Coyotes, Cougars, and Pumpkin Families

Last Wednesday, we finished up school and set out on a nature hike. Our anticipated yearly tradition is to scour the woods for the most colorful and striking fall leaves. My kids and I sauntered down to "our woods" and "our river," keeping a watchful eye out for the best leaves. At the river as the kids were playing, I got into a short conversation with a passing elderly couple about wild animals they had seen. They mentioned coyotes, foxes, and cougars spotted in the south of the cities. They even talked of two confirmed timberwolf sightings! The couple moved on, and I turned to relay this information to my kids. Already knowing about some black bear activity in the area the last few years, this newest information was exciting jet slightly scary!

Last night, our family enjoyed some take out Chinese food for a treat, and spent time carving out pumpkins. Each person got to focus on their own pumpkin face. Baby Daniel even got to have a pint-size pimpkin for him-- but his big brother helped make his face.

Camping, Farmer's Market, Fall Yesterday around 4, I drove out of town for my annual girls camping trip. Every autumn for the last thirteen years or so, two close friends of mine from college days and I usually meet for a tenting overnight. This year only two of us could go. We set up our tent, hiked along a fall-foliaged river, and proudly built our own roaring fire. Food cooked over a campfire is delicious! This year, we cooked chicken, fresh green peppers from my neighbor, and purple onions wrapped in tinfoil over hot red embers. Drizzled in Italian dressing and fragrantly-crushed dry herbes de provence, it was moist and savory. It was dark by the time we grabbed our plates and settled onto the wooden picnic table to watch the fire. Marshmallows and chocolate smores were my next indulgence. The next morning, we folded up the tent and drove to our traditional coffeeshop in town. Regulars hailed each other by name and swapped crossword puzzle clues over round tables. We bought our brew and headed out back to the flowery garden. I grinned at a small wooden sign next to the cash register that read, "Unaccompanied children will be served espresso and sent home with a new puppy." Later on the way home, I stopped by my favorite small town farmer's market. Eight or nine stalls huddle together in a semi-circle. Balsawood honey was being sold by an older man and his wife next to a poster of various honey types and colors from around the nation, with a sign that said "Free honey recipes with purchase." A backed up pick up truck full of sweet corn was next with a simple scrawled handwritten note about freezing your fresh corn. Apparently water, salt and a bit of sugar are all that is needed. "It's 50 cents for that basket of cherry tomatoes?" I ashed a cheerful young woman. "Yep, and if you say please I'll throw in the other basket as well!" she sang out. "Really?" I ran to get my money from the van. Walking down the circle, I saw green cardboard boxes of dusty crimson beets, taut red tomatoes, and dewey bunches of basil. I asked for advice about native prairie grasses, sampled a new variety of apple, and smiled to myself at the simple joy of being outside and seeing so many fresh vegetables and flowers. One flower stall drew me back a few times, because of the beauty of her arrangements. "Feel free to say no," I said, after buying some flower bulbs from her, "but can I just take a picture of your site? It's so lovely." She agreed. Here it is. I walked away after some suggestions on how to winter my new bearded iris flower bulbs, hopped into my green van and drove home, biting into juicy cherry tomatoes.

The Name of the Game It was the first day of a new Writing class and the dozen or so students in the class were nervous, and getting their 3-ring binders ready for the mountain of paper that they had heard the teacher was soon to give out. "I'm Christian," the dark haired, dark eye-browed young male said to John. John, for whom his faith is really deep and just a natural part of life, answered, "Me too," and he went on sorting his divider with barely a glance up. After a short silent pause, the dark haired teen said, "No, I mean my name is Christian!" "Oh," John smiled. "My name's John." The two boys talked some more, and then the class started.

"Don't Step on the Planets When You Come Home, Hun"

Hi, we have had some great weeks of homeschooling! This week, the kids and I (8th grade and 5th grade) did some fun astronomy projects.

First, we got to represent the planets in size relative to each other. If my calculations were right, here is how the planets would look: If the sun was a minivan, then Mercury would be a raisin size. Then Venus and Earth are blueberries. Mars is the size of a Reeses Pieces candy. Jupiter is the largest-- a basketball. Saturn trails a close second as a large outdoor ball. Uranus and Neptune are both nectarines, and Pluto --although now a dwarf planet like Ceres and that other one-- finished last in our models as a tiny peppercorn.

Baby Daniel plays alongside us, or cries to be held and included at times. He is standing, crawling, and starting to walk along furniture.

Next up? Project #2 from last week. If we were to walk out the planets in steps, relative to their distance from each other.... where would they fall in my neighborhood and on my street? How many "steps" away from each other do you think they are?! :) Answers next post....

How are you? How is school, work, family, ministry, life going for you?

The Fun of Puzzling Out the Map of Africa

(older puzzle pics)

We successfully finished the whole puzzle of Africa! It is so fun for us to work on learning all the countries of Africa. Today we tested ourselves on at least south and central Africa, seeing how many of them we could write in on a blank map by memory. John and Morgan did great! I had fun too.

Now we just finished making flash cards for all of Africa and the countries's maps. Fun.

Christmas Trees and a Tattered Green Elf

Christmas trees hold so many memories for me.

I used to stare for hours at the huge Christmas tree that resided gloriously in the front of the small hometown country church when I was a kid. The decorations on it were antique probably, brought over by early German, Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. Fluffy cottony angels. Rolled up parchment music scrolls. Fragile glass ornaments. Whimsical fan ornaments that you could blow air into the bottoms of to make them spin.

Our home tree had some similar ornaments, like the blowing fans, but it also had many rustic home made ornaments. The usual clothespin reindeer from grade school years. Occasional popcorn and cranberry strands. Hand strewn tinsel.

But my two favorites were the gingerbread men and an elf. The chubby gingerbread men, we baked and decorated, then hung on the tree from string. My brother, sister and I loved to lie on the ground beneath the tree. Staring up at the blinking lighted branches, blowing the swirling fan ornaments, we would then lean up and munch the lower-hanging gingerbread people. Soon there would be only some tiny gingerbread heads, hanging forlornly from the bottom parts of the tree.

This little green elf is my other favorite. An old salvaged piece from my childhood tree. I'm not sure how I got so lucky to keep him. Now each year that my own family and I set up our tree, the elf has a place of honor. First he is unwrapped carefully from the rest of the ornaments coming out of the purple plastic Christmas bin. The kids ooh and ahh with me. "It's the elf!" they exclaim, knowing that it is special to me. This year, the kids decided that it was my turn to place him in the tree. Standing up, surveying the tree, we looked for the perfect spot. He couldn't usurp the Nativity ornaments --since Jesus is the main point of Christmas, definitely! Suddenly, there was the right spot. Hidden inside a hole in the branches, nestled up against the trunk the green cloth elf took his seat. His legs are worn and barely stay attached by tattered green threads.

Ahhh.... We turned off the house lights, sat under the Christmas tree, and savored the beauty and peacefulness. Jesus came to earth, and we celebrate his coming each year. This is but one small part of it.

Africa Maps and Glowing Saturday Mornings

Ghana, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Benin, Togo... We have been studying Africa this month in geography. Taking a section of Africa at a time, we worked at learning the countries' names, flags, location, and even the capitals, partly. West Africa, North Africa, East Africa have been worked on, now we are moving onto South Africa.

How can I even begin to do justice to such a large diverse continent in just a month's time, in only two-three days a week? We have fun coloring in and labeling the maps though, and trying to color in the fun flags. Now, we find ourselves recognizing more flags and seeing similarities between countries' flags.

A few weeks ago, we had one day where we studied the illegal production and trade of coal in Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), the issues surrounding that, as well as the recent massacre of one of the mountain gorilla families there, and we enjoyed the diversity of the pygmies of Democratic Republic of Congo. Interspersed with all of that, we followed up-to-date BBC world news coverage of the violence in DR Congo and surrounding countries, the resulting refugee migrations, and the marauding militia groups back and forth across country borders. Tough issues surround the thousands of beautiful people groups and landscapes of Africa, and this is just one area, and only a few topics.

We're doing about a continent a month.

Baby D grows bigger each day. He is 5 months old, and can roll across the floor. We laugh at watching his progress over time. "Look where he is now!" we chuckle, marking how far he has rolled. He rocks beside me in the swing now, examining some rings and talking to a bear.

Snow piles up outside, and the nights are dark quickly. Cheery Christmas lights line houses, fences and trees as I drive to a friend's house to pick up her daughter for a playdate with mine.

Saturday was a shining, yellowy day, with sunshine pouring into my south-facing deck window. The whole house was warmed by it, and glowed with light. Don't you love the the light reflected through the aloe plants?