A Place Like This......

Let Us Eat.......

Cake ? No not cake but bread pizza. One of the items on the summer list is cooking. Mimi is an able bodied chef but young brother "O" is wanting to learn to cook "family favorites." How thrilled was I when we got the latest edition of the summer Book of Days? I had forgotton about our old family stand by, the french bread pizza.

It was a classic growing up. We would usually make them on Sunday. Mom would buy either french bread, hoagie rolls, or english muffins. It was one of my first memories of cooking in the kitchen. Mom would line up all of the ingredients in little bowls and dishes and we would take our bread and make our pizza as we went through the line. At the end was a cookie sheet just waiting to hold our edible creations.

Ok, I didn't line the ingredients up as cute as mom did but we had just as much fun. They tasted so good and it was wonderful to all be in the kitchen together making dinner. So Thanks Blue Yonder Ranch gang for bringing back a classic.

        

    

   

    

    

Together We Build

• Two friends, one a lego designer, the other an animator/inventor.
• Four hands
• May's edition of Book of Days
• the recycling bins
•  scissors,glue, and a little bit of duck tape.

                        

                         

          

        

               

Makes for an afternoon of machine inventing.

                      

       

A forgotten box.........

        

He had forgotten the hours he had spent pouring over the seed and plant catalogs. Nothing seemed to come to mind when he saw the box by the door. All he saw was his name on the label and the perpetual imaginings of what one could do with this box.

        

• It would make a great spaceship.
• I could make a periscope for the treehouse or to spy on my sister from our joint bathroom.
• I could decorate it so that it would hold all of the sticks I collect in the yard.
• I could make a nerf-ball game.
• I could make a tunnel for Oskar Katten. I could teach him to go through it.

So as he was thinking of his next creative moment , he trudged the box down to the basement where something wonderful was to be created from this new box. As he opened it he noticed that something was in it. "Oh, I'm really silly", he thought and laughed out loud. Of course the box was delivered because there is something in it.

"Mom, it's my tree. My Thomas Jefferson tree." He yelled while dragging said tree up the stairs.

While the box remained waiting to be re-created, the boy and his mom went to the orchard to .........

      

     

                      

   ..... plant the tree.

And off the boy ran to his treehouse, forgetting about the box until the next time he remembered it.

Sakura

Sakura is the time of year when the cherry blossoms bloom. It is one of the ways Japan knows that spring is coming. They have this little song called Sakura which was written to teach koto students how to play. With it our some lovely words which reflect this beautiful time of year.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,

On Meadow-hills and mountains

As far as you can see.

Is it a mist, or clouds?

Fragrant in the morning sun.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,

Flowers in full bloom.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,

Across the Spring sky,

As far as you can see.

Is it a mist, or clouds?

Fragrant in the air.

Come now, come,

Let’s look, at last!

Little boy O and I celebrated in our own way by walking through our own sakura forest, taking photos, having tea afterwards and planning our next art project from Blue Yonder's Book of Days.

           

           

                             

           

           

           

         

Butterflies

Are you a Lepidopterologist  ?  Well if you love butterflies and want to know everything about them you are. Little boy "O" and I decided to spend some well deserved time in the Book of Days.  We are revisiting our love of butterflies and our joy in drawing them. A huge thank-you to Stefani from Blue Yonder and the Blue Yonder Boys for another great edition.

                          

Book of Days is the creation of Stefani and her family. Each month there is a new edition with beautiful hand drawn paintings, great activites which span everything from science , cooking, and giving . We have been doing this as a family since January. It is an adventure in learning but more importantly it is just wonderful time spent together. We place each month in our Book of Days binder and our having such a creative and memorable year. I feel as if I know Stefani and the Blue Yonder family. We are kindred spirits and I don't know what we would do without them. Come and join us. Find out how at the Blue Yonder Ranch. The more the merrier.