{this moment}

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{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 

.......

{this moment}

................

{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 

.......

Stay calm and remain purple

Here's a secret I'd like to tell. I love Advent better than Christmas. Advent's the journey, the seeking, the waiting. I have to give credit to my parents, who really did a nice job building that sense of anticipation, with the decorations slowly increasing over the weeks, only to culminate in the fully decorated Christmas tree that appeared in our house no sooner than on Christmas eve, around 5pm. This is the time, as I will have you know, when the Christ child delivers presents to German children. It must be that Baby Jesus, Santa and Father Frost and whoever else is in on this global game of sneaking and scheming, have split up the geographical areas and delivery times to make it all feasible? That is what I tell my children to explain the difference in my culture growing up, and theirs, which needed to match that of their school mates and friends.

But back to Advent. I like to have an advent wreath or other seasonal vehicle for four candles every year. We usually craft it together now, the kids are old enough to help. This year's version recycled the log tea light stands the husband made last year:

And back to the meaning of it all. We shall light one candle more each week, as we wait. And wait we will. With music, hot cider, cookies, and reading stories of St. Nicholas. In this sea of red and green and golden and glitter and shiny instant gratification, we are going to:

A visit to a foreign world

Sometimes you just have to break out of your world, and go visit someplace else. Except there is that pesky carbon footprint thing, and that money thing, and that time thing ... so we 'get away' to a few local hide-outs once in a while. This time, we went to South America. And by that, I mean the excellent Maya exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science. Insta-transport into a totally foreign world. 

We learned about glyphs, kings and calendars. We sat for a while (too long, say the littles - too short says the oldest) drawing, reading, learning, in the peaceful darkness of the exhibit.

Then we took a quick stop in the tropics on the way to lunch - the butterfly room is always a treat for the senses. Then, from far away across the world, we smelled good things to eat.... and went to have lunch before returning to our own little world.

Just puttering

We're all coming off a mighty high of activity, weekends filled with a birthday party for the middle, and a concert where the oldest played, and a visit from the grandparents, the 25th anniversary of the wall in Germany being broken down... altogether wonderful stuff. But phew, I'm ready for a little rest before the holiday flurry sets in. Talking about busy, here is the bee hive cake I made to order for the birthday:

In the gardens, clean-up is ongoing, now that we are seeing the first frosts. It is always such a nice surprise to find a few leftover scarlet runner bean seeds, like pearls on a string.

Together we can(ned). In this case about 30 quarts of apple sauce, made from 2 bushels of utility apples bought at my favorite local orchard. This should get us through the winter nicely.

So we're putting up, and puttering around, clustered around the wood stove these days, because we've resisted turning on the heat just yet. Hope you're staying warm, too!

Father's day project

Very simple triptych for father's day, on purchased pre-mounted canvas squares. The 5x5in size is becoming too small for this family! How bittersweet.

The background as well as the hand print are done in acrylic paint, should last very well. I put he kids' names and date on with sharpie after all had dried. It was well received and if I make another 2 sets in the coming years, I figure a 3x3 arrangement could look really neat!

{this moment}

................

{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see 
.......

{this moment}

................

{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see

.......

They grow so fast...

Baby chicks that is. We're left with 11, the 8 I had planned on and the three freebies from Murray McMurray. No idea if they gave us roosters.... no signs of any boy-ness yet. 

They stank up my sewing studio, which is seeing a little more use these days, and needed fresh water every 10 minutes because they were so crammed and bored. Time to devise a new home for them! 

Only 5 left mid-move.... imagine 11 in there!

The handy husband put together a square corral of sorts, blessed be his hoarding tendencies because he had the material just lying around. Old window screens have always served us well as a breathable top cover. A scrounged piece of 1/4in plywood made the bottom. My oldest was very concerned with the chicks getting cold feet. She is right. Chickens detest to walk on cold ground. 

A little woodworking lesson for the younger two produced a baby roost, and we upgraded the feeder and waterer. Voila! Everyone is happier now. I started the 3-week-old chicks on a bit of parakeet grit so that we can start introducing them to dirt and bugs soon, too. 

Reject and Protect

When I realized my family was going to be in DC for this event, I jumped up and down in excitement. The Cowboy and Indian Alliance (CIA!) is a a group of ranchers, farmers, and tribal communities from along the Keystone XL pipeline route. They have joined together in such a meaningful way to protest the pipeline. Over a multi-day event, filled with ceremonies, art and learning about each other, a tipi with fingerprints from hundreds (thousands?) of people was created and donated to the president (nominally), but delivered to the Museum of the American Indian for their use in the future.

Now we've been home for a few days and I still can barely put into words how much it meant to me to participate in this amazing show of unity, respect and hope for the future. 

I will try to walk you through a few pictures, for a tiny glimpse.

On Friday, we arrived at the tipi space set up right on the National Mall. 

We walked to the tent where the tipi was being painted, and the artist, Steve Tamayo, allowed us to help him paint a part of the giant canvas. He explained to us some of the significance of the motifs, and I'll try to paraphrase without too much distortion. The turtle in the center represents respect for the female. The turtle's longevity is something we hope for all women, and its 13 panels on the shell represent 13 lunar cycles in a year.  There are 28 horses, one for each day of each lunar cycle. The big dipper is shown in its spring configuration, which represents the rejuvenation of the earth in spring. The dipper is pouring out blessings. More info on the meanings of the motifs are found at the end of this really great article.

We explored the tipis and the space in general. My children were interested to learn that Native Americans don't wear their traditional clothing on an everyday basis! We looked at the tipis, left our fingerprints on the tipi liner, and then headed to the National Museum of the American Indian and continued to learn about the lives of the first nations today, in the US and other countries.

On Saturday, there was energy in the air! I found groups from Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, besides our own rather sizeable crowd from MA.

The tipi was front and center while prayers from several faith traditions were said. There was music, and inspiring speeches, as the crowd was gearing up to march down to the Museum.

Then the group lined up to walk. Today it was more clear who the Native Americans were ... fascinating to see! The march itself was peaceful, as the whole event had been. It wasn't as much of a rally as it was a ceremonial event. We didn't follow all the way to the museum because the troops were very tired and hungry. Still, I have a feeling I will recall being a part of this for a very long time.

 

{this moment}

. . . . . . . . .

{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . .

{this moment}

. . . . . . . . .

{this moment}

A Friday SouleMama ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . .

but why?

Why are we on earth? What is the purpose of life? Don't come to me with those big question. I will answer the 'but why' question that people ask as to why I left FB (even if it turns out to be temporary):
I read these two books:  'Dragnet Nation' and 'The Big Disconnect'. Both of them are about me. No, not about me as if I starred personally in them, but I feel correctly described by a lot of what these authors are talking about. And not always in a good, in-control kind of a way. I'm not really good at rehashing other people's thoughts, for fear of distorting them with my own bias, but I honestly think those books deserve to be read. The latter, especially, seems so important for parents of kids of all ages. Some of this reading was tough (especially without a glass of scotch in my hands...), but I hope, therapeutic.

A second aspect is that I often lament to my husband about the disappearing of community. I sometimes feel as though a lot of things that used to be covered by neighborly exchange of favors is now (or here?) taken care of by commercial entities (dog sitting, lawn mowing, driveway plowing, babysitting, airport driving, etc). So I decided to become more involved with community making in flesh and blood, in the shape of engaging with people and groups that aim to embody the kind of community spirit I am searching for.

It is actually going better than I thought, so far, the mostly hands-free lifestyle. It helps to start on some great books and a knitting project, to keep the hands busy during boring hours waiting on hallways at the music school, or at gymnastics. I didn't post that video of my youngest daughter learning to ride a bicycle :-). And I did have both hands free to catch her when she got too wobbly while balancing on a log through the muddy patch where we checked on our favorite skunk cabbages.

Focus on the most important, a work in progress.

Slippers for a Sneezing Girl

My oldest had asked for slippers just like mine:

I was working on them, but then she came down with some crazy flu-like plague and it seemed only right to hurry up a bit and finish them. I went for 'chunky' and modified my original pattern (which was already a bit modified starting from this pattern), the outcome was pretty slouchy.

I make the sole out of a layer of felt (outside) and one of fleece (inside), and then I put patches of leather on the parts that need anti-slip. I hand-stitch around the outside. On the first try, I used a pretty blanket stitch but that turned out not to wear well, so now I go with the more functional, if plain look.

If I do it again, I will know where to decrease a bit more to get a better shape... But I still like them enough and she seems willing to wear them ... and hopefully warming her feet will make her better quickly!

The totally un-american-girl-doll

The two littles were fighting over dolls. At first I briefly considered buying another doll (we actually don't have much doll stuff, it's not been a major play focus around here). So I asked why the babee doesn't like the doll her older sister thought she should have. Well, because it didn't have a nice dress! D'uh! We can fix that, I thought. I'll quickly check the web for doll clothes patterns and we'll stitch up something fun together on their very own sewing machine. Well, fail. Almost all the patterns I found were for 'AGD's. What's that? It took me a minute but then I realized it's American Girl Dolls, and they are larger than what I was looking for. Not even if I was willing to pay money on etsy did I find patterns for 15in dolls.... so I made one up, roughly following the images of larger doll clothes patterns, and measuring our dolls as I went. It worked alright, according to my customers!

I did the hems (bottom of skirt, bottom of sleeves, neckline) by cutting with zigzag scissors (pinking shears in adult speak), and then just turned once and stitched down, with a straight stitch except around the neckline, where I used a smallish zigzag stitch and a very narrow hem.

Once the hems were done, I put the velcro on the inside/outside of the center seam allowance of the back bodice pieces and hemmed that at the same time.




Then, I closed the shoulder seams, put the arms in (just stretching things into place, no fancy prepping of the sleeves or anything), and then closed the side seams from the wrists to the waist.
I ruffled the skirt piece with one line of large stitching, with the upper tension reduced, which lets you pull the lower thread to 'wrinkle' the fabric. I did this for all layers of the skirt at once, two tulle, one main fabric. Then I attached the skirt with the opening at the back, overhanging a bit over the finished edge of the bodice pieces. Next, stitched a ribbon around the waist to cover/stabilize the joining of the skirt and bodice. Then stitched the skirt and ribbon closed, at the back seam, leaving the bodice open from the waist up, and DONE!

The kids helped with doing many of the straight seams, each to their ability. This little machine works pretty well, it bravely stitched through a bunch of layers including some sequins, even! The dresses are really roomy around the middle, depending if your doll is potty trained yet, that could be a good thing. Or if your doll is actually a teddy bear. Or you could just make the pattern of the bodice a bit narrower.

In the spirit of combating the doll monopoly out there, here's the pattern for download as a PDF. Let me know if that works for you!