Barns, Bloggers and Dryads

 This is where I found my tree sprite after church last week.

Michelle, who writes at : Simplify Live Love, invited Iowa bloggers to a conference last Saturday, to meet, share and learn at her incredible family homestead, above and below. I got to meet bloggers who know how to do everything from promoting your blog, connecting to brands, increasing your page views through an increased online presence, to working with a virtual assistant and managing time. I am not sure how much of it will pertain to what I do and write, but it was invigorating to be in a roomful of people, men and women, who write for a living and love doing it. Thank you, Michelle, for hosting us! What a day!

My favorites? The people, and the really pretty chickens!

 Warming up my lasagna, we had a potluck straight out of a gourmet cookbook. Check out the Le Creuset showcase behind me...ooo!Beautiful stuff!

 My blogging girlfriends; the casual sort of blogger, like me. Melanie's blog: Many Hands House, and Rebecca's: Archie, Down!

 A shot inside Michelle and Dan's passive house.

One highlight: finding a high school friend...of my cousin's!...whom I remembered meeting a few years ago at my cousin's high school reunion. This is Nicole, who blogs at SAHM Reviews.

Let's Do What You Love!

The other night, my husband asked if I would like to bike down to our favorite date night spot by the river. It was already 8:00pm, but I said yes...and what a ride. The way down, was, predictably, not too bad. Heading home later in the dark, the Mississippi was beautiful and mysterious. Then we had to climb the hills. I cursed his cute little trim rear end half the way home...until we turned into the woods, and it was magic. The drone of the locusts, the dark, the creek bubbling along the path. There was no one but us and the wild of the forest dwellers.

My husband regularly takes me out of my comfort zone. Without his encouragement, I would maybe not use my bike very often. He opens up new vistas and experiences for me in the same town I have lived in for fifteen years. All it takes from me is a "yes," and a little uphill climbing, to soar.

What is the raison d’etre of this little blog? The reason for everything else I do.  I write and talk and make things happen when someone says;

                          "I wish I could..." 

homeschool? knit? cook? speak another language? Make Waldorf more a part of our lives? find nature, even in the city? YES YOU CAN! Taking a willing participant along on the journey makes my day. I am so very fortunate to have people who take me along on new ventures, literally.

You will have to find your own questions, and your own reason for asking them, but I am absolutely determined that if you ask me, my response will be a resounding...OF COURSE! If you are willing to put in the effort, the rest will follow, people will show up to help you, the universe will open up possibilities and you will paint, dance, cook, sing, knit, homeschool along the Waldorf/Steiner path. You will love life again. This blog is meant for one reason: to empower you, the Waldorf homeschooling mother or father, to confidently say, “yes, I can do this!”

Reverence and Joy Continued

There is so much to rejoice in, if only you will let yourself, every single day. At this time of year, creation is a marvel of growth and green and sunshine; all humbling me to a constant sense of wonder as I see the need for the fierce heat, and for the pounding rain in between.

This morning, the gentle patter of rain has the whole household sound asleep, all tucked into their dreams, all but me, and now my husband, sitting with his coffee and his computer, working. Like me,  he is enjoying the calm of a cloudy day, in the midst of an abundance of sunshine, heat and humidity. 

Bonjour tomatoes, flowers, squash and cabbage.

In Deep

I cannot claim to have reverence for much. Not much beyond the woods, the ocean, rivers, mountains, and people for their humanity, not their brilliant accomplishments. Respect for the traditions of others; religions, commitment, the courtroom, yes, but a deep-abiding reverence and awe; I reserve that for what really counts. 

Babies, the elderly, the people who give a hoot, trees, the dark green of leaves and moss all around with the early morning sun just penetrating through thick branches, the trail beneath my feet, Tuxy the dog, thrilled as always, to be with me here, and the heavy, humid air, already alive with the thrum of locusts and buzzing of mosquitoes. This, yes, this is real. This is where I am truly present.

Summer at Home

It is 85 degrees and muggy. I would have been outside anyway, as a child, well, maybe I would have been hiding and reading in the afternoon. As soon as my youngest finished the bacon-weaving in the previous photo, he scooted back into his fort, with the dog, to listen to a good audio book. In the dark.

The others are working, learning a new song on the piano, packing for college and "using the heat gun" for something again. 

When Mama Works Too Much

You get children who get really creative...like learning about bacon-weaving on Youtube videos. A mixed bag, but at least it did not require a trip to the hardware store, and...here's lunch!

When You Choose Learning

Or...where there is a will, there is a way. This is a good friend and client who is so inspiring to me, that I asked her if I could publish a couple of photos from our last training session.

Why are we conducting our session on the sidewalk in front of the house?
That is where we are, for real, after several aborted attempts at other venues that same day. She is an aspiring interpreter and I am helping her train, in English and in medical ethics for interpreters. She is a hard-working, studious, ambitious young woman. She has taken a bus for 2 hours to meet me to work on her English. She has found a way to work full-time and go to school and succeed at it, in a country that is not her own. The challenges have been many, and include a cute little baby who has become a very active toddler.

This is the adorable little pumpkin who, 5 minutes prior to this photo, was running amok in the library and giving fabulous renditions of his own screamo act all over the place.

The Graduation Party That Finally Happened...

Duncan was always going to graduate, in fact, he officially did so back in March. Whether or not he would attend the ceremony or want a party, he waited to decide until really the very last minute. He did decide on both, and each event was a lot of fun, maybe especially because I did not stress about it for two months ahead of time...just a few intense days before the event. My gratitude to Duncan, for being a gracious, charming host, and to Kyle's mother, Wendy and his step-mother, Heidi, for planning the whole dang thing and just giving me jobs to do and a list of groceries to bring. We pulled it off; never would have happened without you! And I am so very grateful to my family who found out about this at the last minute and drove for hours to be there, thank you!!! To all who braved the sticky, humid heat to join us to celebrate, and to those who sent well wishes, thank you.  You make my world the beautiful place it is to be in. 

Here are a few snapshots of the day; in spite of the temps in the 90s, this picnic shelter overlooking a lovely park was a shady, breezy, comfortable haven. (Thank goodness!)

 The boys:

Why You Need to Camp

I have a love/hate relationship with camping, I'll admit it. I think many people do; there are bugs, the lavatories are far away and spartan, it can be hot, wet, cold, windy...it is outside, after all. I believe however, it is an essential part of life. There are experiences, pleasures and lessons that can only be had living outside, and camping, especially tent camping, is the simplest path to to outdoor living. 

In the photos from yesterday, you can see one small thing that happened to connect the children to the environment while living out of doors. The tiny bird was found while exploring, close by our campsite, and for 36 hours it became part of their world.

Camping 2016

Campsites are one of the things that America really does well. Our standard picnic table and firepit per site get my full endorsement. The midwest may seem short on spectacular scenery and architecture from the middle ages, but our camping grounds are the best. A few shots, between and during clouds:

 Taking turns cooking meals

 Exploring the banks of the creek across the way

Camping Out...and Back In

Today's post comes to you from our local laundry mat, as the sleeping bags, pillows and towels go round and round in two separate dryers. But never fear; the intrepid camping father is hard at work, reorganizing the car so that we can hop back in and head back to our wet campsite. Never say die.

Yesterday was a fabulous first day of camp. We had lunch in a terrible fast-food place on the way there (we are between two trips, after all) and arrived to find every single site of our destination open for set-up. Nobody for miles around. Perfect.

Bike on Water

Bike on water...or along it, to all the beautiful, wild places you did not know were right in your backyard until you saw them from your bicycle. I am still bowled over from the beauty of my morning ride today. 

The Mississippi? A big thing to get across to get to work, an event, school. That's from your car. On your bike? It becomes mystical, magical world of its own, ever-changing, ever alive. 

 

The bike path along the river that winds its way through Davenport, Moline, Bettendorf and Rock Island is like a road through France; a small country with huge landscape and climate changes in a matter of hours. In ten minutes of biking today, I went from mist surrounding the far banks, making the hills appear to be distant mountains as I rounded a bend in the path, then swirling and dipping into the water like the gulls and pelicans along my way, to the sun rising on a jungle-lined section, clear blue water, and suddenly,

Cool Sirop de Menthe Recipe for All That Mint Outside

If but for the squirrels...well, not only the squirrels, there is also the invisible-ish fence I put in place for the dog who chases after the squirrels, over which I continually trip, and the dirt that is all over and has to be replaced and put back nicely and cleaned up after the darling beasts have finished digging up my foxglove, red onions and geraniums yet again. Besides this, gardening is pure joy, especially when I have a day when I can just be out without interruptions. The kids wander out and around, help out when I give them a job...or not, sometimes. 

Today, sirop de menthe is on our minds...it always is in the summer. This is the French equivalent of Kool-Aid;

Da Good Counts Maksh da Good Neighborsh, but the Good Compost?

...I'm afraid my Portuguese neighbor's old adage; "good accounts make good neighbors," as he was giving me change for 5 centimes, or making sure he paid me for a 35-cent baguette, was not one that will hold up to the stench of my newest compost bin. Good compost? Yes, the compost will probably be very nice, if there is not a court-order for its removal before I can use it. As for our dear neighbors to the left; I had really better go ask them if it is a problem for them. Maybe the wind always blows from the north in the summer. Um...in any case, it smells like something died and decomposed in it, and except for its daily hosing down, I am not sure what to do about it.

I have tried every method you can imagine of storing and mixing and using compost. I have battled roots growing down into the ground from plants that really looked dead when they went in, or maybe they were banana tree seeds, who knows.

Cuisine Renovation

I knew my creative energy...or simply all of my energy that was not spent cooking, cleaning and chauffering, must have gone somewhere the past few months. As I was arranging my brand new spice jars, I realized just where that was; the kitchen! It started with an obligatory floor do-over when I realized there was a water-stain slowly spreading outward from the sink or somewhere in that vicinity...like under the dishwasher. Et, zut. New floor:

The desk was removed...to the dismay of the playroom/schoolroom which inherited the contents. Then things really got out of hand. There was this wonderful new space in my kitchen with so much possibility. I asked for opinions. This can be, in certain circumstances, a good idea. In this case, what I originally wanted to know was whether or not they agreed with my husband's desire to suspend out pots and pans from the ceiling in order to make more room in our terribley over-crowded cupboards. Good for the part about creating space. Bad...too many bads. They would block my view to the rest of the house, our pans are seriously ugly. Pure utilitarian. Not copper. We would require new pots. That would need quite a budget. Mmm, but copper pots are so pretty. They need what? Polishing? Ha! I'll take utilitarian, thanks anyway.

Instead, thank you to my father and my friend, Rebecca, for the winning idea, the insane idea. The project in which we turn the hall closet inside out to create a pantry in the kitchen. Easy as pie. The sort in which you convince 4 and 20 blackbirds to calmly crawl into a piecrust while you cover them up with another layer of dough and stick them in the oven. And the miracle, when you are finally finished and everyone is still in one piece, ready to sing...or cook.