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carry me back to Virginia
Thanksgiving found us traveling north to get to The South. (Actually – we drove north, directionally. Only north. And east. But no five years of South Carolina living can convince me that Virginia isn’t more southern than this state that boasts the name “south” in its title.) Anyway. We headed to the farm. And – like always – nostalgia washed over me the very instant our maroon shuttle ascended the ridge through the woods. It’s the driveway. It gets me every time. When I was fifteen and at passenger-only status I loved this driveway. When I was sixteen and driving my brother’s hand-me-down silver hatchback Toyota Tercel I’d stop at…
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My Girls – Differences Defined.
So much about the differences between two of our daughters is explained in this simple conversation: London – Remember when I was younger and I had dreads? I didn’t like them. Do you remember why? Me – I do. You didn’t care for the dreads because you didn’t care for all of the attention and the comments from strangers. London – I just don’t care for so much attention. I don’t care for a lot of people admiring me at once. Piper – I do!
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a giving of thanks and days I’d rather forget, but cannot.
And then in the middle of thanks-giving sometimes I cry. It’s the thankful. It’s the stacked up, overflowing, spilling out, grateful-for-this-cup kind of cry mixed in with the still-tender, always shocking anniversary of one of the saddest seasons of my life. It’s the anniversary of the beginning of the passing of my kind mother from this life to another. I look at all I have, And all I’ve had. And seven years has truly been but a breath – a sigh and a laugh and a weekend and a joy and a valley and an everything you would imagine it to be. I’m still here. And hope reigns stronger than…
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Pinterest Test Kitchen: Donut Muffins Good, Cinnamon Quinoa Bars Bad
Success and failure. It seems that is just the way the cookie’s been crumbling lately. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first – that’s the way I like to roll. These cinnamon quinoa bars. I like cinnamon and I like quinoa so I figured I’d give it a shot. What can I say? It looked fine. From the top. But as I began to cut it, it felt, uh – spongy. Rubber-like. It was pretty much like cold quinoa from the drain, all mushy and chewy. A hint of cinnamon attempting to disguise its globbiness. I asked my little go-to taste tester Otto his opinion. He couldn’t even chew…
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Field Trip: Native American Festival
Last weekend we attended a Native American Festival at a nearby historic mill. It was a great experience for us to connect a few of the things we’ve been reading about in our Little House series The kids had read that Laura and Mary had received horehound candy as a treat once so when we saw horehound sticks for sale for a quarter we figured it was the perfect opportunity to try this old-fashioned candy. They liked it so much that Bergen spent another quarter of his own money to buy a stick for later. We munched on traditional fry bread, watched dancing and listened to drums playing. We walked…
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Coffee grounds and art.
Coffee. It’s for breakfast. It’s for afternoons. It’s for art. Talk about a simple, recycled art idea. I saw this idea on a homeschool forum I visit and I tried it out right away. We added various levels of coffee grounds to each tiny container to vary the levels of darkness. The kids drew their ideas first with sharpies on watercolor paper (which helped soak up the coffee and was thicker than regular paper). And then they mixed and painted. I think the results from the leftover coffee are fabulous art.
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Prairie Primer: Laura’s Lunch
I cannot believe how quickly it seems we are flying through these lovely Little House novels. I’m pretty much in love with that part of every school day. The illustrations by Garth Williams are classic and perfectly simple. They fit my image of Laura Ingalls somehow. I love the sky blue books themselves, the very same copies my momma and daddy read at night to us at our house in Gloucester, sitting on that wooden This End Up style furniture with its hard edges and scrunchy but practical striped sofa cushions. My heart about bursts as the kids draw in their breaths wondering if Pa will make it home through…
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and I quote ….
“Mountains are giant, restful, absorbent. You can heave your spirit into a mountain and the mountain will keep it, folded, and not throw it back as some creeks will. The creeks are the world with all its stimulus and beauty; I live there. But the mountains are home.” -Annie Dillard
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activities overloaded: making time for nothing
I am becoming more and more convinced that people are all overscheduled and overbooked and over committed. This is not just a cry to simplify your life or downsize or do less. I’m not promoting laziness and lack of commitment or poor follow through. But, as a culture, it seems as if we’re moving from one activity to the next with no time to eat (hello fast food tossed down en route) and no time to converse about any topic except where we need to be in the next ten minutes. We need rest. We need down time. We need relaxation. Sure – all of that is true. But I…
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Table Rock: There and Back Again
Last Sunday we pursued Adventure. We drove down Highway 11 and turned right. For years we’ve driven past this gigantic rock outcropping on our way to camping excursions. We’ve camped at the base of this giant rock known as Table Rock. We’ve hiked waterfalls near this rock. We’ve driven up to high peaks and seen this rock from a distance. But we’ve never made it to the rock, which had always seemed maybe too much or too far for an adventure with a family of mostly children. We’ve hiked four miles or so with the kids – and maybe there was even a five or six mile trek once too.…
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About Gifts & The Upcoming Christmas Season.
I’m a fan of enjoying the holiday that is nearest. I’m also a fan of planning ahead. Sometimes the balance of the two of those can be a tad bit tricky this time of year. I know some of you are planners too. And I know some of you have already practically finished your Christmas shopping and some are just beginning. I guess this post would be more for those of you who are just beginning. I wrote this post two Christmases ago. We continued to embrace the same philosophy last Christmas as well. And we will be keeping the same spirit of this idea this Christmas too. And so…
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I Think Colin Meloy Would Be Our Friend.
Elbows leaning on the stage. Mere feet away from Colin Meloy. Ah – Colin Meloy. If the name’s not familiar to you, he’s the lead singer of a band called The Decemberists. He’s Kevin’s pal. (Well. He’s not technically Kevin’s pal. He isn’t even technically aware of Kevin’s existence. But I’m pretty sure we’d all be friends if we could ever get two minutes together at the dinner table. As long as I don’t serve him lentil soup.) He’s also written two novels with his wife crafting the illustrations. Those novels influenced the name of our homeschool. In other words, we’re pretty big fans. Last weekend Kevin and I drove…
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Pinterest Test Kitchen: Crock Pot Failures, Soup Is Fine and Oatmeal Bars Extraordinaire
Ah, Pinterest recipes – I have not forgotten you. Me and Pinterest recipes have still been hanging out like the old chums we are. I just haven’t had the time to take cute photos of the food we’ve been crafting together. Also – there’s been a few flops of late from my Cook This board and that’s always a tad discouraging. Let me just get the flops out of the way first. Well – there was that one night I thought it’d be wise and clever to put breakfast in the crock pot with this apple oatmeal crock pot concoction. All we got out of this was wasted apples, gooey…
