A few weeks ago I had an issue of Home Education Magazine out from the library and in it was an add for Bare Books.  My kids kept eying it, then we saw posts at Soule Mama and Balancing Everything about the fun of filling them up, so I thought I’d order a box full to coincide with all the writing I hoped would ensue with the unveiling of the typewriter.

It looks like I will be buying bare books like groceries.

The day they arrived we cracked open the box and everyone got started.  Logan filled his up in no time with the story of “Tom and the Magic Roller Coaster.”

I can’t even tell you how much I love his uninhibited 5 year old drawings and handwriting.  He is fearless in his art making.

Brenna and Jonah wrote stories too.  After writing and dreaming all day long Jonah was so filled with pride in his work.  As I tucked him in he said, “Mom, I never knew I liked writing as much as I like reading.  It feels so good to write something someone else will read and really, really like.”  He’s still at work making sure his handwriting is neat as he goes.  It’s fun to watch their personalities magnified in their work.  I will definitely post more books soon.

I’ve got a board book of our backyard birds in the works for Hunter who says “buhr, buhr” with his little pointer finger constantly.  We have an Audubon calendar and he will stand beneath it with his arms stretched up making all the noise he can to get someone to lift him up for a closer look.

It’s been embarrassingly long since I last drew something.  It really feels so good.  (Here are closeups of the goldfinch and robin.) I’m almost finished with the house finches that are nesting on our front door.

They have 5 eggs now.

My front door is going to be a mess when they hatch!

• Get up before everyone else.  Read.  Pray.  Do yoga (or go swimming).
• Take a shower, even if the baby has to come along.  (Naked babies are fun, after all.)
• DO NOT YELL UP THE STAIRS.  It does not make you feel happy.  Walk upstairs to say whatever it is that needs saying.
• Do not whine back to whiners.
• LOOK AT THE CALENDAR.  Your planner is your friend.
• Wait until after school to look at the computer.
• Read aloud.  And snuggle.
• Work on making something with a child.
• Work on making something all by yourself.
• Watch birds.
• Breathe fresh air.  Go outside, even for a second.
• Eat vegetables.
• Remember that there are people that live outside this house.  Talk to one (or some) of them.
• Give one hundred bazillion hugs and kisses.  (They are much more important than math.  Really.)
• Smile.
• Laugh.
• Sleep.

I’m printing this out and putting it on my bathroom mirror.  I’m needing the reminder lately during these days of not-quite-spring.

Speaking of spring– the new issue of Rhythm of the Home is up!

It’s full of creativity, fun, and loveliness– including the pattern for my sweetie birds.  Go check it out!

(Something weird is happening with my blog and all the posts I’ve made since this one aren’t showing up– grrrr…  I have lots of stuff in the works and a shop update coming at the end of the week.  Stay tuned, I’ll get my resident computer genius to iron out all the kinks.)

Computer geek says “all is now well” ; )

sand dollars, beach stones, felted stones, driftwood, maple seeds

And, speaking of still life photos, I have postcards from the original series.

I had #24, #25, and #26 printed up.  I’ve put them into sets of a dozen postcards, 4 of each image, sewed some linen envelopes to keep each set in, and printed a pretty seedpod on each one.  I’m really excited about how they turned out.  I actually got them put together before we left Ohio and had good intentions of selling them over the summer, but with all the travel and temporary living those intentions were a bit unrealistic.  So– I’ll do it now.  These pretty little sets of cards will be in my shop sometime next week.

But, that’s not all!

I had to preserve some maple seeds from my special tree at our old house more permanently, so I’ve been playing with some precious metal clay.  That means that for the first time I’ll have some nature girl jewelry up in my shop too!   It will probably be toward the end of the week.

I’ll keep you posted on the exact day.

I sat out on the deck in the perfect autumn weather and made something.

A lot of beach combing happened this summer in California.  A little by me, during the weekend I visited Barry, and quite a lot by Barry.  I came home from my trip with all the nooks and crannies of my suitcase filled with rocks and shells.  We had even found a starfish washed up on the shore.  I thought I could take it back with me and dry it, but boy was that a mistake!  Even in two ziploc bags it spread the most horrific smell to everything near it– and turned to flattened mush.  I put it on the roof at my parents house to dry, but it remained stinky and just not cool at all.  Bummer.

But, I still have treasures to spare.  I braved a trip to Michael’s yesterday with the kids in tow to find some shadow box frames, and I found some in the Martha Stewart crafty stuff– in my shade of green, even.  I grabbed my box of shells and sticks and sand dollars, went outside with my glue and paintbrush, and it felt so good.

I stuck the finished arrangement in a cubby in my new art-room-in-leiu-of-a-dining-room.  I’m making progress in there.

It’s in plain view of the front door, so if it’s going to be a mess, it’s got to be a cute mess.  I finally got to the box of very gingerly wrapped bird nests, rocks, seedpods, eggs, and shells today.  I wonder what the packers thought…

There was some other random junk in the box too.  I had some help finding a place to put it.

I think my favorites are 12, 14, 19, 23, 24, and 25.  How about you?  Which were your favorites?

This was such a fun project for me.  I love setting up and rearranging my collections of seeds and nests and sticks and rocks.  I’ve had them piling up for ages– stones from my first trip to the beach (when I was 18– geesh), seedpods from my college days, playground gravel from visits to friends in Tennessee, sticks from an anniversary trip to Garden Valley Idaho one summer, driftwood from San Francisco the next summer, even shells saved from Barry’s boyhood trips to Ireland.  These are the colors and beauty that make me dizzy with awe and gratitude for nature, fresh breezes, loving memories.  It was fun to try to share the visions in my head with you all.  Thanks for watching and commenting.

The nightly ritual.  Arranging and listening to this.  It felt so good to do something creative everyday that was simple and intuitive.  I would love to draw or paint everyday, but for me it takes a lot of quiet time and concentration and I’m coming to accept the fact that this is just not the season of my life endowed with quiet time or concentration.

Now back to regular programming.  I did do other things in February, so stay tuned for some catch up!

nest, quail eggs, beach stones, feather, paper, thread

THE END

seedpods, aspen stick, lichen, handmade wool felt

ONLY ONE MORE TO GO!! See you tomorrow!

tulip tree pod, freshwater clam shell, little wasp nest, worn shell, mica flakes, other random seed pods and rocks

playground gravel, choya cactus, aspen stick, acorn caps, sycamore balls, tulip tree pod

beach stones, playground gravel