Ordinary Time

That would be otherwise known as Mother's Day. When asked what I wanted to do, I suggested going to see The Sheep Detectives, so that is what we did. It was good. It was not very close to the book (Three Bags Full) though. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was. I now need to read the book again because I read it so long ago that I don't remember some details and it's driving me a little nuts.  Many children joined us and we played outside, had focaccia pizza complements of G., and just generally enjoyed the day. I can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day.

Tonight H. and I are going to a benefit gala for the organization that runs her Friday gardening program. I was going to just post a picture and leave it at that, but I've been reading a book and absolutely needed to share a quote from it. Maybe you'll get the picture later. The book is The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton. Now, I have to warn you if two things if you're going to read it (and at over halfway through I do recommend it). The first is to ignore the cover. It gives off a really sketchy New Age-y vibe and I'm sorely tempted to wrap the book in brown paper. The second is that because brains are weird, it ventures into territory that might not be comfortable for you. Except for brain science books that maintain a hard mechanistic line (an example is Behave by Robert Sapolsky which is interesting, a bit of a slog, and vaguely depressing), most brain books end up there. There is a lot of hard science in this one.  I have another blog post also related to thi...

I've fielded a lot of comments regarding our family and our educational choices over the past thirty years of homeschooling. Well, actually, while I have fielded some comments, as in so many other areas, I tend not to get nearly as many as other people. The comments and questions have changed a bit over the years. Long ago they were about legalities and how would a homeschooled child be able to function in the "real" world. Recently, I spend more time saying what kind of homeschooler I am not to differentiate myself from the Christian Nationalist types of homeschoolers. And trust me when I say I have my own long list of questions for them.  All this to say, I'm a bit thrown off when I have someone comment to me that "studies show" that homeschoolers don't succeed in college. That only 20% will actually graduate who begin. Clearly I must know an awful lot of homeschooling freaks who defy the trend. The comment did not make me happy as you might have guess...

I woke up feeling not quite right this morning, including having some vertigo which is mightily unpleasant. I knew the pace of the past couple of weeks was fairly hectic without my usual amount of downtime, so I wasn't surprised. If I go too long without getting my schedule back to manageable levels my body forces me to. I'm feeling better and am hopeful that after a good night's sleep I'll be back to normal. Even better, the next few days are pretty light schedule-wise, so I can get in some more resting.  Since all I did was nap and read today, I'll share some pictures of the vegetable garden that G. has claimed. As well as the cold hardy seeds in the pictures, the guest room is bursting with seedlings waiting for some decent weather to go outside. Also the rest of the garden beds have been turned and are ready for the seedlings and the warm weather seeds. This has been all G.'s doing and I'm thrilled. 

Today was R.'s 21st birthday. She chose cereal for breakfast and a green curry chicken and green bean stir fry with dumplings for dinner. Chocolate cake was her dessert of choice which we had with fresh raspberries.  Cool cards from Grammy  Opening Grammy's gift Happy birthday, dear girl! We love you!! But how on earth can you be 21?!

To be clear, there is nothing finished to share, but there is significant forward motion. First, I had my last hardanger embroidery class tonight. I'm realizing I shouldn't take night classes. I am not a night person and not at the top of my game. But anyway, I finished learning the rest of the techniques I needed to know to finish my piece. Here is where it stands currently. Because of the white fabric on a white table it's kind of difficult to see the cutwork. Here is a better view of where it's cut and how the wrapping will look when it's finished.  The other bit of forward motion is that the loom is dressed and ready to weave. So, finally, all 40 inches and 900+ ends have been threaded, the warp is wound on, the front has been tied on and the tension evened out, errors corrected, and the warp opened up to weave. The combination of the width with the stickiness of the wool yarn could mean this will be a slow weaving project. We'll see. We'll also see abou...