Weekly Happenings: Testing, One, Two

It's been an atypical week here! We set aside most of our regular subjects while Miss Priss endured the CAT5 for sixth grade and Tiny Girl suffered from test envy. To stay on schedule, we continued with our readings after testing for that day was complete.

Readings this week:

• Oliver Twist: read through chapter five. Still a favorite.
• George Washington Carver, by Suzanne M. Coil: read through chapter four. Tiny Girl especially is connecting with this book, which pleases her mama.
• Lilias Trotter: A Passion for the Impossible: read through chapter three. Miss Priss loves this!
• Story Book of Science: read the chapters "Rain" and "Volcanoes."
• Abraham Lincoln's World: problems cropping up around the world, e.g., Ireland's potato famine, Canada's dissatisfaction with the mother country, working-class rebellions.
• This Country of Ours: the battles of Shiloh (in Tennessee -- I visited the battleground when I was a child) and New Orleans; the importance of control of the river system.
• Mapping the World: a new geography resource. Read my review here.
• "Brutus," from Plutarch's Lives: Caesar's assasination. Both girls thought there should have been a better way to handle Caesar's thirst for power than murdering him.
• Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar: we finished our readings for the term.

In other activities, Miss Priss had a fabulous time at her first junior docent meeting at a local antebellum house museum. Tiny Girl has been working hard with the new pony, Max. I've implemented a new schedule for writing and life. The girls and I greatly enjoyed Miss Priss's theatre company's high school drama troupe's production of Seussical. The kids did a wonderful job. The girls and I planted morning glory seeds, carrots and corn, lamb's ear, and basil (potted).

Yesterday, Tiny Girl and I had an up-close interaction with a baby squirrel at the barn. The mother died (drowned in the horses' water trough) and left several babies. We are giving them food and water and hoping for their survival, but it's going to be tough for the little guys.

Jasper and Georgette, our delightful and much-loved corgis, are shedding their undercoats. We've witnessed birds carrying in their beaks tufts of dog fur for their nests. I had to smile while watching a tufted titmouse struggle with a particularly large clump; she managed it in the end!

I'm linking up with I'm linking up with the Homeschool Mother's Journal and Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. If you're looking for some inspiration and ideas, you're sure to find both on other linked-up blogs!

Happy weekend!

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?"

A Glimpse of Spring

When my friend, Blossom, from North Laurel Home & School, commented on my green grass in a photo for a Weekly Wrap-Up, I thought I'd post a few photos of spring in my neck of the woods.

Daffodils are Blossom's favorites, and a favorite of mine as well.

I love this periwinkle-colored phlox at the foot of my driveway. Notice all the buds? They have now burst into bloom.

Just a few weeks ago, I severely pruned my six red Knock-Out rosebushes, and they put out new growth almost immediately. Another rosebush of mine, a yellow one, already has buds on it.

Some trees' new leaves start out red, which looks sensational mixed in with the white flowers of ornamental pear trees, the pink of ornamental cherry trees, and the bright lavender of redbuds.

This is one of two ornamental cherries that grace the parking area of our neighborhood pool and tennis courts. Not only do I love their flowers, which are actually pinker up close, but I also love their shape.

Another spring favorite of mine is forsythia. But I don't have any, nor are any close enough to my house to photograph. So I have to content myself with catching sight of them while I drive around town.

About to enter the spring scene big-time are the dogwoods, which are beginning to bloom, and the azaleas. I have two large white azalea bushes in my back yard, and one has just started blooming. Blossom (and everyone), I'll post photos of that when it's in its full glory.

I hope you are seeing signs of spring where you live!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Quiet Pursuits

But isn't that the beauty of summertime, I ask you?

I almost didn't post a Weekly Wrap-Up this week because this past week was much like last week.  Lots of reading and relaxation.  Unlike many of you, I have not begun to think about school yet (much).  I already have some plans done, which I completed in June before we left home, but there is a bit more to do.  However, I'm not planning for us to start until mid August, so there is still "plenty of time."  Famous last words, eh?

Himself arrives this evening after a 10-day absence.  We are all looking forward to seeing him!

The boat is back from the shop and all better (fingers crossed).  We'll be doing a lot of boating this weekend.  Tiny Girl is anxious to try skiing again.  When Himself is with us, life is less quiet and full of excitement.

I've done a bit of gardening.  I divided my daylilies and transplanted a few.  We'll see what happens with those.  Some herb plants I ordered arrived yesterday, and I planted them in my herb garden.  Now I have lemon balm, lemon thyme, mint, lavender, common sage, pineapple sage, basil, and oregano.

Right now, I am reading and loving Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen.  I hadn't read it before (thanks to my darling friend, Val, for loaning it to me for my trip north!), and it is a real treat.  More later, when I write a proper review.

We've also been listening to Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre productions of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.  They are excellent.  We've listened to The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; and, now, Prince Caspian.  I highly recommend this CD series.

Here's to summer!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Third and Fourth Grades, Check!

We wrapped up our school year this week, sort of.  I say "sort of" because we didn't complete everything I'd originally planned for, but that's okay.  Summer swung into session without consulting my schedule, and we got caught up in the (fun) fray.

Swim team practices switched to mornings this week; my neighborhood's summertime-women's-Tuesday-morning Bible study began; Tiny Girl had two riding lessons, also switched to a much earlier time (at the barn by 7:45 AM); there was a mock swim meet one morning, which also began early; the girls read their books every day; the piano recital on Tuesday evening, which went very well (yippee!); and we were in the thick of things with playdates and pooldates.  Whew!

We did, however, manage to complete our story of Theseus from Kingsley's The Heroes; and we are almost finished with Dinae Stanley's biography of Leonardo da Vinci.  We did not finish all of the chapter on spinning machines from Great Inventors and their Inventions, but I don't know if we will.  Neither of my children enjoyed this selection very much, which is unusual for our Ambleside Online books.  I'll re-visit this in the fall and see what inventors we should really not miss, e.g., Eli Whitney.

Our garden continues to flourish.  I guess.  I'm not such a green thumb.  Here's what it looks like now:

Himself and the girls installed the chicken wire barrier after Jasper leapt into the garden and trampled several carrot and tomato seedlings.  The carrots recovered, somewhat; only two tomato seedlings survived.  So I broke down and purchased two tomato plants for our garden, since our two seedlings are so tiny I doubt will enjoy any produce from them.  We already have two small tomatoes growing, much to the girls' delight.

We now have twelve cucumber plants thriving:

And eight or nine watermelon plants:

I've made plans with a friend to share our plants, since our small space can't hold all these!  Miss Priss asked that I include a photo of the flowers she selected for the garden, so here 'tis:

The basil, zinnias, and hollyhocks have taken off, too.  Perhaps we'll share those as well.  I also spent quite some time deadheading and gently pruning our Knockout rosebushes.  Those things are so prolific that deadheading is a major project!  The mophead hydrangeas are blooming, too.  When I'm out walking in the neighborhood, I admire other folks' flowers and make plans for what I'd like to plant in the fall.  I'd better write these down or I'm sure to forget!

Happy summer!

The Ersatz Gardener: The Allure of Lemon Thyme

(I'm not much of a gardener, but I want to be; hence the title of this post.)

Yesterday at Pike Nurseries, where I was buying two tomato plants (more on this later), I was ecstatic to see lemon thyme plants in their herb offerings.  Not as popular as the usual herb plants, lemon thyme (thymus citriodorus, for those of you who care) has thrived in my Maine herb garden, but I had not found any here at home, so I immediately snatched a four-inch pot.  If you haven't yet succumbed to lemon thyme, let me tempt you.

Last night, I cut up and roasted some red potatoes with olive oil and a little coarse-ground sea salt.  After they were cooked (to perfection, I might add), I sprinkled some lemon thyme atop my serving.  Bliss!  Tiny Girl used some on her black-eyed peas and pronounced them edible at last.  (Black-eyed peas are not her favorite.)  Himself took the plunge and sparingly sprinkled some of the herb on his potatoes, as well.  Miss Priss was the only one of us who held to her typical course and declined lemon thyme.  Her loss!

And that's just one use.  I've used lemon thyme in hot tea, lemonade, and on other veggies, such as steamed broccoli.  My favorite use is in lobster "salad," which is chopped lobster meat and mayo at its most basic.  I add lemon thyme and some seasoned salt and either devour it as is (or atop some lettuce leaves) or stuff it into a hot dog bun for an elevated Maine lobstah roll.

Lemon thyme is reported to be particularly good with fish and chicken.  I haven't tried any of those yet, but they sound wonderful.  Now that I have my own plant here at home, I'll be looking for new recipes!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Terraria, Toilet Tissue, and a Bit of Perspective

Despite the myriad items on my calendar this week, such as the girls' check-ups and a vital (for me) meeting at church, we had a decent week.  Not stellar, but not too shabby, either.  We even managed to get in two days of Latin, which we'd been neglecting.

At my church meeting, the girls brought along their BrainQuest workbooks, which they find a nice change, and actually completed some assignments.  I had wondered how successful that venture would be, but it turned out okay.

In math, both girls have been plugging along in the BrainQuest workbook.  This week, Miss Priss met double-digit multiplication.  To aid me in teaching her, I reached for my handy Math to Know mathematics handbook and decided to use the partial products method.  I chose this strategy because it better separates the operations, i.e., first you do all the multiplicaton work, and then you add everything up at the end.  I thought this would be easier for her to follow.  I heartily recommend Math to Know and the other handbooks in the series, Math to Learn and Math at Hand.  The pages are bright and colorful; the explanations are thorough and clear.  I was fortunate to "inherit" these handbooks from my mother when she retired.  Thanks, Mama!

We all enjoyed our readings this week.  Turns out I only had a vague understanding of both Leonardo da Vinci and Marco Polo, so I've been fascinated with studying them.  Our chapter in Secrets of the Woods, "Meeko the Mischief-Maker" continues to be a favorite.  And the girls were delighted to reach Henry VIII in history.  We also learned about Martin Luther and the beginnings of the Reformation.  We also began The Twenty-One Balloons this week; we've read a few chapters and, thus far, not much is happening. There's enough humor to keep the girls attentive, but I'm waiting for the actual story to kick in.

In Great Inventors and Their Inventions, we began the section on spinning and read about the distaff and spindle.  Both girls have seen this method in use at a living history day we attended two years ago, and fortunately they recalled how it works.  I say "fortunately" because the written descriptions in this text are quite dificult to follow if you know nothing about the process.  (I searched for a video on YouTube, but the ones I found featured modrn-day fiber artists spinning their own yarn with new-fangled spindles.)

Yesterday was the last day of term for the Timothy Ministry homeschool enrichment program.  In their World of Living Things science class, the participants each constructed a soda bottle terrarium.  Tiny Girl opted for a small plant and five worms for her garden.  Miss Priss chose more vines to plant in hers and declined the worm offer.  The idea of touching the worms was "disgusting" to her.

Garden update: no tomatoes, cukes, watermelon, or strawberries have come up; in fact, none of the seeds we planted in the egg cartons even germinated.  It's a mystery as to why this occurred.  But, undaunted, we sowed some more seeds directly in the garden box.  Everything else is up and needing to be thinned.

In my Bible reading yesterday morning, I read this verse, "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me" (Psalm 138:8a).  For my part, I now know what I need to do to simplify our lives and enable me to focus as I should on our home education lifestyle (thanks for your encouragement and prayers!).  Certainly I will complete the commitments I've made through the end of May.  But I still need to extricate myself from others for the coming year, and I don't look forward to that, for reasons I shared in an earlier post.  I don't want to belabor the point.

So this morning, when I read (verse three from the same psalm), "When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted," I knew that God was telling me to lean on Him for the courage and kindness I'll need for any difficult conversation (I deplore those!) I will face.  It is such a relief to know He is with us every step of the way, isn't it?

In case you're wondering what Jasper's been up to, I leave you with this:

I love his facial expression. Have you ever seen a better depiction of "Uh oh!" in your life?

Weekly Wrap-Up: Excelsior!

Excelsior! seems a fitting title, since we read Longfellow's poem by the same name this morning.  I had to look it up online to find out what, exactly, "excelsior" means.  Seems like I knew the definition once upon a time, but no longer.  In case you're in the dark as well, "excelsior," translated from Latin, means "ever higher" or "onward and upward."  (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

And it's doubly fitting since I'm ending this week with that philosophy in mind, despite having some serious doubts about our approach to math and falling a tad behind due to illness (mine).  We caught up by Friday, and I'm feeling better about math (see my two previous posts for more info).

In order to keep things moving along during my illness, the girls worked quite a bit in the BrainQuest workbooks this week.  We managed to complete all our scheduled readings, too.  A highlight this week was Marco Polo's account of the "gold-teeth people" in The Adventures of Marco Polo, by Russell Freedman.  We also enjoyed learning about Bartholomew Diaz and Vasco da Gama in The Discovery of New Worlds, by M. B. Synge.

We've been gently studying Van Gogh over the last few months (you can read my post about the IMAX film about Van Gogh that we saw here).  This week, we read Van Gogh, by Mike Venezia, in the "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists" series.  This is the first we've read in this series, and I found the book to be engaging and child-friendly.  Of course, there's no getting around the fact of Van Gogh's suicide, which has prompted several discussions about Van Gogh's particular genius, his obsession with painting, and his state of mind.

Our zinnia seeds have sprouted in the raised-bed garden.  They are the only ones yet to show themselves.  The girls and I are anxious for the others to sprout, too.

My huge azalea mass has come into its glory.  I love these shrubs!  Himself and I talk of pruning them back throughout the year, and in the summer they do seem a bit blowsy, but then spring rolls around again and we leave them be.  We have other grandiose white azaleas mass planted as well, but they burst fully into bloom about a week later and the flowers are smaller.  The one below is my favorite.

And I'll leave you with a photo of Jasper, who continues to grow and delight us (and jump up on the couch, and run off with hats, and. . .).  He is our sweet boy!

Homemade pizza dough is in the bread machine, it's gorgeous and warm outside, and I can hear the girls playing.  My book awaits me this evening, Emily Davis, by Miss Read, and it's Friday.

Excelsior, indeed!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Spring Breakin'

Isn't my phlox lovely?  Ah, spring!  I love it.

We took a break from our regular schedule this week (along with everyone else in our area) and got a few things done, like cleaning out the girls' dresser drawers.  That's always fun.  What fits, what doesn't, what can be given away, what can be put away until cooler temps roll around again, etc.

But we also planted seeds in our raised-bed garden and starter egg cartons, which I consider educational.  The girls have high expectations for this, our first endeavor into gardening.  Our ambitious planting scheme includes: cherry tomatoes, cucumbers (bush-type), carrots, watermelon (at Tiny Girl's insistence), strawberries, basil, zinnias (purple, pink, AND red), hollyhocks, and foxglove.

Miss Priss also put in two salvia plants.

Himself is skeptical:  "You have more seeds than you do garden space."  I figure we'll see what comes up and replant, if necessary.  We're also planning to transplant some of the flower seedlings to other areas in our yard.  We can also always pass along seeds to any interested friends.

The funny thing is that we'll be in Maine when most of this is ready to harvest.  I guess Himself will be giving a lot of produce away!  Although I intend to transplant two tomato plants and one cucumber plant to large containers and take them along with us to Maine.

April continues its lovely dance.  Deciduous trees are leafing out in earnest, and several other blooming varieties have burst forth, like this beautiful redbud.

I had originally planned to clean out our study/schoolroom this week, too.  But when the sun is shining, it's far too easy to put off that sort of chore, isn't it?

Fields Pond Audubon Center

The girls and I spent some time at the Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden, Maine, one day last week. (You can see the fairy houses they built in an earlier post.) Although the day was overcast, the site was still lovely and peaceful.

The flower alongside the visitors' center. We caught sight of several hummingbirds among the tall, dark red bee balm (monarda). I must plant these flowers next season!



Our adventurous and never squeamish Tiny Girl tried to catch a frog at the (somewhat viscous) frog pond, but the frogs were not cooperative. One jumped slightly toward her when she touched it, prompting a blood-curdling scream that shattered the peace for a moment.

These lovely water flowers bloom at the pond's edge.

Just-Comfy Homes and Gardens

I just received my monthly issue of Better Homes and Gardens, a magazine I enjoy flipping through, but whose title makes me wince. Better than what? I want to know. After a brief flip through the pages, I know: better than mine.

I was once I contented gardener; if not passionate, then definitely enthusiastic. We lived in our first house seven years, and every spring found me in the yard, planting all sorts of different flowering things. That house oozed curb appeal when all was a-blooming. Alas, that was then, and things are different now. I still love flowers, but I lack the time and inclination to putter about the flower garden nowadays. I find I prefer to plant perennials and flowering shrubs that require minimal fuss, with a few annuals for all-season color.

Over the winter, my dh took out many gargantuan and hideous hollies and boxwoods that were along the front of the house. We planted Knockout roses and dwarf pampas grass in their place.



I also have two other rosebushes. One is a fabulous yellow rose than reblooms every time I prune it, spring through fall. Dh gave it to me for my birthday several years ago. We've moved it twice, and it continues to thrive. (Please kindly overlook the bug-nibbled foliage.)



I planted this hydrangea last spring, and was delighted to see it bloom this year. It will really be lovely in a few years. Another hydrangea did not bloom at all. I'm not sure if it's getting enough sun, or perhaps I need to feed it with a bloom booster-type fertilizer.



My shasta daisies finally bloomed! This one was the first to unfold its petals.

My garden certainly isn't professionally planned or landscaped, and I doubt any magazine will come knocking down my door to photograph its beauteous bounty, but every flower makes me happy. What more could I ask?

A Great Giveaway and an Even Better Essay

My friend Jackie has a wonderful giveaway going on over at her blog Hedgerow Ways and Fireside Days (one I love to read). It's a lovely book entitled Food from the Kitchen Garden, a subject near and dear to my heart. (Not that I have a kitchen garden. But I want one. To feel validated, I must tell you that I have a kitchen herb garden every summer. We're going to try for tomatoes this year. How's that for going out on a limb?)

While you're visiting Jackie's blog and registering to win the book, stay to read her fabulous essay called Beauty and the Beast. And then you'll know why I love to read her blog and why I'm proud to call her my friend.