Traditions

30 November 2012

Welcome to the November 2012 Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival: Gratitude and Traditions

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival hosted by Authentic Parenting and Living Peacefully with Children. This month our participants have written about gratitude and traditions by sharing what they are grateful for, how they share gratitude with their children, or about traditions they have with their families. The Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival will be taking a break in December, but we hope you will join us for the great line up of themes we have for 2013!

Christmas is a time steeped in tradition.  As a child these were important to me, I knew what to expect and I have fond memories of this time of year.  As I have grown older, got married and started a family my childhood traditions have been lost as they have had to be merged with those of my husbands family and those of siblings partners.  I have realised recently that I am mourning their loss.

I have held on to one tradition and that is that we have Christmas in our home every other year, on the other year we visit both parents/grandparents they live some distance from us, but only an hour from each other.  The Christmas we have at home is as I had as a child, fairly quiet and with a few simple presents.  Christmas away is the total opposite, although we still give a few simple presents we receive, in my opinion, far too many.  I will never forget a Christmas, a few years ago now, I had carefully bought presents for extended family.  I watched in horror at the huge pile of presents they were opening, mine was opened and placed on a pile without being looked at and without any regard for who it was from.  I was really saddened by it all, surely this is not what Christmas is all about?

It is difficult to tell someone that you want them to buy you less, I would not want to hurt anyone's feelings by suggesting that their presents are unwelcome.  But I have come to realise that actually my feelings are being ignored too if the situation does not change.

Presents is just one thing, food can be just as bad.  Where has the tradition, for some, of overindulgence, of doing a monthly shop for a few days meals come from?  Again it is not for me.  I find so much of the food associated with Christmas far too rich, Christmas pudding and cake, mince pies, a simple cake and an apple pie is good for me thanks.  My ideal Christmas meal is one that is a bit special, it might take a bit longer than usual to prepare, it will be made from scratch and using ingredients not dissimilar to those that I would eat on a day to day basis as those are the ones that I love.

The most important thing to me at Christmas is that I can spend some quality time with my immediate family and, if it can be organised, my extended family too.  It is about exchanging a few simple presents, and it is about sharing good food together.  It is about moderation.

I am going to work hard at bringing some moderation into our family Christmas's, starting this year, perhaps then I will feel less overwhelmed by it all and actually enjoy it as I used to.

APBC - Authentic ParentingVisit Living Peacefully with Children and Authentic Parenting to find out how you can participate in next year's Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon November 30 with all the carnival links.)

Knitting

28 November 2012

Joining in with Ginny for this weeks sharing of knitting and reading and Tamis work in progress.


This last week has been a busy knitting week I have cast on and finished a pair of socks, cast on another  
pair, cast on and completed one mitten and have knitted some more of the dress I shared last week.  The arms are now completed and have been joined, I have knitted the front flap and am now trying to decipher the pattern to knit the edging.  I picked up some stitches and then thought I had made a mistake so I ripped them out only to realise they were right after all!  Luckily it was not many so will not take long to pick up and again.  My Christmas knitting is moving on at a good pace, I am not sure I will complete two pairs before then as I am knitting these in secret from my husband and he is at home most of the time up until then.  I will have to think of a way round that one.  Any ideas?

All this knitting has meant that reading has taken a back seat, the extent of my reading has been fruit tree catalogue as I search out apple cordons to plant in my garden.

What have you been knitting and reading this week?

Garden

27 November 2012

I have turned over a new leaf as far as my garden is concerned, no pun intended, and am trying to devote some time to it each week.  So far I seem to be succeeding.  I was not sure that the weather was going to allow for it this week as we have had unbelievably large amounts of rain.  My garden is pretty free draining and the soil is in good condition from the lovely compost that we make and coat the garden in each year.  But after all this rain it has turned to a clay like soil, it is absolutely saturated.

So I am working my way up the garden weeding and tidying it ready for the winter,  I am nearly at the end.  Whilst weeding in one patch I realised that I was pulling out very dead potatoes tops,  deeper digging revealed that we had missed a couple of rows when we dug them up earlier in the year. We have just finished eating these so I was delighted to find a few more pounds of potatoes lurking in the depths, they will keep us going for a week or so.  I thought we had had a poor potato harvest this year but it has turned out ok, I last bought potatoes in July!

Whilst I was tidying the tools away I happen to notice that all was not right with my garlic bed.  I sewed 74 cloves a couple of weeks ago but some appeared to have come up to the surface.  At first I thought this might be the mice that are a pest in our garden but their activity oftens diminishes in the winter as it gets very cold.  So it must be birds who are digging them up, such is the life of a gardener!  I have covered them to try to stop the birds doing this otherwise we will not have any garlic next year.

I have also be doing some apple tree research as we want to plant some in our garden.  Some friends of ours organised a wonderful day out for us to taste and learn about apples.  We have decided on cordons as we will be able to plant several varieties in a small space.  Apples really need other apple trees nearby to fertilise and fruit.  We have no apple trees anywhere near us so we need to grow a few.  I am hoping the weather stays warm enough for us to plant them soon otherwise we will have to wait until after Christmas, once the ground freezes it will not be possible to plant at all!

Joining in with Squiggly Rainbow for sharing of all things garden.

Reading

26 November 2012

One of my favourite authors of children's books is Jane Hissey, she illustrates her own books and they are beautiful pictures.  I discovered these books when I bought one for a friends child when he was young (he's fifteen now).  When I looked for copies for my own children I struggled to find them most of the copies we own were bought second hand, it's a shame as I think they are beautifully written and illustrated.

We have amassed a good collection now and I never tire of reading them.  All her books are based on bears and other soft toys that she and her children own.

The original story is Old Bear based on the authors own childhood bear.  He has been put in the loft for safe keeping and the other soft toys in the playroom are trying rescue him.  They try building a tower with bricks, making themselves into a tower, bouncing on the bed and climbing a plant.  They eventually rescue him by flying a plane up to the loft hatch and floating down with handkerchief parachutes.

Little Bear's Trousers tells the story of little bear who cannot find his trousers one morning, the story is based on the first bear given to the authors eldest child.  Little Bear goes off to hunt for his trousers, each time he asks one of the toys in the playroom he finds that have had the trousers but have passed them onto to someone else.  The uses of the trousers each time are wonderful, as hump warmers for a camel, a sail for a boar, a bone holder for a dog and a hat for a rabbit.  He finally catches up with them when they are being used as a double icing bag to ice a cake.  The trousers are rescued and washed and they all enjoy a piece of the cake.

Little Bear Lost involves a game of hide and seek where the toys cannot find little bear.  They stop, as they are hungry, to eat a picnic they made early and find little bear in the hamper!

Jolly Tall starts with a large parcel in the playroom which the toys discover contains a giraffe.  They have to get him out of the box so that he can join them all to play but it is not as easy as they thought it would be as Jolly, the giraffe, does not like heights!

In Jolly Snow the toys are waiting for it to snow. Whilst waiting they find ways of making their own snow inside, they are so busy they do not notice that it has actually snowed outside.

Ruff tells the story of a dog who joins the toys in the playroom.  When the toys ask how old he is they discover that he does not know and has never celebrated his birthday.  The toys then celebrate each day for a week to make up for his lost birthdays.

There are many other books by this author but I have yet to find copies of them, so have yet to read them.  I was amazed to discover whilst writing this post that some of the stories were made into a television series, Old Bear Stories, which ran to 41 episodes!

Most of the copies we own own are small hardback books which are lovely for children to sit and read.  I think these are a must for a children's bookshelf and I will be keeping these after my children have grown out of them for future small visitors to my house to continue to enjoy.

Joining in with The Children's Bookshelf for this weeks sharing of children's books.

Weekending

25 November 2012

This last week has been one of rain, so much of it at times I never thought it would stop, and wind.  One morning my youngest asked why the rain was going sideways!

We started the week with our usual trip into the local town for shopping and a visit to the library.  My eldest found two atlases and has spent most of the week looking at them, his geography of the world is probably better than mine now.

The next day we had a change of plan, we did not meet up at our usual Tuesday house, our friends no longer want to do that every week during the winter.  We are trying out some other options for some weeks and will meet with them as usual every other week.  So we met with one friend at their lovely yurt.  I made soup and rolls to share for lunch and some blackcurrent flapjack for snacking on with cups of tea.  We had a lovely relaxing afternoon together eating, talking and drinking tea.  A break in the rain saw us running outside for a quick wander and we managed to catch the starlings gathering for their evening roost an amazing spectacle and a wonderful end to the day.

On Wednesday we joined friends to press apples and make juice.  We using the apples that we had picked last week when we had the most wonderful day learning about apples.  The press,which we had borrowed off the lady who we spent time with last week, was hard work to use.  We had a crusher which we used over the press to crush the apples into smaller pieces and the we had to turn the press to squeeze the juice out of the sides of the press.  We were surprised at how little juice we got from so many apples but it tasted delicious, we kept half each.

The next day we were joined by friends for lunch.  We had intended to go out for a visit to a local castle for the afternoon but it was the wettest, windiest day of the week.  So we stayed in and watched the flooding in the field opposite the house get bigger and bigger, by the time they left the road was also under about two inches of water.  Luckily it did not get any higher as it stopped raining late in the afternoon and the water was soon gone from the road.

We spent the rest of the week at home.  We played games, built train tracks, played with cars, drew pictures, painted, danced round the table to music, knitted, sewed, weeded the garden and generally had lots of fun.

Gratitudes

Joining in with Taryn with her heartfelt Sunday tradition.

A time to slow down, to reflect and to be grateful.

This week I have been grateful for...

...tasty sprouted seeds and beans that I sprouted myself after being reminded by a lovely mama on the forum I visit.

...a lovely evening with my children talking, laughing and joking, they were glowing with happiness.

...sharing good home cooked food with friends.

...pressing and drinking our own apple juice it was hard work and delicious.

...feeling snug and warm inside during the wet and wild weather we have experienced this week.

...watching my children enjoying each others company and playing wonderful games together.

...my husband returning safely to us after a week away.

...having the time to knit a sock in four days this week, it usually takes a lot longer.

...having a safe place to live after hearing so many terrible events in the world this week.

Reflections

23 November 2012

I recently celebrated my eldest's birthday since then I have been reflecting on my journey over the last eight years as a parent.  It has been a time of joy, of sadness, of frustration, of bewilderment and of immense pleasure.  I never thought being a parent was going to be easy, it is hard, damned hard and it is all the time there is no walking away.

If you want it there is masses of advice available to parents.  A quick search on amazon in books, parenting gave me over 64 000 results some of those may be duplicates of the same book, even so that is a lot of books.  Why is it that there are so many available these days.  Could it be because we live so differently now to fifty or hundred years ago.  We live in very different communities.  We have smaller families so the older siblings do not learn any parenting skills which are acquired by the younger members of the family observing older siblings as parents themselves.  I had no older siblings to learn from, I remember my cousins as babies but did not spend long enough with them to remember what looking after a baby was like.  I read no parenting books before my eldest was born and even if I had I cannot believe that they would have prepared me for the whirlwind that is the early days of becoming a parent.  A baby is dependent on us to meet its every need, even when we have no idea as to what the need is that we are trying to meet, fitting our own needs into the day becomes hard.  Life, as some would have you believe, does not return to normal, whatever normal is.  I was working full time before my first child was born, I was under no illusion that I would ever return to that possibly part time, but never full time.  Those parents who try to return to normal must feel like they are pushing a full cart up a hill, permanently.

As my baby grew older and started to explore the world away from me through crawling, toddling then walking I had to learn to trust, and I did right from the beginning. As a parent I believe that it is important to ensure that your child does not come to harm, but is allowed to explore.  If a child is not trusted they are exploring the world through someone else's boundaries not their own.  They cannot make sense of new situations as they do not know where the boundaries are so parents have to intervene.  If more trust is given as the child gets older they may come to harm as they have not been able to make their own boundaries.  I realised that I was able to trust my child as my mother had trusted me.  If we are not trusted ourselves how can we place trust in our own children, we have not been able to learn these skills properly at the time in our lives that we needed to gain this vital skill.

As a parent I believe it is important to respect children, I have been shocked at how little respect children are given in our society.  I am not taking about legislation to protect their rights or safeguarding them from harm, I am talking about treating them as individuals in the same way as you would adults.  If my children are hurt or upset I don't deny them these feelings by saying oh you'll be alright or it's not that bad.  How could I possibly know how they are feeling, to say this is to deny the child any feeling or lead them to question the feeling they are having and wonder if they are wrong to feel that way.  If my children tell me they are hungry I believe them and give them something to eat, unless I am about to serve a meal.  I don't say you can't be you've just eaten etc.  I speak to my children as I would expect to be spoken to myself, or as I would speak to anyone else and how most parents speak just to other adults.  I find this immensely disrespectful and it jars with me every time I hear a parent speak that way to a child.  We seem to still expect our children to be seen and not heard, much like the Victorians.  If you try to take a child out for a meal after 5pm in so many places it is not possible, if my children are quiet and sit still I am told they good,  if my children are being noisy and boisterous I get withering or pitying looks.  I want my children to be themselves, to work out for themselves when is the time for being quiet and still or noisy or boisterous not when the rest of society deems it appropriate.

Children have an immense capacity to learn.  When I think back to what they learn in the first two years of their life alone it is remarkable.  As a parent I am learning too, each and every day.  It is a journey that never stops, it is exciting and exhausting.  I am preparing my children to venture out into the world by themselves.  We spend more of our lives away from the family home than we do in it, but they are some of the most important.  They are the time when we are learning values which will shape us into who we are as adults, those foundation blocks give us a stable platform to go out and continue to learn.  If there are gaps or cracks in the foundations we will struggle.  One the biggest lessons I have learnt from my children is to relax.  If I take my time and go at their pace I am a more relaxed mama.  I don't try to do too much in one day as it leaves me frazzled especially if I have to be places at a specific time, for me life is too short for rushing.

This is not my advice, this what I do and what I believe in now, tomorrow that may change, in a year that may change.  My parenting is fluid.  I am not perfect, I have lots to learn and I look forward to the future because of this.  I don't beat myself up when I have a bad day I try to work out why and change things if I can.  I am enjoying it as I only get one chance.

Knitting

21 November 2012

I am joining in with Ginny for this weeks sharing of knitting and reading Tami for this weeks sharing of work in progress.


This week I am busy trying to finish off a dress I am knitting for my youngest for Christmas.  As I am knitting this in the evening only it is progressing in fits and starts.  I would like to complete it soon, as I have a few other smaller projects that I would like to knit for both children for Christmas.  I am on to the second sleeve which has been slow progress.  I got to the end of the increases and realised that I was three stitches short!  I had to frog it back almost to the beginning.  My youngest has grown since I started knitting this so I hope it still fits her by the time I am finished.

My reading this week has been mostly on gardening.  I am planning what I need to do and when using a, new to me, method.  I came across biodynamic gardening as a method from a colleague when I used to work.  At the time I thought it was a tad bizarre but recently have felt that it probably isn't as mad an idea as I first thought.  The little booklet came with this rather colourful year planner.


I have read the booklet and looked at a few websites, there are books on this too but for now I am going to keep it simple.  If it is successful then I may read in to it further in the future.  I have also been looking at apple trees after spending a wonderful day last week with a local apple expert.

What are you knitting and reading?

Sewing

20 November 2012

This week I have been making another Christmas present.

Another bag like this one.  It is not quiet finished yet, I am currently sewing the handles on and then the sides need sewing up.  I am finding that the more I make of these the quicker they are completed. It was a two hour job to get to this stage including cutting the pieces and pressing.  I have about half an hour more work to do.  I still have three more to make although I need to find the material for one of these!

I have also been looking through my yarn stash this week to work out what I could use to make some more clothes for this dolly I made my youngest earlier this year.  I have found some yarn to knit a dress, cardigan and shoes.  My youngest has also requested pyjamas for her doll I thought I would make some out an old set of hers that she has out grown.  The bottom half are really worn so I will use the top except that I cannot find it anywhere, I hope it turns up in time!

Joining in with Nicole for this weeks creating.

Reading

19 November 2012

Getting out the house to go anywhere can be quite an exercise in our house, especially if we have to be anywhere by a certain time, we are lucky that we rarely have a time constraint.

I Forgot to Say I Love You by Miriam Moss is about Billy and his Mum getting ready to go out for the day, Mum to work and Billy to nursery.  They are running late, Billy is more interested in his stuffed rabbit than in getting ready.  When Mum finally drops Billy off at nursery she dashes off forgetting to say something important to Billy.  This is not so much a story, rather a charming look at a situation that is part of so many children's lives.

We were delighted to find another Billy Bear book in the library recently.

Bedtime, Billy Bear! is a book about Billy and how he feels about being put to bed by a babysitter whilst his mother goes out for the evening.  He is unable to settle and keeps coming downstairs, once the babysitter works out what is bothering him, she reassures him and he goes off to sleep.



Both these books have beautiful illustrations by Anna Currey.  She has illustrated many children's books including One Ted Falls out of Bed by Julia Donaldson.

Joining in with The Children's Bookshelf a weekly linkup of all things related to children and books.

Weekending

18 November 2012

My life is busy these days.  During the week my days are full, come the weekend they are busy too, but somehow I seem to have more time  and I am not exhausted come the end of the day.

This week started with a birthday my lovely husband did the shopping whilst the rest of us stayed at home to play with new toys or baking a birthday cake.

We joined our friends on Tuesday as usual for some noisy fun, the weather was cold and wet so the children stayed indoors their play got noisier as the day wore on.  The adults had great fun helping to build a set of storage boxes and a set of shelves.

On Wednesday our friends organised a day with apples.  It was a really interesting day made all the better by the lovely lady who we spent the day with.  She is something of an expert on all things apple and had a wonderful manner with children.  My eldest is naturally cautious around those he does not know but she spoke to me about what his interests were and then quietly drew him in to what we were doing.

The next day we headed south to join friends who we missed last week.  We were welcomed with soup for lunch and the children played and the adults knitted (well almost all of us one was in the garage!) and chatted as the afternoon gently rolled by.

After a hectic week we had a quiet day at home playing, reading and drawing.  The weekend was also spent at home working in the garden, sewing Christmas presents, knitting, baking and tidying the house.  My weekends are becoming more focused on my house and family and I am finding them a good end and start to the each week.  During the week I concentrate on our days out and at the weekend stuff at home.  I am longer spending time during the week wondering when I can fit in sewing, gardening or tidying.  I also know that come the spring my weekends will start to get busy again and my time for doing stuff at home will be pushed out.  I will need to ensure that some of my weekends are kept free, always easier said than done!

Gratitudes

I am joining in with Taryn for her heartfelt Sunday tradition.

A time to slow down, to reflect and be grateful.

This week I have been grateful for...

...the generosity of family and friends who bought presents for my eldest.

...the delight on my eldest's face when opening his lovely presents.

...a friend for organising a great day out.

...the time and company of a wonderful lady who was so gentle and responsive to my eldest's needs.

...the nourishing company of friends.

...time to spend planning and tending to my garden.

...my good health returning.

...listening to some lovely music that I had not heard for ages.

...bringing more rhythm into our lives and finding more time to do things.

Garden

17 November 2012

This last week I have spent more time planning jobs in the garden than I have actually in it.  I posted last week about biodynamic gardening and that I am going to follow the methods of this type of gardening in my garden next year.  Apart from weeding, there are a few other jobs I need to do during the autumn and winter it is these that I have been looking into to plan when I should be doing them.  I am starting to like this approach to gardening it suggests that you do specific tasks at specific times which I hope will focus my gardening and make it more manageable and achievable.

So the tasks I have identified so far are to divide my rhubarb plant which I shall do in December, move and prune two fruits bushes and prune the grape vine, which I shall also do in December but at a different time to dividing the rhubarb and sew some spring bulbs which I shall do in January.

Today I spent another hour in the garden weeding, I have yet to finish this job as I am limiting myself to one hour at a time so I do not feel overwhelmed by the amount there is to do!  Once the weeding is done I will clean all the pots used for sewing and potting on, there is a big pile waiting in the poly tunnel.  Then I will probably start to plan what I will sew and what seeds I need and get them ordered.

Do you have a garden, what are you doing with it at the moment?

Apples

15 November 2012


Yesterday we spent a lovely day doing all things apple.

Our Wednesday friends, a family that we meet up with every Wednesday to do stuff with, arranged for us all to go to the house of a local lady who is something of an apple expert.  We would both like to plant apple tress in our gardens so we were going to use the opportunity to work out which variety of tree(s) would be suitable to plant.

We started off tasting apples, my youngest thought this was great she loves all fruit but most especially apples.  It is now quite late in the apple season so we not able try any early fruiting varieties and some of those we did try we were told did not taste quite as good as they would have done earlier in the season.  It was still interesting to experience the huge variety of taste and texture between the apples we did try.

Apple varieties have such wonderful names, many of them have been raised by gardeners of wealthy landowners and the variety named after them.  Whilst tasting we particularly like Laxton's FortuneSpartan and the wonderfully named Cockpit Improved.  We talked about where each variety had come from and how old they were, how the names can reflect the shape for example the Pearmain varieties have a pear like shape or the Russets which describe the skin, usually slightly rougher and with greeny- brown or yellowy-brown colouration.

We were then taken to her orchard a collection of about 200 trees.  Some of the trees were growing as standards, a traditional tree shape, and some as cordons a single stem at a 45° angle.  She also showed us the wonderfully named family trees where there were three varieties of apple growing on one tree ideal for those with a smaller garden.  Apples are not in the main self fertile, they need other apple trees around for pollination and therefore fruiting, some are even sterile and will not fruit at all without other apple trees growing nearby.

The lady herself made the day so special.  She was knowledgeable, interesting, engaging and wonderful with children.  She did not force them to listen or make demands of them at all.  She sensed that my eldest was not comfortable around those he does not know and quietly asked me what he was interested in.  Later I heard her engaging him in conversation about that very topic.  She not only gave us her knowledge and her time and also her apples.  There was a tree still bearing fruit in the orchard another one with a wonderful name, Catshead, we left laden with fruit.  She also owns a juicer which she generously told us we could borrow if we would like to juice these apples.  We leant how to make cider and vinegar from her so some of those apples may end up in demijohns!

Knitting

14 November 2012

I am joining in with Ginny for this weeks knitting and reading and Tami for this weeks work in progress.


This week on the needles is a nearly finished cowl this is one of many Christmas presents that I am currently knitting.  I still have socks, a dress and a scarf on the needles and several more projects to cast on!  I am hoping that I will get them all made in time.

Reading wise I have returned to a book that I have been reading for a while but that had been put to one side.  The Secret Life of Birds is a fascinating insight into how birds sing, fly, bond and survive.  I was tempted to return to it after watching a DVD, Earth Flight, this is a five part documentary originally shown on the BBC which has the most amazing footage of birds.  There are close up shots on the ground, from the ground and most amazingly they strapped small cameras to birds and filmed a birds eye view.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

Sewing

13 November 2012

I have been creating a curtain this week, or at least the beginnings of one.  I have made all the curtains in our house but this only amounts to four so far, and one of those was a blind!  So I don't get much practice and I am working at a steady progress.


I bought the fabric some time ago when visiting friends in Wales.  They have a wonderful fabric shop near them and I was tempted by this fabric.  We have a lovely fabric shop near us but they do not sell curtain fabric.  I had no colour swatch of the paint we had used and the measurements of the window were a vague memory in my head.  Perhaps not the best start!  But I did buy enough and it was a perfect match. Phew!

So a week or so ago I measured the window to work out the width and drop measurements.  I then laid out the fabric on the floor to cut it to size.  When I laid the blackout mining fabric on top I discovered I had not bought enough.  I had enough for the drop but this fabric was not as wide as the actual curtain fabric.  I had a ratch through my fabric stash and discovered a small piece leftover from previous curtain making, it was a perfect fit.

I sewed the pieces together and then pinned the blackout lining, some ordinary lining and the curtain material together and sewed them.  It took ages to pin them just right so I was frustrated to realise after sewing that the linings were the wrong way round, the blackout material was on the outside, I wanted it sandwiched between.  This was the first of many unpickings!  Sewing the second side seam was more difficult.  I was lining using the tube method so I needed the linings to be shorter than the curtain fabric as I wanted a small amount of curtain fabric to be visible on the reverse side.  I experimented with a small piece of each fabric to work out the dimensions.  As this fabric has a square pattern on it it was easy to work out where to cut and pin the lining.  I am happy with the way it has turned out.

I now need to make tab headings, sew them on and sew the hem.  I need the tab headings to match in with the pattern of the curtain so I think it will take some time to make these! That is for another day.

Joining in with Nicole for this weeks sharing of creating and crafting, not sure if this project was very calming at times!

Eight

12 November 2012

On this day in 2004 my life started on a new journey, I became a mother.

As I walk this path this is for you my first born.

Over the last eight years you have been my guide,
Sometimes I lead the way,
Sometimes it is you.
You are there to remind me when times are tough that it will ok again.

You have changed so much in the last year,
I have watched you move away from me,
Become a confident person,
Sure of who you are and what you want,
Comfortable in your own skin.

You are kind and considerate to your sister,
You let her play with your things,
You read her stories and look at books together,
When you disagree you try really hard to negotiate with her,
I know you find this hard sometimes.

One of your favourite activities is reading books on the sofa,
You leave books everywhere,
Like a trail behind you,
Reading always reading
It makes me smile as I pick them up and return them to shelves.

You also love to draw,
Everyday you sit at the dining room table,
With a pencil in your hand,
I love how you talk as you do it,
I could watch you for hours,
Your creativity always amazes me.

Happy Birthday my love.

Reading

We love reading in our house and we have many bookcases full of books.  When we want some quiet time we retreat to the sofa and read, often together.


This book, A New House for Mouse by Petr Horáček is read often in our house.  It was given to my eldest and he loved it when he was younger, now my youngest loves to have it read to her.

It is about a mouse who finds an apple outside our house.  When she tries to get it inside her house she finds that her house is not big enough so she sets off to look for a bigger one.  On the way she encounters other animals whose houses get a little bigger through her journey.  I love the way that each house the mouse finds is depicted as a hole on the page.


To find out who lives in the house she peers inside.....


....and you can see her face from the previous page.

This book has a lot of dialogue in it so I always use different voices for each animal.  A high pitched one for the mouse, a low slow one for the badger, a big growly one for the bear.  If I forget the voices I am reminded to do them by my children!

This author has written many other good books such as Elephant and Silly Suzy Goose but this one is definitely our favourite.

Joining in with The Children's Bookshelf a weekly linkup of all things related to children and books.

Weekending

11 November 2012

This week has been a bit quieter than some, we have been feeling under the weather so some quiet time at home was needed to bring us back to health.

We started the week with our usual trip in to the local town for shopping and a visit to the library.  It took me all morning to get organised to go so we were late heading out.  We had a lunch/tea meal in the  late afternoon before wrapping up with lots of layers to head out.  It was a freezing night, I had to defrost the car before driving, but we could not miss the annual bonfire and fireworks in the next village to observe Guy Fawkes Night.  The bonfire was enormous as it usually is but it was good to feel the heat on such a cold night.

On Tuedsay we headed to our friends for our regular play date.  There were just three families this week so play was quiet which was good.  It has got a bit fractious and noisy of late.  Wednesday saw friends come to us for a play and lunch the house was noisy and felt full of children.  At one point they all had capes made from playsilks and a musical instrument each and were marching round the dining room table.

The end of the week we spent quietly at home, I woke with a very sore throat and hardly any voice on Thursday.  We rested and read books together.  Friday Daddy returned to us after a week of working away, he was tired after a long journey so wanted to sleep, the children were hankering for his company  they were dissappointed he just wanted to go to bed.

Over the weekend I was feeling better so I spent some time in the garden planting and tidying, I also managed to make a start on a curtain for my youngest's bedroom.  I do not get the chance to sew very often so I am really slow when I do.  It took me all day to sew the material and linings together.  I must have unpicked as many stitches as I sewed.  I need to make some tab heading and sew the hem, I expect that will be another days work.  Not such a quiet week after all!

Gratitudes

I am joining in with Taryn for her heartfelt Sunday tradition.

A time to slow down, to reflect, be grateful.

This week I have been grateful for...

...time to spend talking to a dear friend.

...finally be able to speak to my parents on the phone as it has been connected in their new house.

...heartwarming soup on a cold autumn day, made even better by the fact that the vegetables were from our garden.

...the understanding and patience of my lovely children when they were unable to visit their friends as I was not well enough.

...the healing power of sleep.

...the return of my husband safe and sound after a trip working away.

...having the space to grow our own vegetables and the time to tend to them.

Garden

10 November 2012

In an attempt to be more organised with looking after my garden I have started to think about next year. We have a small garden behind our house, long and thin, which we grow vegetables and fruit in.  We also have a few flowering plants to attract the bees and a small, currently very overgrown, pond which the birds love to visit.  We have a short growing season, we are at about 400m and pretty exposed so we have a poly tunnel to grow stuff that most people could grow outside like courgettes and cucumbers.  I have tried tender plants such as tomatoes, peppers and aubergines but they rarely fruit let alone ripen.  So I stick to mostly root vegetables, brassicas and garlic.

Part of my planning for next year has been some research into biodynamic gardening.  I first heard about this many years ago from a colleague who gardened in this way and at the time thought it rather bizarre.  However recent camping trips have served to remind me that we humans have lost touch with our surroundings.  We can no longer feel the days cooling down or warming up as the seasons change or the subtle changes in the air when the weather is changing.  Our ancestors who first started farming did not have watches or calendars to keep track of time they had to do this in other ways.  One of those methods they may have used is cycle of the moon and that is one of the aspects of biodynamic gardening.

It is thought, by those that practice this method, that different plants grow better if they are planted during specific stages of the luna cycle.  So as part of my planning I have found this rather useful website and purchased this rather eye catching wall planner,  which is already on the wall in my hall.  I am hoping that this will help me plan the best days to work in the garden, and because this method suggests doing certain planting at certain times, I am also hoping that I will spend more time in the garden as I will be doing specific tasks at specific times rather than thinking of all the things I need to do and then not really achieving any of them.  Focus that is what I need.

So I have spent two hours today sewing garlic cloves, 74 to be precise, and sorting out my leeks for overwintering, removing all the dead plants from the poly tunnel and tidying up my potting bench.  My next jobs are to divide my rhubarb plant, move two fruit bushes, prune the plum tree and the grape vine and sew some spring bulbs.  I now need to work out the optimum time to do these jobs, but I hope they  will feel achievable as I am guessing it will not be best to do the all of the same day, now that is my kind of gardening.

Stuff

09 November 2012

Over the last few weeks I have been slowly going though cupboard and baskets to give away stuff that we don't use, have out grown or no longer make use of.  I have not been particularly methodical at doing this but I know where I have and haven't been through.  When we have, in my opinion, too much stuff it feels overwhelming like it is threatening to take over, it becomes difficult to manage and keep on top of.  Don't you hate it when you go to a cupboard and can't get to what you want without unpacking most of the contents?

I grew up in a house that was full of stuff.  My parents seemed not to notice the volume of it, how it covered the surfaces and filled the cupboards and, after my siblings and I left home, the rooms.  My bedroom was an oasis from this, a room with relatively few things.  I carried this on when I left home, I moved around a lot and everything I owned had to fit into my car to move from a to b if it didn't, it was passed on to someone else.  But since buying a house, and settling, my possessions have grown in number especially since having children.  Our house is not particularly big and there is little opportunity to expand.  I love my house and am not keen to move so we have to fit into the space we have.

Whilst I have been going through this decluttering process I have mulling over the whole idea of what I actually need, to live as I want to.  I don't think I could ever live as minimally as the people depicted in these pictures but I am not sure that I would want to.  We have a small garden at the back of our house which we garden, to achieve this we have a small collection of tools, we enjoy camping, canoeing and walking, all activities which require particular equipment to take part in them.  To cease to continue these activities because the equipment they require needs to be stored seems to me to be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

This week I came across this interesting post on this insightful blog.  It celebrates moderation, a state of enoughness about not having too little or too much but somewhere in between.  That is what I am striving to achieve,  I've not reached it yet but I am on the right road and now I know where I am trying to get to rather than floundering along the path.

Knitting

07 November 2012

I am joining in with Ginny for this weeks sharing of knitting and reading and Tamis work in progress.


This week on the needles I have my third pair of socks.  I am starting to love the pattern that is emerging from this yarn.  After the first few rows they looked like they were going to be a  camouflage pattern, they are for my Dad this pair and he would not have liked that in a sock!  I have finished the hat that I started last week, it looks great I hope dh likes it.

I have been reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark this week.  I was tempted to revisit this classic, I first read it as a teenager I know as I have dated the book, after hearing a lovely programme about it on the radio recently.  It is a short book, 125 pages, so hopefully it will only take me a day or two.  I cannot remember what I made of this book as teenager but I am thoroughly enjoying it second time round.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

Sewing

06 November 2012

My youngest has a wonderful pair of trousers that I found in a secondhand shop.  When I got them home I discovered that one of the knees was really worn and after wearing them a few times a small hole developed.  They are reversible but knowing my daughter she would want to wear them pattern side out so I needed to patch them.  I put this off for ages as I was unsure of how to patch them until it was obvious as the pattern is strawberries, make a strawberry as a patch.

I drew out a shape on paper for the fruit and the calyx or hull and then used them to cut out red and green fleece that I had in my material stash.  I sewed the two pieces together and then used green embroidery thread to sew the achene, which I have discovered is actually the fruit part of the plant the red flesh we eat is actually accessory tissue that is refered to as the receptacle.  I then sewed the patch to cover the hole.  Voilà a strawberry patch!

I may need to make one for the other leg as that is wearing thin too.  I hope the patch I have made is up to the job!




Joining in with Nicole for this weeks sharing of crafting.

Sunset

05 November 2012



Weekending

04 November 2012

Most of this week I have spent with my parents.  I have not been able to visit for some time as they have been in the throes of building a new house.  I was apprehensive about the trip.  My brother has moved into their old house, the family home, the one a grew up in and I had been told they had already started decorating.  The house my parents are now living in is brand new.  I was unsure if I would feel a loss of connection with such major changes.  It was very peculiar, I have yet to absorb all the changes, there is still much to be done in the new house and garden.  As a visitor I felt very transient as if I would return again and all would be returned to how it was.  Maybe over time I will feel more of a loss or, as I hope, I will feel more comfortable with it all.

The journey to my parents is long and mostly on motorways, it makes for a dull drive, put this together with my apprehension it is hardly surprising that I set off well into the afternoon.  I spent the morning doing everything but actually packing.  The house was very clean and tidy when I left!

The time we were there was spent resting, knitting, talking, playing, visiting museums, going for walks, shopping, putting up shelves, unpacking boxes.  I didn't have to cook a meal for six nights it was a wonderful rest for me.  It gave my children a chance to catch up with their cousin.

We returned home on Friday, I would not have chosen to travel on that day but my husband, who did not travel to my parents with us, was off to the Middle East for a week on Saturday so we returned home to see him.  The roads were very busy and the journey took nearly twice as long as travelling down.

So my husband set off very early on Saturday morning and we spent the day at home playing, reading and in my case unpacking and decluttering.  I also spent some time thinking about what I am going to plant in the garden next year.  Sunday was more of the same I also fitted in some sewing and a visit to the garden centre for garlic cloves to plant out for next year.

Gratitudes

I am joining in with Taryn for her heartfelt Sunday tradition.

A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful.

This week I have been grateful for....

...being able to stay with my Mum and Dad after a long period of not seeing them.

...my brother and his wife for looking after my eldest and allowing him to stay with them.

...my nephew for being such wonderful company for my eldest this week.

...having wonderful meals cooked for me by Mum and my Sister in Law.

...time to spend enjoying the company of my youngest, one on one.

...arriving safely back home after a long journey.

...time to spend tidying up and decluttering once back at home.

Reflections

03 November 2012

Autumn is firmly set in, we had flurries of snow this morning, there is snow on the hills that I can see from my house, a coat is a must when venturing outside.

Autumn is a time of...

                                ...decay, of hibernation.

                                ...rich colours, green, orange, red and brown.

                                ...fire and candles.

                                ...celebration for my family with many birthdays.

                                ...nesting and snuggling for warmth.

Autumn is my favourite time of year.