The little girl has been playing around with her inner art photographer...

What is the difference between boys and girls?

I think this shot says it all, no?

BBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRR!

The view from our patio doors....

Pretty, right?

It's currently a toasty 15 degrees outside...

I confess, I am OVER IT!

This photo is my garden - you can see the sad pot that never made it into the storage area...and I am looking forward to spring with a deep sort of aching feeling. Seed & garden catalogs are arriving in the mail weekly - one of my favorites is Seeds of Change . Seed catalogs and spring training are always two of my real spring fever triggers - and they've both arrived! So - for todays lessons we'll be reading the story of Persephone ,

and planning out our seed order! We usually plant seedlings purchased from the garden supply store, but this year we plan to plant our own indoors & see how that goes! And when we've finished todays lessons?

BASEBALL!!!!

PAT AND RON are back on the air with the Spring Training opener from Scottsdale! Cubs at Giants - GO CUBS GO!!!

Here is todays poem:

THE OLD CRICKETER

All winter long, in the slush and the mud and the darkness,

Treading the lonely round of the yards and the pastures,

Working the ploughland and tending the cattle,

He would remember the sun and the summer,

And long for the flowering of blackthorn,

The ripple and sheen of young barley.

Then when April was come he would go to his kitchen

And take down a bat that was slung by the fireplace,

Caressing the willow of strange antique pattern,

Tortuous of grain and darkened by wood-smoke,

More precious to him than elm, oak or beechwood,

Dearer than cedars of Lebanon.

And would call up his friends in the villages,

In the hamlets, the farms and the homesteads,

For the April annointing of cider and linseed,

Linseed oil for the bat and the cider for friendship.

And the old men would come to stand by the barrel,

Mighty men of the past, red-faced with weather

And many a glass of the plum and the parsnip;

Recalling the glory they knew in their prime,

All batsmen and bowlers of note, who terrified parishes.

-Frank Mansell

The Girl is officially NINE!

At 10:43am Tuesday, it is now official! NINE!

She must've been excited, because the usual sleeper-inner of the family was up before 7am for her nine kisses!
We had chocolate-chip-buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, followed by a cupcake with 9 candles. MMMMM...breakfast of champions!
She opened up her gifts from her brother (a Barbie & an MP3 speaker/pillow), and two books from Dad & me (Caroline Kennedy's Poetry for Children -which is beautiful & highly recommended by our family- and a United States Atlas) The rest of the loot will, sadly, wait until Daddy's arrival home for opening.
We nixed the Millenium Park idea, very sadly, because my old left foot decided to start having apparent tendonitis issues during my run on the treadmill Monday...ACK! Anyhow, thanks to the foot, we decided (the B-Day girl's idea) to see a movie instead, and she selected THE PIRATES WHO DON'T DO ANYTHING . It was absolutely hilarious, and we were the only people in the $2 theatre - so we laughed our heads off with

wild abandon, repeating all of our favorite character quotes loudly! Afterward we went home to pick up Daddy & then out to dinner for burgers & the obligatory waitstaff-sing-thing. After dinner we raced home to watch American Idol (this is our first season doing so - I confess, the kids are at an age where it is really fun to watch - so I refuse to feel guilty about this current TV addiction), followed by an hour or so on the sofa just talking & hanging out. Hazel said her favorite thing about the day was too difficult to select, so she listed about 10, which pretty much included everything we did ))smile(( !

The little girl is turning nine...

Look who is turning NINE!!!
This is my favorite photo from our girl's babyhood...
sigh...
She was about 3 months in this photo - and had just awakened from a nap.
She was always a happy and peaceful little soul -
I think this shot captured her essence perfectly.
Tuesday is her 9th Birhtday, and we can hardly believe we're starting out her last year in the single digits!
Tomorrow morn' she shall wake to lots of pretty decorations, a few lovely wrapped gifts, and berry-filled buckwheat pancakes!
Then the kids & I are HOPING to go downtown to Millenium Park to see the Museum of Modern Ice and do a little ice skating...but we're in the midst of another snow storm - so we'll have to make a judgement about the weather in the morning...
We may need to scratch the city plans & just hit the local sled hill instead.
I'm usually not one to let the weather stop me (you'd never leave the house from November through May here in the Midwest!) but we don't want to spend the little girl's birthday
stuck in hours and hours of bumper to bumper Chicago traffic...

What ever we do, it's sure to be a special day!

Here is our Birthday Eve poem - I don't know who the author is...but I just love it!

When I have said my evening prayer,
And my clothes are folded on the chair,
And mother switches off the light,
I'll still be 8 years old tonight.
But, from the very break of day,
Before the children rise and play,

Before the darkness turns to gold
Tomorrow, I'll be 9 years old.
Nine kisses when I wake,
Nine candles on my cake!

Mothering Sunday

Back in the times before Hallmark Holidays, this middle Sunday in Lent was a day when young people working away from their homes were given the day off to visit their mothers and their "mother-parish". This was often the only day of the year when the whole family would be together...Girls would often bake to show their mothers the new skills they were learning in the form of a gift. The traditional baked gift was a Simnel Cake - which is a fruit cake with marzipan in the middle and another on top (not a big fan of fruit cake or marzipan here - so we won't be making a Simnel cake in honor of the day). Here is a link if you are interested in making one for your dear mother!

It is the day of all the year
Of all the year the one day,
And here come I, my Mother dear,
To bring you cheer,
A-mothering on Sunday



-anon

Shameless plug...

I'm hooked...

I admit it...

It's been a difficult thing to come to terms with...

But I have...

I've got the kids hooked, too...

My method of treatment, well it may seem a bit unorthodox...

But I've decided to start selling the stuff...

It'll help me get my fix at a discount, and hopefully you, my friends, will have some fun with the stuff too!

Please let me know if you need have the need, I'll be glad to assist.

http://www.books4usborne.org/ is where you will go (as soon as the domain is active ) if you need my stuff...

In the mean time you can score some at www.ubah.com/U2291