Miel de Pissenlits (Or Dandelion Honey)

In May we made Miel de Pissenlits (also called Dandelion Honey, Dandelion Jelly, or Cramaillotte)We got the recipe from my brother-in-law's mother, Françiose, when she and her husband were visiting from France.  I was very proud of myself for understanding the recipe, recounted to me in French, with just tiny bit of help.  Françoise if you find this, thank you for the recipe!  We had such fun making it!


In early May, our yard full of unsprayed dandelions. Françoise was very clear that untreated dandelions were essential.  Charlotte helped gather, and she and Aria and I pulled all the petals out during an episode of the Great British Baking Show.  The recipe called for 400 flowers!  We ended up with 200, so we halved it.

From there we boiled and soaked the petals together with a lemon and an orange and half a liter of water.



After sitting overnight, we strained the liquid and boiled it with an equal amount of sugar until we had something the consistency of jelly or honey (we may have gotten a little too close to taffy this first go-around, but it was still good).

Ariadne took it one step further and mixed the dandelion jelly with butter, making a creamy spread she used to surprise me with on toast Mothers' Day morning.      
       

Star Wars

When Star Wars: Rogue One came out last year, let's just say we were excited.  Solomon, Nova and I were lucky enough to go to a matinee showing with roughly 17 friends the day it came out (a perk of homeschooling).  It reminded me of the hoopla and excitement of the late '90s Star Wars moviegoing experience.  Yes, we all wish that middle trilogy had turned out better.  Still, the group enthusiasm was a rare and memorable experience.  The lines were long but no one minded.  People were dressed up in costume, Leia hair abounded. Nova and I contributed there.  (Much has been written about Princess Leia's hair styles.  In short, they are not humanly possible.  But we tried.  Nova has the classic cinnamon buns.  I went for the style at the awards ceremony at the end of the first movie.  Mini spin pins (a corkscrew-like hair pin) were essential). Solomon went for the much-loved Millennium Falcon T-shirt.  GG Rose's 1970s ski jacket seemed the appropriate choice for Nova.  There was lots of jumping back and forth in line to talk with friends.  And the movie delivered.



We might as well have called 2015 the Star Wars Christmas.  There was a talking Yoda, Darth Vader key chain, light sabers, figurines, on and on, from all sides.  (I restrained myself from getting entire family fair isle Star Wars pajamas, but they were available).  The Midwinters LOVE Star Wars.  So does Brynn, our Dad and I (I think our Mom likes it but not in the same watch-three-movies-in-a-row intense kind of way).  Each child got a starship of some description in their stocking.  A battle ensued.

It is interesting to see these kids right on the border of becoming young adults.  One minute Solomon is 'too old' to play, the next he is pulled in and right there with rest of them.  I know it won't last--isn't meant to last, even.  But it is fun, to see them on the cusp, flipping back and forth.


We watched the originals in a ramp-up (and as a reminder) to the new release.  Charlotte was quite taken with the whole story.  When I came home with a big poncho she immediately absconded with it, grabbed a light saber and announced  'I am Obi-Won's Daughter.'



Above is a picture Solomon drew in preschool, back when the third movie of the second trilogy came out.  He did not see it (it is one of the darker ones).  But Star Wars was in the air, and he absorbed some of the basics.  "What is that? Where'd you get that? Is that Star Wars?" was line from a comedy sketch we'd seen in around '98.  It kept coming back to me as it was oh so true.  And when I went to Ireland with my sister and parents for a family wedding in 2007, the unspoken agreement was if I left the country Charles would show the kids the original Star Wars trilogy (I was against this at the time, feeling that 4 and 6 was too young).  We did not discuss it even once, but that is exactly how it went.  Eventually I came around.
  

What I Learned from my Accountability Blog

Sometime around my last wedding anniversary (so, mid June), I decided enough was enough and I had to start exercising. Right. Now.  Despite the kids, and also because of the kids.  So I started 365 Days of Exercise With Kids, an accountability blog.

In fact, I have my reasoning right here, from the first post.

Today I resolved to exercise for 365 days straight.  I have four kids.  I will not let this stop me. Whenever possible, I will include them.  Our lives are a template for them, whether we want them to be or not.  So this is partly for them.  But it is also so, so much for me.  My physical ability has been slipping over the last several years and it is starting to add up.  Not to mention that I am happier when I can get in a significant amount of movement each day.   

Still sounds pretty good to me.  And yet, just shy of two months in, the blog died.

Why?

1. Well, in a word DRIVING.  The death of the exercise blog coincided with the start of driving my oldest kid to and from high school 40 minutes away each day.  (That is a minimum of two hours and 40 minutes in traffic each day).  Add in music lessons (x3), circus class (x3), swimming lessons, preschool (x2), co-op classes, and other random but necessary driving like grocery shopping, and all that free time for exercise disappeared.  Before we started the trans-metro commute for 9th grade we  had 8 hours worth of mandatory driving commitments each week.  After our numbers went up to somewhere around 20 hours a week.  That is a part-time job! So I should not be surprised that exercise slipped.

But driving aside, there were other things I learned from the accountability blog.

2.  Novelty is important but so is routine.  I get bored easily, but on the other hand, it is mentally exhausting to try to always come up with something new to try.  Sometimes routine can be a friend to lean on.  It makes things happen that otherwise wouldn't.  For me, a balance of 3-5 routine days and 2-3 novel days would probably work best.

3.  Including the kids is good, but I really couldn't meet my exercise needs if I always included them. Something ling 50/50 or 40/60 or even 30/70 would be much better.  Most of the time they were up for doing whatever I suggested, but I often couldn't get the vigorous exercise I needed while also looking after them.

4.  The observer affect is strong in the blogosphere.  I found that (even though NO ONE was reading my blog) I chose activities differently because I was documenting them.  Photogenic activities got the green light whereas things without equipment or pretty views did not.  This was exacerbated by the fact that I was trying to take a representative picture for every day without photographing my kids' faces or my body.

5. Goals are important.  I am a goal oriented person.  I have been very frustrated with 'weight loss' goals ( I could write a book on that but I won't).  Therefore I thought it would be better to totally take the focus off of results and zoom in on the process.  I won't lie--it still felt more than a little aimless.  The endless daily goal was not doing it for me.  However, I've noticed I do well with event goals--like a ski race, triathlon, big bike rides, etc.