A Fine Day and a Simple Project

 

 

 

While I was in town today I kept thinking of all the interesting things there were to do at home. I enjoyed my shopping trip immensely because it is such a happy season and the market is full of bright things, natural and manufactured. I wanted to fly home and get started.

The children have been playing like they are camping. That is a pretend fire inside the circle of bricks. My granddaughter put fiery color leaves in her pretend fire pit. You can see it on the foreground just near the lower edge of the above photo.

 

Close-up, it still looks like a fire.

Her creative fire gave me an idea for a fake fireplace I have which has no heater.

There is a great variety Ofwidths and textures and colors in wired ribbons these days. The roll above, is from Dollar Tree.

Tied into loops, with led lite candles inserted, it makes a fire for my fake fireplace that has no heater.

Safe for children, but it still keep it out of their way. Even without the fake candles, the gold metallic edges of the ribbon catch the light and make it look like fire.

 

This is the beginning of a wardrobe for my granddaughter. I first sketched my ideas just to get organized in my mind. I sketch out things to help me get a better picture of what I would like to accomplish. Sometimes I do this when I need to rearrange a room in my house. Before I post a tutorial for a sewing or craft project, I make a very quick sketch. I made my daughter a similar set of clothes from a plaid fabric and coordinating fabrics 20 years ago, and now I am trying to duplicate it.

A seasonal centerpiece that is no trouble at all. That is a sweet meat squash from the garden, and apples from the tree. I like the seafoam green color of the sweet meat, with the gold bits growing on it. The smaller pumpkin with the deep ridges is a type of Cinderella pumpkin.

 

 

 

This is a super easy teacup warmer made from the cuff of a ladies size cotton sock. It requires no sewing. On my walk abouts, I needed to be able to hold the cup with hot tea.

Just cut a line in the sock for the handle of the cup.

The edge of the stretchy fabric conforms naturally to the base of the cup.

This might look nice in other colors or other parts of cast-off clothing such as long sleeves of cotton knit shirts, or the stretchy ribbing from children's clothing.

The only thing I have to remember is where I set my teacup while I take pictures on my daily walk. One time I lost one and did not find it until the next spring, but it was in perfect condition because it was sheltered under a tree.

 

 

 

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Pretty and Green Around Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is so lovely when the land turns green after a dry spell. I like the painting of the woman taking a walk with her basket for collecting flowers. As a girl, I thought that baskets were representative of kindness and generosity. Before boxes and bags were prominent, food and gifts and even kittens and puppies were transported in baskets to the recipients. I do not walk around carrying a basket, but I sometimes take my first cup of mint tea in the morning and walk around outside to see what is new; to look at the light on things and the colors, listen to sounds, and breathe the scents of the season. It is a soft way of preparing for a day which may have a hefty serving of challenges.

 

Lately I have been enjoying different artist's rendition of "Mull of Kintyre." My favorite was by Glen Campbell, who was from Arkansas. The song is found here http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cU5Kb3MnCqs, where he also played the bagpipes. It would not upload on to my blog, so here is another version of Mull of Kintyre which shows scenes of the place called Mull of Kintyre.

Here are the lyrics:

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre
Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Dark distant mountains with valleys of green.
Past painted deserts the sunsets on fire
As he carries me home to the mull of kintyre.

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then.
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the time of the mull of kintyre.

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine
And tears in the rain
Still take me back to where my memories remain
Flickering embers growing higher and higher
As they carry me back to the mull of kintyre

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

Mull of kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh mull of kintyre

 

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Music for Today

Hard Times, Written by Stephen Foster, 1854

sung by the Irish Tenors

 

 

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,

While we all sup sorrow with the poor;

There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;

Oh Hard times come again no more.

Chorus:

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,

Hard Times, hard times, come again no more

Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;

Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,

There are frail forms fainting at the door;

Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say

Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,

With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:

Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,

Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,

Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore

Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave

Oh hard times come again no more.

 

 

 

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Teaching Children

Writing Lesson

Maude Goodman, England 1860-1938

There are several things worth remembering in regards to teaching your own children at home.

1. Childhood is a temporary state. Take time to enjoy the process of teaching your children. If you are tense and rushed and just trying to cover a certain amount of material, or get through a lesson so you can fill in the box on you checklist, you and your children may miss out on the real spirit of home education.

2. Home teaching encompasses far more than cramming facts into a child's mind. Speak kindly to your child while you teach him and show delight in what you are learning, and he will grow to love learning. With this method, he will be eager to find out things on his own, relieving some of the burden of teaching from his parents.This poem explains more about the rush-rush attitudes that many people have towards childhood:

Hurry the baby as fast as you can
Hurry him, worry him, make him a man.
Off with his baby clothes, get him in pants,
Feed him on brain foods and make him advance.
Hustle him, soon as he's able to walk,
Into a grammar school; cram him with talk.
Fill his poor head full of figures and facts,
Keep on a-jamming them in till it cracks.
Once boys grew up at a rational rate,
Now we develop a man while you wait,
Rush him through college, compel him to grab,
Of every known subject a dip and a dab.
Get him in business and after the cash
All by the time he can grow a mustache.
Let him forget he was ever a boy,
Make gold his god and its jungle his joy,
Keep him a-hustling and clear out of breath,
Until he wins---nervous prostration and death.
by Nixon Waterman

The Music Lesson

Charles West Cope, 1811-1890

3. Do not be in a hurry to get through those childhood years. Your children will never be that age again. While teaching them, you are also nurturing and creating memories for them, some which cannot be erased. Let them have real childhoods with innocent pretending, natural playing and healthy laughter. If they are not doing anything harmful physically or spiritually, let them be, so that they can think and dream and observe life.

4. Realize that children do not have fully developed minds and bodies and often are just not coordinated enough to do everything to perfection. Knowing this will lessen your feelings of impatience or irritation.

5. Do not put temptations in front of your children when they are little. Keep dangerous things away from their reach.

6. Teach your children by your own example, and verbally. Both are important, and one is designed to work with the other. The point of raising them is for them to learn through the loving instruction of their parents, however, their minds and bodies are not fully developed enough to remember everything every time. It does no harm to remind them and save them from harm. I have read some wacky modern child training books that allow children to be harmed, refusing to make a safe home for them or deliberately neglecting watchful care of them when near a stream or a pool. I am not ashamed to say that despite the accusation of being too protective, I didn't let little children out of my sight. If there was an accident I watched more carefully to prevent it from happening again.
7. Learn the difference between discipline and punishment. Discipline always disciples and guides and trains, bringing about a child who is willing to follow you. Punishment is a dead-end and often is not related to the thing you are trying to teach: writing a sentence a hundred times, standing in the corner for an hour, running 20 times around something, doing without lunch or dinner, are all punishments which I have rarely if ever have anything to do with the offence in question. Some advisors say that you must remove a toy they like FOREVER , or remove a favorite food from them for a month, or refuse to allow them to leave the house with their mother for weeks and weeks, which by the way, grounds the parents as well. I believe this is punishment, and The Lord said to guide them, guard them, teach and disciple them. These punishments do not disciple or bring about good relationships at home. Living your own good values, showing how to do things with your hands and speaking truths will come closer to teaching a lesson, and discipling. discipline means "to follow." The Bible is the ultimate "discipline." Some of these punishments are derived from the public school experience, which should never be brought in the homeschool environment, which is based on love.

Eating Oranges by Charles West Cope

8. Politeness and a reverence for Gods word, plus an awareness of false teachings, are essential in good discipling. A child can be admired for his smartness, but without respectful behaviour and good speech habits, it makes him like the clanging gong described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-2.
9. Find lessons in other ways than books. Nature walks and play times, meal times, taking care of themselves and care of the home have a wealth of learning opportunities.
10. Homeschooling is not primarily a out jamming facts into the mind. It is about nurturing and loving and delight. Children should have a childhood free from the news of terror and worldly fear.

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