White Way of Delight

Now that lilacs are in bloom

She has a bowl of lilacs in her room

And twists one in her fingers while she talks.

—T.S. Eliot, Portrait of a Lady

The kids and I painted the fence this summer. It was a nice project to do together.

 I've always wanted a long driveway. Not necessarily one that is so steep that certain people named Maggie call it "a cliff" but I guess beggars can't be choosers. 

Learning All Day

 Scarlet has worked on learning embroidery stitches this year.

I will take a visit with Lindsay whenever I can get one!

 Hazel made Scarlet a birthday snail!

 Sweet new bball shoes for the birthday girl!

We finished reading our Candy Bomber book then made parachute guys :) 

Hazel has had an artistic year- she learned about portraits and landscapes and stained glass 

and mosaics and frescoes and cave art and murals...

Sherwood Park Music Festival 

  We enjoyed an excellent tour of the Sherwood Park museum.

Ezra learned that rodents are distinguished by sharp front cutting teeth and since he knocked out his front teeth years ago he declared that he is "definitely not a rodent."

Nature Wonder

Goat-milking then cheese-making at Homesteading Class

 Milk doesn't get any fresher than this!

 Jane learned how to weave a basket from reeds she collected near the pond and Scarlet made the corn husk dolls.

Making dragon eggs is our spring celebration tradition.

 Hazel made a center piece for Passover.

 Jane made the unleavened bread.

 This is our 6th year of celebrating Easter with a Passover meal.

 Real Easter bunnies are the best!

It's nice to have a furry friend in the school room once in a while.

This was the first butterfly of the year. 

 Jacob has been working hard on learning to pin insects. 

 We even got to visit with a real entomologist!

Hazel moved her fairy land around the yard a few times this year.  

Jacob made some interesting insect observations this summer.

The joy of butterfly catching may never wear off.

This mock orange bush smells like heaven when I go past.

Hazel has been collecting all kinds of nests. 

 We made a new bee keeping friend- it's always a treat when he shows up to check on his bees and we get to learn a few tidbits and taste the honey.

 The kids were so excited about having walnut trees in the yard.

This wasn't our best garden and it was a ton of work to prepare so we're hoping it will be better eventually.

 The kids played the kitten game from The Five Little Peppers. It was just as 

fun as it sounded in the book!

Thank you for the flowers Scarlet!

 Kayaking at the lake down the road.

5 kids up in a tree. What a beautiful sight!  

Teach the children...Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones- inkberry, lamb's-quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones- rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as the go to school. Give them the fields and the woods...Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. 

Attention is the beginning of devotion.

~Mary Oliver