Ordinary Time

The promised snow did arrive last night. We got about eight inches of snow and it kept snowing lightly throughout the day. As far as I know, it's still snowing, but not really enough to accumulate much. The best news as far as my very tired children are concerned was that it was excellent packing snow. Most of them spent nearly the entire day outside, first building two sets of battlements and then having a long, involved, ongoing snowball fight. While I have some pictures to share with you, I have no pictures of the snowball fight. It was deemed to dangerous to go over there and take pictures. At least if you didn't want to be pummeled by snowballs.  Bristol Aster... who loves the snow. When she is in snow, she does everything possible to touch the snow with as much of her body as possible. Bristol and Java in the north pasture. The drifts along this side of the pasture were over a foot high. I was outside for a bit, but I also spend some of the day at my spinning wheel. W. ha

Nurturing curiosity in children is one of the items that everyone want to check off their to-do list. It's a good thing to have curious children after all. Being curious about the world around you is more than half the battle of learning things after all. The opposite, a child who seemingly is not interested in anything, is extremely concerning for parents, and with good reason.  So how do you do it?  To my mind, it is actually a fairly simple thing, but like with most seemingly simple things, it can be tough to pull off. This is mainly because it asks something of the adults in a child's life. As I see it, nurturing creativity has two parts. 1. Model curiosity. This is actually a life style, family culture issue at heart; certainly more than a buy the right items issue. Really, it comes down to the question: Are the adults in the family curious about things themselves? Do you learn new things? Do you ask questions and find answers? Do you marvel at the world? Do admit to havin

Finally, the end of January is in sight! January always feels long to me, and this year is no exception.  I started The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett yesterday. It is the first book of the Chronicles of Lymond series, set in the mid-1500's. I loved her House of Niccolo series, and though we own the books, I had never begun this series. It seemed like a commitment. Well, after having read 13 books this month, only a small fraction of which did I think were even moderately good despite all the wonderful reviews, I decided I needed to spend some time reading something worthwhile. This will be my reading project for the year, though I'll probably intersperse them with other books in between. And I always have a non-fiction book going. Anyway, I am currently off most modern fiction and have no desire to read it. Adding to the feeling, I checked out the book, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich. You know, because I needed more books to read. A while back there w

Hello Library, my old friend, We've come to visit you again Because curbside was at least something To provide books that we were reading But it still isn't quite the same as being there without care Within the shelves of books. In restless dreams I read alone No groups but just the phone In my reading chair with its good light I read and read throughout the night But those books, there were many that were just not so good If I only could Peruse the shelves of books My children read and read a ton The same books always one by one They need to see the books to find new reading If they do not you might find me weeping Because I tell you that I am just so done About Rick Riordan We need the shelves of books There was great joy today because The library opened and it was A chance to find new things to read We picked books with a sort of greed We finally have new books to read out loud It's a relief Thanks to the shelves of books Guess what we did today? Yes, our library reopene

I am more than aware that January is a tough month to homeschool. I have certainly had my share of rotten months where I felt guilty about all that we let slip; when surviving seemed about all we could do. It's cold, it's hard to go out, there's not enough sunlight, things just seem difficult. Surprisingly, this year is one of the few Januaries where everything isn't a horrible struggle. Maybe after 24 years I finally have the whole January-thing figured out. Who knows? But I do know that it is proving to be a genuine struggle for many, given the amount of questions I'm seeing about needing to completely change curriculum or flat out questions of how do manage to keep homeschooling. So I thought I'd put together some tips for surviving the mid-year January homeschooling blues. I'll base them on some of the comments I've been reading recently. 1. Help! I need a completely virtual curriculum. This is a guess, though an educated one, but when I hear this, I

Since we had a day long neurology appointment yesterday, I had planned to just do the grocery shopping a day late, and adjusted accordingly. Then, over the weekend, we started hearing noises about a big snow storm arriving on Monday evening and continuing into Tuesday. The last think I wanted to do was have to go shopping in a snow storm, and since it would be the end of the week, supplies would be running low, so I wouldn't be able to skip. I dislike shopping on the weekends, but decided that it was the wiser move. I'm glad I did. I could have gone and made it, but it was nicer to not have to worry about it. Tuesday, Jan. 26 Spiced cauliflower with ziti      Well, penne, because that is what I had. This is from my favorite Italian cookbook. It is very good. This cookbook is also the reason I stock anchovies in my pantry. Who knew they were good stirred into so many different pasta sauces? Garlic bread Wednesday, Jan. 27 Roasted tamarind chicken with honey and red chili      Th

Once again, I am reminded that those couple of years I spent tracking down a good epileptologist whom I could also work with was time well spent. We had our semi-annual neurology appointment today, and I cannot tell you how much I love this doctor. (You don't hear those words very often from me, I realize.) How can you not love a doctor who says, right off the bat, "I want to make sure to get you out of here in time so you can get home before the snow." Because she remembered we come from very far away and because she is thoughtful.  She is very happy with how R. and H. are doing. She commented on how much more function she sees in R. which thrills me. She only sees the girls twice a year, so the differences stand out to her. She also only says things that she means so it is not just placating a parent. Their medicine seems to be working well, and we only need to tweak R.'s to see if we can stop these last few breakthrough seizures.  R. and H. love her, too. Consideri

The avalanche effect of what was seemingly the simple of task of moving D. down to A.'s old room and moving K. up to D.'s old room continues, and after two weekends of this, the house still isn't quite back to rights yet.  G. and L.'s room is looking pretty good. The walls are very blank so I'll be looking for things to put up. (L. has requested Chinese dragons. That sounds easy to find. Not.)  But it is pretty much finished and organized. The loft? R., H., and Y.'s room? D.'s room? Not so much.  The loft has the remains of G. and L.'s old dressers (which started life as P. and A.'s dressers) They were not in the best of shape and had clearly seen years of use. We decided to get a new dresser for them (a long, low one they could share and would take up less space), and then use their old dressers as salvage so that J. could repair H. and R.'s dressers which are the same style. That he did today, which meant that we also sorted through H. and R.&#

I have hemmed four pairs of curtains. J. has mounted four sets of brackets and curtain rods. We have moved out extra furniture and G. and L.'s room. They have organized all their things. Bulletin boards have been hung. Things are looking good, but I am done it. So tonight, I'll leave you with a photo that TM took yesterday while I spend my time answering blog correspondence that I have let sit for too long. Looking up the driveway towards the barn.

What a week, huh?  So remember when, over a week ago, we started the big switch moving bedrooms? Well, K. dove right in and got his room sorted out immediately. He has suddenly become a very tidy child. He has D.'s old room, which is really more of a wide hallway between the two bedrooms on either end of the third floor. But when you've been crammed with two sisters into a too small room, even a wide hallway it pretty sweet. He is particularly thrilled that he is finally able to put up his Star Wars decals on his walls. He was pretty much organized about an hour after he moved upstairs. G. and L. were not so lucky. With K.'s bed moved out of the room, we decided that this was the perfect opportunity to paint the room, since it was already as sixes and sevens. And it desperately needed a paint job. All the rooms in the house need one, but it is something we just haven't gotten to. Here are G. and L. scraping tape (sigh) off the walls so J. could paint them. Yes, we have

This morning, while out at the barn, my phone rang. Since it takes a while to find the phone under my coat and grab off a glove in order to answer it, I missed the call. I noticed it was from our local library, so didn't worry about it too much. I was also pretty sure I knew what it was about. All of our current library books were originally placed on hold since the library isn't open to patrons. One of these books came home but was never actually checked out, so the library system thought it was still waiting for me on the hold shelf. If a book is not collected from the hold shelf in five days, it is returned. I was pretty sure this was the library telling me that this book was going to be returned if I didn't come get it, even though I already had it. I had mentioned it to D. a couple of days ago, but figured he had forgotten to check on it. I decided I would save D. the effort and just call and have someone take care of it, so after another cup of coffee after coming in

Today we all sat and watched the inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris. I will admit a cried. I cried listening to Lady Gaga sing the National Anthem. I cried at the swearings in, I cried at Amazing Grace, I cried at the benediction, and I was completely bowled over (and yes, cried) when Amanda Gorman read her poem, "The Hill We Climb".  The entire thing was so hopeful. Expressions of concern and unity even for those who disagree with this new administration. An acknowledgement that dissent is a fundamental cornerstone of the United State of America. A stand for truth and good policy over personality and demagoguery. A sense of civility. And overt and tacit messages that everyone, regardless of color, belief, economic status, or gender has a place in our society. A valuable place. And that by making a place for everyone we are all better for it.  The inauguration ceremony was a brief picture of what the United States can look like if we work

 Let's talk about memory palaces and chemistry. It really all started earlier this fall when I read the book, Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History by Lynne Kelly. It was a book I read on the recommendation of a friend who shares my taste in books, though I'll admit I wasn't super enthusiastic about it. Having taken quite a lot of history classes and read quite a lot of history on my own, I had read before about the idea of memory palaces and was familiar with the prodigious memory feats that were possible. (One of my favorite books related to this is The Singer of Tales by Albert Lord about how the ancient bards managed to remember and recite epics such as the Illiad and the Odyssey.) The idea of memory palaces felt like an interesting footnote in history, but had little modern relevance.  And then I read the book over the course of 24 hours. The author is quirky, but her experiences of actually using these methods (there are far more

How about a slightly more benign post today? This menu goes through next Monday because instead of grocery shopping on Monday afternoon, I will be driving home from our marathon semi-annual neurology appointment which is an hour and half away. Monday, Jan. 18 Sesame noodles      This is an actual recipe book in my binder, but the only thing I actually took from it was the sauce, which I definitely used too light a hand with the garlic-chili paste when I made because I found it a bit on the bland side. The garlic-chili sauce was also my own addition. So essentially, we cook some chicken, then cooked some cabbage and grated carrots, then cooked some softened rice noodles, added back in the meat, poured on the sauce and added green onions, then served with some sesame seeds. It was easy and very popular. Dumplings Tuesday, Jan. 19 Chili      Another recipe that I kind of make-up each time I make it.  Cornbread      From scratch. I'll probably end up adding fresh corn and diced chilies

I was texting back and forth with a very good friend of mine this afternoon. We both have children who had a very hard start in life and for whom this hard start brings significant and lasting challenges. One of the most difficult of those challenges doesn't actually originate from our children but from the adults who interact with them. One of the effects of this is creating a very thick skin and a very malfunctioning filter in the parent, especially where our children are concerned. It is not an easy or comfortable process to develop these things, but without them, a parent might just lose their mind.  So why do we need to develop these character traits which are not always considered positive? Because unless we become hermits (which I'm afraid our family is potentially headed in that direction), we have to interact with the broader public. I can tell you, that once you are outside your immediate family who lives with a particular child on a day to day basis, there is no tell