Chatterings

I can't believe it is the end of April already.  (I haven't even changed my chalkboard from Easter!)  I don't know what I've been doing with myself.  Not much of anything.  I do a lot of wandering, I know that.  Wandering to the narcissus to pick those lovelies.  Wandering around the flower circle to see what is coming out of hiding.  Other than that, I am not so sure.  I know I've been busy.  I DO things.  I just don't remember what those things are after they are done, I suppose.

We had strawberries the other night.  A huge container of beautiful berries, calling my name.  Oh my- were they so so soooooooooo good.  And so pretty on the plates.  Like rubies.   This is what abstinence does- even grocery store strawberries out of season can taste like the best strawberries ever eaten.  Another night we had roasted squash and brussel sprouts.  We still have quite a bit of squash in the cellar and I need to use them up quick.  I think brussel sprouts may be one of my most favorite vegetables...and my children love them too.  We splash a bit of vinegar on them when they are boiled but roasted, they only need a fork.  (And sometimes, not that.)

Now that the biggles are more...big... I haven't had to bake cookies in a long time.  They do it for me. How's that for handy?  In fact, I am thinking I should put each of them in charge of one night of dinner a week and give myself a break for a change!  Wouldn't that be something?  Two blissful nights of not cooking?   Each week?  I don't know if it will happen but...I'm certainly considering it.  

Maybe we should start...tonight?

Clearing the Circle

It was time to clear out the dead stalks from the flower circle.  The day was warm and I was in need of a pick-me-up.  Sunshine does that for me.  So does the discovery of tender green shoots underneath all the dead and brown.  Little baby plants beginning to grow lifts my spirits in a big way!  

The children were told to take the dead stuff to pile it up elsewhere. Adele', the little wisp, took right to the work.  It was funny to see her little body pushing the enormous wheelbarrow.  

The big kids enlisted the help of Skeeter and I don't think he was too pleased about it. 

It won't be long before FLOWERS!  

Yarn Along

I had a serious letdown on the bonnet this week.  The diamond motif (in between flowers) wasn't looking right to me and then I made the horrible realization that I repeated the pattern every 16 stitches like the diagram appeared without noticing the little note underneath that said to repeat the 14 middle stitches.  ACK!!!

DOUBLE ACK!!!

I am not good at fixing mistakes... what if I can't get those stitches all back on correctly??!    Plus, it is really disheartening to undo all those rows I so excitedly knit this week.  It makes me sick to think about it.  I was so proud!  But, if I continue on as I have been and ignore the problem, well, when it is finished I bet that weird non-diamond will bug me to no end.  

Major bummer.

Not sure if I have it in me to rip it out yet.  

I'm still chugging along on the book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen.  It isn't that it isn't a great (and captivating) read...it just seems I am too tired to pick it up by bedtime.  I have to chug a little faster... it is due back to the library May 4th with no more renewals allowed.  That should do some motivating...

Two Weeks

Two weeks ago, the children and I walked in the snowy woods, hoping for a glimpse of something (ANYTHING) green.  Springtime woods are filled with such glorious light- eerie and misty, the moss tinging everything with a sort of glowing green haze.  Andrew made a hat shop for any fairies passing through.  I wished I were a fairy, it looked very fancy.  Like a fairy hat shop should be.

This week, we saw the crocuses holding tight to their tender stalks while winds whipped.  Glorious lavender with orange smiles, swaying laughingly at the wind.  We saw swollen buds of narcissus and spikes of green and then, voila!  A blossom of sunshine brought by way of a boy...Son-shine.

We ate our first food on the grill last night and I don't think I have tasted anything so good before.  I could have made triple the amount of grilled vegetables and still they would have disappeared.  As tiring as zucchini eventually become when they grow into pluck-able food overnight; in the beginning stretches of spring- after a whole winter without- they are divine.

I have begun the annual clothing-switch over.  Adele' is my sidekick with this job.  It is one of her most favorite things to do...ever.  That girl is a clothes horse.  For my children, the clothing switch-over is akin to a monumental shopping spree.  And yet, 99.4% of all the clothing are cast-offs from kind friends and children outgrown.

My house is kind of a wreck today.  I managed to bring in all the 'new stuff' but haven't managed to get it in its' proper places and take away the 'old stuff'.  That is what I will be doing this afternoon.  I hope nobody stops by unexpectedly... but they probably will.

I will say, after last years' Granary Project, the clothing switch is a much more pleasant task to do!   No rickety Granary stairs to climb with teetering, heavy bins.  So glad to have gotten that done last year!

My resolution for this year is to downsize the bins of clothes and storage and, after having spent some time going through bins this weekend, I think it may be harder to do than originally planned.  Every shirt, every dress, every blanket seems to have some sort of memory etched into it and I know it will be hard to pass them along.  And yet- we have entirely too much.  It must be done.  As unpleasant a task as it can be in the beginning, next time I have to do the annual clothing switch-over, I think I will be just as grateful for having done it just as I am now about last years' goal.