More Walks

I have three little collectors now with their bags in hand. It's a developmental milestone to me as sure as starting to crawl or walk! Jenna collects very specific treasures and herbs that she has seen me gathering. Morgan is less discriminating and collects all of one type of thing (or two types of things). Often we will find forty acorns, some mouldy, in Morgan's bag. And that baby? Totally an equal opportunities scavenger - handfulls of leaf litter or assorted grit! I'm just waiting for the day when we look in her pockets and find a little collection of small stones, she is so close to this stage already. :)

Healing from the hedgerows, masses and masses of woundwort. I have a tincture and a floral water steeping now in lovely glass jars in my cupboard.

When Jenna was a baby I never would have put this picture up, too exposed (and not for fear of offending either, only out of a sort of squeemishness and shame about my own body).
I love the creativity of children with sticks! These were broomsticks, umbrellas, walking sticks, swords, and horses, all in the space of half an hour.



Today we're off out to Attenborough again, having promised to drop in on Roland just around the corner. :) Ohh the crisp freshness of the air at this time of year. I want to *breathe* in the heady end-of-summer scents and the misty chill of Autumn.

Grateful List

I feel inspired to write a list of things that reminded me today how good life is and how many reasons I have to smile. :)

When I woke up, my baby smiled at me. My first thought, before "what are you doing here" and "how long have you been feeding for" was "wow, I am so lucky to have you in my life!"

I saw the season table and remembered that Autumn is rushing in on me with its crisp golden sweet smokey scent. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Autumn?

The pair of burnt down candles (and two smaller ones for the older girls) were out on the table. I have two big Shana Tov posters up on my wall too. I am so grateful for the passing on of wisdom and the generations of faithfulness that have assisted me in learning about my heritage.

My wool winder, clamped to the children's shelves, has been played with. I love that they use real things. I love that they love wool. I love the meditative quality of winding wool, working with wool, traditional crafts. If this seems incongruous to come after the previous statement, who am I to say what God does and does not find sacred and worshipful? ;)

There is some corn ripe in my garden. YUM.

Bread dough proving overnight is ready to throw in the oven. Mmm raisins. Mmm cinnamon sugar!

In spite of the current teething thing with Roo, my children are so incredibly healthy and full of life! Their noise is joyful and uninhibited. And I'm usually a grumpy sod about it.

Things are going to plan, and the plan is helping us to enjoy ourselves together more and find our footing through the day. And I'm getting better and better at adapting it to our needs rather than trying to fit US to IT.

Jenna read to me again this morning. :)

I am sitting in an actually *clean* living room where my children are happily playing together and eating apples off the tree in our garden.

There is a lot to be thankful for!

Rhythm and Ritual

Dual purpose posting this morning. :) A quick update on the waldorf daily and weekly rhythm, and some of the Rosh Hashana stuff too.

First, the planning. It really is helping to keep me inspired, and organised enough to follow through. My fear was that it would stop me feeling the freedom of unschooling, and that I would feel so tied to it that I couldn't budge from the plan without chaos and mayhem and shouting and crying happening. Um, well, that *has* happened in the past!

The main thing is, I think, that I wrote down a slightly more regular version of what was already happening. I have the extra motivation to stick to it because I have a chart (in pretty colours, with pictures, oh yes indeedy) and lists and tick sheets (ohhh how I love a good tick sheet) and a ringbinder with pockets (sad, I know).Rather than giving me headaches and making me feel restricted, or panicky when we go off on a tangent, or stressed when the children just WON'T FIT IN WITH THE PLAN, it has been really freeing. We have more time. We have more time, and a list of things to do in it. We don't forget activities we wanted to fit in, and there is a space for them. We don't sit around wondering what to do next. :)At some point I will do my own planning sheets to fit on exactly what I need. But for now the ones I found here have been very helpful (and free, we like free).

Last week I hunted around on Matzo Ball Soup and we did this and this (well, roughly lol, and as wall posters rather than cards).


And here is one finished and up. We later took it down again to try to write on it, copying the lettering from Matzo Ball Soup, though I doubt very much we got it right!Last night we took our candle lighting to Emma and Chris, to keep the feast together (and because late afternoon/evening is a rubbish time for Connor to travel to get to us!) and I took with us all the food we'd been cooking through the day yesterday. These are my candles (and the tealights for the children) - Emma's were stood on her newly clean and decorated fireplace.Jenna took several really lovely pictures, running around everyone with the camera as we ate and just spent time together keeping the feast as best we can. :)


And there you have it, our disjointed thoughts and updates for today. :)

Not Back to School Picnic

And I can report that we have finally met people!!

San, you and your family are lovely, it was SO GOOD to have an afternoon together. After you left we found Benedict's compass under the trees, if you are looking for it! :)

Other HE families came! Apparently I am on the wrong mailing lists for Derby. There are others out there, really, and we can meet them! I feel suddenly so much less alone, without even meeting most of them. Two families spent the afternoon chatting and playing and picnic-ing. It was fantastic. And sunny. Very very sunny. :)

The baby has a black eye from walking under a swing, and a scraped face from catching her foot while climbing off a seesaw. The older two both have ingrained soil on their feet from going barefoot all day (inconvenient yes, but I LOVE the sheer wildness of it). We are exhausted, but happy. :)

(Too many emoticons, lazy writing, ARGH overthinking it again... Ignore me.)

What a lovely day. :)

Paint on Clothes = Fun

I've been spotting lots of fabric painting and printing ideas recently... Check out Filth Wizardry and Artful Parent (and again!) if you haven't already.

Well we did the dishtowel painting, and I diluted the paints too much, so hey I didn't blog it. It isn't that the results weren't nice or that the process wasn't fun, just that I want to try again and get bright colours for photographing (oh and wearing too, obviously, for actual USE)... ;)

Well, before we got to the trying again, we found two tshirts with stains on, and decided to paint those instead. I will clarify, Jenna decided to paint them. I just did the "why not?" thing. :)
Now I'm looking around for more things to get paint on... :)

*8 Things: Warning Signs

Soulcare from Magpie Girl (via Pixie Mama)... *8 clues that I am not standing in my own power. The warning signs that help me recognise I need to change my approach.

1: Resenting the need to move to do something. ;)
2: Thinking that if only I had *this*, or did *that*, everything would be perfect.
3: Either not feeling like crafting, or not feeling like doing ANYTHING except crafting (ie crafting at expense of eating and sleeping = avoidance)!
4: Saying "should" and "ought" a lot.
5: Startling at physical contact - when I'm out of energy, low, or frustrated, I get a violent gut reaction to touch.
6: Saying "I don't care!" or waiting for other people to tell me what to do.
7: Not wanting to eat, not being able to think about food or plan what we will eat. Usually resulting in junk food.
8: Looking to screens for answers or distraction. That blasted refresh button!

So, my rescue plan for when I start to spot the signs... :)

- WORSHIP (and prayer, but most importantly worship ie taking the spotlight off me onto Him - or Her, ok folks, I don't believe God has gender, so sue me for using the traditional gender pronoun - right, overthinking this, sorry.)

Yes, some of you will probably wonder why I list prayer and worship as tools for standing in my own power, but the truth is I don't believe in self-help, and there is nothing like hearing myself say, "Lord you are God, I am nothing" to realise the contradiction in allowing myself to believe that I am unworthy when He has made me and declared me worthy! It's only when I give God His true place that I can see myself as His child. It is only when I hear myself going over and over sin He has forgiven that I can tell myself to shut up and stop the prideful self-flagellation.

- Touch the earth. Get out into the daylight, walk barefoot, plant something, find water, let the breezes blow the cobwebs away.

- Get down on the floor with my children.

- Write write write!

In the Park - In the Dark

Sounds like a Dr Seuss book, no? What it was however, is a very late-in-the-day total change of plans, adventure, escapade, call it what you will. It was FUN. :)As we were eating tea I had a call from my mum, asking if we were going out. Out where? It's quite late! Well apparently I had totally missed the fact that it was the weekend of the concert and fireworks on Darley Park... We thought about it, well, long day, a bit stressful, cold, what about the children getting tired, would we be able to get space arriving late, etc. Then I made up two flasks of chamomile tea and one of cocoa, packed a blanket, re-dressed the children, and hunted high and low for coats.Fireworks! :) The baby was amazed, laughing and pointing. Morgan hid her face in Martin's shoulder and said the noise was hurting (she peeped out a bit when he helped to cover her ears for her). Beautiful!One more thing to love about babywearing and breastfeeding, the facility for my tinies to assimilate a new and perhaps even slightly scary experience from the comfort and pleasure of the familiar loving arms of their mama. Rowan nursed and pointed, and talked with her mouth full, and cuddled in tight at the loudest bangs

What a funny night it turned out to be. I was so tired and feeling out of sorts, and then the prospect of something totally different changed everything. :)

Foraged and Found

We really needed to talk a walk, so we went to one of our very favorite places (again, yes, I know) and picked more berries. :)

Sloes, rosehips, haws and blackberries. I now have one batch of elderberry syrup made, and some tincture steeping. I also have a big mixed bag of prepared hedgerow foraging, another bag of just blackberries, a bag of sloes, and a small bag of more elderberries, all in the freezer. I think jelly, cordial, gin and truffles. :)We took a picnic and sat in a little wooded area, and paddled too - yes, it was VERY cold!





Rowan touched this spider, very gently, and exclaimed in surprise when it ran away. She went to kiss it, actually, but then decided better of it, with her funny baby chatter telling me all about it.In the hide watching the ducks and swans.
Ponies out in the flooded gravel pit again. Jenna was chatting animatedly to a total stranger about the horses, well, about EVERYTHING, and it just made my day to have her be heard and not belittled by an adult who clearly enjoyed their conversation. :) Whoever you are, that man, thankyou. :) My poor six year old was CONVINCED the white horse was a unicorn, so when it turned and she could see that what she thought was a horn was in fact an ear, she was quite upset. But, ever philosophical, she thought of the ice cream van in the carpark and dashed off to see if it was still there.On the way back we had to stop for a bulb for the car (which has the dreaded MOT next week) and I went into one of my favorite charity shops, and TKMaxx (in dire need of a large loaf tin). So I have treasure! The charity shop yielded a cord skirt for me, a cardigan for Morgan, a bread bag, and some children's books. :)I am feeling inspired to start our Not Back to School week! Forget the hiccups of last week, we have crafting and mayhem to persue. Check the pretty planner, add some more ideas to our list of things to do, and breathe. :) Here we come September! Again. ;)

And Stop

One thing I have to love about our efforts to keep Shabbat as a family, no matter what is undone when those candles are lit, it stays undone. There is this to be said for holy time, for parcelling of some small space as sacred, if nothing else it makes me stop trying to make everything perfect and just be present.At sun-down on a Friday, this is where I am. Prayers, candle lighting, grape juice and challah, food, and all of us, present. With a quick check online to make sure we don't miss sunset (you can add hours to the Sabbath, but never take time away from it). With our mistakes, forgetfulness and our hurried ways, with our imperfect understanding and our willing hearts, we come as we are. And everything else stops. Just for a while.

Even if I did not believe it to be commanded. Even if I did not believe it to be worthwhile in its own right. Shabbat makes me pause. Every friday night and all through Saturday, for that at the very least, I am thankful.

Something to show for it

Well, for all the lovely pictures, this week has been emotionally tough and mentally exhausting!

Last week Morgan went on footwear strike - she always has had a thing about the seams on her socks lining up, and then she decided that shoes of any kind were pushing the socks into bunches so she refused to wear them. It has taken the wearing of seasonally inappropriate crocs without socks to get us out of the house. I am beyond fed up with being stuck at home so we ARE going to get back to going for a walk every day.

Cue the last two days. Fight over footwear. Settle on crocs when we find the other one somewhere a shoe could not possibly be (this happens almost every day, seriously, I need to persuade my children that shoes live on the shoe rack or me remaining sanity will not last til winter). Insist on carrying coats for children who say they are not cold. End up carrying coats all morning. Yup.

Then today, Jenna only wants to go out if she has her bike. Helment nowhere to be found, and I insist she needs it if the bike is coming. We are walking a long way, and crossing roads, and she needs her helment. She cries. And cries. And refuses to leave the house. And searches the house for another hour before I say that we are now going and it is too late. Seriously, I need to persuade my children on the matter of tidying up in general, and putting things back when they are done specifically.

Well, we foraged. Two baskets of berries. :)

Though the stress it caused I am unsure it was worth it.

Then there is the eating madness, which descended recently and had two little girls empty my fridge and eat ingredients meant for the rest of the week in about ten minutes flat. Including the entire filling from a quiche, a packet of cooked sausages, a pot of cream cheese, six yoghurts, two lemons (?) and the rest of the flapjack.

The baby, meanwhile, tore all the financial stuff out of the back of my notebook and shredded it.

This week we have got a lot done. Everything has fitted in its neat little slot. We have done what we intended to. But we are all miserable. I can't tell you *what* is going on with us, except that perhaps the children are coming down with something as they are still grumpy as hell today. It has really been one of those weeks when I want to throw up my hands and say, "oh what's the point?!"

Washday Treasures

Littlest helper pulling out dry washing from overnight.And ah, the crafting from yesterday, brightening the jobs of today. :)
Newest completed crochet ready for washing dishes, too. A productive day is planned today. Later, also, hopefully soap making for Christmas gifts. We are starting September as we mean to go on!