Ordinary Time

I'm in the middle of a book called, "The Renaissance Soul: How to make your passions your life" by Margaret Lobenstine. I had randomly come across the title and was curious. Here are a few questions from the opening quiz: "Are you capable of becoming passionately excited about a wide variety of subjects? Do you have a hard time choosing between one interest and another? Do you find yourself interrupting yourself, dropping one task to pick up another before it's done? When you really understand how something works, or master a new activity, do you feel bored and ready to try something new?" (p. 16) It probably won't surprise you that I answered yes to nearly all the questions on the quiz. I felt for once as though I was actually someone's target audience. It was an unusual experience.  Until I realized I am not really the target audience. This is because this book is aimed at people who haven't figured out that it is okay to have a myriad of inter...

"Horses, as prey animals, rely heavily on neuroception [an unconscious process by which the nervous system continuously scans the environment for cues of safety or danger, shaping behavioral responses accordingly] to assess their surroundings and determine whether they should engage socially, flee from a perceived threat, or shut down in response to overwhelming stress. Unlike cognitive perception, which involves conscious awareness, neuroception is an automatic, subcortical process that allows an organism to react before it has had time to think. In horses, neuroception is finely tuned to detect minute changes in their environment, including human body language, vocal tones, and the emotional state of those around them. This sensitivity explains why horses often respond to subtle shifts in human intention, posture, or energy before explicit cues are given." (pp. 124-125, Horse Brain Science by Dr. Stephen Peters) This is why Equine Assisted Learning works. When watching a cl...

This morning L., Y., and G. headed off to school. (Actually G. started yesterday.) L. and G. are Josh school seniors doing dual enrollment and Y. is officially a college freshman. She's going to do this year at the community college and has plans to transfer later on.  So this is G. and L.:s last first day of school picture. (Which is amusing because they're first one was last year.) It also marks my last year of being a homeschooling parent. This will be my 31st year, though I think that's stretching things a bit because really the two being "homeschooled" are taking college classes and doing their own individual learning. My part in all of this is incredibly minor.  The only real difference for Y. from last year is that she is taking a heavier load, but still continuing with Japanese tutoring. The way we homeschool, they'd is a rather blurry line between high school and college. I'll spare you my actual thoughts about typical high school right now, thoug...

And some of those projects really need to get done, especially if I am going to weave things to sell at Christmas. You start a new and completely unrelated project of course.  Over the weekend I became overwhelmed with the desire to make a quilt I have the pattern for. No, I don't know why, but that's what happened. So on Saturday I dug through fabric and on Sunday I spent much of the day cutting out all the pieces.  Some of those piles have 48 pieces in them, most have between 12 and 24. It was a lot of cutting especially because I was mostly using up scraps, which meant I couldn't make nice piles and cut several at the same time.  Here is what I'm going to make. Cute, huh? This is made with solid colors, but I realized I don't have a lot of solid colors in my stash. Mine will have more patterned fabrics. My color palate will also be different. Here are the four colors that will make up the birds. The whole quilt will have a slightly darker toned aspect to it.  My ...

The pasture is kind of out of control with things the horses don't really like to eat. J. usually mows them with Chuck the Tractor. This time we thought, "You know who really like this plants? Sheep!" We have sheep. We have portable fencing. We had a plan. So J. and G. set up the fencing in a corner of the horse pasture. This morning, before I turned out the horses, they brought over the sheep.  The horses were very interested in what was going on.  The sheep got right to work.  We weren't sure what the horses would do when they were turned out. The answer was not much. By the end of the day, the sheep had eaten down about a third of the weeds. I expect it will take them another couple of days to eat this patch down. But don't worry! There are plenty more patches in the pasture for the sheep to eat. 

Schools are starting back (even though it's still summer to my way of thinking) which means there are a lot of people asking about how to start homeschooling. I just counted and this year will be my 31st (and final) homeschooling year. I have a lot of opinions and a lot of experience with which to back up those opinions.  1. Homeschooling is not traditional school and trying to make it look like traditional school is a quick path to frustration, burnout, and general insanity. 2. You can homeschool successfully with a library card. Full stop. 3. The vast majority of online schools, programs, and curriculum publishers don't really care much about your child, just your dollars, and they're willing to use fear to sell their product.  4. Homeschooling is not a program to enroll in. We call that public school.  5. Elementary aged children (and probably older) should not be learning online. It is not developmentally appropriate and could actually do harm.  6. Actual homesch...

I didn't really have anything to write so was going to skip a day. That was my plan until R. stepped into the breach to provide some blog fodder.  I have been listening to her getting ready for bed while she sings her own little recitative. [Recitative, for the non-music majors out there, is the narrative part of an opera that is sung, but instead of being melodic, it focuses more on the speech rhythms using a limited number of notes.] At first I wasn't really paying much attention, but slowly the words she was singing came into focus. Her recitative entailed several repetitions of, "I am awesome," followed by the single line, "I'm so cool," then going back to the awesome line. Set on repeat. It's charming. And not something I could have dreamt as being possible even as recently as three years ago. 

I was not expecting to be so blown away by A Tale of Two Cities. I haven't even really begun a new book yet and it's been over 48 hours since I finished it. Usually I close the book I've finished and immediately pick up the next book and begin reading. It is the very unusual book that makes it impossible for me to do this. I'll also say that A Tale of Two Cities has leapt into my top five favorite books of all time, displacing Possession by A. S. Byatt.  I wonder if my reaction to it is because I went into it cold. Not really knowing anything about it other than it was set during the time of the French Revolution was one of my reasons for picking it up. I did scan the introduction a little bit and it gave me the clue that there was a substitution of victims, so I was aware of that part, but I did stop reading the introduction because they are dreadful about spoilers and I didn't want to know any more.  That said, I'm going to pause here for a moment. If you have...

Those were the exact words that flashed across my mind right in between grabbing onto a ladder in the barn at the exact spot a wasp had been resting and the extreme pain from its sting on being grabbed. I was right. It did hurt very much. But, I finished up with the last few barn chores because a storm was coming and I needed to get everything set in order to get the horses under cover.  The intense pain had dulled somewhat by the time I made my way back to the house. I put some baking soda paste on it and are my breakfast. Somewhere between finishing the New York Times puzzles and finishing my coffee, I became aware of my finger swelling. That alone would be unpleasant, but did I mention which finger the wasp stung? That would be my ring finger, the one with the already slightly too small wedding ring on it. I hurriedly took an antihistamine, but based on the fact I could now feel my pulse in my finger it seemed it wouldn't be able to work fast enough if it was going to do anythin...

On my business cards and website I have a tag line that says, ,"Creating awareness to make room for positive change." This is pretty straightforward when it comes to working with horses. It is actually a pretty good definition of what Equine Assisted Learning is. It might not be immediately evident how it fits into my fiber activities and teaching. Since I have nothing to show you that looks very different from the last time I showed it to you, I thought I'd discuss this idea a bit.  I think my fiber activities and my tag line actually fit quite nicely together. There is nothing like watching fiber being prepared for spinning, learning to spin on a suspended spindle, then realize all you have done is make the yarn that needs to them be turned into fabric to help you see the clothes you are wearing in a new light. If we learn to appreciate textiles for what they are, perhaps we can become better consumers of them, or at the very least consume less and extend the life of wh...

I was informed by the Internet that today is National Book Lovers Day. This seems as though it is a special day I should mark. Because I believe that loving books starts early in life, I will celebrate the occasion by giving my list of books that I think every parent should read to their child(ren). (Considering the current demographic of my readers these days, I should probably also add grandchildren.) Am I being a bit bossy? Yes, probably. But these are really good books, are well worth the effort, and shouldn't be missed. So, in no particular order: 1. Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Mine. Give your child the gift of the originals and not some Disneyfied version. Though in full disclosure the old animated version Disney made was an enduring favorite of mine. Mainly, I think, because of the books opening and the story and characters literally coming to life. Still, the originals are exceptional, don't let your child miss them.  2. Five Children and It by...

What do you do when you have leftover French bread, some decent tomatoes on the counter, and you just brought in a bunch of sweet basil from the garden? You make copious amounts of bruschetta to go along with dinner. We made so much that everyone could eat their fill and still have some leftover. This rarely happens. More often, everyone gets a couple and there is bargaining with others to get more.  If you haven't made it before, I'll share how I do it. It hardly counts as a recipe. You do need good tomatoes and fresh basil on hand because I don't think it's worth the effort otherwise.  Bruschetta   Chop a tomato into a small dice and put them in a bowl. (One large tomato made at least 24 bruschetta for us.)  Cut your basil leaves into slivers and add to the tomatoes. (I can't tell you how much because I didn't measure. I just kept slicing and stirring it into the tomatoes until it looked like the right amount.) Add two chopped garlic cloves, or go the easy rou...

I was listening to a podcast this morning while cleaning the barn and the woman being interviewed was telling about her book club. They met four times a year and chose a classic to discuss. (This explains the need for three months in-between.) I was immediately smitten.  I do not have good luck with book clubs. I tend not to enjoy typical book club choices. I'm fact some of my least favorite books of all time were titles I read for one. In full disclosure, the feeling was mutual in that usually the entire book club membership disliked my suggestions when it was my turn to pick. I really love the idea of book clubs, though... everyone reading the same title, having interesting discussions, becoming good friends over the course of time. I'm theory they sound fantastic and I'm a little jealous of those people who have managed to attain that sort of bookish camaraderie.  But a book club based on reading classics? This might solve my biggest issue. You could even broaden it a bi...

Long time readers won't be surprised at how much thought I gave to what books I was going to bring with me last week. It was tricky. I had a lot of things I needed to take along which meant there really wasn't room for the usual four or five books I typically bring along. I also really dislike running out of books to read. (I must interject here that this concern was actually ridiculous because there are plenty of books at my brother-in-law's.) I think I came up with a pretty brilliant solution.  A Tale of Two Cities has been on my shelf to read for a while. What could be more perfect than a long and dense novel in a mass paperback form? I knew that even taking plans rides into consideration I wouldn't be able to finish it before returning home. (I'm almost halfway done for those who are curious.)  I am really enjoying it. Dickens knows how to tell a good story. There have been a couple of times when something would happen and I thought to myself, "Well, I didn...

I arrived home mid-afternoon today from being in New Hampshire running the EAL training. Everything went fine and it was great to visit family. Still, it is very nice to be home. Then this evening we had a big family dinner (with everyone but P., who had to work) because tomorrow D. leaves to head to grad school. It was good to have (nearly) everyone together to send him off. We will miss him. It has been lovely having him in Chicago this past year. I am also excited for him. This feels like such a good next step. Plus one of our nieces (so a cousin to D.) attends the same school. I love the fact that the cousins will be there together. 

Or roundabouts could also have been the other title. New Hampshire has a lot of traffic circles that I drive on to get to the barn I'm working at. You know what's really wonderful? People here know how to navigate these things smoothly and easily. I have experienced a little bit of joy at each one.  To understand why, you need to know that the powers that be have been installing traffic circles in our area at home, so it is a near daily occurrence to drive on them. But while there are an ever growing number of traffic circles, it seems the general population is slow to figure them out. I find it frustrating. My children will confirm this because I am often loudly saying that they are not 4-way stops. Too often I get stuck behind a car that is stopped at a traffic circle entrance waiting for there to be no cars in the circle. Even worse are the drivers who stop in the circle to let another car in. This is so not helpful and is just begging to create an accident. And every so oft...

Here's my workplace for the next three days. And it's doubly nice to be staying with my brother-in-law and his family. Tonight this meant a lovely dinner out and a walk around downtown Concord.