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atwitter: december

December 30, 2008 in atwitter, books, celebrations and traditions, out and about | 6 comments

What a wonderful lull of a week it is, this last week of December. The to-do list is in the recycling bin, and in between loads of laundry and putting away gifts, there’s time to just hang out and play. A few things making me happy right now:

The Christmas tree is still lit. ’Cause it’s not just a day–it’s a season. There’s still some glitter in the air.

christmas morning

Time to play with my camera.  Taking photos of food is almost as fun as eating it. That was our monkey pull-apart bread on Christmas morning. Made by Lily and Henry. Yum!

monkey pull-apart bread on christmas morn

Henry’s on break from school. And was even willing to hike with Mr. T and me yesterday. And while I’m a bit envious of all the white Christmases I’m seeing out there in Blogland–even in Portland!–living in California does have its perks.

hiking with the boys

New music. If you know my sweetie, you know how he prides himself on staying hip to new music. Well, each Christmas my dad does his darndest to surprise us with some music that will impress even Chris with its sheer hipness. (Now, I love my dad, but I wouldn’t exactly call him hip. His little secret is NPR’s All Songs Considered lists.) This year he gave us Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. Pretty cool music coming from a 70-year old. Good tunes for thinking and puttering.

Making bubbly water. Yes, we are a simple people here on the wonderfarm. Making our own “bubble water” makes for big entertainment. You see, in addition to great music, by parents also gifted us with a soda carbonator. Oh, we’re having fun with this one! And this is another meager attempt to prove our hipness: the latest trend in Bay Area restaurants is doing away with bottled water. Because it’s wasteful. Restaurants are offering their own chilled and filtered water, both still and fizzy. When Chris and I ate lunch at El Dorado Kitchen on our anniversary trip to the wine country and were served some free bubbly water, we admired their snazzy glass water bottles with clamp-on lids. And shopping the next day, we found some of our own: 

love those water bottles!

I’m hesitant to admit how much I love serving chilled water from these bottles. And I just found some red ones online! So we’ll have blue for flat water; red for fizzy. Yes, I know: I’m a geek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New books. When Chris realized he hadn’t got his book-loving wife a book for Christmas, he promised a trip to Diesel. We went, and I found–oops!–two books. The River Cottage Family Cookbook and this one:

custom knits

That’s Custom Knits, by Wendy Bernard. How is it that I hadn’t even heard of this book? It’s full of knitting-in-one piece projects! Lots of recommendations for adapting patterns to your liking! Great schematics! I won’t put an exclamation mark on the fact that many sweaters are modeled with bathing suits–silliness. But I’m having a good time perusing and dreaming. The Jane (Ravelry link) sweater is calling to me–but without that ribbon bisecting the bustline. Who needs a bisected bust?

So, how are you entertaining yourselves this week? (Chris, that’s your cue to finally leave a comment. Something like: Well, I’m toiling away at the office so my lovely family can stay home and have all the fun.)

a book I do not need

November 16, 2008 in books, wondering | 6 comments

I don’t think this book can help me.

I might be interested in a companion volume, however. Something along the lines of Surviving with Children Who Think For Themselves. Or, Raising Children Who Aren’t So Dang Sure of Themselves. Or, say, Raising Children Who Think for Themselves but Will Occasionally Toy With the Idea That Their Parents Might Actually Know Something.

Any of you come across a book along those lines?

What parenting book do you wish you could get your hands on? (Come on, folks, that’s a call to leave a comment. Indulge me.)

atwitter: november

November 11, 2008 in atwitter, books, makin' stuff, writing | 5 comments

I’d planned to post monthly on what has me all atwitter, but somehow October slipped by. Which just means more to share for November…

a new camera. Finally. Our camera broke right after I started this blog. I’ve been making do with Lily’s none-too-fancy point-and-shoot. But when you read blogs with gorgeous photos like Uncommon Grace, SouleMama and sixoneseven, well, you aspire to more.

Chris and I have been debating for days about whether to go for a digital SLR, or whether we need something smaller and more portable. We compromised on a more upscale non-SLR camera with a nice telephoto lens and lots of manual setting options.

I figure I can fiddle around with those manual settings, and if it turns out I have a knack for photography, maybe we’ll buy an SLR down the road. Meanwhile, we’ll have a camera that’s reasonably portable. I just hope the photos I soon post will be more like the ones I picture in my head. 

writers on writing. I love this podcast. Barbara DeMarco-Barrett interviews writers on their craft. She’s been doing it for years, and there’s an abundance of past interviews on her website and on iTunes. The October 23 interview with Billy Collins was especially wonderful. I had to hit replay and listen twice as he described his theory on breaking open moments in poetry.  (Barbara’s book, Pen On Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within is also an inspiration. Lots of bite-sized little exercises to try.)

handmade holidays.  Now, I’m realistic. I’m the Queen of Taking On Too Much; there is no way I’m going to set myself up by taking on an all-handmade Christmas as Prairie Poppins at Handmade Homeschool is. But reading about her family’s challenge is an inspiration.  Surely I can make a few handmade gifts. Follow that link to Prairie’s site and check out the stunning list of handmade gifts ideas that she’s assembled. I dare you not to be inspired too. (Of course, if making handmade yourself is too much, buying handmade is a step in the right direction. Etsy’s got that covered. Check out these hand-carved stamps. I want one!)

blurb. Do you know about this online bookmaking company?  It allows you to make gorgeous, bookstore-quality, coffee table-type books, for reasonable prices. I’m using it to create a homeschool yearbook with a bunch of teens from our homeschool group. And if you’re a blogger, check this out: certain blogging platforms can be “slurped” instantly into a book! Wouldn’t it be cool to have a beautiful book version of your blog? (Apparently they’re having some problems with certain platforms just now; I’m hoping those will get worked out by next July, so I can make an anniversary book of my first blogging year.)

the gentle art of domesticity. Oh, how I love this book! The subtitle is Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art & The Comforts Of Home. All the craft bloggers have already sung its praises, but if you’re late to the party as I always seem to be, perhaps you haven’t heard about it.

It’s a book version of Jane Brocket’s very popular blog yarnstorm, with page after page of yummy-as-candy photographs and witty writing. It’s decidedly not a Martha Stewart-like bit of gloss, designed to make us aspire to an unattainably perfect life. Instead, it’s a call to have us look for creative inspiration in the homes where we find ourselves. As Jane writes, “When I started photographing the details of my domestic life, I was quite sure I would run out of material in a matter of weeks. But instead of exhausting all possibilities, I actually found myself unearthing more and more sources of inspiration, all within the confines of a quite ordinary, domestic life.”

Plus, to steal a phrase from Jane, the book is “terribly, terribly English”. So English that it includes a recipe for Chewy Flapjacks, those absolutely addictive oatmeal cookie bars that I fell hard for in London, and have lived without since. Just have to find me some Golden Syrup at the gourmet shop so I can make a batch and I’ll be in heaven. With a cup of tea at my side, of course.

So, what has you all atwitter? Pour a cup of tea, leave a comment and let’s chat.

kicking my waldorf guilt in the butt

November 2, 2008 in books, creativity, makin' stuff, my waldorf guilt | 4 comments

I bought this book to allay my Waldorf guilt.

I wanted to be sure I was doing crafty, Waldorf-y activities with my little guy before he gets too big. (And if you read my last post, you know how sentimental I am about that.) 

See all those little tabs sticking out of the book? Those are my Best Intentions, displayed in purple Post-It.

There are so many lovely ideas in this book. (And also on SouleMama, Amanda’s blog, which is not news to anyone who follows crafty, mama-written blogs.) One of my favorites was the idea of embroidering your child’s art. I was enchanted with the idea of capturing some of Mr. T’s hand-drawn characters in embroidery.

But. My craft quota is down, so down these days. I used to sew Halloween costumes on occasion, and curtains, and even a quilt or two. But as the kids have gotten older, life has gotten busier. I do a fair amount of knitting because it’s portable and something one can do in five minutes here, five minutes there. But sewing? Embroidery? My needles are dusty.

But I was determined to get to this embroidery project, before I had a kid who was too old to want his art embroidered. (I didn’t want it to be like the Magic Cabin doll I always meant to sew for Lily. I guess there are always grandchildren…)

But guess what? I did it! In time for Mr. T’s birthday even!

Those two creatures are Scritch and Scratch, two children-turned-wolves who popped out of Theo’s imagination and have been starring in his dictated stories for months now. They were simple creatures to embroider, made up as they are of mostly straight lines.

It was easy, really: I traced Theo’s drawing on tracing paper with an iron-on pencil. I transferred the image to a piece of linen and embroidered it. I reinforced the patch with Therm O Web HeatnBond (but not the portion that would get stitched to the shirt; apparently stitching through this product isn’t recommended.) I ironed the patch to the shirt, and then stitched it on with my sewing machine, using a satin stitch. (Which is nothing more than a very narrow zigzag.)

I was going for the look of those Boden applique Tee’s that Theo loves–but which I only buy on sale, since they’re so expensive. But this one was much more of a bargain: it didn’t cost much more than the $7.50 baseball Tee from Old Navy, plus a few evenings of secret embroidery in the rocking chair.

And this one means so much more–it’s Theo’s art brought to life, and Mama’s guilt brought to rest. For now, at least.  And yes, when he looked in the gift bag on his birthday and saw his wolves, I got one big smile.

Take that, Waldorf guilt!

species #3

October 9, 2008 in 100-species-challenge, books | 1 comment

Well, we are just ripping along with the 100-Species Challenge. At this rate, we’ll get to our 100th species about 75 months from now, which puts us at the beginning of 2015. That’s actual statistics, not hyperbole.

I’ll try to do better.

This was a fun one though, so I thought I’d share it here. Usually I’ll just post them on the 100-Species-Challenge page in the sidebar.

3. Sunflower ”Mammoth Grey Stripe”

 

Latin name: Helianthus annuus

meaning: annual sunflower

Our sunflower house never quite grew a roof. Probably due to my neglectful watering of the morning glories. (Oh, how I hate to water by hand.) But the sunflowers thrived, and are now a sad cluster of heavy-headed, hump-backed old men.

This photo was taken a month ago. They are much more droopy and pathetic-looking these days.

Interesting facts: Mr. T and I had a fun time dissecting a head, and looking at it under a microscope using Anna Botsford Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study .*  We learned that the large flowers are actually “heads” made up of many florets–one for each eventual sunflower seed. There are special ray or banner florets at the edges of the head, each providing a single petal for the large flower-head. The florets open and ripen from the outside of the head first, then toward the middle, in concentric rings.

It’s fascinating to examine how the florets are arranged in groovy radiating spirals, which have something to do with fibonacci numbers. Also how each single floret has all the flower parts–stigma, anther, corolla… There are hundreds of them on each sunflower! No wonder the bees love them!

We also found some cool little unidentified metallic beetle-ish creatures in the heads. And then we discovered a virtual nursery of ladybug larvae on several of the leaves! Tiny ones, huge ones, discarded exoskeletons, as well as spanking new ladybugs. Wish I had a camera with a nice macro lens.

Lots of fun from one packet of sunflower seeds–even if we didn’t get a house in the deal.  And we’ve got a whole lot of seeds to roast.

* This is a popular book among Charlotte Mason fans. (Can I call them Masonites? Or does that make them sound like wooden boards?) I just found a used copy this summer, and I’m impressed. There are thousands of entries of animals, plants and “earth and sky”. Each gives a thorough description of the item, as well as a series of questions to consider as one studies it. Such as, “Describe the shape of the open corolla. Look at the brown tube with a lens. How many little points projecting at the top and bottom on each side of the tube?” There are even poems included for many species! The book, however, was published in 1911, so you should balance your research with other sources. For example, Comstock writes that the sunflower is part of the family Compositae–it’s since been shifted to the Asteraceae family. There’s so much good stuff here, though, that it’s still a fabulous resource, even after almost 100 years.

“can I do that thing again today?”

September 24, 2008 in books, creativity | 1 comment

That thing is mixing watercolor paints, Theo’s newest fascination. In the lid of the watercolor palette he blends paints, first one color and some water, then a bit of another color, then another. New shades develop with each step, and he studies them all. He quizzes us: “Do you think I made this color with purple and orange, or purple and green?” He did this for a half-hour at a time yesterday, several times; then he woke up this morning and was back at it, first thing.

He’s not mixing paints to paint with, mind you. I asked if he wanted a piece of paper to record the different shades he was developing. No, he did not. He just wants to swirl colors together and watch what happens.

Sometimes he gives his new shades fanciful names. I wish I’d written them down; now I can’t remember even one.

I’ve started reading the book I mentioned in my last post: Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay. It’s a book populated with people throughout history who’ve been enthralled with color, who’ve played with color. So I can read the book and then watch that same enthrallment in action, at my kitchen table. Which is rather delightful. (I remind myself of this as I wipe hands, arms, forehead, table, floor, chair, sink. Our kitchen is looking rather splattered.)

A quote, quoted from the book:

“What did I learn at art school? I learned that art is painting, not painted.” –Harvey Fierstein

I think Theo gets that.

atwitter: september

September 18, 2008 in atwitter, books, creativity, makin' stuff | 6 comments

A few things that have me all worked up right now:

Finished books. I finally got to this one. It’s the tale of Kingsolver’s family’s year-long experiment to grow as much of their own food as possible–and to eat locally-grown food when they couldn’t raise it themselves. Parts of the book preach to the choir if you already eat mostly organically, and you try to be a locavore. Still, their experiment was much more extensive than anything I could ever undertake, which made it an interesting read. And the writing itself often dazzles. This cheese queen especially loved the chapter on cheese-making: I’m inspired to try making mozzarella to go with our garden tomatoes.

The next book in the queue. I resisted this at the MOMA last week, which only forced me to hunt it down elsewhere when I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Doesn’t the subtitle–A Natural History of the Palette–thrill you? Maybe not. Maybe it sounds about as thrilling as an algebra textbook. But if you’re a color junkie like I am, it sounds like rainbow-colored crack. I hope I like it as much as I’m planning to.

My new planner. It’s the Moleskine 18-month planner and notebook, with weekly planning pages on the left, lined pages on the right. Moleskine touts it as the planner for both right and left-brained thinking, and that’s just what I love about it. My old planner was pretty much the Book of Guilt–full of things I had to do, ought to do, failed to do. This one gives offers just as much space for daydreaming, jotting, and ephemera-gluing. This week’s pages show my brainstorming for this blog entry, as well as a pathetic sketch of a romaine leaf from the garden, done in watercolor pencil. I’m trying to sketch nature with Mr. T–it’s not really my thing, but sometimes I’m surprised with what I come up with. (And I do love those watercolor pencils!)

Finished knitting. I’m really happy with this one. It’s Liesl, by Ysolda. It’s a fantastic pattern: quick-to-knit, and the complexity of the finished product belies the pattern’s simplicity. Also, Ysolda gives lots of options for customizing your cardigan. There’s more on my Ravelry page for you Ravelers out there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next project. The most exciting thing about finishing a knitting project–besides getting to wear it–is the thrill of the next one. I’m finally giving in to knitting this: the Coat with Lace Pattern from the Rebecca Special Mohair Issue. If you ever listened to my essay on the podcast Cast On, this is the pattern that tempted me into my knitting obsession. It’s taken me a few years to acquire the gall to believe I can take on a pattern with both lace and coat in its title. 

Links. This one is an article about the benefits of daydreaming. If homeschooling has done nothing else for my kids, it’s certainly encouraged their daydreaming skills! They’re daydream masters, all three. (Although they may have inherited those tendencies from their mother.) Thanks to Melissa at Here in the Bonny Glen for the link.

What has you all atwitter?