A Little Crafty

We've been a little crafty, around here, as it's been such a wet, stormy (and very beautiful!) June. 

A hat for the new baby. The wool is actually a delicious mossy, licheny green. Perfect for a September baby.

We're taking suggestions for boys' names. Girl's names are covered for the next dozen or so daughters. But if we have another boy, Will and I will have to go on silent retreat, to secluded monasteries, on a remote mountain (mmmmm, that doesn't sound too bad!) to pray for a divine message. 

We can't even agree on a common genre. He likes names that are difficult to spell and pronounce and have a romantic history in Gaelic or Norse mythology.

I like names you could give a dog: Charlie, Hank, or Sam. 

You see our dilemma? All suggestions are welcome.

So far, friends and family have helped us out with: Oisin (pronounced "O-sheen") Kieren, Wolfric, Lavrans (from Kristin Lavransdatter—tempting!) Grimbjorn (less tempting) Emmet

The boys like Henry, Thomas, and Picklehead (or Poopface, take your pick)

A Roman ship for Hugh. (Cut from a playmobile box....) Senatus Populus Que Romanum!

Unrelated, check out the lovely outdoor crafting by this beautiful blogging family. I can't read a word of Finnish (can you?) but scroll down to see hobby horses and a totally rad tent.

Sorry about my ridiculous, over-sized photos. There's nothing between large (too small) and extra-large (too big). I'll figure it out one of these days.

Places that Heal

   

       My mother's kitchen—

       plants are sprouting

       kefir is brewing

       bread is rising

       tea is steeping

 Mum sits down with a cup of tea. We talk and talk. She is so endlessly wise, so loving, so  effortlessly creative. 

 Outside, the boys help grandpa tend his little woodland, clearing deadwood, building bonfires, pruning wild apple trees.

watching grandpa roto-tilling...

...turning the wilderness into a garden...

June

I'm sorry I've been such a blog-pooper. Still no camera.

Besides, it's June. The weather is sunny, windy, and balmy, and we are taking every spare moment to garden (Will) and sit in the sand at Little Lake (me).

Well, not sit, really. The boys play, fight, dig, splash, climb, whine, and play some more. I chase Matthias around and around, preventing sudden death at the playground. We drink super awesome fizzy homemade lime-ade made from water kefir. We eat, we splash, we dig. We chase Matthias. Good days.

The home-schooling muse descended this week, too, so when the weather gets too hot we repair for home, and central air, to work on alphabets and homemade books and such.

the cool of the day

Matthias is enjoying a season of nudity, as he learns to use the potty. He's our quickest learner yet. I take credit for a) producing this genius baby b) my hard work and diligence at keeping his pants off, and proactively plunking him on the potty every 15 minutes or so c) bribery. But I also have to credit the wonderful Baby Bjorn potty, and the peer-pressure from his big brothers who get a potty treat too.

still-life with water kefir (foreground)—more on water-kefir to come. I don't believe any of the health claims, but it sure is fun to make. And drink.

Will bikes down to his plot at the community gardens every morning to tinker, or whatever gardeners do. Foszka goes with him, and they are such a hot couple, I can hardly stand to be left behind. Except that it's 5 am, and I'd rather be sleeping. After supper he takes the boys, too. They're becoming good little gardeners, he tells me.

Because We're So Proud

...of this wonderful man and his medal! Will graduated this June, having been awarded the Symons medal for top marks.

Congratulations, love.

Friday Stillness

Speaking of "Scratch"

I've been away from home, and blog, trying to heal up, as I'm covered in eczema from head to toe, not excluding my ears! This is supposedly the "healing crisis" and will end, one of these days, in radiant health. Meanwhile, it's a bit of a bummer.

I took the boys to the most "healing" place I know: my mother's kitchen, where we've been drinking herb teas from last summer's garden, gulping down the probiotic drinks, and slaking our thirst from the deep well water.

Mum's also been working her Montessori magic on the boys. They're in heaven at grandma and grandpa's, between the wood pile, the garden, where they got to open bags of manure "with real knives!" the art cupboard, and the thirty year old lego. And the occasional ice-cream cone.

Mum let me sleep and refused to let me wipe a dish. She even changed Matthias' diapers—twenty a day at least. 

 Pure bliss, plus a few mosquitos. (Actually, clouds of mosquitos, but I stayed indoors beside an open window while everyone else worked! Quite shocking, really).

I left my camera behind, which is why it's been quiet, in this space.

(These are last year's pictures)

Back home now, I've been seeking out places that heal (beaches, naturally) where we can sit and absorb sun and dig and shovel and splash to our heart's content.

So begins the summer rhythm: beach in the morning, home for lunch and the all-important siesta, a little work, a little supper, back to the beach, or the ecology gardens, or whatever, for the evening. Home again for baths and Narnia. (and grown-up time!) So peaceful.

Love to all!