Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my wonderful mama's birthday. She was lucky enough to be born on a very special day, the winter solstice. Happy birthday, mom! I wish you a beautiful day full of winter's showiest magic. When you wake, the world will be decorated just for you with Mother Nature's gorgeous jewels, growing ever brighter as the sun shines into every little icy work of art. You'll be heralded by flocks of her feathered friends, cheerful and darling little sparrows and great, wise ravens. Your day will close with a very slow wave across the heavens from the league of creatures residing in the imaginations of people from time immemorial, celebrating the day each year when the sun begins to return to us, one day at a time.

I love you.

Shhh...it's a secret

It's amazing how many hiding places we have found in this tiny little house. There are several absolutely darling handmade gifts secreted away on dark cupboard shelves or behind pieces of furniture. Aliana, if you are reading this, don't look in the big white pitcher in the dish cupboard!

It has truly made my holidays bright to watch Isidore nearly burst with excitement until Elizabeth falls asleep for her nap. As soon as her eyes close he jumps into action, cutting and sewing and decorating. Aliana and Elizabeth are just as delighted by crafting things for their loved ones. It is heartwarming.

I can hardly wait until the presents are unwrapped, so I can show you the fabulous things my children have come up with!

Look, Francine, I sewed!

My dear Patrick has always wanted a green santa hat. I actually began sewing one last December, but that was back in the days when December didn't mean holiday cheer for our family. Instead Thanksgiving heralded the beginning of a month of working 16 hour days. Joy. Yeah. Pure joy. So the half-finished hat actually moved with us into the yurt.





This year, we have time to have a festive tree, make a gingerbread yurt, come up with darling homemade gifts for one another, and .... make a green hat for the man of green hats.

Thanks for Sun

Thanks for Food

Thanks for Shelter

Halloween

Someone had to do it

Yesterday Patrick and Isidore attended opening day at the Oakland A's stadium. This left Aliana, Elizabeth and I with a free night at home. So, you see, we cleary had to stop by the grocery store for potato chips, ice cream and junky pizza. After stuffing ourselves silly we played Twister. Probably should have reversed the order of those two activities. We finished up our estrogen evening by climbing in bed to cuddle up and read aloud from Bridge to Terabithia until my voice faded. Happy hens we were!

Friday

Ostara

We had a lovely little celebration. It began with chocolate bunnies for breakfast and ended with egg-salad sandwiches for dinner. Each of the kids received a plant for the garden and some art supplies. Isidore went right to work on the workbook the Easter bunny left him.

Isidore and Aliana melted my heart by sharing with Elizabeth as they found eggs in the yard , and even leaving some easy-to-find ones for her. When they returned to the house they divided them up equally. Did I mention how much I love my kids?

Using natural materials for egg dyes worked wonderfully. Aliana and I both voted to use them from now on. Clean up was easier and the leftovers were a lovely thank you gift for the hens.

The bright yellow/orange eggs were dyed in a bath of yellow onion skins and turmeric. The brownish-purple marbled effect was made with grape juice. We used raw eggs and hard-boiled them right in the dye bath. I didn't get a picture of the gorgeous purple we got by just rubbing cut beets on cooked eggs. We had no success with the red cabbage to make teal. Next time we will cook some eggs first and then soak them overnight in the cabbage water.

Spring magic

Most mornings at least one of the kids comes out help me with the chores. I milk and feed the goats while Aliana cares for her rabbits. Taking care of the chickens, though, usually falls to the earliest riser of the day. Heading out to the yard in the morning sun we all enjoy seeing the girls come flapping, hopping and running to eat their morning ration of cracked corn and kitchen scraps. As the days have lengthened the chance to do chicken duty has become a more and more powerful incentive to get out of bed. This is because the hens have a very good clock in their little chicken brains, and as we enjoy more and more daylight they lay more and more eggs. Another part of their bird instinct tells them to hide those eggs. So our dear girls lay their eggs all over the place!

This is where the children come in. After the girls have settled down for breakfast the kids take their baskets and have an egg hunt.

Yep, every morning. We have nice, neat little nesting boxes that we built, but the hens ignore those in favor of dark corners of the shed and inviting bushes. The first child who makes it outside in the morning has the best chance at finding the real prize- a green egg. Two of our dozen or so hens are Americaunas. They lay naturally green-shelled eggs. Ladybug and Siren are their names, and they are getting old for chickens, so the green eggs don't come as regularly as they used to. Therefore discovering a green egg has become a special event.

As we approached Easter this year we began to save up the green eggs, as well as the white ones. This year we are going to try using dyes made of natural materials to color the eggs. I found a list here:

http://www.lakewinds.com/store/Natural-Egg-Dye-Recipes-W4698C18760.aspx

I was also pleasantly surprised to find a list of natural dyeing materials in the magazine that our grocery store puts out. Here here!

Isidore reminded me that last year the Easter bunny left some muddy paw prints on the kitchen table when he ate the carrot we left out for him. I do hope he will be a little tidier this year. I wonder if he knows the kids have had so much practice hunting for eggs. He better hide them really well.

Snip

We have opened a new photography studio downtown and yesterday we held our ribbon-cutting. The studio is very small, and we were expecting around 150 bodies to show up to help celebrate and schmooz. When I opened my eyes yesterday morning after a long, mostly sleepless night with a teething, sick three-year old I saw clouds and heard... rain. Rain?! No, we CANNOT have rain. It has been sunny for two weeks, our party is today and we cannot have rain.


I suggested calling a voodoo priestess. Patrick tried the party rental store instead and ordered some pop-up tents and an outdoor heater.

The sun and the clouds took turns teasing us all day, but by party time it was sunny and glorious. Patrick made a very short speech into which he somehow managed to work a John Lennon quote. We ran out of wine and had to get more, a very good sign that we had even more people show up than we had anticipated. There was only one spill inside the studio, not caused by an inebriated guest but by the aforementioned beautifully dressed but very cranky Elizabeth. She loved the oportunity to wear a brand new, really fancy dress and eat chocolate-covered strawberries, but she was not pleased to share her daddy with "too many people!".

Isidore played his guitar and enjoyed his new plaid shoes. Several of his friends brought their parents. Aliana asked me to buy her a dress for the evening. *gasp* She also tried out dress shoes for the first time, and pronounced them uncomfortable. To avoid, in her words, a constellation of blisters, she abandoned them halfway through the evening and just played on the grass like a sensible girl.

I hate parties, and usually hide or stay very busy with something. This time though, I actually found things to talk to people about and enjoyed myself. Hmmm, I must be getting older.