Sunday, May 31, 2015

Green Acres is the Place to Be

Farm living is the life for me.

Ol' Mother Hubbard invited Handy Man and I to the farm for supper.
Recently, I finished a new book, Raising a Wild Child.  Well, I'll let you see for yourself if that is being accomplished with some of my wee folk.
We had the honor of visiting during the "Spring Worming."  Oh, my.
Mrs. Goose and the Alpacas were the only critters in barn when we arrived.


 Here is Ol' Henry with a farm toad.  This farm is this boy's joy and passion, his wonderland.

Dude, you need to do something about that bite.


 Time to bring the critters in for worming.  The  wee folk circled the wagons and raised a ruckus.  But every time the critters got to the barn door, they'd turn around and run.  Eventually it occurred to me that the likely reason for the turn and run was the dolt in the barn taking pictures- with a flash.
 I turned off the flash and in they came.

 The last hiney barely cleared the door when a pop up storm began a deluge.  If you look close here you can see the sheeting rain, with blue skies in abundance beyond the yard.

The kids would hold a sheep, while the Mister gave them a drink.

 The temptation to hop one for a ride was just too much, so hop on and ride they did.

 Baby Boy, who is not so much a baby anymore, having just celebrated his sixth birthday, wanted to show me the contraption Grandad devised for him to first remove the corn from the cob, then grind it for the chickens.
It was a happy evening watching these kidlets experience just what the Raising a Wild Child advises.
Well, except for the missing foundational pieces of a Grandad and a Grammer.  This is a time you surely hope they can look down and smile big at the legacy they've passed on.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

I Believed I Lived

Musical -check
Camp- check
Move-up Day check
Last Mass- check
Tie Dyed Shirts- in the washer, almost a check, and the only reason I am here instead of fast asleep.

I believe this month has been 8 weeks long.  I don't like to wish days away, but I'm ready to be all done with May.
Today is Pap's birthday, so we celebrated Playdate and Pap this afternoon.

After multiple pictures, I gave up trying to get everyone's eyes opened at the same time.
 My little Giddy-Up was insistent on being in everyone's picture besides his own little family.


 Some creek craziness, of course.
 Mr. Smiley was interested in the flowers and grasses at the creek. I picked him one and tickled his face.
 Gramerly, stop it.  Tonight I was his favorite and  I surely enjoyed his sweetness.  He about ate his weight in chicken and dumplings.
 Everyone's been well squirted with the new squirt guns.
Hope it was happy Handy Man.  We love you.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Another One Bites the Dust.

Another Spring Musical down.  My goodness, I'm a worn to a frazzle. We actually start on the musical the summer before, and then work on it all year long.  What people see is just adorable and many are surprised by how well the kids the perform.  At our school, every child in 5th and 6th grade plays a part in the play.  Today every last child sang, danced, talked and one was cuter than the next.
Can you guess the play?



For me, I see beyond the cute.  I've been part of their lives since they were three.  I've watched them blossom and a lot of them dig deep and find something they didn't even know they had.

My memory of Miss Sidly, my Playdate friend of ten years, is at the Christmas performance when she was three, staring at the audience with tiny fingers in her mouth, no words coming out at all. Today she was the beautiful, talented, singing, sparkling, dancing, Inner Planet Janet- precious.
 I've had the privilege of being her teacher this year. I will be sad to turn her over to my partner in crime, our sixth grade teacher, Brittany.  The third person in this musical business had to catch plane and I didn't get Lori's picture.


I love to see them shine.  Well, mostly I guess I love to imagine it, as I'm the backstage person, handing off props and helping people change.

I guess you never get to old to appreciate some support of your craft.  I was so excited to see friends and family come to the show.

Not many principals, drowning in their own May Madness would give up a Saturday evening for another school, but there she was.
 Gardner E. and  Mary Lynn have likely long since lost count of performances they've seen.

 
 Oh my, my little Giddy-Up looks like he's six here. So handsome.  He enjoyed the show.


 Mr. Smiley, well he like the pretzel sticks. I remember last year, leaving the show on Sunday and going straight to the hospital to see my new boy. So happy to see Rae and Michael. I'm glad for them and Handy Man to put a face to the people I've been involved with all year.

 I was so happy for folks from my school and my students to meet the Uncle Jimi they prayed for in the fall.  Ol' Mother Hubbard and the whole cupboard joined us for the fun.  They are getting so big.  I'd love to direct all my gramerlings in a play. It would be so fun.



A final blessing on their performance.



Whew, camp is up next- give me strength.

My cousin Diane lost her husband to cancer this week and my niece found out her husband, Anthony has cancer.  Don't you hate cancer.  So awful.  I know all prayers are appreciated.


Saturday, May 16, 2015

What's Growing?

Well, sadly, not too much.  I fought the deer, and the deer won.  I miss my garden.  A flower cutting garden and tomatoes are summer to me, but I just don't know what to do about it.
I can't have nothing growing, so I have my little lettuce/herb bed,
a few pots with tomatoes and peppers and more herbs


 and one gigantic cabbage, just to see how big I can get it to grow,



 and a new deal we tried- a Hugelkultur bed.




 I like to grow something pumpkinish for the kids and the hens.  We always have tons of trees down that Handy Man is cutting up.  Well, you make a bed of dead tree logs or sections, cover it with the sticks from all over the yard, dump on some dirt and plant your seeds there.  I thought pumpkins were a good choice as they require lots and lots of nutrients to grow. Actually, the first layer was some of what came out of the coop a few weeks ago.

One little punkin seed popping out.



We went to see Tim's newest punkin' yesterday, Hattie Jane. She's a cutie.

So off to get ready to spend the weekend at school as we present SchoolHouse Rock, our spring musical.
Have a good one!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

An Early Mother's Day

I planned to visit Mom today and take her a cheese danish and bacon breakfast.  While the danish was baking, I went out to pick her some lilacs.  I hadn't really had time to see everything that was blooming.  May is so crazy busy.  As of this morning, ISTEP, and the Mother's Day Tea were behind me and I had a few minutes to stroll around- a bit of pretty around every corner. Come stroll with me.
The Locust in the down garden
 In the shade garden



 The side yard



 The last daffodil


Wow, lots of people come to mind as I stroll. The locust was a gift in Aunt Lois' memory.  The vinca came from a basket for my Dad.  That Lilly of the Valley peeking out came from Phil's grandma.  I can imagine it would bring her a lot of joy to know how much her great, great grandchildren enjoy picking and sniffing them.


Well, only half the strudel made it out of the oven. The other half is all over the bottom of the oven. Duh.
I usually only cook cinnamon rolls in an aluminum pan.  This weighs about three times as much and obviously needs greater care when being removed from the oven.




 But half a strudel didn't keep Granny Wandy from enjoying it completely, and that is what matters.

Happy Mother's Day

Saturday, May 2, 2015

It Comes In Pints

Where I work, if you don't use your two personal days, you lose them.  I always save them because with my family, well, you just never know, so best to keep one.  Earlier in the year I asked Rae about the boy's birthday, and was there anything in particular she was interested in them having.  She suggested we go with them to the aquarium for the day.  I love the aquarium and we had a plan.

Around the corner is a German restaurant, known for a tasty brew. Though this came after the aquarium, I believe it was Pap and Michael's favorite part of the day.

Mr. Smiley and Giddy-Up were ready for the day, though they both liked their new stroller, 
 Pap thinks a sweet birthday boy is for snuggling and smooching and getting up close to the fish.
 I so love this area where you actually get to touch the critters.   Giddy-Up is very knowledgeable about ocean life from a little Aquanaut show he watches sometimes.






 This boy does not miss one single thing.  I pushed a button and frog sound came out. He immediately reaches to the next one and pushes it.  He like the frogs and frog sounds.


 While pints of German brew hold no interest for me, I believe I could spend hours in the Jelly Fish room.
Every time I visit here, I am so impressed with the variety of ocean species and marvel so at God's amazing creations.

 My big four year old and I did a "Behind the Scenes" tour.  Giddy-Up is also so observant and obedient in these situations.  He walks within the lines he was told to walk in, touches with two fingers, as instructed, and
 pats gently when requested.  He was so excited with our personal encounter with his beloved penguins. Ahem, so was his Gramerly.
 They are much like our chickie girls.


 It was another of those, "Yes," days that I so love.   Just look at this brave boy.

 Mr. Smiley enjoyed it as much as his brother and cheered him on.
 Yes, to a ride in the train.
 It was a joy filled day and I was in great need of some joy.

Congratulations to Tim and Gwen on the birth of a new baby girl, born April 29.