...and we're out...

Last night of summer vacay. Am I ready to go back to school? 

 Well. I love being on vacation as much as the next librarian, but I've just had so much summer, it's been so rich, we've been so lucky, had so much time together as a family and with a lot of people we love. It would be greedy of me to say no.

 The answer is yes, I'm ready to head into my new adventure.

  I'm full of summer.

It's been enough; perfect, really.

I've seen my share of discarded silver sandals and plenty of flipflops at the various ponds, beaches, docks, and parties we've frequented. And taken portraits of them when I could.

And I have one more Artist Profile for you in the works. But Urchin Goddess needs her etsy site set up first. Now she has the photos to do it! In the above photo, I am modeling one of her gorgeous necklaces. In fact we did a partial trade for it, for the pics. I can't wait to show you more.

~Lucky, lucky me~

::the summer of::

wasn't on purpose, 

just ended up with a loadful of Common Ground Fair Volunteer tee shirts

(because the cool kids volunteer)

Green smoothies, are my new favorite summer breakfast. And let me say that my idea of a green smoothie is maybe different than other ones, my concept is that it can't be OVERLY green-tasting! Or else: blech, I won't drink it. Which gives me zero health benefits. I use my Cuisenart because I do not have a Vitamix. Here is the rough guide for a recipe:

Pineapple-Kale-Chia-Mint Smoothie

2 T. chia seeds, presoaked for 5 minutes or however long it takes you to do the rest of the ingredients-gathering

2 cups fresh, RIPE pineapple, in chunks

Some (1-2 handfuls) baby kale leaves (chard is good too), de-stemmed and torn

Fresh mint leaves (I like it minty, so I am generous here)

1 cup or so fresh coconut water that you made yourself (below)

Maybe a splash of almond milk

Ice if you can stand the clunking noise your Cuisenart makes when it chops it

Put it all in the Cuisenart, including the soaked chia, then give it a few good pulses. Delish!

Coconut Water

1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

4 cups warm water

Mix together in a bowl and let sit for 15-20 minutes. Then strain the coconut meat out. Voila, your own coconut water, a raw food! Store it in a jar in your fridge and use for smoothies when you like.

This was a strange adventure in culinary practice that we were inspired to try by a friend who has a yummy vegan food blog: GRILLED WATERMELON. Well, it was too weird not to try it! And I liked it, especially the yummy limey-spicy dressing. The leftover dressing could have made an awesome addition to my bubbly water, but someone had dumped it before I could get my hands on it!!! It was a fun addition to our non-vegan burgers on the grill and I would like to try it with a minty-limey-spicy dressing next time. (OK, I'm crazy about mint!) Read WhollyEats' blog entry here.

It's the summer of learning to roller skate. I am learning to be a roller derby referee for our local team, the Rock Coast Rollers! Learning to skate is a big one for me about conquering fears: of things that are new and things that are physical. There are lots of rules, people, and reading them is one thing, and then learning to SEE them in real-time is another thing. I am learning a new, visual, very physical language.

It is not. like. the. roller. derby. you. saw. on. TV. The analogy is televised dramatized fake wrestling is to actual skilled athletic wrestling. Same thing for derby. These athletes are all ages and shapes and it's an actual sport, with strategy (and lots of rules); it's not about beating people up on roller skates. Practices are all about drills, skills, and sweaty bodies, like any other sport. Have you let go of your previous associations yet?

One night a week, Sylvan is allowed to come to practice with me. He is, of course, brilliant. Which makes me proud and sometimes a little bit jealous, because it is just so effortless for him, so graceful, intuitive, and fearless (without being reckless). 

Here are his new 10th birthday wheels! Brand new Atom TrakAtak wheels for a boy who likes speed. The amazing owner of Turn Two Skate Shop in Portland researched wheels that would be right for his smaller sized skates and the wheels arrived in record time. We stuffed ourselves with birthday dinner and cake and ice cream, but then we just had to go to practice last night to try those puppies out. He's getting the feel for them, and the feel is very different from his old ones, so he took a couple of exploratory spills.

Just look at him, running on his toe stops like a pro.

There's that handsome boy, whose roller derby name is SylvInsanity, on his birthday:

Leaping through the air and life, as always...

The bluebirds are back! They were here ten years ago when we first moved here, tapping on the windows on the morning of Sylvan's birth.

Now they are nesting in the box on the end of my clothesline, overlooking our garden. The papa bird is not thrilled when I hang out the laundry, so he swoops around, and I just keep assuring him that we are so happy his family is here but also that hanging the laundry and weeding the garden are part of the rental agreement.

what happened to June: Part 2

Back in the land of cool mist and fog...

the flowers were wearing a delicate mantle of dewsparkled spider webs

so we knew for sure

it was enchanted there

A vacation in two parts. First, at Fiddlehead, a little cottage designed to look like several lobster huts put together. With a secret loft room for two scrambling boys.

Reading, rocks, and beach clean-up, listening to waves break from my bed. The crescent moon over the water. Every room looks out on the ocean. Totally relaxing.

you can tell mr. crafty was here

then he threw the flowers on the lawn

(they were dying anyway)

::because there was only one adult lap to sit in after dinner. So I suggested that his brother might have a turn. And picture Rumpelstiltskin when he realizes his name has been guessed: that's what the transformation was like. Hopping and red-faced with rage.

With my supersonic mother radar, I saw his eyes flick to the vase of lupines (which were given to him in honor of his Bridge Crossing, from the sweet, tiny Z.). In his state of supreme dissatisfaction, he informed me that he was going to throw them on the floor in

 *three* *two*...*one!* 

Jonas and I played Scrabble and he won

because he is a master of strategy,

if not yet spelling

I said: That will make a big mess, and I can't let you spill water on the violin that is right on the floor. But you can throw the flowers on the lawn if you want.

quilt in the making for Sylvan's new Hedgehog

So he picked up the vase, opened the door, stepped onto the front porch and hurled them, vase and all (thankfully, the vase is made of metal).

newest Buttercup bag

for a July 1st birthday girl

There was still a mess. Lupine leavings, dried and shed on the floor of the dining room. I got the broom and the dust pan. And we swept up together.

The storm wasn't over. Some of us had smiled a little at one point in this charade, and it wasn't forgotten or forgiven easily.

the Rocket Ship ("rocketchip" was how I said it) Returns!

my crafty dad made it for me when I was little;

today it came down from the attic,

was thoroughly dusted,

so the Hedgehog could blast off

Did it matter to the sibling who was given his turn in my lap? Honestly, no. But for him it was the principle: no one should be able to have a raging fit and be rewarded with what he wants. I get it. But it was certainly a derailment of our otherwise calm evening.

More on mornings

Sometimes we stop to smell the daisies

And I think that Therese had my idea of a perfect morning in mind when she commented on the last post:

My favourite mornings are still the ones where I've managed to get all the others out of the house, and have a quiet breakfast all by myself.
Yes, please! That's my cup of tea also. My perfect morning is a quiet one. And I will admit to being selfish here, and say that my perfect morning is one when I wake up to a house all to myself. (Do I love my husband and children any less? No.)
I like to read while I eat breakfast: magazines, novels, the school newsletter (which I sometimes read twice or three times, if nothing else is handy). I like to listen to the news a little bit. 

Mainly, I like a morning when I don't have to provide the will forces for myself and two others to leave the house at an appointed hour. In my pre-parenting life, I would always set my alarm for at least an hour  before I had to get up, to allow ample time to drift peacefully into consciousness, then leisurely eat and read, shower, and get out the door in a relaxed and put-together way.

This is Bonting (inspired by Shirley Hughes' book called 

The Big Alfie Out of Doors Storybook), who is an unshelled macadamia nut,

nestled in his woolie bed with a soft seashell and a silver acorn.

After I read The Seven O'Clock Bedtime a few years ago (highly recommended), I realized that I had an "extreme lark." You know, as in early bird? Only extremely early. Until very recently, I could count the number of times I have risen before Jonas on one hand. 

the quilt has finished borders!

it's ready to be sandwiched with the backing and the batting!

Jonas also has inherited an ability to spring into awakeness with alacrity that I completely lack (this comes from my other half). Like, hello world, I am awake, and why not start thinking, planning, being active, being hungry immediately? As in now. Sylvan and I tend to drift gently into wakefulness, with lots of cuddling. I would prefer not to deal with immediate demands upon me upon waking. I am slow to wake and slow to fall asleep.

a diorama of a Glass Frog,

the subject of Jonas's recent (and first)

research project.

it has a see-through belly, modelled here lovingly with beeswax.

Yes, so mornings are sometimes a difficult time for this princess. Once or twice I wished for a two-hour-a-day nanny who would brisk in, deal with everyone's morning demands, feed them, nag them into their chores and clothing, and present them to me for a kiss before taking them off to school. (Wait...was I wishing for a wife?)

Sharon hatched a tiny peep,

and presented it to the rest of the flock yesterday!

Sharon had been missing for a few weeks, and I suspected she might be

in a family way.

Happily, they are both snugly sleeping in the chicken house tonight.

But you know, it was weird to be up before Jonas this morning. It just felt wrong, somehow, to see his kitchen stool, his book, his red fleece, and not him sitting there with me. He tells me he will never wake up in the afternoon like my brother has been known to. 

We'll see.

Two Sewing Questions

A long weekend is good. Since I usually work on Saturdays, it's nice to sometimes get two days off with everyone home. Yesterday there was sewing in the morning. No pictures because I was too busy doing it to document it. But my first border is done! Hooray! I am over the hump of fear. 

But now I pose a question: how does one go about (accurately) cutting such a long length of fabric, for my NEXT border (6.5" wide)? I just have never dealt with a piece of fabric this big and unwieldy. Help? Please? I own the big cutting mat and rotary cutter, if that's part of the solution here. Perhaps it's good, old fashioned scissors and chalk?

A clever person 

and her homemade grilled-cheese toasting stick

(note the grill lines!)

Also, for you true seamstresses out there, I am thinking of making some pajama pants for my boys. How thrilling that, although it appears I have a pre-teen on my hands (thanks, Lex!), when I told him of this idea, his response was AWESOME! I am thinking simple, perhaps using the Owl fabric we so adore. 

Wild lady slipper, rare and lovely

(why it's called a lady slipper when it looks like a scrotum, I am not sure)

My thought is to simply take two pairs of PJ pants that are comfortable (but now capri length, so fetching to see those boy ankles hanging out), fold in half so the crotch part is neatly pulled out to one side, then trace around and add some length. 

View from the top

Here's sewing question number two. Is there a reason why I shouldn't just fold my fabric and cut it so that there is no seam on the outer leg (that would be the fabric fold part), only a seam on the inner leg? I am asking out of laziness, but I will take advice to the contrary.

The trick to hiking with kids is: Food and Other Kids. We had both. Our snack up top was fresh pineapple and apricot-coconut-maple scones, displayed here on my Maine tea towel. With other kids, the grown-ups don't have to listen to whining and they are free to talk and visit! With your own kids, alone, it's nothing but "when are we getting there?" every other minute. It's our favorite summer blueberry hike, and I am happy to tell you there were many bees hard at work on the blueberry flowers.

It was a perfect hike on a perfect day: the sun was sunny, the bugs were deterred by the light breeze, it was warm, but not too hot. I felt especially lucky to live in Maine today and be on a mountain with friends.

So, please advise on those two sewing questions, if you are able to. And thank you!