A Place Like This......

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday 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.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wash Wednesday and A T-Shirt Market Bag

 

For a couple of weeks now the blogosphere has been filled with the beautiful photographs of everyone's clean laundry thanks to Gardenmama. As time went on I realized that I had this beautiful old drying rack in my laundry room which was given to me by my friend Ruth.

One day I had called her to ask where I could find a really good drying rack. I had a baby at the time and was remembering my mother's drying rack. Everywhere I went, there were these modern contraptions which would barely hold all of the clothes.

" I have just the thing! It's really old and came out of our barn in Michigan. You can have it but if you ever don't want it anymore just give it back."

So for the last 11 years I've harbored this wonderful old rack, drying all of our woolen socks, sweaters, and now T-shirts. I'm  finding everyone's hung out laundry so beautiful that I'm looking for the perfect place in my yard for a good ol' clothesline.

Ok, I have to go back to the T-shirts now. This family has so many t-shirts. We get them from band and orchestra camps, horse camps, soccer,kung-fu,trick or can, habitat for humanity, our travels and a myriad of other occasions. Many of the old ones I use for rags but not 50 t-shirts worth. I clean but not that much.

Many of the t-shirts have the kids photos on them so Goodwill won't want them plus it's a memory for me. Infact, many of our t-shirts harbor many happy moments which means, "We Can't Get Rid of Them"! This becomes a problem when you need drawer space.

I think I've solved my problem.  Omar and I've made our t-shirts into market bags. It takes all of one minute and let's us use our t-shirts in a productive way.

T-shirt Market Bag:

Take a t-shirt. 

 
Cut off the sleeves and neck.

Turn the shirt inside out and sew up the bottom. I use to seams. One straight and the other zig-zag.

Now sew up the place where you cut off the sleeves.

Turn down the top about and inch or inch and a half, depending how wide your cinch string is. Remember to leave a gap so that you can thread the cinch string through with a safety pin.

After sewing the top seam, take a safety pin and put it at the end of your cinch string and work in through to the other side.

Turn it to the right side.

Ta-Dah! You now have a new market bag.

Zaina came home yesterday and said,"Hey, that's my shirt." 

All I could say was, "Yes it is but now it's a market bag."

Have a great day everyone. Tomorrow another episode of Fox Diaries.
  

Sweetie Pie Cans

It's Saturday. Crystal clear blue beautiful sky. A melodic voice singing with a guitar. The smell of freshly roasted coffee. Yes, it's clearly spring because it's time for the Farmer's Market!!!!!

 
Nothing is better than speaking with a friend over gorgeous tomatoes.

Why are these people waiting in line?

It's the bread line. There are now a couple of bakers at the farmer's market. It use to sell out 10 minutes after opening. Now it takes a little longer but I love fresh bread. I came home with bread and bagels.

It's also good to see all of the vendors again. Winter was very long this year and I really missed everybody. A new friend is Jenny, here with her lovely daughter.

In our attempts to reduce our footprint we have been trying to eat local. It got very hard towards the end of winter. There wasn't a lot of variety. It was so good to see the berries,vegetables, and plants all coming back to the farmer's market. The average fruit travels 1200 miles. By eating local, we can definitely feel the earth's bounty via the seasons, cut down our energy footprint by not consuming petrol, and providing a source of income for our local farmer's. What's growing locally in your area now?

Sweetie Pie Cans

In our efforts to recycle and reuse, I was greatly inspired by Jenny's idea to put her garden cuttings in tin cans to transport them. There is nothing better than sharing my blooming garden with friends but what to put it in? I came home and dug a few cans out of the recycling bins and made some clippings to take to some friends. I transported them in a crate and they were greatly received.

 

Bows & Arrows

One young man I know has been trying all winter and early spring to make a bow and arrow that actually works. He's consulted our neighborly boy scouts, guides, and on-line sources, but nothing seemed to work.

One night as this young man was complaining to his mother that this is an impossible task, someone's father overheard and said,"On the weekend I will teach you how to make the greatest bow and arrow."

The young man doubted that his father held this knowledge in his well used craw but he was game nonetheless. What did he have to lose?

The important thing is that the stick bends well. A young spring sapling is best.

Next measure double the length of thread as your bow size. Now make three threads the same size.

Braid them.

 
Cut notches into the side on both ends of the stick.

Tie one end of the braid into the first notch. Then tie it onto the other side. Now we're ready.

 

Mimi was majorly impressed with this new "toy" and needed one of her very own. So off to the bow and arrow maker she went.

And all were very very happy. The End.

 Be sure to check the outdoor challenge!!!
 
   
   

Plum Tuckered

Greetings dear friends. After the last two weeks of not sitting down for a moment, I've decided to take the rest of the week off. I will be back on Monday and I look forward to getting caught up on all of my blog reading. Until then I'm leaving you in my blooming garden where I am sitting and taking a little respose.  Be Well ~

  
 

Some Things To Be Excited About

Tonight Elizabeth from So Wabi Sabi and Threading Light is giving a tele-seminar over at The Mindful Connection at 8 pm Eastern time. Tonight's topic is finding the Sacred in everyday life. I can hardly wait to hear this. The whole series started on May 4th and has had a great list of speakers. You can join in listenting today and if there is someone that you missed but really wanted to hear, you can purchase the whole series.

Donna Ashton, who is the creator of both The Mindful Connection and The Waldorf Connection is such a talent and really has a way with organizing online events which brings us the information we are all wondering about from the speakers who have already figured it out. Donna is having a home-expo over at The Waldorf Connection filled with the most incredible speakers about home schooling. This starts on May 27th and it's free. Go head on over and sign-up if you are interested in Homeschooling and Waldorf.

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The last something on my excited list is one that is near and dear to my heart, and that is Jump Into A Book. A year ago I started a blog which would let my family share the love of reading which we have experienced as a family, a bookclub, and as a community. For the last 12 years we've had a parent/child bookclub which has us reading our chosen books outloud to each other in our family settings, and then we  plan an entire adventure based on the characters and storylines of our book.

For years people would say,"You should write a book so that other people can do this too." This seemed like a daunting task. First, because there are so many great books and how do I choose a few and second could the adventures translate into written form?

After thinking long and hard it became clear that the blogging format was the perfect one to share our love of reading and how our books come alive. It has been a great year and we have met so many other book jumpers, librarians ( a book readers best friend), authors,illustrators, teachers, homeschoolers, grandparents, aunts/uncles, and so many who love to read books and want to be part of the story.

Summer is here!!!!! Tomorrow 5th grade is finished and it's time to jump into our favorite summertime reading, the only difference is that this year we are inviting you to jump into a few good books with us.

It's time to celebrate !!!!

It's with the spirit of this celebration that I announce our Jump Into A Book Summer Reading Adventures!!!

Please join us in the pages of

• Treasure Island ( Week of June 21st 2010)

• The Swiss Family Robinson (July 29th -August 3rd 2010)

• Heidi (Week of August 16th 2010 )

Each adventure includes:

• Feasting
• Dressing for the Occasion
• Things to Make
• Let's Get Moving
• Singing Along
• From the Garrett of
• Circle Chat
• Another Look ( Links,films, and other media)

Our book jumping adventures started with "The Classics". By sharing the books that my grand- parents shared with my parents, and my parents shared with me, we are able to all hold a memory of some of the greatest book writing there ever was.

Our activites are geared for children of all ages and can be enjoyed in mixed age settings. Please come and join us, and become part of a growing community of readers who experience what they read. Don't worry if you reading skill isn't at the level of these books. These are read a-loud stories, so if you can listen, you can live inside these pages.

If you would like to join us,please leave a comment below with your name, ages, and an email so I can send further info. Oh and please be sure to tell your friends.

 Here's to Jumping Into Books!

More info to come at Jump Into A Book.

Let the Parties Begin

Attention,Attention, Testing 123, I'd just like to announce.....Let the Parties Begin........

Party No 1: Hannah's

 

Party No 2: Amelia's

Amelia's cousin was visiting from Yale University for this splendid occasion and he brought a bunch of S.O.B 's with him. Not many people can have the fine men of the "Society of Orpheus and Bacchus" aka S.O.B's singing at their party. Lucky us, we were in store for a great concert.

Later that evening......Party No. 3 Nell's

You know the saying, wherever the accordian plays there is always merriment. This was a great party with our Polish friends. The food was great and so was the music. We always have so much fun here and this night was no different. Nell and Miriam have been together since they were 4 years old and now they will be going to Vanderbilt University together. I'm so glad!!!

Party No. 4 Marta's

This was a roll your own Sushi party. By Sunday we were ready to kick back, knit, and keep eating, ....oh and of course roll some sushi.

 
 

Each party was as unique as the kid and we had so much fun. Congratulations Everybody!!!!! I'm so proud of you.  

  

{This Moment} and an Invitation

{this moment} - A Friday 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.

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Jump into a book is hosting three great bookjumps this summer. Find out about it here.

  

A Rose is a Rose, unless it's Salmon

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind but a time of extreme happiness for all of us here. Last weekend we had Mimi's graduation party. Yes, we were having her party a week before graduation but that was part of a grand strategy. You see the first time all of us mommies graduated our first born babies, we learned that if we have our parties on graduation day, we can't go to each other's parties.

Many weeks ago at Tuesday Morning Coffee , we pulled out our calendars and started our strategic planning. Gay and I would have our parties the weekend before graduation. Some other friends will have brunches on the last day of school, and others will have staggered parties on graduation day. Ah, now there's some "Mommy Network" goodness.

When planning a hallmark party such as this, we could only do one thing and that was to put out a menu filled with family favorites, but especially Mimi's favorites. When it comes to food, my children have gone completely Lebanese on me. Though they like many sorts of foods, when you say "favorites" these time consuming dishes come flowing out of their mouths, like:

Grape Leaves,

Spinach Pies

 

Tabbouleh, vegetable salad, and homemade pickles and .....

Hashweh,homemade yogurt, hummus and homemade cheese.
  
 

There was one Swedish dish and that would be the salmon fillets. Our friend John made the most incredible smoked salmon roses to place on the platter. He taught us how:

Take one slice of smoked salmon and start rolling from one end to the other.

Place these little rolls on a tray so that you can wrap more salmon around this.

Once your salmon are rose sized, fold down the ends to make it look like a blooming rose.

Now here comes the magic. Once the roses were all complete, John took some other edible foliage and made a salmon platter to die for. Isn't this amazing?

Tomorrow is another Fox Diary Post. Have a great day and we'll see you then.
 

A Very Happy Mother's Day

The weekend has been very eventful. We had Mimi's big graduation party, which had me preparing all week. More about that tomorrow, but yesterday I was a queen and did absolutely nothing. It was a really good thing too because I was so tired.

I sat on the screen porch reading,snoozing, and drinking coffee. In the afternoon, the friendly faces of my children along with a tray full of tea let us enjoy a little party.

Fresh flowers from the garden adorned the inside of my box along with a love letter from my Mimi. This glitter filled snow globe plays Claire de la Lune, which Mimi has been playing all year through competition season. Not only is it a memory of her senior year, it's magical. If I ever feel like I've become a grown-up, I just play the snow globe and I grow back down. Ah, the gift of eternal youth.

Inside the box was a cache of my very french favorites. Yea!!!

 
Little "O"'s gifts were proclaiming great love for his mother. Usually he makes me something but this year he was happy to go shopping.

And last but not least my sweet Zuzu filled a box of smells and bells. I love the scent of orange. Zuzu works at Bath and Body and let's just say for a family that loves baths, we've really enjoyed her working there.

Thank you my sweet babies for a wonderful mother's day. Love you All.