Little & Big

building a garden (together)

the result:

they found some plastic tubes in the barn

and one great experiment was hatched.

just before bed, at the little creek behind the house

two new delights

1) forget-me-nots.  They are everywhere.  Delightful splashes of that irresistable blue.  I sent big brother out to make little arrangements for our dinner on Sunday night, and he came back with this bouquet above, tucked into a vintage milk jar.  Embarrassed by the result.  "That's actually very classy, very arty, my clever son," I told him, and he looked at me like I was trying to pull one over on him.  "Seriously!"   I asked him to make two more just like it.

2) raw kale salad.  Massage each leaf of kale with olive oil and a little sea salt, until the leaf is uniformly covered in oil and beginning to soften.  Then tear the leaf into bit-sized pieces, and place in bowl, setting the stems aside.  Repeat this with the other leaves in the bunch.  Juice one lemon, sprinkle over the kale, and toss.  Delicious. ("Impossible!" you say, "Yuck!"  And I say, "TRUST me.  TRY it.")

making arrows by the fire

Green-cut wood, beeswax arrowheads and duck feathers for the arrow's end.

Do you see that tree across the yard, the one just above Ollie in the photo?  That's where the arrow landed. 

And that's the truth.

in the spring woods today

I knew they had followed their Dad into the woods.  So I put on my muck boots and jacket and went to find them.

They were up in a place we call "the Birch Council".  Building with sticks and bark.

I stopped by, quietly, and left again. And they worked on. And eventually they came home.

Later we went out to see the finished houses -- because I knew their wordy descriptions and lengthy details (of architecture and engineering) would pale in comparison to the finshed product.

I was right.

weekend work

I love weekend projects.  particularly when everyone helps.  (even when I just get 5 minutes of help.)  I love being all together, all busy, all purposeful.  and then, when we're done, we have the satisfaction of having worked, and having transformed something in a good way.

the weekend's projects: new raised beds, and a fieldstone border around the front of the hous.

as you can see, we pulled the flat stones from the original rose garden (keeping the three small rose bushes intact!), and the Daddy began laying them around the front edge of the garden. with gorgeous effect.

the Daddy gets the gold star for work today, however.  it was maybe 43 degrees and raining when we got started.  he suited up and went out.  I stayed inside.  I pulled out the sewing machine and pretended to start projects. mostly I did a lot of cooking, and poking around the house, refereeing boys. 

the raised beds will eventually have a low picket fence around them (if I get my way), to protect it from animals (aka the dog) and to give it more visual appeal.  I've got it all plotted out.  all I need is 16 fence posts and a lot of picket sections.  (I already own the post-hole digger.) and one very very sweet honey-do note for the Daddy. 

just when you think it's time to give away the set of blocks

                                                        (before school)

codes & clues

On Friday, little brother spontaneously made a treasure hunt for me.

I think it was because we were having a rough go.  He was home with a bad cold, and I was home with him, trying to work, without seeming like I was working.  But he knew it, and was having none of it.  And I was crabby.  He was in button-pushing mode, and I was one giant button.  Then all of a sudden it shifted.  And there he was, with pen and paper, carefully drawing while trying to hide his work from me.  Delighted and sparkling. 

The treasure hunt took me all through the house and yard, ending in a crevice in one of the apple trees, where he had hidden an easter egg, an easter card, and an apple.  Treasure. 

And big brother has been learning Morse code.  And creating secret scrambled word puzzles. And leaving them for me to figure out.   The first one I cracked said "Hi Daddy".  It took me a good 10 minutes to figure it out, between the scramble & code combo.  Big brother was very proud of me.

And then there's this little magic clue below, placed on the edge of the bath tub by some fast moving elf that I could only glimpse. 

I've decided that it means that I'm being invited on some marvelous adventure that may involve a giant sailboat. 

It could also mean that someone loves me in a lovely, colorful, handmade sort of way.

And that magic really is afoot in my life.  (Which it is.)

yummy

The other day I came home to a very excited child and the chocolatey smells of a creative cooking project.

I learned from the Daddy that he had pulled various ingredients from the pantry and fridge -- chocolate chips, rice, eggs, chocolate sauce, agave syrup among them -- and invited little brother to get cooking.

And so, apparently, little brother did.  He whipped up what I would call "Chocolate Rice Pudding".  (And in the process, gave his father some extra time to edit stories.)

He simply called it "Yummy". 

And it was. It was actually super yummy.  Served here with gluten-free shortbread.  (He served it all up himself!)

I was extra impressed because I had just been enjoying this post, and wondering how we might do something like that at our house.

And what do you know?  I didn't have to do a thing, because it had already been done!

Amazing.

To anyone who wants to try this but thinks "yikes", know this: it doesn't have to be perfect.  Or even edible.  (That was a perk of this experiment, although the Daddy chose the ingredients carefully.)   Why not open the pantry and pull out whatever you aren't using, or what's ready to be tossed?  I think we'll do that again.  Soon.  (Can anyone say cabbage fritters with aged enchilada sauce?)