Autumn Days: 4

Berries everywhere!

A Sprightly Kind of Play

My favorite place to take the kids in the afternoon is the top of Mount Tabor-- a park on the east end of town. It is a short uphill walk from the parking area to the green space where we plant ourselves for a couple of hours at a time. There is nothing particularly spectacular about the spot (although there is statue of a bronze Harvey)--the views are pretty but not breathtaking--but there is some kind of magic up there. I am sure of it. The worlds that Norah imagines on top of this mountain leave me with no words. She is pictured here with two leaves--birds for her. Her birds flew and ate and danced and flew some more with Harvey in tow all the while. A true wonder to behold. If only my own imagination was still that alive...

Autumn Days: 3

The colors are so vivid right now. Spectacular.

Autumn Days: 2

I was taking a walk with Norah and Stormy a couple of afternoons ago and came across an apple tree in full bloom--fruit dropping off of it and everything. In some weird way, it seemed hysterical to me that there was an apple tree with apples on it growing in a neighbor's backyard. It was as if I was walking around in some cliched postmodern world. Brian described a similar feeling last Saturday at the farmer's market--he said that it was as if people were enjoying the event not for the sake of the event but rather for their presence at the event. Too much self-awareness and not enough authenticity. Gosh, it is late and I don't know where I am going here. In any case, this apple is pretty.

Making Play Dough!

A good friend of mine reminded me of the wonders of play dough and children this morning (honestly, the only real memory I have of the stuff outside from making spaghetti with a plastic contraption is eating it, and eating a lot of it, but that is another tory...). So, with an empty afternoon on our hands, we headed to the store for our ingredients and then embarked on our mission.

I found the recipe for homemade play dough here. The whole process took less than 30 minutes, and, as it turned out, the making of it was more fun than the playing with it. Harvey spent most of his time throwing the final product on the floor and Norah spent her time shrieking with frustration at Harvey for throwing it on the floor. Ahhhh... all in a day's work.

Autumn Days: 1

I have spent some time outdoors in the past few days trying to capture the turning of the seasons with my camera. Stormy, Norah, and I take pretty regular evening walks and evidence of Autumn is literally all around us. Amanda Soule's Days of Summer has inspired me to post 30 days in pictures of this enrapturing season.

September Crafting

We are getting ready for colder weather and, with that, the holidays around these parts. September was a rather productive month for me in this department. I have been more comfortable recently with working on projects while I am with the kids these days, rather than just burning the midnight oil on them. In fact, I have discovered that there is something really nice about making things with my hands while my kids are around. Something simple and calm both for me and for them.

One fruit of my labor is this felt colored pencil holder, a project from The Creative Family. I made it out of 100% wool felt which was really nice to work with. For the outside, I simply sewed some pretty buttons on randomly and the inside simply consists of 15 or so little slots for our colored pencils.

























I also made these tiny slippers for old Hoiyo so that his tootsies can stay warm when he is around the house. The poor baby gets the coldest bluest feet so problem solved, hopefully. I am particulary impressed with these because they are made out of felted sweater wool and scraps of old yarn. No purchases required. I feel like a regular homesteader.