The first month of the year comes to a close today.  Tomorrow begins February.  According to  The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady:

“In February, if thou hearest thunder,”
Thou shalt see a summer wonder.

What will February bring?  Tell me, do you keep a daily journal, with neat little notations of the weather and nature events around you?

Just look at the daffodils pushing their way up through the frostbitten ground.  It is a promise to me that winter won’t last forever. 

Little bits of green give the heart reason to sing on cold winter walks.

One of my old gardening books (first published in 1787) is The Gardener’s Calender for South-Carolina, Georgia and North-Carolina.  According to this book, February is a month in which there is much to do. 

Plant slips of rosemary, rue, wormwood, and lavender; let these be planted in a shady border six inches asunder; they will take root freely if you observe to water them in dry weather: they may be transplanted into more open situations about October, when they will be strong and well rooted.

There’s even much to do in the kitchen garden, as pertains to food. 

Plant beans of any kind; for all sorts will succeed from this planting.

This is still a proper season for the windsor, toker, and alo the long pod bean, which is a very great bearer.

 
When my work is done this evening, I’m planning a trip to Home Depot to pore over the seed packets and see what I can find. I want to work my yard into a place to start seeds with shelter and then move to a more permanent location later.  My yard needs much revision. 

What would life be without some work to look forward to?

Lynn

Today was stressful.  So I ended the day in the garden.  I had major errands to run — van inspection, medications to pick up, a book for school that had to be picked up.  The latter two errands took me on an out-of-town trip.  Basically, the day was “shot” as far as any productive school work that I could be directly involved in.  Some days are like that. 

I was in the midst of a million thoughts when I finally arrived home.  Do I start supper?  Do I start cleaning house before I have to be at my work desk tomorrow?  Do we try to get some more formal lessons done than what they did on their own today?  Or do I just lie down and take a nap?!

I almost opted for the nap.  Almost.

But none of the above.  I put on my gardening overalls and went outside for half an hour to clear my mind.

Bed #4, before:

Bed #4, after:

Old, dead growth from last year removed.  A layer of mulch placed.  By the end of February there’ll be daffodils all in this bed.  They usually bloom around the first week in March. 

You know where I went today while I was out, right? 

Goodwill. 

And why not.  The day was consumed anyway, and believe me I needed a mental health break.  I found a Mario Lanza album in near-mint condition.   Hubby and I listened to it this evening while sitting and trying to hold our eyes open.  One of our old-age pasttimes.

Michele, I couldn’t help but think of you.  I found a lovely, medium-size bowl — old and shabby chic, to put my Q and A cards in!

Lynn

Chris asked about my framed print in the previous post.  It’s this:

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, c.1932 Buy From Art.com

Doesn’t it just make your hands sweat?

Lynn

Who knew Polonius was so wise?  (But I bet he’s nosy, too.)  And actually, of course, it would be Shakespeare who was the wise one, seeing how Polonius was a creation of his mind, in his play, Hamlet.   

Polonius gave some grand advice to his son Laertes.  Really grand. 

• Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel, but do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each new-hatched, unfledged courage.
• Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
• Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls th’ edge of husbandry.

And did you know it was Polonius who said “to thine own self be true?”

In addition, I guess it shouldn’t shock any of us that even way, way, way back then there were people who couldn’t seem to live within their means:  “Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy…”

Go to!

Can anyone enlighten me as to what this little phrase — go to — really means? 

When Polonius is speaking to Ophelia, commanding that she make herself less available to Lord Hamlet, she answers him:

“My lord, he hath importuned me with love In honorable fashion.”

Polonius seems about ready to blow a gasket over Ophelia’s lack of understanding concerning Hamlet’s advances, and he says:

“Ay, fashion you may call it. Go to, go to.”

In Genesis 11:3 we noticed that “they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick…” when they were planning the tower of Babel. 

I am wondering exactly what “go to” means.  It’s obviously not a phrase we use now.  Joseph felt like it means just to go about your business.  It makes me think of the phrase used today, “hold up,” as in when you want someone to stop and think about something.  Go to, makes me think “let your mind go to this” or “think about this.”  Joseph is probably right.

Anyway, just one of the joys of reading Shakespeare.  Great word debates.

On a frugal, musical note, Princess of the Universe and I are continuing to work on piano lesson here at home with our keyboard and some really good books I found at the thrift store.  I wish I had time to work with her daily, but alas that has not worked out for us so far.  I keep thinking I should make it a higher priority, but there are a dozen other things that I feel that way about and they all take turns occupying the front of my mind. 

I wonder what Shakespeare would say?

Lynn

Maybe it’s just me, but is there anything more precious than a little girl in a dress with her hair put up, with soft little baby wisps hanging down around her neck?

Princess of the Universe had to read about Apollo and Daphne yesterday.  (Yes, we did revisit Ovid and Greek Mythology, in hopes that the information is retained.)  She then had to do one drawing to illustrate what happens in the story.  Poor Daphne, turned into a laurel tree!

I can assure you that none of us are great artists here – at least not yet, but it was most delightful to see Miss Priss and Big Joe comparing notes on how they sketch trees. 

Yours is better.

No, yours.

Yesterday really flew by.  How do my days off do that?  Between school work and appointments and getting supper ready, before I know it bedtime has rolled around.

But suppertime brought around a situation that I love. 

Frugality.  One of the things I love about planning menus for the week and following through with eveything is that it’s usually only one or two meals into the week before there are enough leftovers to make something like soup or a casserole and thus saving one of the planned meals for the next night.

Last night we had homemade vegetable soup with cabbage, crushed tomatoes, the leftover butter peas and pork tenderloin (finely cut up) and corn.  We spiced it up with some thyme, Italian seasoning, ground pepper and sea salt.  Then Princess of the Universe made little cornbread pancakes in the iron skillet to go with the soup.

Hubby says that cornbread pancakes are a poor man’s food, but we think they are a rich man’s food.

Actually, Miss Priss was quite domestic all day long.  I figured there were visions of dollar bills floating around in her mind, and I was right.  She washed the windows and mirrors in several rooms and then swept and mopped the kitchen floor. 

At one point she came to me explaining that she had hurt her finger.  “But, mommy,” she said, “there’s no need for you to cry.  My cleaning service does accept tips.”

I gave her a dollar and two quarters. 

We continued reading Hamlet yesterday, and finally the story is beginning to take form in our minds.  It took a couple of scenes for things to make sense, but now we are getting into it. 

We are stumbling over some of the words, but have found ourselves amazed at the richness of the language and Shakespeare’s way with words.  It’s a worthwhile project.

One last thing.  I’ve entered into a pact with my FIAR girlfriends to get on the the exercise wagon again and do my Pilates at least three times a week.  More on that later.

Lynn

This was first shared on a homeschool message board I frequent.   I wanted to put it here too.  It’s amazing!  And worth watching.

Here’s Willard Wigan’s website.

Lynn

Well, we did do more than narration yesterday, but I was especially pleased with how well Princess of the Universe retained information from her copywork yesterday.  Her assignment was the first five stanzas of my poem, Asia.  First of all, I was pleased that she liked the poem (without realizing who wrote it) and found it playful, just as it was intended to be.  Hey, I realize the poem is not a great masterpiece, of course, but the point was to have something fun to write while, hopefully, retaining some facts about Asia.  And I think it worked! 

Me:  What country is at the top of Asia?

Princess of the Universe:  Russia.

And so it went until we she had told me all about the first five stanzas.  Today it’s five more, with review, and over the course of the week I hope she’ll memorize all the “stans” that lie in Central Asia.

I made a little button for our sidebar this morning.  It’s 225 pixels wide, so it may not be a fit for everyone, but feel free to use it if you want.

Enough of that. 

On a GaRdEnInG note…

I took a walk during my lunch break and spent a few minutes outside.  What did I see?

I sat under a pretty tree, and looked up.

\
I got down on the ground to closely inspect the plants in one of my beds.  Do YOU see the little purple dot hidden in the foliage?  YES, THAT’S A BLOOM!  This plant is a fairly early bloomer.  Of course I don’t want it blooming too early, but my heart is singing!

The two littlest kitties, who still are not named by the way, (what’s wrong with us?) were hanging out in the garden.  They have to go to the vet soon. 

While crawling around, I found this cocoon.  I am assuming it is something that has overwintered.  I know that our black swallowtail will do that sometimes, but I don’t remember their cocoons being this color.  Is there anyone who can identify this?  Anyway, I took a picture and moved on, but I’ll be watching this closely.

I hope your week is going well.  I cannot complain.  Other than a few appointments over the next three days, our school week looks totally promising.  As does the winter garden. 

Lynn

Today is a work day for me, but alas it’s also a Monday and hence the beginning of a new school week, whether I work or not!  I’ve got most of the lesson plans written out, all of them thought out, and my planner is full of our menus for this week.

On Saturday I took my lunch break in the garden.  A glorious half-hour with Princess of the Universe close by.

In spite of the cold, there are some things that stay green year-round. (Green plants in winter, where would I be without you?) I got down on the ground and simply admired the green.

I also took a few minutes to clean out my mosaic birdbaths. Saturday was warm enough to fill them up with water and it was so pretty! Spring, where are you?

Yes, I’m still dreaming of spring and all the blooms that are sleeping.

Repeat. 

They are only sleeping.

In the meantime, gardening books and catalogs will do, as I plan the changes I would like to make for 2009.

So, Michele, I did make my way by the thrift store for a few minutes on an errand this weekend.   I found a beautiful Ralph Lauren duvet cover that will make some perfectly-shabby-chic curtains for Michaela’s room.  She wants her room painted green — wanted that from the start, so we are going to paint soon.  She will love it!  Do you like the fabric? 

Well, I better get to my work desk.  I don’t really want to, but I’m very thankful to have a job at home. 

Oh!  The menus for this week.  I found some great meats on sale for this week and put them in the freezer.  Planning makes like so much easier!

Monday – peppercorn, garlic pork tenderloin in the large crockpot, butter peas in the small crockpot, pasta and a tiny bit of cheese (just a tiny bit), chocolate chip muffins 

Tuesday – porkchops in the large crockpot with a new steaksauce I want to try, sweet potato casserole, cooked cabbage

Wednesday – browned ground deer with beans in the crockpot and the fixin’s to make tortillas

Thursday - Chicken and dumplings, apple sauce

Friday – London broil in the large crockpot, black-eyed peas in the small crockpot, apple sauce

I’m thankful to have food.

Have a lovely Monday! Enjoy this day.
Lynn

Last night I searched for copywork for Princess of the Universe in connection with Asia.  (We hope to finish up Grass Sandals: The Travels of Bashothis week.)  I found nothing like what I had in mind.  So I wrote a poem for her to copy this week.  I’ll share it with you, just in case you would like to use it as well, or in case you see something that doesn’t quite fit and we can improve it somewhat. 

Asia

Asia, large continent that you are,
you are the largest continent by far.

Russia is the hat you wear.
You walk right into Europe there.

Central Asia — grassy lands –
is filled with many different “stans.”

Mongolia comes along beside
with more grassland and desert dry.

The steppe in central Asia serves
as home to grazing animal herds.

Round south and east, bleak mountains rise;
within there, central Asia lies.

East Asia! You’ll find China there,
and more live there than anywhere!

East China Sea, her waters hold
South Korea who juts out bold.

A volcanic island is Japan,
and this is where Mt. Fuji stands.

Another jewel in Asia’s crown
is India, living farther down.

The “Indian subcontinent,” rightly named;
for varied religions she is famed.

India has Muslim Taj Mahal,
yet Hindus thrive in nearby Nepal.

Now, only a few places more.
On mainland southeast Asia’s shore

five countries all of fertile soil
where elephants and water buffaloes toil.

Burma and Thailand on the left-hand.
The right? Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Beyond the shore, more out to sea,
a bit more of Asia there will be.

Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia,
And now you’ve learned a lot of Asia!

Lynn

I am keeping the tabletop scarely decorated on purpose.  I will rotate books as the days pass.  The main book will stay up with pages turned  one by one and we will take it down and read from it together. 

As I plan our copywork passages for the upcoming week, I am torn: will it all relate to Japan?  Or will it be a mix of Japan and Ovid to tie in with our trip to Ackland?  I don’t want to confuse, but I trust my children can handle a mix, especially if we are placing items on the timeline and doing plenty of talking about things.

Isn’t this tabletop screen absolutely lovely?  My mother found it at the thrift store for Joseph.  She knows he is studying Japanese and wants to visit Japan.  Joseph is garnering quite the collection of Asian-style apartment or home decor!

Lastly, I love Michele’s milk bucket review idea of using index cards to write questions and answers on throughout the week and then calling them out later for review.  I have written down our first question and answer regarding Japan.  Michele, I need to come up with something creative — like a milk bucket — to keep our questions in!  I’ll be sure and show you!

Lynn

PS – Just as a reminder, Miss Priss continues to study Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho and my Joseph is just a lover of all things Japanese.