BirdSleuth: A Great Resource for Birdwatching and Nature Study

As you may already know, we are dedicated backyard birders. As a form of nature study, birdwatching is easy and inexpensive and fun. You can even take the leap into the field of citizen science with the Great Backyard Bird Count and Project FeederWatch, both programs from Cornell's Lab of Ornithology.

I recently came upon another Cornell resource called BirdSleuth. This is wonderful! Read my full review over at Curriculum Choice. . . .

"Owls" Project Pack: A Fantastic Study!

I've enjoyed a few lovely days off to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with my family and friends. I hope you had some rest and relaxation time as well. There's nothing like a cold, rainy Christmas Day that invites you to stay jammie-clad in front of a nice fire with a really good book, is there? Perfection!

I wasn't completely lax, however; I found time to write a review on a most wonderful resource: the Owls Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child. If you and yours love owls -- like we do! -- you'll thoroughly enjoy this. To read my complete review, pop over to Curriculum Choice.

And a happy and blessed 2013 to you!


Photo credit: Doug Greenberg / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Weekly Happenings: A Week of Delights for the Senses

Happy fall Friday! The weather today is perfect here: deep blue skies, breezes, and sunshine. Which is great for us. But so many people's lives have been thrown into disorder after the hurricane -- from discomfort to complete chaos -- that my rejoicing in our glorious days is dimmed.

While I type, a dear friend of ours, a widower gentleman in his 80s, bides his time in a power-less house in New Jersey; other friends in Pennsylvania are just now back to school after being without power all week; NYC friends are just getting back to some semblance of normal life, but just a semblance; and other folks we know in the northeast are taking stock and cleaning up.

But everyone we know is safe. So we are thankful.

The girls and I had a good week, a week of delights for the five senses. On Friday night, we visited our town's planetarium and observatory with my two sisters, one of which lives here and the other who was in town for a conference. Yay! The planetarium show was fun; I hadn't been to one of those since I was a child. Afterward, we looked through telescopes to view a few celestial bodies: the Moon, Uranus, and Alberio, a double star in the constellation Cygnus. We all had a wonderful time stargazing and seeing new-to-our-eyes sights.

Other nifty things we studied this week:

• We read about Israel's Negev Desert in Explore the Holy Land.
• Story of the World highlighted India's partitioning in to Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan; the re-creation of the ancient country of Israel; and the Suez Canal crisis in Egypt.
• We learned in It Couldn't Just Happen that Earth's oceans have rivers in them: the Black Current in the Pacific and the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, which are both part of gyras.
• Dion marches triumphantly into Syracusa against Dionysius in Plutarch's Lives.
• We began a new book, Church's The Odyssey for Boys and Girls.
• We read about Mooween the bear in School of the Woods.
• The girls continued work on Queen Victoria and Ordinary Genius.
• Tiny Girl and I enjoyed Hodgepodge's Acrylic Fall Trees Tutorial. (Thanks, Nana!)

Himself took a business trip to Savannah, a city we all love. We requested some candy from Savannah's Candy Kitchen, and he lovingly obliged: saltwater taffy, peanut butter fudge, peanut butter and chocolate fudge, and pralines! I'm going to try my hand at making these delectable goodies this Christmas season. . . .

I made homemade pizza for supper on Halloween. Himself and I indulged in pepperoni, fresh mushroom, and fresh basil with a generous grinding of fresh Parmesan; the girls had their favorite: cheese. That is just gorgeous, even if I do say so myself.

Speaking of Halloween, if you have gobs of leftover candy, I wrote a blog post of ideas for getting rid of it (or stretching it out). We're donating ours to the troops.

More culinary sensations: I made a wonderfully delicious beef stew for supper earlier this week. Click here for the recipe and then make it this weekend. You'll be so glad you did! I also made another batch of homemade yogurt. I can't imagine being without it nowadays. And I made a double batch of homemade laundry detergent. I know it's not culinary, but I did make it in the kitchen.

Tiny Girl and I are spending lots of time at the barn. In case you didn't know, we now have two ponies: Max, whom we lease; and Tuli, whom we bought. Tiny works with both of them, and this takes a lot of time. I persuaded Himself to take her to the barn this afternoon so I could have time to write this wrap-up. Here she is on Max. It was an especially gorgeous day.

We bookworms have been reading a lot, too. Miss Priss finished Jack and Jill, by Louisa May Alcott (read my post on that here) and continues Cheaper by the Dozen and Summer of My German Soldier; Tiny Girl continues The Fellowship of the Ring and finished The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss; I finished Mary Stewart's The Moon-Spinners and have almost finished The Upstairs Room.

One of our Frost poem's this week was "After Apple-picking." Here are a few lines:

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

I enjoyed the few Frost poems I recognized for many years, but now that I've read him more widely, I wonder at his insight, his turn of a phrase, his ear for perfect words, his immense gift for poetry.

I'll leave you with a tip:

Everything goes better with chocolate -- especially fractions.

Not only am I linking up with some fantastic blog hops (see below), I'm also having a fabulous time listening to bossa nova music on Pandora internet radio. You can, too! Visit Pandora, and then type in "Astrud Gilberto" as an artist. You'll hear her and others like her. "Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking, and when she passes, each one she passes goes aahhhh. . . ."

Link ups:
Mary at Collage Friday
Kris at Weekly Wrap-Up
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Savannah at It's a Wrap
No Ordinary Blog Hop

Shakespeare As It's Meant to Be: In Real Life

On Sunday evening, we visited a Shakespeare playhouse in our town to see Macbeth (that is, the Scottish Play). This was a first-time event for all of us in one way or another. Himself and I had never seen this particular play, and the girls had never seen Shakespeare on stage. So we were all excited. Plus, this theatre serves food -- really good food, as we discovered -- so we were extra excited.

I'm of the mind that Shakespeare should be seen and experienced, not read. Reading Shakespeare plays is boring. I know; I've read more than my fair share. And there's a perfectly good reason that the plays are boring to read: they are plays. Shakespeare wrote them to be performed on the stage. That's the whole point.

Shakespeare comes to life on stage. The actors of course give life to a mere character. But in an even greater sense, the words come alive. What looks archaic and foreign and impenetrable on the page becomes clear in real life.

We talked about the story on our drive home, and I was greatly pleased by how much the girls understood. But if I'd read the play aloud to them or, worse yet, handed it to them and said, "Read Act One, Scene One, and get back to me," the results would have been far worse. Never mind the huge resistance I would have faced!

That being said, once you've seen the play, it might interest you to read it. Now you have a "movie in your mind" to go along with the words on the play. When you read "Exeunt," you'll recall that the players thundered off the stage, swords glinting, in that particular scene. Or you may remember Lady Macbeth speaking the phrase "the milk of human kindness," and, since you recognize it as an idiom, you can read her soliloquy and further explore its use.

On the flip side, you might want to read a play to prepare yourself for seeing it. Shakespeare's minor characters are often not named in the play itself. To keep yourself from wondering, "Now who's this guy?" during the play, bone up a bit first. But even in this case, I advise reading a No Fear Shakespeare version (or another modern English translation) or even a story version, such as Edith Nesbit's or the Lambs' adaptations.

We all had a fabulous time. The girls are still talking about their favorite parts. They can't wait to see another Shakespeare play and are already planning which to see. Much Ado About Nothing and The Tempest are high on the list.

How great is that?

P.S. Jimmie has written a most wonderful Squidoo lens, Shakespeare for Children, packed with tons of resources and ideas. Don't miss it.

I'm linking up with:
Hip Homeschool Hop
No Ordinary Blog Hop

Weekly Happenings: Orchard Field Trip

The big highlight of this week was our field trip to an apple orchard in the mountains on a gorgeous autumn day. We tagged along with our friends, who attend an online school that often organizes such outings. We enjoyed a wagon ride through part of the orchards; a tour through a museum of 19th century life; cider samples; a chance to milk Buttercup, a sweet (and long-suffering, if you ask me) Jersey cow; a petting zoo; fun on the playground; and the orchard store.

We bought a 1/2 bushel of a variety of apples: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Winesap, Rome Beauty, Arkansas Black, Mutsu, Pink Lady, and Cameo. We also bought apple cider doughnuts; a gallon of apple cider; a jar each of cherry jelly and cinnamon pear preserves; two hand-held apple pies; a small bag of dried apples; and a bag of pork skins. And while there, Miss Priss and I each enjoyed a cider slushie, while Tiny Girl dived into a caramel-apple-in-a-bowl: a sliced apple covered in caramel sauce. I helped her finish it up. Motherhood has its perks, after all!

One of the online school's teachers had set up a center for apple science. The children each selected an apple. They weighed it with a spring scale, found its volume, tested its buoyancy (thank you, Archimedes!), and measured its mass.





At home we did a bit of apple math. A 1/2-bushel bag of apples cost $17.00. The girls and I weighed the bag when we got home; it was 21 pounds. We did the math and found that these lovely, fresh, tree-ripened apples cost $1.24 per pound.

That's a fabulous price, but now I have 21 pounds of apples. What to do?

Well, Himself has requested a pie. I've never made my own pie crust, but given my new make-things-homemade bent,  I will now have to give it a go. Wish me luck.

I'm also planning slow cooker applesauce. I'm hosting bookclub this coming week, so a nice caramel apple crisp sounds just the thing for dessert. A drizzling of heavy cream wouldn't go amiss. Does it ever?

I could freeze some sliced, for future use. If the pie isn't a disaster, Himself might request another some day.

Then I guess we could just eat a few. You know, plain. There's an idea.

All our other subjects are clicking along. A brief glimpse:

• fractions for everyone in math
• noun study in grammar, focusing on finer details, such as mass and count nouns, compound nouns, etc.
• Psalm 46 in our pre-inductive study of the Psalms
• World War II in history
• poetry memorization for recitation
• a look at the planets in our solar system
• exploring Israel in geography
• our readings, two of which, Queen Victoria and Ordinary Genius, required notebook page installments 

I want to spend more time on World War II, so we are spending next week reading more about it via historical fiction and recollections. Next week is also our notebooking week, so I'll be designing more pages between now and then. Check back to see what I come up with!

I'm linking up with:
No Ordinary Blog Hop
HammockTracks
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Collage Friday @ Homegrown Learners

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month

My children and I are proud possessors of our library cards and have been for years. In fact, Miss Priss was delighted when her first card expired after several years because her signature on it was wobbly and childish. New card, new signature!

If you and your children don't have library cards, get thee to a library (with kids in tow)!

And if you do have a library card, do you know all you can do with it? Check out the American Library Association's (ALA) slide show, "60 Way to Use Your Library Card" for inspiration. (Scroll down the page a bit. I tried to embed the code, but it does not work correctly.)

A library card puts the world within your reach!

A family movie night at the library. Photo courtesy of ALA.

Service Learning: Hands-On Opportunities to Reach Out to Others

Service projects. Community outreach. Service learning.

We all know these are good things. We want to make a difference. We're called to make a difference. But where do we start? And how do we go beyond the canned food drive?

Help is here! Read my review of The Complete Guide to Service Learning at Curriculum Choice!

A Day in Our Life -- At Least for Now

We are still at the lake, but we started "back to school" two weeks ago. Since summer's in the air, I like to keep things light, refreshing, and different.

Each day, the girls complete a math workbook page as a review. We also read from Abraham Lincoln's World, which we are about to finish. Yesterday, we learned about Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister and discussed their impact on medical practices of the day. We then read from either This Country of Ours or "Brutus," from Plutarch's Lives. We are just about to complete those, as well.

Today is "Scope Day." We have checked out a neat telescope from our town's library. It's clear today, so I'm hoping for good viewing tonight. There is not much light pollution where we are, so even without a telescope, we can see much more of the night sky than we can at home.

Tiny Girl found a butterfly's wing on our deck table this morning. We brought along our new microscope, which has yet to leave its box (!!!), so we're going to take a look at the wing with the microscope. I'll post photos later.

Our life at home is busy, activity-filled, and, now that the girls are in middle school, more academically rigorous. We don't tend to have or take time to venture out. While we're in Maine, I look for things to do and places to see.

Yesterday, we visited the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester. It is the last remaining Shaker community in the world, and there are five Shakers who live there. Volunteers and hired employees help run the community. Miss Priss had wanted to visit here for two years since she read Lois Lowry's Dear America book, Like the Willow Tree. The main character and her brother are sent to live at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community after her parents die in a flu epidemic in 1918.

 A view of down the road at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village

We took a guided tour of the village, which was very informative. (Miss Priss related to me later that she knew much of the material already, but I did not.) None of us knew that the Shakers invented the roll-up shade, circular saw, and the flat straw broom!

As part of the tour we were able to go into some of the buildings. The worship building was built in 1794 and is still used today. Visitors are welcome to attend the Sunday service at 10:00 AM. I wished we lived nearby so we could experience worship with them!

House of worship

Interior photographs are not allowed. I wish I could have snapped a few photos for you. The dark blue painted trim is original and in fine shape. Shakers enjoyed painting the interior elements of their buildings. The three colors used most were the dark blue, a dark red, and a very popular mustard yellow. The ministry house sported a light aqua blue interior trim as well.

The Girls' Shop, where the younger girls lived and worked

We enjoyed a special exhibit on the children's lives at the village. Often, orphans or children whose parents fell on hard times were brought to the community to live. We learned about Sister Mildred Barker, whose widowed mother took her to the village when the child was seven. When her mother returned to collect her, nine years later, Mildred chose to stay. At 21 years of age, Mildred decided to become a Shaker herself, and signed the covenant. She died in 1990. Sister Mildred was an important figure in Shaker music, and she was also a poet. Here is the first line from her poem, "A Prayer":

I am so small alone, and weak,

Defeat I often see;

But by the strength of Thy right hand,

A conqueror I'll be.

The community still functions as a working farm, keeps an orchard, and sells goods in their store. It is certainly not the successful concern it was back in its heyday, but focuses now on preservation and education. Also, their herb garden provides much in the way for herb and spice sales, sachets, and TEA! All are reasonably priced. Here's a link to their online herb catalog.

At the store, we purchased two CDs of Shaker music; a kitted hat for my niece; and two bottles of homemade flavorings: mint water and rosewater (with recipes!).

The store, which smells wonderful!

I was surprised to see Highland cattle, which I'd only seen in Scotland before. The girls were delighted as well.

Sheep, too!

It was quite a fantastic and enjoyable day. If you're ever in the area, make plans to visit. You'll be glad.

So there's a look at A Day in Our Life! When we get back home, we'll hit the books hard. But doesn't everybody enjoy this style of learning, too!

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Chocolate and Books

By the time I reached the Copthorne Hotel in Newcastle on Sunday night, it was after 11, and I'd been awake for 36 hours. I'd enjoyed my time in Amsterdam and was still a bit keyed up, due to excitement and lots of coffee. So I didn't fall asleep til after midnight.

And then I slept hard.

I didn't wake up until 2:15 Monday afternoon. (When Himself heard this, he replied in disgust, "What a waste of a day!" I had to remind him of my 36-hour "day" that had immediately preceded my Sleeping Beauty snooze.) After a quick shower, I grabbed a map of Newcastle and hit the streets. My hotel was along the Quayside of the River Tyne, so I had to walk uphill to reach the city center. It was a gasping walk.

The first place I stopped was St. Nicholas Cathedral. I love old cathedrals: the stained glass, the memorials, the old burial spots, the carvings, the dust motes, the smell... everything. I picked up some materials on display; it looked like St. Nicholas is a lively parish, which I was glad to see. I especially enjoyed Christopher Dalliston's (the Dean) message for Lent in the Cathedral Notes; I've linked to it here so you can read it, too. Look here for some more photos of the cathedral.

I also snapped a few photos of the Castle Keep and Black Gate, the two remaining buildings of the "new" castle. The keep was built between 1172 and 1177 by Henry II, and the gate was built between 1247 and 1250 by Henry III. "New" is a relative term.

The Black Gate

This monument to Queen Victoria sits outside St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Queen Victoria, looking dour.

I stopped in Blakes for a coffee and bakewell tart. The server asked me where I was from. When I told her, she excitedly said, "Oh, I love it there! It's one of my favorite places!" Turns out she's visited more states than I have. She's hoping to attend school in Toronto and travel in North America some more. I gave her my email address when I left, in case she'd like some advice planning her trip(s).

After that, I popped into Ma Provence for a croissant to take away. Later, I drooled over the chocolate offerings at Hotel Chocolat, a must-stop-shop if you're ever in Newcastle. I bought some, too! Let me recommend the dark chocolate-dipped ginger strips.

Another must-see: Grainger Market. I visited the market on my first trip to Newcastle four years ago, and I made tracks for there this trip, too. Here are some marvelous photos of the market, which opened in 1835. It's a marvelous place to browse. At one stall, I bought lots of candy to take home for the girls. At a book stall, I perused old books and wished I had enough suitcase space to take some home. I smiled at a butcher as I passed by his stall, and he winked back. There was a lot more to see, but I also wanted to stop by Waterstones bookstore, so off I went.

My favorite thing to do in Waterstones is visit the children's section. Why? Because they offer titles and authors we don't see in America. Deciding to cram my suitcase after all, I bought several books for the girls. The clerk who rang up my purchases, a young girl with maroon hair and completely tattooed arms, held up a Michael Morpurgo book. "Oh, I have this one, and I'm afraid to read it!"

"Afraid?" said I. "Why?"

"I know it will be sad, and I don't know if I can take it!"

We both laughed. "Oops," I said, "I'm buying it for my daughters, and one in particular is tenderhearted. Maybe I'll read it through first."

She thought this was a good idea. As I left, she called out, "I hope your daughter loves the book!"

I looked at my watch. Time to head back to the hotel to meet Tanya and her colleague, Allan. We were going out for Indian food. (It was wonderful, and if I could recall the name of the restaurant, I'd tell you. But I can't.)

A little adventure began. I headed in a direction and ended up in an area I'd never seen before. But I felt okay: I was headed downhill, so I must be going in the right general direction. Then I caught sight of the Millennium Bridge in the distance. It's along the Quayside. I made my way toward that bridge. Following signs to the Quayside, I got back to the hotel with a few minutes to spare.

By 11 p.m., I was back in bed. It had been a packed eight-hour and forty-five minute-day!

The Anne Frank House: "I Don't Want to Have Lived in Vain"

I walked briskly up Prinsengracht, away from Westerkerk and toward Huidenstraat, a woman on a mission. And what better mission: the chocolate boutique, Pompadour. So I barely noticed the three young men coming toward me on bicycles until they swung to a stop by my side.

"Anne Frank?" asked one, in heavily-accented English.

Pleased to look like someone in the know, I pointed back behind me. "Straight down this road and on the right. You'll see it." My ticket entrance was timed for two hours later that day, and I'd already scoped out the place.

He smiled and nodded his thanks, and off they zipped.

The Anne Frank House (or Anne Frankhuis) is a top attraction in Amsterdam, as you might imagine. Tanya, my friend with whom I'd be meeting up in Newcastle the next evening, had tried to visit on two other layovers, but the entrance lines had been too long. For this layover, she'd bought her ticket online, as I had, before leaving home. Neither one of us was going to miss it this time.

  

When I arrived at my appointed time, there was no line, and the museum was blissfully uncrowded. I was further pleased to find it well conceived and organized. I moved through the downstairs exhibits at my leisure. I then made my way up the narrow and steep stairs to the secret rooms where eight people had hidden themselves away.

I was surprised to find that crowds of people quickly caught up with me. They hovered over certain displays and moved on, flowing around me, missing many of each room's highlights. I had the distinct impression that many visitors were there to run their eyes over the rooms and check the "done that" box on their bucket lists. Thanks to my pre-trip research, I knew what things I wanted to see particularly, like the penciled height measurements of Anne and her sister, Margot, on one of the walls. So many visitors rushed past without even noticing. What an irony, I thought. How many others rushed past without noticing in 1940s Amsterdam?

While the children's height measurements (I measure my own children's heights on a door jamb in our cabin) and the photos and magazine pictures left hanging where Anne herself tacked them all squeezed my heart, I was prepared for those. It was the unexpected that made me catch my breath:

• Photos of Jewish families lined up in the street for removal, the same street I'd just walked down
• Anne's actual diary and her notebooks, which she began carefully editing with an eye to publication after the war ended; her handwriting; that these had been kept safe by friends and given to Otto Frank, Anne's father, when he made his way back to Amsterdam after the war
• The three-minute interview with Otto Frank, Anne's father, the only immediate family member to survive; made in 1969; he was surprised at many elements in Anne's diary; she did not give voice to many of her thoughts; he concluded by saying that no parent ever knows his child completely.
• Photos of the ones in hiding and the people who helped them; real people

I stood before the photos, the journal pages, the video screen as a crush of people pushed past me. I couldn't absorb as much as I would have liked. And my window of time was closing; I had a train to catch back to the airport. I felt vaguely let down.

I learned later that Tanya's experience had been much the same as mine. She'd been irritated by the hordes thickly surrounding displays, pushing through, carrying her along with them. She'd not been able to engage fully with what she was seeing.

Thankfully, there's much more to it. The Anne Frank House website is marvelous. Through it, I can revisit the house any time I like. I can take the time to process everything I saw in person; I can see it again online and more as well. This museum's materials and offerings need to settle into one's full self: mind, heart, and spirit. And that takes time. The website gives me an avenue to further explore, and I cannot recommend it highly enough to you.

Go. Read. Look. Study. Think.

Each day, the website posts a quote from Anne's writings. Today's is this:

“Even though I'm only fourteen, I know what I want, I know who's right and who's wrong, I have my own opinions, ideas and principles.”  -- March 17, 1944

And she did.

A Day in Amsterdam

Almost the moment I stepped off the plane in my hometown, I fell ill. Okay, more like a couple of days, but still. And I've been ill for most of this week, so my writing about my trip abroad was delayed. However, I'm much better now and back at the computer desk!

One of the pluses to my recent trip to the UK was an eight-hour layover in Amsterdam, where I'd never before visited. After doing some online research about Schiphol airport and train transport to and fro Amsterdam's Centraal train station, I decided I'd have about four or five hours to visit the city. Who knew when (if?) I'd be back? Quelling any fears of missing my connection to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (a nausea-inducing thought), I made plans for a quick trip.

Herengracht canal. Can you see all the bikes parked on the bridge?

First I highlighted my top priorities: the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frankhuis. After studying a map, I saw it would be impossible to do both. I opted for the Anne Frankhuis. To free up more time, I bought my ticket online before I left home.

Anne Frankhuis

Amsterdam is rightly famous for pancakes, so I planned to visit the Original Pancake Bakery. Fortunately it's located on Prinsengracht, just a few minutes' walk from the Anne Frank House. I also wanted to stop in Pompadour, a famous chocolatier, and just wander around a bit.

I also padded my timetable for a few malfunctions:

If you exit the restrooms at Schiphol and see a small machine off on its own that looks seductively like an ATM, do not fall for it! If you do, your card will get stuck on the slot, you will have to seek out several different types of assistance, your already-tight timetable will get tighter, and you'll feel like you're going to vomit. If you are "very lucky," the only facilities management people who have the authority to save your card will be on duty. They will be friendly and smile indulgently at your self-deprecating comments. They will ask to see your passport before handing over your ATM card and saving your life. They will then point you around the corner to the REAL cash machines.

Don't ask me how I know this to be true.

Getting into the city was fairly easy. I eschewed the self-service ticket machines and bought my ticket (round-trip for that day) from a human being so I could make sure I went to the right platform. Amsterdam's Centraal station is well situated, but it's not at the heart of the city. You have to walk a few blocks for that. A good map is a necessity; the city layout can be confusing and trusting your sense of direction is a big mistake. You don't want to wander into the Red Light District. (No, this did not happen to me. If it had, I'd confess.)

Along the Prinsengracht. I loved the houseboats here.

The Original Pancake Bakery is fabulous! I chose the apple and bacon pancake and a latte. The pancake was platter-sized, thin, and crispy around its edges. Fresh apple rings and three slices of bacon were cooked into it. There were three syrup offerings: two bottled (one regular and the other caramel) and a third in a crock with one of those honey-dipper thingies. That was my favorite.

Pompadour is teeny-tiny. I squeezed in with four other people to ogle the chocolates and pastries in the two display cases. (There's also a miniscule eating area with a few tables -- all occupied when I was there.) I asked about a few chocolates and chose these: one dark chocolate-covered caramel, two cocoa-coated truffles, and two "lemon," which I discovered to my delight were slices of dried, sugared lemon covered in dark chocolate. I know -- it sounds strange, but it's my new favorite.

My visit to the Anne Frankhuis deserves its own post. Check back soon.

Scout Camping Trip

We're off on a camping weekend with our Scout troop! The forecast calls for rain, which is just perrrrfect.

Happy weekend!

Weekly Happenings: Finally, A Field Trip!

 The idea of field trips appeal to me, but I have a hard time finding time in our schedule to accommodate any. So it's nice when a homeschooling friend calls and invites us to one. It's especially nice when that field trip educates us on our own town.

Isn't it funny how you often know more about other places than your own?

The girls and I learned a lot about the history of our town by watching a video and listening to a speaker at the visitors center. After a picnic lunch, we hiked through an old part of town, where we saw "the Bricks," apartments built for millworkers prior to the Civil War and some of the oldest apartments in the United States. They are now lovely townhomes. Meandering past the historic sites of the old mills, which were burned during the Civil War, we hiked through woods to the antebellum-era dam and waterfall, which powered the mills.

Along the way, I snapped some photos of wildflowers we saw. The only ones I can identify are the purple morning glories, which are annuals and have to be planted each year. I wonder how these came to be alongside the trail. Birds, perhaps? Or maybe there are actually folks who plant them each spring.

The dam and waterfall, which powered the mills more than 150 years ago 

Besides our field trip, we've enjoyed other activities, too. Last weekend, we attended a UKC dog show in another state. In the photo below, breeder extraordinaire, Leslie Reed, and the girls are showing the three amigos (and siblings) in the puppy match. Charity, the pup on the far right, won! That's our precious Georgette in the middle, and Tony's on the left.

This weekend, Tiny Girl competed in horse shows both Saturday and Sunday. Himself was Super Special Show Dad on Saturday, as I was attended Girl Scout training all day at a facility about 1 1/2 hours away from home. On Sunday, I took over equestrian pursuits, while Himself and Miss Priss attended both church services for Music Dedication Sunday. Miss Priss's middle school choir sang.

Tiny Girl and Tappy

Educational highlights:

Inspired by the name cards exchange in Little Town on the Prairie, the girls made their own out of colored cardstock.

Miss Priss is making great strides with the Math Mammoth curriculum, new for us this year. It's really boosted her math confidence, which had been lacking.

"Poplicola" from Plutarch's Lives and Gods and Heroes continue to be favorite readings. Miss Priss also cheers when it's time for Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution. Tiny Girl's response is a tad less enthusiastic, but at least she doesn't gag. Right?

Here's a quote that caught my eye in the book Im reading, A Little House Sampler, by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane. The quote comes from one of Laura's Missouri Ruralist columns, from 1919:

"Why should we need extra time to in which to enjoy ourselves? If we expect to enjoy our life we will have to learn to be joyful in all of it, not just at slated intervals, when we can get tijme, or when we have nothing else to do."

I need to remember this every day. Now here are two who enjoy life every day!

Jasper and Georgette, taking a break from rough-housing at the dog show.

I'm linking up with The Homeschool Mother's Journal. Pop over and read some blogs! And have a fabulous week!

Scribblings from Maine: Daylilies

When we bought our cabin, one of the "things" we inherited from the previous owners was mature landscaping: hostas, shrub roses, peonies, and daylilies (genus Hemerocallis). A lovely bed of lemon-colored daylilies graced the flower bed by the front door. They were brilliant in the afternoon sunlight.

There's something special about daylilies -- each bloom's lifetime of just one day literally ephemeral. I take time to look at a daylily bloom, to notice how its color changes with the light at different times of the day. By nightfall, that same bloom will have withered, a fleeting state of grace.

Sadly, my daylilies did not survive our recent construction project. I saw nary a bloom this summer, and I missed them.

All was not quite lost, however. I'd noticed a newspaper ad for daylilies for sale the summer before, and now I noticed a small sign at the top of my road and in front of a farmhouse where a Mennonite family had moved in two years ago. Perhaps I should stop in to look around.

But I have a thing about driving down someone's driveway for commercial purposes. It seems so intrusive. What if it's not a convenient time? What if they're closed, and someone is forced to come outside to tell you so? What if I interrupt a heated argument? What if they're in the bathroom? (All of them, Ellen? Come on.)

One afternoon, I somehow overcame all these (ridiculous) misgivings, and the girls and I turned down the drive. The sign read OPEN. That seemed promising. When we parked the car, a little girl, dressed Plainly in a long calico dress, white cap, and bare feet, opened the screen door and obligingly asked, "Are you here for the daylilies?"

Yes, indeed, we were.

She led us back behind the house, past the vegetable garden, the chickens, and a pen of little goats, to a field full of daylilies. Our arrival must have started something; moments later three more customers arrived, prompting the lady of the house and several other daughters to join us in the daylily field.

It was a gorgeous afternoon, sunshine in a cerulean sky. We meandered around the garden, following the straw-covered paths between each row. Some flowers were still blooming and others were finished; but the family showed us a small photo album of all their offerings, so we could see each variety in all its glory.

On my price list, I marked each one that interested us, the girls calling out names of varieties that caught their eye. We narrowed down our selections. A few I vetoed due to their price. Miss Priss, especially, has expensive tastes. Finally, the girls each chose one variety, and then went off with the two youngest daughters of the house to chase Bandy chicks and pet the baby goats.

Since I'm the mama, I allowed myself to choose two varieties. It's one of the perks of being the mama. Right?

Our selections were carefully and generously dug up and bagged. Once we got back to the cabin, I planted them quickly just to get them in the ground. They are not where I want them to live permanently, but I'll make adjustments next summer.

And I hope they thrive. I hope that, years from now, the girls and I will admire them and say to each other, "Remember the day we bought these? Remember how nervous Mama was just to drive down the driveway?"

Close Encounters of the Owl Kind

Two weeks ago, Tiny Girl and I were headed to her riding lesson when she cried out, “An owl!” I hit the brakes and reversed the car. There, in a tree just a few yards away, perched a rather large owl, staring at us while we stared back. I only had my phone with me, so I took a couple of (sadly unsatisfactory) photos before it soared away. After some rsearch at the library, I identified our owl as a barred owl. Here are some Wikipedia photos that put mine to shame. Note the dark eyes and yellow beak. We could clearly see those in our close encounter.
It was a nifty sighting, but a few summers ago, Himself and I had an even closer encounter with another owl. For several daysthat summer, we'd been hearing this strange whistling, hissing call and had no idea what it could be. A neighbor’s dad, who was visiting, identified it as an owl. And here I was thinking owls only said, “Who?”

A few nights later, at about 10:30, Himself and I were engaged in a highly competitive game of Scrabble when we heard that same call. “Let’s go look for it!” Himself suggested. Grabbing a flashlight, we headed outside.

Himself waved the flashlight at the tops of the trees. The eerie hissing whistle continued, tantalizingly close, but the owl remained hidden. A few moments later, we heard a whoosh of air and a big rustle of leaves on the ground to our right. We swung the flashlight beam that way. And there it was: a large barn owl, not five feet away. We stared at each other for a few seconds before it lifted off, silently, back up into the treetops. Here are some photos of barn owls, so you can see the difference.

We haven't heard any barn owls for at least two summers. I miss that hissing whistle.

A Tea Drinker's Take on Coffee

As you know, I am an avowed tea drinker. Coffee is just not my thing. Plus I have something personal against paying lunch prices for a fancy cup of joe. Although I did develop a penchant for McDonald's' mocha frappes last summer....

On our recent trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, Himself (who drinks even less coffee than I -- exactly none) and I spent a few days in Kona, land of the quintessential coffee. One morning, we stopped in for a free tour at Greenwell Farms, a coffee farm in existence since 1850 and still owned by the Greenwell family. The tour was extremely informative and interesting. Since the tours are informal, there were only five people in our group, so we could ask all the questions we wanted. (I have some photos of coffee trees more than 100 years old and still producing, but I'm still on the library computers and can't upload the photos.)

Of course, there were samples galore at the end of the tour. Greenwell does not offer sugar or milk with their samples, as they want the coffee's individual flavor to take center stage. Himself and I both sampled several varieties, and I fell in love with the chocolate macadamia nut (decaf for me, please). I bought a bag to bring home, and I drink it black, thanks very much. Me, who has always added sugar and milk! Alas, Himself is not a convert; he thought a few were pretty good, but that's all.

Then again, I'm no convert either. I'll always be a tea drinker. But it's nice to branch out once in a while, isn't it?

Aloha!

Have you missed me? Or have you been too busy with summer activities to notice my silence? I'm guessing the latter!

Himself and I returned Saturday afternoon from a glorious week sans enfants on the Big Island of Hawaii (or, as they say, Hawai'i). Part of the time was a business trip for him; all of it was recreational for me. We had a blast. We rented a venicle and made a tour of almost all the island.

 Polulu Beach Overlook, north Kohala

Some Things We Saw:
- black sand beaches
- waterfalls
- rainbows
- southernmost tip of the U.S.
- sea turtles
- dolphins
- volcanoes
- snow atop Mauna Kea
- surfers
- beautiful flowers and flowering trees

My toes on the black sand of Punalu'u Beach Park

Some Things We Did:

- hiked through a rainforest AND a volcano crater
- snorkeled
- ziplined
- sailed on a catamaran
- toured a coffee farm and sampled delicious Kona coffee
- drove over rough, four-wheel-drive only roads to reach some places off the beaten path
- ate fabulous food

The trip home was a bear. We left Kona at 9:00 PM and, after five hours in the air, reached Los Angeles at 5:00 AM Pacific time. We boarded our second flight at 6:30 AM and landed at home at 1:30 Eastern time. We both tried to sleep on each flight, but were largely unsuccessful. So we were exhausted on Saturday and Sunday. Himself wonders if the return flight is worth the whole trip. I have no such ponderings. Hawaii is worth every minute of it!

Of course, now we're back home and smack into "real life" in real time. . . .

Weekly Wrap-Up: Whirlwind Week

(I liked the alliteration of this post's title, so I left it that way.)

This week started out with our wonderful field trip to Savannah, GA, which you can read all about here.  If you've never thought about it as a destination, give this small historic city some consideration.  There's really no place like it.

We arrived home Tuesday evening after 9:00, and both girls were worn out the next day.  So we took it easy with our lessons, relying mostly on the BrainQuest workbooks for some spelling, grammar, and math work.  We ditched Latin but continued with French.  They also spent time reading on their own, practicing the piano, and taking care of our garden (as it were).  That worked so well that we followed the same pattern the rest of the week.  On Wednesday, we also spent a few hours at the barn for Tiny Girl's weekly lesson and giving Tappy (the pony) a bath.  It's hot here now, so she loved the hose-down.  Tiny and I got a bit wet, ourselves.

On Thursday, we hosted our Girl Scout troop's end of the year party.  The girls made ice cream sundaes and played with Silly String (thank you, Dollar Tree!) in the yard.  On Friday, we spent time getting ready for Tiny Girl's horse shows this weekend.  Yes, that was a plural: shows.  She's in a show on Saturday and another on Sunday.  Friday also marked Miss Priss's first babysitting job: she teamed up with a friend to watch the friend's little sister for about an hour and earned $5.00.  She is so proud.

Next week will see us back on our normal schedule of lessons and readings.  But this lighter week has been a nice break without that "backsliding" feel!  We have one and a half weeks to go on our school calendar, and I really aim for us to finish strong.  But if some readings trickle into the summer, that's no big deal, either.  (Imagine some Island music playing in the background at this point in my post.)

Savannah: Beauty, History, and Tasty Eats

Savannah is, as I've said before, one of my favorite cities, and I like it more every time I visit.  Now the girls have caught the bug, too, with Miss Priss ready to pack up and move there.  And we were there fewer than 24 hours.  All photos are courtesy Miss Priss, since I left my camera behind.

We arrived Monday around 5:00 PM.  Our hotel, the SpringHill Suites, could not have been more convenient: I-16 turned into Montgomery Street in the historic district, and the hotel was a couple of blocks down on the right, really close to City Market.  The girls had a quick swim, and then it was back out to the car for the short and scenic drive out to Tybee Island, Savannah's beach community.  We sighted several types of sea birds in the salt marsh on the way.

We ate supper at the Crab Shack, which is bigger and a lot more touristy now than it was when Himself and I dined there about 15 years ago.  But the food was good, and the girls enjoyed the alligator habitat and the exotic bird collection (two entertaining African grey parrots and several raucous macaws).  And the view of Chimney Creek was the gorgeous same.  Afterward, the girls insisted on driving to the beach itself, where they ran in the sand and surf and "accidentally fell" into the water.  I recall doing that as a child, myself.

The next day, the girls and I hit the town while Himself suffered through business meetings.  We arranged for a carriage tour through the hotel's concierge right after breakfast.  The carriage tour was fabulous.  There were the three of us and three elderly ladies from Tennessee, who merely ooohed and aaahed over the scenery.  The girls sat up front with the tour guide, who addressed most of her comments to them.  It was like a private tour!

Then we headed straight for the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace, home of the founder if the Girl Scouts in America, for a guided tour.  What a house!  We wandered a bit after that, looking for a place to have lunch.  I might have opted for The Lady and Sons restaurant or Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room, but I didn't think the girls would like the wait.  And we only had one day, so...

We consulted our map and headed to The Pirates' House, part of which boasts one of the oldest buildings in Savannah.  On the way, we sauntered down St. Julian Street, one of the loveliest streets in Savannah, in my opinion.  Our carriage tour had taken us down part of this street, where Miss Priss pointed out a house for sale.  Our guide said it was listed at almost $3 million dollars, just a tad out of our price range.  Interestingly, much of Savannah's historic district is residential, as opposed to many other cities' historic areas, which are often mostly commercial.

I was expecting the food at The Pirates' House to be strictly tourist grade, but everything was really delish.  the french fries were the best I've ever had, and I don't often make such wild statements.  The iced tea was wonderful.  You'd be surprised how many restaurants mess up iced tea.  It's shocking.

We met up with Himself at the restaurant (he'd already eaten) and then took a quick tour of the river front and River Street itself, a mass of bars, eateries, souvenir shops, and people.  The girls were unimpressed, so we found a quiet square with a fountain and devoured our cupcakes from the Cupcake Emporium.  Then we headed back to City Market and bought some fudge at Savannah Candy Kitchen, where we also watched the guys make some caramel popcorn and taffy.  They are very liberal with the samples, too!  The place was hopping.

I'm not much of a shopper, but I made a point to stop in the Paris Market and Brocante.  It was different from what I expected, but I enjoyed browsing around.  I was especially enamored with their coffee-table-type book selection.  I pored over a huge tome of Leonardo da Vinci's work, but the price was trop cher pour moi (when in Paris, eh?).  The shop also featured other intriguing items, such as a huge selection of old printing press moveable-type letters in different fonts.

By then it was 4:30, and we decided to head home.  It was a whirlwind trip, but we packed a lot into the time we had!  Since the girls and I loved it so much and there's still more to see and do, we'll be heading back soon.