Quote-of-the-Day

"And I saw the river

over which every soul must pass

to reach the kingdom of heaven

and the name of that river was suffering:~

and I saw the boat

which carries souls across the river

and the name of that boat was

LOVE."

~Saint John of the Cross

P.S. Margot Potter has posted links to all those who are participating in Ornament Thursdays. There are some really inspired, awesome, talented gals in this group! Go see.

Christmas Card Ornaments

This is based on a geometry lesson I did back in my teaching days. It's a great way to use up old Christmas cards. I also did a couple with tea boxes.

Materials:
Christmas cards, or postcards, or tea boxes (I used Celestial Seasonings--so pretty!)
Cereal box to use as template (or card stock--something heavy & stiff)
scissors
glue (stick, dots, or white glue)
compass
ruler
pencil

darning or embroidery needle

yarn or ribbon to hange the ornament

Determine how big you want the ornaments to be. The green ones I did are 3 inches in diameter when completed. The circles I drew for those are 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Essentially, you're just putting together a bunch of circles. You don't have to use a compass, but here are the geometry directions:

So this is the back of one of the Christmas cards. I made a template of a circle (with cereal box, but you could also make the circles with the compass). I also made a template out of the triangle. After I drew them all in, I scored the triangles with the compass tip because you'll be folding them.

Next you cut out all the circles, bend them and start fitting them together. When it's assembled, poke a hole (I used my compass, but you could also use a hole puncher) to fit the ribbon to hang up your ornament. Finished ornaments pictured below. The one on the right used 4 circles fitted together. The others all used 8. You could also do 6.

MERRIE CHRISTMAS!

The Story

I love this picture. It's so 1950's let's get a pretty girl in the picture because that makes the rocks extra-special. I love the hand-painted colouring and the way her manicured hand is indicating the crystal, like she prolly did when modeling a modern-day refridgerator. This is taken at Skyline Caverns in Front Royal, VA. These anthodite crystals are v. rare--there's only 2 other places in the world that have them. If I were taking notes when my friend Susan told me, I could tell you where. So this is the story of my picture.

The story-behind-the-story is how I aquired this:

My mother was friends with an older lady who was marrying the photographer of this photo. Um, if I were taking notes, I could tell you his name. I will P.S. it when Mum tells me. Anyway, my brother was hired to help move and clean out some things. This photo was stuffed in an old 1970's car in the garage--actually, I think that's how my brother aquired the car that we all called Das Boot. HUGE.

So big deal, 2 old people getting married, you may be thinking. Ha! Older Lady had moved from Texas to be near her fam (allegedly), leaving her husband behind. 2 years later, she celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary--without him. It seems he'd been having an affair with the housekeeper. For 20 years. The following spring, she married Photographer Guy. But Jane, you're still married my mother said. And Jane-not-her-real-name, said, "Who's going to put a 78-year-old lady in jail for having 2 husbands?" Well put.

Well, it didn't last anyway. I don't think she bothered divorcing him, either. She moved out to California this time and he stayed in VA.

I don't think she married again.

Isn't it a great picture?

P.S. Mum suggests I not say Husband #2's name. So I won't. She also said she doesn't think he was the photographer of this picture. I remember her saying 20 years ago that he was. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point. All water under the bridge and whatnot. No point in alerting the Marriage Police, especially since Mum informs me that Jane is alive and well living somewhere undisclosed.

Labyrinth Rocks

I liked the melted-crayon rock activity so much that I played with it on Sunday. I've made finger labyrinths before for journals, etc. But this is my first venture into a more 3-dimensional form. I used sparkley dimensional paint for the labyrinth lines. The heart rock and pink rock, I painted, but the other 3 rocks I did the melted crayon thing. Before I painted it, the pink rock reminded me of an elephant, and I thought of a recent post from Margot, so here's a pink elephant labyrinth. Other than that, I was kinda on a purple kick. The crayon gives it a nice, smooooooth texture and I'll definitely be making more of these!

Visit to Auntie Hal's

Oh what FUN we had! We played in the labyrinth. It's the perfect size for children. They ran, of course & overturned a few rocks. Hey! Put that rock back! It's sacred! haha Then they rolled down the hill. And my youngest nephew, who's 5, came to me and told me that his older brother had forced him into The Zone. I said, "The zone?" And he says, "You know, where the dogs GO." haha Fortunately, he was clean.

[imagine photo of kids in labyrinth]

We walked down to the river and collected rocks and then we heated them up in the oven (150-ish degrees) and melted crayons on them. My youngest nephew has a v. artistic eye, and likes to play with my camera. He took this photo of the rocks:


My almost-3-year-old niece had a lot of fun with my heart rock collection. I'm still finding them around the house. At dinner, she v. politely asked, May I have some marijuana, please? I looked to her big brother for translation. "She wants more water." OH. Yes, of course that's what she said. For dessert we had chocolate dirt. (Leftover truffle mix from the freezer). Yum. It was a whirlwind of activity and I so LOVE being an auntie! :-)

P.S. Thanks, Mum for driiiiiving all the way here!

P.P.S. If I had children of my own, this blog would be nothing but insufferably cute-things-kids-say.

Day of Rest

Ah...trees. Have a gorgeous day. :-) H.

FUN

"You never give up just wanting to play and have fun--the way that kids do." ~Jerry Seinfeld

There seems to be a lack of faith from my family when it comes to my spending time with my sibs's kids. Can I handle all 3 at once??? So let's review in order, shall we? I worked as a teacher's aide to a preschool & kindergarten for 2 years before going off to college the first time where I became a college dropout. Then I was a nanny. Then I worked at a Montessori school for 4 years and headed up the summer day camp program with 10-15 kids. Then I got an education degree K-8. I substitute taught for 2 years in classrooms that, incidentally, had more than 3 students. I taught first grade for a year before I went on to certify in brain-based learning.

I think I'm qualified for the afternoon.

Today I've sharpened the knives and we're going to learn to juggle. haha Perhaps it's because I'm not SERIOUS and I don't get upset about some kinds of parenty things. Usually I get my camera. Like the time at my sister's wedding when my nephew peed on a bush outside the church. Why didn't you stop him? my other sister growled at me. Stop him? Midstream? Really, what else could I do?

I draw the line at safety. But everything else? Childhood is a magical time and it's FUN. Or it should be. The backyard is an adventure waiting for exploration. All children are artists, visionaries, scientists. Ask any kindergartener who's the best artist and they will all raise their hands. Ask a fifth-grader that (or an adult) and you'll hear the limitations. There's so much more I could write on this--my whole philosophy of teaching and parenting, but I must heat up rocks in the oven for a special craft activity.