Thomas is settled in at home again.  I picked him up this morning.  Hopefully this will be a successful go at a full recovery.

From yesterday:  Michaela has her own garden plot with — so far — carrots, peas, turnip greens, spinach, and cat grass.  Some time this week we’ll plan radishes.

Have a lovely Wednesday.  Today will  be a day of getting life as we knew it back on track.

Yeah, this is just a casserole of announcements and updates. 

First of all, my husband, Thomas, is back in the hospital after finally coming home yesterday.  Things are not progressing like they should.  For now it’s IV fluids only (again) and and nothing by mouth.  I hope he’s better soon.  W’e're all very worried about him here.   Thank you so much for all the well wishes and kind words. 

Spring is certainly in the air here today, with the daffodils finally beginning to bloom and, believe me, I can use it today. 

Even some tulips are pushing through the ground.  These were newly planted last year, so I can’t wait to see how pretty they are once they bloom!

And let’s not forget the humble “weeds,” which make me just as happy as all of the highly cultivated, nursery-bought plants. 

On a more serious note, my professional name-picker is ready with her hat to draw a name out for the St. Patrick’s Day pin!  I am truly sorry that I’m so late in doing this.  Things just sort of fell to pieces last week, but we’re still in plenty of time to keep one lucky person from getting pinched!

Here is the very pin we speak of.  Are you ready?

Reaching into the hat, she pulls out a name.

And unfolds the paper.

She reads the name.

And turns it to the camera.  Valerie!  Yaay!!!  Valerie, if you want to e-mail me (lynn -at- thehealthyhomeschool.com) or send me a mssg on facebook or just any ol’ way, I’ll get your address and send it off to you ASAP. 

Have a lovely day, everyone.  I’ll post when I can.

Dear Readers,

Perhaps I sounded sad yesterday?  Forgive me.  I had to ramble a bit, because in truth it is hard to switch from homeschooling-mom-artist mode to working-woman-trying-to-do-it-all mode.   In fact, I am just fine, and very appreciative of my job at home.  There are a lot of things I don’t have to do, like homeschool Michaela and paint and garden, but the things I choose to do bring me great joy, so I press on.     

I thought I’d pop in and share a bright hello and brief details about what’s brewing over here at the old 1921  house.

Working on…

more pins for the Etsy shop

and a new painting.

Lessons for a co-op I’ll be co-teaching this week on Mailing May.

In The Garden…

the weather is chilly and gray — a good day to stay inside and do all the things I’m doing.

I continue to take joy in the garden’s structure and the bits of color that carry me through winter. 

Spring is trying her best to make an entrance, and I do delight in the few little flowers that are present in the garden now.   The crocuses are tiny, beautiful, and yet so durable.

Taking care of me…

is vanilla rice milk + frozen strawberries + banana + 365 Whole Foods chocolate whey protein = yummy fruit smoothie.

Wearing…

messy renaissance braid

and my favorite (you’ve seen it before) corduroy skirt, two white shirts – layered, and an old apron.  I’ve a lot of cleaning to do today, as well as cooking and errands, all in addition to the fun stuff I’ve shared.  It’ll be a busy few days off, but I’m not happy any other way. 

Want to be inspired?  I took a cyber trip to my friend Louise’s blog, Pink Gate, and it was like going to fairyland.  One look at her fairy slippers had me hovering around my craft area wondering what to start on next.

I’ve recently taken some old sheet music and “papered” the walls behind my craft supply shelf.   A few Boggle letters from The Scrap Exchange keep me inspired to CREATE.

I’ll soon begin working on handmade gift tags like I made last year.  They were a big hit with family.  I may also make a few extras to sell this year. 

Little pieces of this and that — like cotton picked on a recent fieldtrip and dried rosebuds from the garden — fill old jars on the craft shelf.  Such things inspire.  The thousand stories a piece of cotton can tell unfold in scraps of paper, a brush saturated with decoupage and a large canvas. 

Colors and patterns inspire.  Prang pencils give rise to flowers and bunnies, scissors cut out strings of paper ladies, watercolors make cards for friends and family. 

Any scrap of paper with something pretty on it gets stored for later use and it’s fun to just go through the bits I’ve saved.  How many times have I organized and sat pondering over the Victorian angels, lacy hearts, and fancy letters tucked away for just the right project?

It’s time to bring out brightly-colored, wintery, holiday things.  Though we don’t do a Christmas tree, I must admit that I love a bright ornament here and there — just for the beauty of it, and I love a winter walk to bring in woodsy-smelling pine boughs for the mantle or cedar and holly for a jar or wreath.

What are you creating this winter?  I am working on homemade cards, some decoupage projects, bookmarks (always), and a gift box or two.  What lovely things are you making?  Do tell.

Lynn

There was one other time that I felt like I really helped a creature.  Most of the time when we interfere with nature, I’m afraid we do more harm than good, but sometimes you just have to help.

I saw it struggling from the front porch: a huge praying mantis caught in a mass of webs on one of the boxwoods. Its legs were going every which way and I quickly walked down the steps to see exactly what it was that was caught.  It was so large, it was only a split-second before I realized it was a huge praying mantis.  (I seem to have a lot of those in my little garden.)

I extended not my hand, but my goldfish pond net to let the praying mantis hang onto something other than web.  It gladly accepted and I moved it to the gardenia.  I reached out gently with my hand and the praying mantis stood still, letting me carefully pull strand after strand of web off its tangled-up front legs.

Michaela came out and watched for a little while.  It was quite a sight. Finally, after most all of the web was removed, I went inside.  When I went back later the praying mantis was gone. Thus ended another Little Garden Adventure.

Lynn

I’ll be taking a break from my blog for a few days.  Just wanted to let you know. 

Lynn

I was thinking yesterday about being happy with little things.  And doing little things to make others happy.  Smiling, even when you don’t feel like it, is a wonderful thing.  It may help someone in ways you will never know.

It’s the little things in my garden that make me so happy. My garden is not large by any means and it is certainly not formal, but God can create in the tiniest flower a message fit for a king.

The delicate rosemary bloom makes me think of everything from remembering to kiss my husband goodbye in the mornings, to Cinderella’s glass slippers.

A beautiful Japanese maiden bows her head, arms out to her sides, showing off her exquisite kimono.  Do you see her?

When life seems unbalanced, a little time outside always helps me re-focus.

Little creatures go about their business, doing what God put in them to do. We’ve often had discussions here about animals doing what they were intended to do, following the instincts placed in them from the beginning.  Man, on the other hand?  We do have the gift of free will, but I know at least for myself I am very prone to wandering off course and getting my own ideas about things.

Sometimes just a tiny little thing can bring me back, like the frailty of a bug in a wide-open yard or a bird in a nest in the tallest tree.  Life at best is a brief walk through one tiny portion of an expanse of centuries.  Makes me feel really small and like I better do the best with what I have. 

Happy Tuesday,
Lynn

Little by little, the colors of fall are creeping into the garden.

Recently covered porch chairs blend in with the emerging golds and reds of the garden.  The cats love to sit on these chairs too. Hopefully this fabric will hold up for at least a few months before another bright pattern takes its place.

I sat on the porch this morning reading my bible, drinking my tea and watching the cats play. Oreo is a little over a year old.  Cookie is a few months younger.  They play like kittens.

Cookie crawls under a rug, makes a special type of meow that says come and get me, and Oreo comes running.

Oreo pounces on the rug, plays for a tiny minute then runs away.

Cookie waits.  And waits.  Where did Oreo go?

I take my tea and stroll down into the garden to look for creatures. Spiders are plentiful this time of year. The large boxwoods (I wonder how old they are) fill up with webs that look like large waves on the sea, and in each one sits a spider.

Just like the changing colors, these spiders mark the beginning of fall here.  Yes, we still have some hot days to come, but the wheels that will turn the page to the next chapter, autumn, have been set in motion.

Goldenrod arches out over the goldfish pond, and I know that it won’t be long before the asters and my Clara Curtis mums begin to bloom. 

The knitting came out this week, partly because I’ve been a bit nervous (I must confess, and I don’t know why — too much to do?) and I needed something to relax my mind, and partly because it’s just getting to be that time of year. I’m not a knitter, really.  Not yet.  I am learning from a book that I have. I want so much to be able to knit. This first little sample will be a blanket for the doll house. 

The colors are so pretty. I could frame this and look at it every day for awhile I think.

I look at the morning glory and then at my knitting. This little blanket will be our “morning glory blanket.” Princess of the Universe must tell it to the dolls.

Today is a work day for me, but I know that I must not complain. I am so very fortunate to have a job that allows me to be at home, with full benefits and good pay, working only three days a week. When I think of all that it makes possible for our family, I try to do my work with joy.

The greenhouse/potting shed is being worked on today. My sweet Thomas told me that after today it will really look like something! I can’t wait to share pictures. I am envisioning flats of lettuce growing under a bright clear roof, sprouts, winter greens, hardy flowers, and who knows what else.  Be still my heart.

Happy Saturday,

Lynn

One of Michaela’s narration assignments today was this:  Choose any one of the fairies we have talked about from The Fairy-Land of Science and draw me a picture of what you think she looks like.

This is the completed assignment and I absolutely love it.  I asked her which fairy this is, but I shouldn’t have had to ask. The shield on her chest is a snowflake. (Of course, six sides!) Her cheeks are rosy because it’s so cold.  Her wand is tipped with ice and represents the power that she has in nature.  That’s a snowball on her crown and the smaller snowballs have upsidedown icicles on them.  I think she was paying attention to the story.    Did you notice that fairy Crystallization is able to wear flip-flops in the snow?

One of her assignments for tomorrow (her boxes are all full and ready to go) is to look at this picture and tell me how it makes her feel, and she can do this by writing or by drawing at her easel.  I’m anxious to see what she chooses.  I’ll let you know.

I’m liking that the paintings from our artist study for this term are in the noteook in covers. At this point I am introducing one at a time with an assignment.

Lynn

Day before yesterday I was doing a quick clean-up of the house.  I was vacuuming (or as my oldest used to say when he was little “backingume”).  Anyhoo, I can get sort of into my own world and also in a “mood” while I’m cleaning.  I looked up to see Daniel, now 21, saying over the noise, ”TURN THAT OFF.”

Couldn’t he see I was backingume?!!!  I mean, really.

So I cut the vacuum cleaner off and said in an irritated tone sweetly, “Yes?’

My sweet boy said, “Mom, I know how you love plants and I’ve been seeing this plant down by the river when I fish and I thought you might like a look at it. He’d brought me a branch of this:

Would you just LOOK at those red thorns?  What is this? I wondered.  Some of the thorns were every bit of 2 inches long and the large thorns had little side thorns coming off of them.

I was so impressed that he knew I’d want to see this amazing plant. He also knew I’d likely not make it down to the river to fish anytime soon. 

I had not  a clue as to what this might be.  I’d never seen anything like it.  Of course, Hubby knew right away.  “Yellow locust,” he said.  “Well some type of locust.”

I researched.  He’s right.  It is a locust tree.  I’d hate to have to climb one!

Lynn