Joy From India to Iowa

Any time I could have been writing, has been spent instead, listening, to an incredible interview found in this book, between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu; The Book of Joy. It has been profoundly peace-giving and inspiring, a life-changer. So much wisdom, love, joy and compassion are exchanged and offered from these two venerable, elderly men who have seen tragedy, loss, and despair, and come through it with a sense of wonder (and humor) still intact. I listened to it on audio, and it was an incredible experience, (I listened to it twice, as did my husband, who recommended it), but I will get a paper copy to return to as well. 

I am glad that this book was in my life, because the last three weeks have been mostly alone; Thierry has been to India and Germany, and back again to Germany. A shot of a festival he attended, from his cell phone camera:

That same night, Gael woke up sometime in the wee hours with a high fever, sore throat, sore ears...everything ached. The previous day had been busy; homecoming for Valentine, on the left:

This meant an afternoon of preparation, which, thankfully, was beautifully accomplished by her older sister and her friend, the super-talented Michaela. My dining room table, with the extra leaf pulled out, was taken over by beauty supplies. I have never seen such a spread.

Knitting and Books: An EZ Jacket and the Law

What a week, and it's only Wednesday. Monday night, after clearing a FOOT of snow off my car, there was still parts I could not reach, way in the middle. I had to drive to work Tuesday, with a mohawk on my car. I was not in San Francisco this time...it was Wisconsin.  Trial cancelled and I turned around and drove back home. No cozy nights knitting in my hotel room, no adult dinners with colleagues, hearing about their far away travels and homey projects. But I have the great, big fat joy of being home again with my family, and there is nothing quite as nice in the whole wide world!

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along at http://www.gsheller.com/2017/03/yarn-along-323.html:

I love the concept of sharing what one is reading and what is on your needles; especially when it is clear that the sorts of people who knit and read seldom have just one of either going at the same time. A choice then, what to share this week? And a chance to be curious, what is everyone else knitting? Here, then, are this week's two obsessions; the EZ Tomten Jacket I really, really want to complete...yesterday, and the dictionary. I kid you not. The more I learn about law, the more I discover I need to learn, and this has been my constant companion day and night while I prepped for a trial earlier this week. So here is an ode to  Elizabeth Zimmerman, and to Jean-Daniel Katz, two maestros.

Books You Listen To

I imagine, dear readers, that, like me, you may, perhaps, have allowed yourself to become too busy to read as much as you used to, or as much as you'd like. I have three books, real books, begun, only one of which has any remotely educational value, as well as being full of historical anecdotes to keep your interest:

The other two are pure fun; Dune, the prequel, because as an adolescent, I LOVED Dune and all things sci-fi, but the Amazon link is puzzling, because it looks like there may be more than one prequel to Dune. As I may offend a fan more die-hard than myself, I will not link to anything. The other; (out of print, but available for $30 or $.01) Always Coming Home, Ursula K. le Guin, is because my book club declared it our February read. It is sort of putting me to sleep, but I bought it and read it I will...in a few minutes, just after I finish my baby sweater,        and the matching hat,      and a blanket for Duncan and a sweater for Charles...in other words, my knitting can get in the way of my reading. As can exercise and excessive driving to jobs on the other side of the river, children's appointments and runs to pick up farm eggs.

Simple Living, Royally!

Pierre keeps remarking on how we are making do with so very little in the way of material goods, space and modern conveniences. After a few moments of apprehension; would they do terrible things to each other in such a little bedroom? how would I put any food in that tiny fridge? I just got on with life and enjoyed the good things here, but I shall take a moment to comment on the joys of simplicity of our day-to-day life in France, after a month of testing the theory.

We have been kindly loaned a 2-bedroom apartment. One of the bedrooms is small, that is the one the in-laws chose to put the 4 bunk beds in. The kids love it, it's very much like a dormitory. They have to really keep things picked up, clothes folded and the red carpet clean to live peacefully, and they do a good job. When Alienor and Puck performed a Mother's Day dance for me yesterday, they chose to do it in the narrow space in the bedroom between the beds and the closet, rather than in the more spacious living room. There is one bathroom; bathtub, bidet and two sinks, and one w.c. or water closet. The kids have worked out their own shower schedule, so no conflicts there. The second is a little harder to manage at times, but Puck has a little potty chair and he is the only one subject to real emergencies.

We have a washing machine in the kitchen. It is small, it is noisy and it takes forever, but I was thrilled; no laundry mat four times a week! There is no dryer, but this is not a problem, as Aragorn is now in charge of hanging out the wash and Lily folds it and puts it away. There is no dishwasher, but after a couple of days of doing dishes, I remembered that Aragorn's job at home translated from emptying the dishwasher to doing dishes. As he is not here for every meal each day, it is really not much of a hardship.

No car; already addressed this in an earlier post, but to summarize: when my in-laws want to see us, they arrive to pick up the children. If the weather is not too awful, Pierre and I bike to their house through beautiful French countryside, how hard is that?

A small amount of toys; Legos that belonged to Pierre when he was small, a pirate boat someone loaned us last week, a few books, a few play silks, paper and colored pencils, and they keep perfectly busy with that.

Joys of simplicity: 1) there is hardly anything to clean up, hurray! 2) People keep giving us food because either: they assume I don't have time to cook with five children or they are happy we're not coming to dinner at their house, or they are just very kind. 3) Kids are learning that you don't have to have it all to be very happy. 4) I have to walk or bike everywhere, very good for me! 5) None of it is mine to fix if it breaks, I just keep it clean then give it back. 6) Only a few books in English, so there is a lot of reading in French. 7) Dusting the entire apartment takes 10 whole minutes. This is fortunate, since all of the shelves and accessories are wine-colored and need to be dusted frequently. 8) There is no laundry build-up since the dirty wash lives in the little kitchen and we would not be able to eat if we did not do the laundry, oh, and we did not bring all that many clothes with us. 9) The food, have I mentioned the food? We get our fresh products at the outdoor market, and it is all so fresh! Salads are green and crisp, strawberries are small and sweet, cheese is cut from a round and lovingly wrapped in white paper, the eggs were laid that morning, and the fish caught the night before. We often eat at my mother and father-in-law's table, where they prepare the best of what they have saved for us; the rare mushrooms they harvested in their own yard, duck confit, pates, and foie gras they made last year and saved,and the wine from the cellar that has grown dusty with age, sigh.

Personal luxuries that keep me happy; my old laptop to write on, two books: "The Spiritual Tasks of the Homemaker" by Manfred Schmidt-Brabant and Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Around," and a selection of beautiful yarn. Now, just having a book by Elizabeth Zimmerman is enough to keep a knitter happy and occupied for a few years. She could really write; her books are entertaining and functional at the same time. Having yarn and needles as well makes it perfect. "Spirtual Tasks" is a good, esoteric type of read. The good thing about it is that I need to read it over and over to get it, and something new comes of each lecture. I read in French too: the newspaper, Marie Claire Idees and just now a book a friend loaned me called "Propagande," from 1928.

Things that keep the rest of them happy: Aragorn's guitar, which Pierry plays too, and his (Aragorn's) issues of "Guitar World." Alienor's copy of Harry Potter, Lily's copy of "The Wright Three" and her pentaminos, Arthur's THREE stuffed animals (the worst ever for taking up room in a suitcase, and Puck: Daddy's Legos. Il suffit de peu de choses. they say here,or; one really needs very little.

Learning to read

"So, how do you teach them to read?"

"I don't."

But read they do, non-stop, voraciously, every genre, every media that we allow in the house, to the point of being reprimanded for reading, darn it, put that book away at the table! Turn out the light and quit reading! Just like Mommy.

That's one of the keys; children will imitate the behavior they see modeled. (I wonder where that leaves me with the way they fight, insult and clobber each other half of their waking lives as well?)

The other one, and I did not invent this, Jim Trelease observed it first, is READ TO CHILDREN. Establishing the pleasure connection to the activity of reading is the first and best thing an adult can do to form a life-long love of reading in a child. Once something is established as fun, who doesn't want to return to it again and again. So, read fun books, read informative books, read anything your child is interested in. Read to them what you loved as a child. Read "The Read Aloud Handbook," by Jim Trelease if you are not convinced.

Fill your home with reading material and use it. Leave things you would like kids to read in places you know they like to sit, as though really it was just your own reading material.

I love the Waldorf approach to reading; one letter at a time, with stories and drawings for each letter. It is a beautiful approach, an artistic one, guaranteed to capture a child's imagination. This is Waldorf first grade, around the age of 61/2 or 7. However, it all starts way before then, it begins in infancy, with reading to your baby, then your toddler.

It ideally begins before life begins, with the parents being readers. So, if you are expecting or thinking about starting a family or a grandparent wanting to make a difference in a child's life, become a reader yourself. It will be a gift to yourself, to society and to this child.

More tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

On the brink of a new year, here is what the end of the old finds us doing:

My oldest turned twelve, 12, ten and two more. She thinks she may want to be a vet most days, but the option of spy is also high on her list. In either case, she has decided that Spanish would be a good asset, so we are studying Spanish together. In the meantime, both she and her brother (now 10) have accepted a great lit challenge that I did not exactly issue, but suggested. They are both reading Dickens; Oliver Twist this month, and ds completed Plato's The Trial and Death of Socrates, Four Dialogues this week as well. If that all sounds very serious and academic, not to worry, they only spend about an hour or so a day with that particular activity!

Everyone is busy with their Christmas toys. Legos have kept some sequestered in their rooms building and rebuilding, especially no. 2 and 3. They have been building creative structures and very elaborate critters. The playroom houses block structures and a wooden castle. The basement has been turned into a gym and lots of time is spent down there with a new tumbling mat and music turned up till it hurts your ears. Outside, usually a favorite destination, has been a dubious one of late, with temperatures below freezing with a bitter wind or else in the 40s and raining. There were two days when it was too cold to stay out for more than 3 minutes, brave or not. Yesterday we came in completely soaked through all our winter layers with feet that required rubbing and rice warmers. At least we got in an hour's walk, but it was not the most fun walk in recent memory; if you weren't slipping on the ice build-up from weeks past, you were sloshing through running water, and getting rained on non-stop.

Our second daughter turned seven in November and insists on daily reading time with us both. She has scheduled her father for this during his vacation, and she and I have a standing 9am time to read. All her idea, she has decided she is too old not to be reading on her own, and is truly ready for the gift of reading from the Wise Sophia of her Waldorf book.* It has been very cute to see her work her way through the riddles, figure out the roman numeral system and learn her vowels. She and her sister can skip rope "like never so," and love to knit.

Little guy, but not the littlest, my four-year-old, is drawing real pictures and writing letters and has such a vocabulary he makes me laugh sometimes. He is all about knights and castles and being a hero against the bad guys. He does lovely cartwheels can sing any song he has heard once before.

Baby, now 19 months old, is a munchkin. He acts like a real little person, and can communicate almost everything he wants or needs quite clearly. And when that doesn't work, he gets your finger in a death grip and will lead you to where you need to be to see what he wants. He has a new word; en garde! And if there is a sword in his hand when he says it, you'd better take care. I have some worries about the situation, since he only says two words besides "Mama" and "Daddy," and they are "feu" or fire and "en garde." I trust this does not show a predisposition to a career in arson or violence, just natural boy curiosity from a third boy.

December has been a month of preparation of hearts and home for the holidays. We took break from a normal school schedule to decorate, bake and read Christmas stories together.

Other activities have continued, at home and out of it. The three oldest worked on a Christmas play for three months with their favorite director. The ten-year old has been playing hockey,(hockey?! Must have something to do with living in a land of snow and ice), and the girls have joined Girl Scouts. We have a darling four-year old who is a friend and has become part of our school day on Friday each week. She is apprenticing the French language with us. This has been great fun and encouraged all to remember to speak in French. She is a very quick learner and already knows a number of songs and expressions and how to count to twelve.

We have counted our blessings and look forward to a new year. Happy New Year to you all!



*A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling, grade one, Melisa Neilsen