a gypsy caravan

Yarn Along

I have been working on a Milo Vest for Tess using Georgie Hallam's pattern.  The Plymouth Superwash Merino is so soft and nice to work with. I haven't been knitting nearly as much as I'd like because we are moving from the outlying township into the village, right off the town square.  I have been packing and picking out paint and appliances which is plenty fun but I miss having quiet knitting time. We will be moving into a large, historic house that was built in 1870. It should be fun to live there, in the midst of the village. There will be sidewalks for the girls to ride their bikes and scooters. And did I mention a coffee shop, library, antique shops and small town hardware store within walking distance? :)

When I can catch a few minutes, I've been reading A Child's Garden and The Family Kitchen Garden.  I'm looking forward to planting some perennnial beds, including a tea garden. I will miss the house in the woods (and especially all of the hummingbirds) but I am looking forward to our new adventure!  

I'm knitting the Milo vest in a larger size than needed in hopes that I actually complete it while she can still wear it. 

Sorry that all of my photos are taken in front of this same window, on this same place on the table. The current house is dark inside because it is surrounded by trees.  There is only a small amount natural light on the main floor of the house so all of my pictures seem to be taken there. :)

If you'd like to see more Yarn Along projects, stop over at Ginny's. 

an everlasting meal and a giveaway

I've been enjoying a wonderful cooking book called An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. 

From the dust jacket description:

"Reviving the inspiring message of M. F. K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf— written in 1942 during wartime shortages—An Everlasting Meal shows that cooking is the path to better eating.

Through the insightful essays in An Everlasting Meal, Tamar Adler issues a rallying cry to home cooks.

In chapters about boiling water, cooking eggs and beans, and summoning respectable meals from empty cupboards, Tamar weaves philosophy and instruction into approachable lessons on instinctive cooking. Tamar shows how to make the most of everything you buy, demonstrating what the world’s great chefs know: that great meals rely on the bones and peels and ends of meals before them.

She explains how to smarten up simple food and gives advice for fixing dishes gone awry. She recommends turning to neglected onions, celery, and potatoes for inexpensive meals that taste full of fresh vegetables, and cooking meat and fish resourcefully.

By wresting cooking from doctrine and doldrums, Tamar encourages readers to begin from wherever they are, with whatever they have. An Everlasting Meal is elegant testimony to the value of cooking and an empowering, indispensable tool for eaters today."

(That'd be my smudgy, olive oil covered fingerprint on the cover. :)

What I love most about this book is, that while it is most definitely a cookbook full of recipes, it is written as a series of comfortable, narrative essays. Hearing Adler's voice through her writing is similar to being taught to cook by one's mother or grandmother in a gentle, conversational, no-nonsense way.  

In the author's words, "This book contains what I know of boiling and cooking eggs.  It contains my strategies for cooking vegetables and meat, which rely on the fortuitous truth that both are best bought whole and cooked ahead, and the ways I have of making each earn its keep.  It doesn't contain "perfect" or "professional" ways to do anything, because we don't need to be professionals to cook well, any more than we need to be doctors to treat bruises and scrapes: we don't need to shop like chefs or cook like chefs; we need to shop and cook like people learning to cook, like what we are--people who are hungry."

An Everlasting Meal reminds us that much can be done with little, that many meals can be squeaked out of the stems, roots and leaves of vegetables.  For more flavor, we can add some meat and a little bit of bread. While the book teaches frugality and economy in using what is available, it does not scrimp on taste. The recipes are simple yet delicious and earthy. I made a most simple pot of boiled broccoli last night as a sidedish and it tasted so much more delicious than usual, following Tamar's suggestions. 

Because I've enjoyed this book ever so much, I'd like to give away a copy.   :)

Leave a message in the comment section to be included in the drawing.  Also, if you'd like, tell us about your favorite comfort food from your childhood (or adulthood for that matter). 

I will pull a name from the comments on Friday evening.    Thanks for visiting!

books read january 2009-present: christopher

Here We Come-Faith and Freedom Reader

Here We Are Again-Faith and Freedom Reader

This is Our Home-Faith and Freedom Reader

This is Our Family-Faith and Freedom Reader

Cowboy Sam by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Shorty by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Flop by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and the Fair by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Porky by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Freddy by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Dandy by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Big Bill by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Miss Lily by Edna Walker Chandler

Cowboy Sam and Freckles by Edna Walker Chandler

A Picture Book of George Wahington by David A. Adler

Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy

Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner

George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy

The Statue of Liberty by Lucille Recht Penner

Ben Franklin and his first Kite by Stephen Krensky

The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standford

Paul Revere and the Bell Ringers by John Walter

Abe Lincoln and the Muddy Pig by Stephen Krensky

Titanic: Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly

Teddy Roosevelt: The People's President by Sharon Gayle

Pompeii: Buried Alive by Edith Kunhardt

Thomas Jefferson's Feast by Frank Murphy

Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley by Kate Boehm Jerome

books read january 2009-present: benjamin

The Life of General Washington by Josephine Pollard

Our Hero General Grant by Josephine Pollard

The Bobbsey Twins Mystery at School by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins Mystery at Meadowbrook by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins of Lakeport by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins' Adventure in the Country by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins: The Secret at the Seashore by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins' Search in the Great City by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins' Big Adventure at Home by Laura Lee Hope

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of the New World by Josephine Pollard

Fifty Famous Stories by James Baldwin

Four Naval Heroes by Mabel H. Beebe

The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes by Arthur M. Winfield

The Rover Boys on the River by Arthur M. Winfield

Five Little Peppers and how they Grew by Margaret Sidney

Tom Swift and his Airship by Victor Appleton

Five Little Peppers Midway by Margaret Sidney

Baseball Great by Tim Green

my all time favorite line from a book

“Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same colour as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.” 

- Ernest Hemingway describing Santiago, The Old Man and the Sea

Finally a Big Girl

The girls and I had recently read One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey which is a lovely, slow-paced book about one girl's adventure with her first lost tooth.  Mary loved the book but, weeks later, became somewhat obsessed with her own first loose tooth. She feared she would swallow it or that it would fall out in her sleep.  She was not certain she liked the idea of the Tooth Fairy. 

Finally, the tooth came out and she is much happier.  She now shows everyone she meets the hole in her mouth and tells them that she is officially a "big girl".   Here is a photo of her new smile, if you can see past the crazy hairdo (not sure what's going on with that--let's pretend she had just woken up that day :).

 

The tooth next to the first is also loose and she is hoping it falls out soon.  She decided she liked the Tooth Fairy when she realized that she would get some money and a letter from her.  :)

Tasha Tudor 1915-2008

Our family was so sad to hear of the death of Tasha Tudor. Her books and drawings have brought us much joy over the years. May she rest in peace.

Lenten Reading

This Lent, I am reading The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. The book is a "correlation between the Beatitudes and the Seven Last Words". The first chapter is on Meekness.

"Blessed are the meek:
for they shall possess the land.

Father, forgive them,
for they know not
what they do."

"Violence says meekness is weakness. But that is because it does not understand the meaning of Christian meekness. Meekness is not cowardice; meekness is not an easy-going temperament, sluggish, and hard to arouse; meekness is not a spineless passivity that allows everyone to walk over us. No! Meekness is self-possession. That is why the rewards of meekness is possession (of the earth).

A weak person can never be meek, because he is never self-possessed; meekness is the virtue that controls the combative, violent, and pugnacious powers of our nature, and is therefore the best and noblest road to self realization.

The meek person is not one who refuses to fight, nor someone who will never become angry. A meek person is someone who will never do one thing: he will never fight when his conceit is attacked, but only when a principle is at stake. And there is the keynote to the difference of the anger of the violent and the anger of the meek person....

Our Lord is Meekness itself, and yet He drove the buyers and sellers from the Temple when they prostituted His Father's House; but when He came to the doves, he was so self-possessed that he gently released them from the cages. He is so much master of himself, that he is angry only when holiness is attacked, but never when his Person is attacked...that is why He addressed Judas as "friend" when he blistered His lips with a kiss. That is why Our Lord from the Cross prays or the forgiveness of his enemies. Their wrath directed against his Body he would not return, though He might have smitten them all dead by the power of His Divinity. Rather, He forgave them, for 'they know not what they do.'...

The first word from the Cross and the Beatitude of meekness both demand that we tear up self-love by the roots; love our executioners; forgive them, for they know not what they do; do a favor for those who insult us; be kind to the thieves who accuse us of theft; be forgiving to liars who denounce us for lying; be charitable to the adulterers who charge us with impurity.

Be glad and rejoice for their hate. It will harm only our pride, not our character; it will cauterize our conceit, but not blemish our soul--for the very insult of the world is the consecration of our goodness."

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Is It All Too Much?

I have been reading It's All Too Much:  An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life by Peter Walsh.   I have read many different organizational books in my day, many of which have worked for me for periods of time.  Inevitably, I tweak and tweak the system until it no longer resembles that which I originally read about.  Lately, I have ditched any and all systems as none of them seem to be cutting it, store bought or self made.  Many of you know the feeling that it takes every bit of energy each day just to make three meals and clean them up, let alone organize and declutter.  That is where I am at.  I can try to organize my calendar, my chore system, my daily routine, my lesson plans but the most important thing I can do right now is to eliminate those things which are dragging us down and making my home unwelcoming.

You may wonder why I am taking the time to tell you about this  book when I have just admitted that I have read many of them.  What makes this book different?  In the introduction alone, Walsh tells his readers that he is not going to talk about the "stuff".  He claims that organizing rarely starts with the "stuff" but starts by visualizing the life that we want to live.  "Does the stuff we own contribute to the lives that we are hoping to achieve, or is it getting in the way of that vision?  If it's impeding our vision for the life we want, then why is it in our homes?  Why is it in our lives?  Why do we cling to it?"  These are questions that Mike and I will be asking ourselves in the upcoming weeks.

There is a quote in this book that really sums up my organizational problem.  "You can rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic as many times as you'd like but the ship is still going down."  You see, I have been moving clutter around for years.  I do not have many knick knacks or chachkis but BOY do we have books...and wooden toys...and playmobil men and...fill in the blank.  Peter Walsh explains that most people spend an inordinate amount of time, organizing their clutter into handy, pretty storage bins.  Rather than get rid of our clutter, we buy another storage solution.  He mentions that while families have (sadly) gotten smaller in the past thirty years, home sizes have grown by half.  We have bigger homes and less people living in them.  Ten percent of Americans have a self storage space off their own property. That is a lot of "stuff".

We live in small bungalow with a relatively unusable basement which floods several times a year.  We have very little storage space, like most homes built between the two World Wars.  People were not hoarders back then and they repaired much, rather than replacing items.  Two of our bedrooms have a single door width closet and two bedrooms share a closet which is slightly larger.  We have a shallow linen closet on the main floor and a small crawl space in the attic eaves where we store our Christmas decorations.  I am not complaining about my home, believe me.  However, we have a very small home.  That's a fact.  This is the space we have been given and I need to make it the most pleasant place I can.  I need to declutter and make some "breathing room".   I want to turn our home into a source of comfort rather than a source of stress. 

I will be sharing my thoughts on this book as I continue to read it, along with any and all projects that we tackle head on.   It will be an exciting adventure, believe me. :)

Mary Azarian, Author and Illustrator

Are you familiar with Mary Azarian's beautiful artwork?   Mary is a Vermont woodcutter whose illustrations adorn over forty picture books.  Her woodcut illustrations for Snowflake Bentley won the Caldecott Medal in 1999. 

Mary sells flower prints, greeting cards and alphabet prints as well as a number of other prints, both colored and black and white, on her website. 

Azarian's illustrations are comforting reminder of slower paced life.  While that pace still exists in some areas of our country,  things have sped up over the years for most of us.  Mary Azarian has a knack for slowing us down and showing us all that is good in life: vegetable gardens, rocking chairs,  zinnias growing in the flower beds, canning jars on the counter, smoke streaming from the chimney on a snowy winter's day.

My family thinks that A Gardener's Alphabet and A Farmer's Alphabet are must haves for any preschooler.  These alphabet books are an old fashioned breath of fresh air.  There is no "G is for Gameboy" within their pages. :)
The little ones have also enjoyed Barn Cat, which is a counting book.

For any of you who love to knit, crochet or enjoy fiber arts, A Symphony for the Sheep is a fun read.  Set in Ireland, this book describes and gives a rhythm to each part of the sheep to shawl process.  Mary's illustrations along with lively text by Cynthia Millen make you want to learn to card, knit, weave and spin.

Some other books you might want to consider written and/or illustrated by Mary Azarian:

Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute

 The Four Seasons of Mary Azarian

When the Moon is Full:  A Lunar Year

A Christmas Like Helen's

Mary's list of books from her website

Blurb Books

When I decided to close down the original Gypsy Caravan site last spring, Alice of Cottage Blessings surprised me by giving me a very thoughtful gift to keep as a memory of my site.   She had the idea to publish my posts into a Blurb Book.   

Have you seen these yet?  If not, spend some time checking out the sample pages.  They are a beautiful way to keep a hard copy of your blog.  There are so many styles to choose from and the different template choices allow you to design one that expresses your own personality.  You can choose paperback or hardcover in a variety of sizes.  Your blog's text and photos can be "slurped" right from your URL and onto Blurb's site within minutes. 

Before I erased my blog at Typepad, I backed it up at Wordpress so I could make the blurb book.  Unfortunately, the photos disappeared from the Wordpress site once the Typepad blog was deleted.  I have literally hundreds of photos that need to be downloaded again before I will be able to make my blog book.  Right now the photos are on my old laptop, which is currently unusable.  Argh.  So, I have not yet designed my Blurb book gift from Alice but I am excited to do so as soon as I can access all of those photos. 

A Blurb Book would make a great Christmas gift, which is why I am posting this now (even though Christmas is several weeks away), in case any of you are looking for a creative gift idea. In addition to making a blog book, you can also design photo albums, cookbooks, baby albums, wedding books. poetry books and much more.   They take only a little time to design and download  but there might be some turnaround time to manufacture and ship the finished books.  When mine is complete, I will be sure to post photos so you can see it.

Art, Music and Nature in Winter

Today is a picture postcard day.  There are huge downy flakes slowly falling from the sky, as though we were living in a snow globe  or in Narnia.  The ground is blanketed with almost a foot of pure white snow.

Annie and Mary have been watching the squirrels from our back window.  Annie squeals with delight when one of those little brown fellows comes close to our window. She claps our hands and laughs out loud.  We all think it is especially funny when one of them emerges from the snow with a little cap or beard of white. "Just like Santa!", yells Mary. 

We have had many feathered visitors at our feeders lately now that their normal food is difficult to find.  Juncos, sparrows, nuthatches and cardinals have been regular friends.  It is so pretty to see the cardinals with their beautiful red feathers against the snowy branches.  Winter is a wonderful time to study birds because the landscape is stark and bare.  They spend much time at the feeders, giving the us all a longer chance to sketch them. 

Each of the children recieved a copy of the Beginning Birdwatcher's Book for Christmas this year.  It has forty eight realistic bird stickers to place in the book when the bird is seen by the child in the wild.  Each bird page contains the following information: bird name in English and Latin, size, nest, eggs, food, range.  There is also a section on each page for the child's observations including: date seen, time of day, locality and remarks.   

I remember back to when I was a young woman in the corporate advertising world, just how much I dreaded northern Ohio winters. Maybe it was because I was out, dressed in a suit and heels, battling the elements.  Maybe I was just immature or plain old unappreciative of the glorious changing seasons.

I now enjoy the beauty and slower pace of winter days.  There is something so comforting to me about a season of  "hibernation" so to speak.  I love the change of pace, the change of menu, the more peaceful activities surrounding our family.  We spend much more time reading in the winter months, more time listening to good music, working on art projects, etc.

On some of these quiet winter days, we have been listening to the  Masters of Classical Music CDs.  Included in this set are full length discs of the music of ten different composers: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Chopin, Schubert and Verdi.  We have spent the past week revisiting Mozart and Bach, who are among my children's favorites.  We studied Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi recently as well.

Benjamin plays the Irish tin whistle and has been filling our home with many lively tunes while the snow falls.  He is planning to attend a session of young Irish musicians next weekend. Christopher plays the recorder and picks it up several times a day to practice the songs he has been learning.

We have also been spending more time on art this winter season than we have in the past.  Last autumn, I purchased the fine arts program Artistic Pursuits based on a recommendation from the Mater Amabilis website.  I cannot rave enough about what a wonderful art program this is for young people.  My children absolutely love it.  I am loving it right along with them.  The lessons are simple yet leave much room for artistic interpretation.

One of my favorite picture books is Tomie de Paola's  The Art Lesson in which Tomie explains his frustration at having to do an art assignment "a certain way".  This program gives guidelines for each assignment but does not dictate precisely what the children are to draw, paint or sculpt.  It uses quality art materials; watercolors, pastels, clay, graphite drawing pencils, etc. to teach children to express themselves artistically.  Each book comes with a set of art masterpiece prints to be inserted, for conversation and example, into the book.  There are several levels of instruction, and a couple of books for each level.  Our whole family started out using the first book together. It is not too advanced for my six year old nor too slow paced for my ten year old or myself.  My three year old has done most of the projects as well.  I hope to post some photos of the work the children have been doing soon.

So as far as I am concerned, it can snow up to the rooftop because we have plenty of beautiful things to do, to look at and to listen to. I hope you all are enjoying the winter months and spending special time with your family doing what you love.

American Musical Culture

Becky, at Farm School, has put together a comprehensive post with recommendations on picture books, music and movies celebrating American culture. This is timely for us right now as we are beginning a study of American folk music.

When Ben was a baby, I sang to him incessantly because it was one of the only things that soothed him. I ran out of songs after some weeks and bought myself a couple Pete Seeger cassette tapes (back then) which I played until they fell apart. I wanted to learn some new tunes to sing to him and Pete has Oh So Many. I also purchased Mike and Peggy Seeger's American Folk Songs for Children which is a double disc set of many traditional and Appalachian folk tunes sure to please the small folk.

Now, years later, we received a Pete Seeger disc from Caddie's godparents as a gift. The kids and I are hooked again. Our favorite is The Children's Concert at Town Hall which contains some great "must know" songs like Michael Row Your Boat Ashore, Abiyoyo, This Land is Your Land, and many others. I am also fond of his Greatest Hits CD that has many songs like Guantanamera, We Shall Overcome, Turn Turn Turn, and more. That one is not for children as there is a curse word in one song but it is a great collection of folk songs, nonetheless. Some of the tunes are politically charged, some date back to the Civil Rights movement, many highlight the plight of the working class. Any of you with the tiniest bit of hippie-chick in you will certainly enjoy these tunes. :)

Anyhow, wait'll ya see Becky's list. She obviously put a lot of time and thought into it which I certainly appreciate.

My Home Journal

I was so inspired by Kim and Elizabeth's home management notebooks that I worked on mine this past weekend.  

I used the same divider headers that I found on Kim's site although I also plan to make some others for our family's needs.  I'd like to add a Recipe divider and a Schedule divider as well. I also plan to add a plastic pocket in the back for stamps and my monthly calendar. In the meantime, here is what I have done so far.  The photos do not show the colors very well but they are mainly browns, pinks, plums and greens.

My cover

(Stole the quote from Kim.)

I used printed papers and added some embellishments like raised stickers and transfers.

I have kept a home management notebook since my Flylady days but it was neither as pretty nor as thorough a resource until I began compiling mine using Kim and Elizabeth's ideas.  Their series on the homemaking journals has been especially helpful to me.  I was going to link all of the pertinent posts from Kim's site but rather, if you go here and start from the bottom up, you will find the posts in order.  Elizabeth's pretty notebook can be seen here.  Maybe you'd like to make a notebook for your home! 

A Book of Feasts and Seasons

One of the first books I was given when I reverted to Catholicism nine years ago was Joanna Bogle's A Book of Feasts and Seasons.   I devoured its contents with much enthusiasm.  My childhood had failed to teach me the beauty of the Catholic faith, my catechism had been weak and watered down at best.  I had no idea what a traditional Catholic home could hold within its walls, what kinds of celebrations could be had because I grew up in an era and a home that did not embrace the rhythm and seasons of the Church. 

When I reverted, I committed myself to bringing the Faith alive for my children, to instill in them memories and traditions that they would not want to forsake, as I had done,  for another faith.  We jumped into celebrating the Liturgical Year in our home, starting with Advent.  As the Church year progressed,  I spent much time with Bogle's book (as well as Mary Reed Newland's The Year and Our Children, which is now sadly out of print).   Feasts and Seasons is chock full of recipes, craft ideas, interesting bits of history, saint biographies and much more.   It painted a picture for me of how a home could be: putting on plays of the lives of the Saints, making pancakes together for Shrove Tuesday, searching the fields on Michaelmas for purple asters, having a party on Twelth Night.  I pictured it all in my mind's eye, the way a Catholic home might be, thanks to Joanna's vivid descriptions.   

I return to this book again and again to glean ideas, try out yet another recipe or just find support for the faith-filled lifestyle that I want to pass on to my children. 

Joanna Bogle has started a blog called Auntie Joanna Writes.  While I have only read a couple of her posts, I am sure she will be a wealth of information for those of us who long to bring the Feasts and Seasons into our homes. 

Egyptian Pyramids

The kids and I have spent the past five years learning American history. This year we took a break from it and are studying  Ancient History.  We have been using Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World, Ancient Times as a spine, along with its accompanying activity guide.  While I think that SWB can be a bit of an overachiever, she certainly has some fun ideas packed into that activity book.  There are reproducible maps to highlight the geographical area of study, supplemental reading lists, games to play, coloring pages and arts and crafts activities. 

We decided to take her suggestion to build Egyptian pyramids out of sugar cubes.  To build each pyramid, you need 55 sugar cubes, white glue and craft sand.

In order to build a pyramid that can be displayed and handled, it must be glued together.  We began with a small piece of cardboard, which we covered with glue.   On it we placed the first layer of the pyramid which consisted of 25 sugar cubes.

Follwing the first layer, a coating of white glue is necessary.  The second layer of the pyramid is made of 16 blocks. 

Each  layer is coated with white glue and the correct number of blocks as follows: 25 for the base, 16 for the second level, 9 for the third, 4 for the fourth and lastly a single block on top.

The excess glue is fine because after building the pyramid, it will be covered in sand.

Next the layer of sand is added.
Voila! The finished pyramid...

When these are completely dried, I think we will use them in a diaorama of Egypt, just for fun. 

Interestingly enough, Cheop's Great Pyramid stands 481 feet high, contains 2.3 million blocks which weigh 2 1/2 tons each and was built completely by the hands of 100,000 slaves over the course of 20 years.  Quite amazing. 

The kids and I had a lot of fun making this project.  I have some books in the sidebar that we are working on for Ancient history.  I welcome any other recommendations you might have to supplement our study.  Thanks!

What we’re listening to these days

In the summer months, we attend quite a few local Irish festivals.  My husband's grandfather's family is from County Kerry.  While I, myself, do not seem to have an ounce of Irish blood in my veins, I am forever being mistaken as being of Irish descent due to my fair freckled skin and dark hair.

Anyhow, we are quite fond of traditional Irish music and have been listening to a fair share of Solas.   Have you heard this wonderful band as of yet?  We also have this CD of theirs as well.  If you scroll down the page, you can listen to some of the songs by clicking on the links.  Good stuff.

Add to it our current read alouds which include Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal and The Cottage at Bantry Bay series for my oldest, plus A Symphony for the Sheep for the littles, and we have a wee Irish unit study in the making.   

Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco

I have been reading this book about my favorite Saint and I really am having a hard time putting it down.  It is a compilation of St. John Bosco's biographical memoirs, published by Tan.  Don Bosco, founder of the Salesian order, had his first dream when he was nine years old.  In this dream, Our Lord called him to teach young boys that virtue is beautiful and sin is ugly.  He also promised to give John Bosco His Mother as a guide and helper. 

From the back cover:

"In the following 60 years, he experienced remarkable vision-like dreams, which were so lively and vivid that he would often awaken exhausted the next morning...Catholics who may not be inspired by abstract spiritual writings will be able to see in these dreams the evil of impurity, disobedience, gluttony, pride, bad Confessions, sacreligious Communions, etc.  as well as the reality of Hell and the danger of flirting with temptations.  They also will see the great power of good Confessions and devout Holy Communions, as well as the rewards in store for those who practice purity, obedience, temperance and humility, but especially for those who preserve their baptismal innocence--a precious gem far too little regarded by most Catholics. "

I am also stuck by a letter on education at the end of the book which I have read before but speaks volumes to me today.  Don Bosco dreamt that a pupil of his Oratory came to him and described the importance of spending time in recreation with the children.  He warned Don Bosco against only preaching to the boys and not spending time playing with them. 

"The teacher who is seen only in the classroom, and nowhere else, is a teacher and nothing more; but let him go with his boys to recreation and he becomes a brother."

How many days go by that I keep to my work, preparing meals, lessons and doing household tasks but do not take the time to joyfully play with the children, to get outside and run with them or play games with them?  Don Bosco was so good at becoming one of them that they trusted him implicitly and wanted to please him.   This will be my goal this week, to spend time each day in recreation with the children. 

I'll let you know how it goes. 

The Impertinence of Nutkin and the Planting of Uncle Andrew

My children, like most children, love a good laugh.  Not often is it that our read alouds produce belly holding laughter but today we roared, not once, but twice.  Let me preface this by saying that I am not the roaring type.  I am more the reserved "chuckle- chuckle- hand- in- front- of- mouth type".  Definitely not the snorting type. (Ahem, I digress...)

We have been enjoying Beatrix Potter's books for years.  I began reading them to my oldest son when he was a toddler.  He surprised us all by absorbing much of the rich vocabulary at that young age.  One day, while driving home from a friend's house where he had been slightly obnoxious, I mentioned to him that he was far too rambunctious and loud during our visit.    He apologized for his "impertinent manners" and as best as he could for a two year old, promised to improve.  We have been hooked on Beatrix Potter ever since.   

(As a sidenote, not only was Beatrix Potter a wonderful author, talented artist and keen observer of nature, but I have decided that she would have made a great neighbor and cheerful admirer of our kooky mushroom prints.  I discovered here that she once wrote a paper of fungi spores... who knows, she may have even have enjoyed shopping for gypsy skirts as well!)

It seems that there is always a Beatrix Potter book in our bedtime read aloud lineup.   The littles love them as do the parents and everyone in between.  Today while we were out, we saw a tailless squirrel running across the road who reminded us of Nutkin.  At bedtime, we re-read our well worn copy of The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin  which really had us cracking up.  My boys can relate to  are shocked by Nutkin's manners and each page has them laughing at his audacity.  Full of wonderful vocabulary- building words like groat, obstinately, nettle, bonny, impertinent, beck, counterpane, and waist coat,  this "tale about a tale" teaches manners, the value of hard work and the importance of being a gracious guest.  Educational value aside, the book is a hoot!

We finished our night with a two chapters of C. S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew, specifically where the animals plant the evil Uncle Andrew in the ground, mistaking him for a tree.  The image of the planting and watering of this man were funny enough to us to induce laughter that woke the sleeping Annie on my lap.  I do not believe that we have all laughed so hard in quite some time.

So, we would like to thank two extraordinary folks from the British Isles, Mr. C.S. Lewis and Ms. Beatrix  Potter for their astounding (yet dry) senses of humor and their ability to turn a grumpy mommy into a giggling schoolgirl in one fell swoop.  The children, once again have faith that I am, indeed, human.

Winter reading

I'd leave all the hurry,the noise and the fray for a house full of books and a garden of flowers. -Andrew Lang

Winter is the perfect time to curl up and read with the children. It seems as though most of our reading is done in the cold months when the wind is howling at the windowpanes and a fire is blazing on the hearth. We are learning and experiencing so much from the wonderful books in our family's library. Ben has been studying World War II and together we have recently read Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop, The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum and Snow Treasure by Marie Mc Swigan. We also recently finished The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare and are currently reading Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes for fun.

Christopher is currently on a cowboy kick so we have been saturating ourselves in the Cowboy Sam series by Edna Walker Chandler. He loves to hear about the adventures of Sam, Shorty and Big Bill. We have read a number of biographies of Buffalo Bill Cody together. He is also quite fond of the Little Tim picture book series by Edward Ardizzone which are set in England in the 1920's.

Mary enjoys anything by Eric Carle and is fond of the Flicka, Ricka and Dicka series by Maj Lindman. Of course, no toddler can resist the Story of Miss Moppet by Beatrix Potter!

There are many places to visit when you open a book. We have travelled all over the world and met hundreds of interesting people simply by reading great, living literature. A child's character and very personhood is formed by what they are exposed to. According to Charlotte Mason, books that do not enrich the mind are called "twaddle". They are insipid, dumbed down books that reject the beauty, goodness and intellect of the child. If we forgo the twaddle for our children and ourselves, we can turn our focus to rich stories with interesting characters like Peter Pevensie, Anne Shirley , Johnny Tremain and Caddie Woodlawn.

A picture book's illustrations are just as inspiring as the written words on its pages. Choosing books for my children that contain beautiful paintings and drawings is important to me. We have enjoyed the illustrations of Beatrix Potter, Tasha Tudor, Berta and Elmer Hader, Mary Azarian and Garth Williams as well as many others.

Much of our family's collection of books was purchased at library book sales and used book stores. These are two places to find a treasury of books, many for less than a quarter a piece. Who can resist spending only $5.00 and carrying home a big, brown paper bag full of adventure?