnut tree has restricted what we can plant in the back, so I will have to learn how to keep a tidy, attractive vegetable garden since it is now lining my front walk. 

Watermelon, bitter melon, cucumbers, corn and carrots are all waiting to be planted in the back (they don't mind the walnut tree's juglone secretions). 

My future plans include pear and cherry trees, black raspberries and saskatoons (juneberries or serviceberries to US residents).  Actually I somtimes daydream about a completely edible yard!  To further that daydream, I've been reading about a family in Pasadena that did just that--and then some.  Their urban homestead, Path to Freedom, takes the idea as far as I can imagine, and then a few miles more.  Happy gardening to all those who dig in the dirt!

Saint Lucia Day

Imagine an early Christian saint from Sicily becoming a major holiday figure for Scandinavians.  Yes, folks, somehow or other--that happened.  She was known for bringing food to those in need with a wreath of candles to light her way (her hands were full--of course).  Through some gruesome twists and turns of her personal hisory she also became the patron saint of eyes ( I will not go into detail here).  The fact that Swedish sailors translated her name 'Lucia' as light and that her celebrated day happened to fall on the darkest day of the year certainly helped this unlikely connection along, still I find it a surprising one.  Nonetheless, here we are, in the US, with my 1/4 Norwiegan (0% Sicilian) daughter playing the part of Lucia.  She pulled it off beautifully.  


Saint Lucia Day was one of my favorite holiday activities this year.  It will likely make its way into our holiday celebrations every year for at least the next decade.  It all started because I wanted to do something special with Nova.  (As I recall, I was a bit worried she was suffereing from middle child syndrome at the time).


We checked out the Kirsten's Surprise, the American Girl book featuring the Swedish tradition of Saint Lucia Day.  After reading the story, I was careful not to suggest anything.  Sure enough, Nova came to me, hoping we pull off our own Saint Lucia day surprise.  From there, we managed to sneak in a trip to the florists to get greens for the crown and a specal trip to Penzey's to buy saffron for the traditional saffron buns.  I'd let my mom in on the plan a week earlier and she had graciously offered to whip up a white nightgown and red sash.  Under the guize of wrapping presents, we were able to get the cosume ready.

Following the recipe listed here, we made quite successful gluten-free saffron buns, substituting gluten-free flour for the wheat flour.  I got them started and woke Nova up to help with the final shaping and baking. 

 

Hot chocolate and coffee rounded out our breakfast.   Charles and Solomon did not suspect a thing.  

I had forgotten how nice a good surprise can be...both to get and to give.  And a last picture with that golden sunlight of early morning. 

Spring Salad

This salad started out (as many great salads do) by checking to see what produce looked really fantastic.  Wilty, underipe, scrawny, or otherwise unappealing produce was left at the store.  I also decided to leave out some of the things we always eat (carrots, romaine, spinach, cheddar) in favor of some different (if not new) flavors.  It seems our tongues tone down flavors we are accustomed to in the same way that our eyes will reduce the intensity of a color we look at for a prolonged period of time.  (Expiriment--Grab a bright colored shirt, book, whatever.  Make sure it is one solid color.  Cover half of it with black construction paper.  Stare at it for three or four minutes, then remove the black construction paper.  Surprised?)  I digress.

Anyway, here's the recipe.  With the exception of the cucumber it is all stuff that we could theoretically have here by mid-spring without shipments from Chile, California or Australia.


one butterhead lettuce, washed and torn
one large bunch fresh basil
one cup pea sprouts (alfalfa or bean would work too)
1/3-1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, cut in strips, preferably packed in olive oil
8 oz fresh mushrooms, quartered
one sweet onion, sliced and rings separated
one small cucumber, sliced
3-6 ounces good soft goat cheese (chevre)
1/3-1/2 cup toasted pecans

Add favorite dressing

Nova Sophia

Nova has been having some big thoughts for a little girl.  Sunday she surprised me with "I have two beliefs, but they get in the way of each other.  One is that you never know what is ahead, and the other is that anything is possible."  It took me a minute to catch this one, despite my philosophy degree.  But there it was--if anything is possible, it is possible that you might know what is ahead--ta-da!   (She is SIX!)

Today Nova announced that "nothing can do anything by itself"  My first reaction was that she was wrong, but she went on to explain that we needed trees to breathe and trees need sunshine and on and on--the kid came up with the notion of the ecosystem!  I asked her where she heard about that and she said she thought of it herself, but wasn't sure it was true.  

Winter Snapshots Part One

Sledding around the block (a daily exercise for awhile)

Making Valentines

Climbing the stairs ( a favorite activity--now she is working on going down too).

Reporting On the Census

Hey All,

I wrapped up another news story last month.  The subject it the census.  The angle is race.  I got to talk with a lot of people for this one--far more than I could fit in the story.  Listen here .  Oh, also if any of you happen to be fans of KFAI,  PLEDGE ! (It is their Spring pledge drive right now).

Using the Potty

Early in the morning,

Charlotte uses the potty.

This all started just after Charlotte turned one.  Charles was running the clean diapers up from the basement, I needed to use the bathroom, and we had a little potty out for a 19 month old friend who was visiting later on.  I thought, why not?  Like most people Charlotte often needs to use the facilities first thing in the morning, and now she usually does so in the potty.   

Charlotte's Birthday in Pictures

To the zoo and conservatory...the pond in the Sunken Garden is always a favorite spot.

 

Home for cake and ice cream (and presents of course).  You can tell by all the long legs there were lots of loving grownups about.

            

We skirted the dairy-free, wheat-free issue with coconut sorbet and banana bread cake made with almond flour,  enjoyed by all.  

Nova is Six!

Nova is Six!

Nova turned six on the 3rd of March.  As she put it, she got to turn six three times because we had relatives over the weekend before her birthday, went sledding and opened presents from mom, dad, brother and sister on her birthday, and had a sledding party with friends (the last sledding day of the season) the weekend after her birthday.  She thoroughly enjoyed it (though I must say--I think we will do our best to consolidate parties in the future--it was just a little too much excitement for Mom).

   

Nova is a wonderful six-year-old, full of new ideas and capabilities.  She is a maker, and often appears in at breakfast or bedtime in a costume of her own creation (super hero, warrior, puppy dog, etc).  To my delight, she now keeps her room clean with no prompting, having decided she likes it better that way.  After watching an old episode of Carl Sagen's Cosmos she decided to study Astronomy and has been diligently working all week.  We never know quite what to expect from Nova, she is full of unexpected, exuberant, brilliant, surprises.            

script from the day

I'm just going to lay this one out as it unfolded.  Sorry there are no pictures--grabbing the camera was not my top concern, but a striking image was at the center of this little vignette.

Scene One (A Spring day, late afternoon)

Nova: Can I play outside?
Me: Yes
(ten minutes later)
Nova:  (in tears)  Why can't you climb some trees?
Me: Some trees grow in a way that makes them hard to climb.  We can find other trees to climb, even if we can't climb the ones in the back yard.  And they are good for tree houses (we are planning to build a tree house next week).
Nova goes out to play in the yard again
I continue making dinner

Scene Two (fifteen minutes later)

I glance out the window.  Behind the black walnut tree (which all the tree house books have informed me have exceptionally brittle branches)  I see stacked precariously, our patio table, a dining room chair, the bathroom step stool, and Nova, reaching for the nearest limb.

Me: Come in here now!  (luckily Nova can't hear me and I get a minute to calm down, see the positives of the situation, and go about things in a more nuanced way).
I scoop up Charlotte and head out back.
Me: Nova, I'm impressed that you thought of a way to get in the tree but its really not a good one to climb.
Nova: Why not?
Me: Its branches break easily.
Nova: Mom, I never get to climb trees (tears)
(repeat the conversation from scene one regarding tree-climbing)
Me: Solomon and Nova, bring the chairs and things inside.
Solomon: (emerging from a book) I didn't help her do any of that.
I am thunderstruck--the table seats four and is made of cast iron, and Nova is only a head taller than the dining room chair.


Well--I'm not a playwrite, but you get the idea.  Man that kid is strong, quick, determined, and totally unconcerned with safety (or asking permission).  No broken bones, life continues.  

Charlotte at a Year (warning--this is a gushing babylove post)

Charlotte turned one two Tuesdays ago (February 9th) , and I am no longer going to wait for pictures to post...they will come eventually.   For those of you who haven't seen her in awhile, she is nicely round with lots of light brown curls and big blue eyes.  Some have told me she looks like a Maurice Sendak baby or an Anne Geddes baby.  If you remember Solomon as a baby, just picture him as a girl with curly hair and toned down eyelashes.  In the mean time, I'll tell you what she's been up to.

Charlotte is talking more everyday.  Yesterday she said "baby"  (meaning a doll) and "mine" (meaning the same doll).  When I asked her if she wanted to kiss the baby, she did.  Two days ago she said "flower" and "get it"  and so we looked at the flowers together.  Just last Thursday at her one year check-up, I put her work count tentatively at three (her favorite being "hi" along with a wave).  She is learning to talk a lot like Nova did--lots of words and even sentence structure, but not a lot of articulation.  

She is walking, sometimes very fast, and on her birthday she climbed an entire flight of stairs for the first time.  Now it is one of her favorite things to do.  Sometimes Solomon will spot her during her stair-climbing.  Solomon and Nova continue to be just great with her.  Both enjoy helping her and playing with her.  Charlotte likes to wake them up in the morning.

Putting things in boxes and other containers is another recent fascination of hers.  Right now she is putting a cloth diaper in a cardboard box.  Unfortunately, trash cans often strike her as the perfect  
receptacle.  At the photographer's Charlotte put her little sweater into the trash when no one was looking; we finally found it half an hour later. Pitchers of water also appear to her to be good places to put books.   This containerizing has been a challenging habit.

She loves music and chasing games and cuddling.  This morning I showed her the little 1/16 size violin.  She touched the stings and said "mine" (don't worry, we don't locked in instrument decisions at age one).  Every now and then she gives me a mischevious smile and runs the other way.  All in all she is just a delight!        

Forthcoming Posts

When I finally get my pictures off my camera, there are a few posts I hope to do.  Here's the list. 

A Weekend Away
Charlotte is Walking!  (at 9 and 1/2 months)
Homeschool Art Adventure
Family Felting and Fun Party
St Lucia Day
The Importance of One Child Outings
Christmas Collage
Family Photo?
Resolutions!
Book Making
A Trip to Zumbrota
Making Felt Balls, Take Two
The Loppet

Charlotte is One

Felt Balls for a First Birthday

I love felt balls.  Round, soft, warm, bouyant (yes, they float), and beautiful, I could hardly ask more of a ball.  I was inspired to make a handmade gift for my (almost) one-year-old by Amanda Blake Soule's lovely blog, Soule Mama.  She also happened to make felt balls for  her one year old, using the knit-then -felt method.  Since I am a novice knitter, I went for the straight felting method.  Following these directions, I produced three rainbow-hued, baseball-sized balls in about an hour.  If time permits, I will add pictures via needle felting.     

Gardens in Winter

The frost on my window is so high only a sliver of scenery is visible, and outside the once-soft snow has sublimated into something more like sterofoam.  Without a doubt,  January is the perfect time to plan and dream of gardens.
    Bright tomatoes, with bottoms like sunsets and tops like pumpkins, grace the cover of my Seed Saver's Exchange catalog.   I fell in love with Seed Saver's colorful heirloom vegetables back in my days of apartment living.  I gardened vicariously, planting their blue potatoes, red dragon carrots, and yellow watermelons.
    Now I get to pick for real.  My desk is fill of lists of possible produce and areal drawings of my yard, spiffed up with crayon to make my gardening intentions clear to the whole family.  Solomon has insisted on potatoes, and has chosen the yukon gold variety.  Nova is most looking forward to watermelon--surprisingly, she is a vegetable traditionalist (in terms of color) and has picked out the handsome Chris Cross strain.   For Charles we will plant cucumbers, though he may have to eat them in the form of pickles since he will be away.  I, of course, want tomatoes.  The rest (including the fruit trees) are yet to be decided.  

 

You may have noticed that I often post about things we do away from home.  I love cultural events and museums, history and the outdoors.  I love travel and outings, encapsulated time bound up in a well planned sequence, with every need prepared for--even spontinaity.

But there is another reason I rarely write about home.  I'm not particularly fond of it.  Yes, I was (and still am) thrilled we were able to buy a house last Fall.  Yes, I like the floor plan, the hardwood floors, the 1940s doorbell that chimes once for the back door and twice for the front; but I don't love my home.  It feels, not like a refuge, but more like a big closet--with beds; a place we dump our stuff and sleep when we are not out in the wide world.  In short, it is not cared for.  I have often told myself that the barrier to a more inviting home is money.  Lack of funds for decorating and so forth.

But that is not true.  I knew it the minute I felt warm, fuzzy house-pride after putting up plastic to insulate our 70-year-old windows.  Window plastic is ugly!  But it made me feel so good about my living space because it was evidence of care.

The point of this long ramble is to explain my challenge to myself.  Make my bedroom into a warm inviting place with a focus on using what I have.

I was planing on putting up a before picture.  In short--I chickened out.  Maybe I will put one up alongside an after picture. 

  

When Asia was the World

What a fascinating place mideveal Asia was!  Europe was certainly not the place to be from about 600-1500 AD/CE, but it was an excellent time to be in Asia.  During Europe's Dark Ages, glass making, silk, cotton, sophisticated trade, the rise of new religions, and the invention of zero were just a few of the things going on east of the Ural mountains.
    I've been reading  When Asia was the World by Stewart Gordon in preparation for studying Persia, India and China with the kids.  The book follows the memoirs of a different traveler in each chapter, giving plenty of backround information about the greater historical context.  I love it!  I must warn any who pick it up--it is history, not fiction.  It does not read like Devil in the White City (History as a page-turning, heart-thumping thriller).   However, it does feel like a whole new fantastic world.  There is so much out there we just never get to in standard History survey courses.  All of Asian history is like a great big epic I've never heard of before.  Lots of place names are new and almost all ancient historical figures are unfamiliar.  New History, what fun.

PS  The link embedded in the title will take you to Amazon, not because I'm urging any purchases, but because the look inside feature gives a chance to peruse the first few pages.