Summertide Daybook

For today… Thursday, August 13, 2009

Outside my window… another sunny, humid day looms before us….August….sigh. It is challenging for me to find something to cheerful to say about August – it’s just so.darn.hot. Our birds are enjoying the cool pond and water baths to splash in…and we’ve enjoyed spotting our little blue tailed skink friends around the gardens! I *am* excited that our little dwarf apple tree is laden with apples. They’re almost ready for picking! What a lovely teatime treat they’ll make!

I am thankful for… Netflix! Really! We’ve been watching 3 different versions of Little Women (1939, 1949, 1994) to accompany our literature selections. What a delight! Next up in the queue are several docu-dramas on the life of Queen Victoria. In addition, there are so many natural history programs, history documentaries (we just watched one on Greece that was interesting), educational programs, and science programs. It’s also amazingly helpful in living the liturgical year and deepening faith studies – many of the great independent Leonardo deFilipis films are available there as well as all the Steve Ray, Footprints of God series!! Netflix can be a very helpful supporting role in an educational curriculum!

From the kitchen… tonight, I fear is as yet, a mystery. I’m tired of my early summer menus and am putting some sincere thought and effort into a late summer menu that will take us to early Autumn. Autumn is when my kitchen begins to sing again…how I love cooking when the weather has that hint of crispness…apples are fresh…wonderful fall breads…delightful hearty, rich roasts…I could go on. But, I digress…I’m going to come up with a menu that moves us through summer with some inspiration in the kitchen.

I **am** thoroughly excited about a local buying club I joined that carries ALL the organic products I use!!! What a find! Great prices! Buying in bulk! None of the hassles of a yearly co-op fee, or work obligation!! And, all of the shopping done from the comfort of the couch on my handy-dandy little laptop!!! I’m eager to build my pantry staples and stock in this way! BLISS!

I am wearing… a blue floral knit skirt from Coldwater Creek, a light blue 3/4 sleeve knit shirt, my hair up in a pony tail…and bare feet. 🙂 I haven’t grabbed my apron for the day yet…but I’m thinking the vintage one with alternating panels of cream and blue with roses.

I am reading… Home Education, The Original Home Schooling Series, Volume I, by Charlotte Mason. I just started this volume. I’m going to relax my way through re-reading all of the ideas and thoughts that originally inspired me in this homeschooling journey. I’ve already finished some lighter reads.

I am hearing… the boys play upstairs with their Legos. Both girls are still asleep. We’ve been keeping late hours lately and it has affected everyone’s normal waking time. It’s time to settle back into our normal bedtime habits and routines!

Looking to the rhythm of the liturgical year… this has been a packed week so far. We’re looking so forward to celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary this Saturday! We’re planning a blueberry tea which we’ve never done before and I’m thrilled to try! I’ll read a little from the teatime chat found in Meredith’s new book, Mondays With Mary, and we’ll probably also read Tomie de Paola’s Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Jessica has some extraordinary and very thoughtfully put together ideas over at Shower of Roses – if you haven’t made plans yet, stop by! You’ll be inspired!

In our learning spaces… we’ve had some fun this week working on abstract art creations and also decorating our family feast table for the Feast of the Assumption. Sparkly is mesmerized by Archimedes, and has been enjoying duplicating the many experiments he reads about in Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick. Yesterday, he volunteered my entire container of rubbing alchohol in order for his dad to demonstrate density. How could I say no? Sweet Pea is completely enamored with her Sunflower Basket of work. And, it has been such a lovely month to watch unfold. I’ve watched her joy spill over as she really digs into a focused study of natural history, sketching, investigating, observing, making discoveries of her own…all of this side by side some amazing literature that never fails to light up the imagination! Peanut continues to explore the alphabet. Yesterday, he wrote a letter “M” and announced, “look mommy, a letter ‘M’!” I couldn’t believe it! And Princess Doodlebug? She is happily investigating everything! 🙂

And, I finally got back to the library here! I really didn’t like our library for many years. 🙁 They never had anything we were using, never had any of the picture books I wanted to read, but they did have 7 copies of Farley Farts. Why? But, I went on Monday in the hopes that we could begin a bi-monthly library day just to try again as my children are voracious readers…and many changes had been made. I was delightfully shoving book after book into my bag! Juvenile non-fiction had been greatly improved and we came home with a shocking number of books we have already started digging into! Ahhh….the library again!

Around the house… I still have a project to undertake in dealing with outgrown and stored children’s clothes. The attics are all a mess here and August is no time to undertake that one, but I’ll need to find some interim storage solution…along with the motivation to tackle this in the fall. I do need to tidy up my closet which is large enough to become a dumping ground for just about anything. sigh. Such a mis-use of real estate. I so wish I had that space in, oh say, the utility room where I practically live!! But, I shall be content. I shall be content!

I will claim a moment for myself… I need to get back to the aforementioned Netflix and pop a movie for Rob and I in the queue for a date night! Oh! And, I’d hoped to start a market and thrift store day on Saturdays with my oldest. That’s not really by myself, but it will be delightful to spend time with my oldest daughter in this way.

A few plans for the rest of the week… I’ve got to get to that closet of mine! And, then I don’t want to tell you how woefully long I’ve been putting off ironing. blech! But, (she says squaring her shoulders as if for battle) it must be done! We have dinner plans at some friends this weekend, they’re actually like Rob’s second parents. And, I’m hoping if the weather’s not too hot and oppressive we can get out to Rob’s folks and stomp around a bit. All the passion flowers are abloom and they are just gorgeous!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing…

Sweet Pea and Sparkly have been using the microscope quite a bit lately! One of our most exciting finds was a Praying Mantis molting in the front gardens. After he left his shell, we brought it in and the kids looked at it under the microscope. Sparkly was so excited because he could see all the little hexagons that form the eye covering of the Mantis! How exciting to see it and not just read about it in a book!

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