dottyspots

Spring has sprung!

And as a result I've been rather busy.

We have a new seasonal table stand on the seasonal table. We have a very nice wooden stand, but I fancied a change.  This painted wooden one is from Erzi and injected a bit more 'spring colour' into the table.  The candle is handmade from Brighter Blessings.  I knitted some eggs, but most went to the Seven Hills Steiner Initiative Parent and Child group, I only made a couple for here, in a little knitted dish with some wooden and a marble one:

I made a purse for Ted.  I don't do very much sewing and on reflection the mouse's tail could be a little longer, but he really likes it:

 

I also made a little knitted and beaded rose for Nin, but she squirrelled it away before I could take a photo and now can't find it *sigh*.  Doubtless it will turn up and some point.

We've done some cooking - Erk making a salad for lunch).  Yes he lives in Clash t-shirts (he's wearing a different Clash one in the photo further down - it's becoming a bit of a standing joke here):

Some digging.  We now have 2 blackcurrant and 2 redcurrant bushes in, plus broccolli, radishes, lettuce, carrots, spring onions and various flowers.  I've been given a rhubarb plant by some friends, so I really need to get that in soon too.  All I'd like now are some raspberries and gooseberries and I'll be set (give me bowlfuls of raspberries over chocolate any day!)

 

We continued making papier mache shields - these aren't happening fast, but one day they will be done.  Erk has been busy making a papier mache model of a geyser (he's been learning quite a bit about volcanoes and geysers I now know more than I was ever really that interested in knowing ;)

Attended the Easter egg hunt and various crafts at Longshaw (my youngest children are now convinced that they could possibly find a chocolate egg *anywhere* if they look hard enough).  Erk peeled one of the eggs before dye-ing it blue, then tried to eat it (yuck) and very quickly spat it out (but not before having dyed his teeth blue).  I think I might suggest a more natural approach to dye-ing next time around!

Below Ted has a peeled dyed egg (just the shell dyed on this one) with complementary bit of egg stuck to his lip. Erk is doing a 'bored teen' pose whilst helping Nin and the other little boy isn't one of mine (hence the back shot).

 

And Ted found out what happens when you go upstairs to play with your sister: she insists you are a princess and must wear a dress (whether you want to or not...)  Note the blue ink stamp on his forehead as well.  He was not impressed and ran downstairs to escape the attention. I've also finished the lace scarf (it needs blocking) and have nearly finished the knitted and crocheted top (was going to be a dress, but will now be a tunic) for Nin - it seems to have taken forever with the various other projects I've done inbetween.  I also felted a few bowls ready for the new kindergarten and have also worked on a shaped knitted head for the little bendy dollshouse dolls I make. I also had a birthday (yesterday), I'm not a big birthday person, so enjoyed a quiet day finishing the aforementioned scarf. When this cold has subsided I will record a few more songs that we have been using in our April story time. One about Spring and one about rabbits.

The other fairly big news I have is that I have now officially applied to do the Foundation Degree in Steiner Early Years Education at Plymouth University.  I should hopefully hear sometime in July whether I have been accepted or not.  So, in two years time I could be a qualified Steiner Kindergarten teacher, with the option of doing a third year and either doing Steiner teacher training or going for Early Years Professional Status.  I am really excited about starting the degree (especially the craft and music side, plus the opportunity to learn something about Eurythmy). With Spring it seems quite a lot of change is in the air and life seems pregnant with possibilities :)

Long time, no blog...

I've had a dead laptop which has refused all attempts to switch on or charge.  It's back now and working and I have alot to catch up with!

In the meantime we've been up to:

Ice carving - including what happens when you pour water on and then chip away at ice.

Ted helped Rik in the shed:

 

It snowed (whilst it might seem rather pitiful to some, we've not seen this much snow for a while):

 

Gilbert was very far from impressed:

Monty, on the other hand, loved it.  We let him off the lead on the playing fields and pelted him with snowballs which he thought was fabulous, but sorry, no pics, the snow was really coming down and I was worried about the camera getting wet.

Something you might miss if you were at school. A lorry had come to clean the drains, needless to say the children were fascinated.

And Nin made an apple and blackberry pie (English Bramleys from the market, blackberries from home-made blackberry jelly in the autumn, stirred into the apple mixture).  She decorated the top herself and was very pleased with it:

I ordered some Riihivilla Aarni from Ecoknits:

I'm currently knitting up the flesh tones, working on a pattern for a knitted Waldorf Doll.  I've finished one large doll's head (photo to follow soon) and have started on a second, smaller head. I also received this lovely sketch from Creative Mother:

 

Thank you so much Creative Mother!  I'm so pleased with it!

Because my arm is steadily loosing all feeling...

... this will be a short blog. Ned is asleep on me and his weight is pulling on my neck. R. came 5th in the Junior Bowls comp. at the weekend:

It was only the 6th time he has ever played bowls, so we're very proud of him!

Yet MORE chillis (grown by Rik):

I finished a sock (just need to do the other one now) made from lovely handpainted yarn:

I've also been busy knitting this:

It's in Debbie Bliss cotton angora and is wonderfully soft. The edge is lace, with twisted stitches up into the main body that will form the basis of stalks for embroidered flowers. I'm currently finishing the second sleeve ready to sew it up and pick up stitches for the collar etc.The boys have also asked me to post this:

A large bubble - well, we thought it was impressive.

Over the past few days I have made some bramble and apple jelly (and have more apple juice waiting to be made into jelly on the hob), re-organised my paperwork (on the children's info./OfSTED front) and been helping with the clean up effort at the local closed-down school which is where I'm hoping to take the family-learning centre project forward. It's looking increasingly likely that there will be space available at the closed-down school for the family-learning centre to use which means that there will be space for a HE group if other local HE-ers are interested, space for the Pilates class a friend and I are trying to organise (not to mention the Indian dancing her daughter is keen to see take place), a possible location for Donny Nutters to work from (on a community level) and the various other classes that I'm hoping to organise.

At the very least it is a venue that can be written into the feasibility study that I'm, now we, are applying for. Should that come back positive we will have a good base to apply for further funding from. I've a meeting on Thursday to show the funding-support bod who has been working with the group the possible venue and then the week after next with the lease-holders to try to negotiate a good deal on taking on space. Signing the paperwork for the bank account on Thursday afternoon and from there we can go for the funding for the feasibility study - really excited! Once things have moved forward a bit more I will put together a website with information on the project.

I forgot to gloat:

Wooden kitchen bought for £3 - consisting of sink (with tap and a little plastic washbowl that can be removed), fridge (with pull down egg holder and also a foldaway shelf on the door, plus inner shelves) and a washing machine. Salvaged whilst helping with the clean-up at the school they asked for a donation of £1 a piece. Nin is thrilled. After a hard day:

Stuff'n'stuff!

I feel really boring and repetitive saying that we're really busy here - because I know I say that every single time. It is busy, but to brighten things up a bit, I have a few photos:

On a walk out blackberrying, Erk took a picture of a swan from the lane. We found 3lb of blackberries - although we could've picked more, but didn't bring more containers. There were also sloes, loads of elderberries (some of which I'll go back for) and a few early hazelnuts, with the promise of more to come. Erk and his friends regularly visit some friendly horses and ponies across the river:

Rik's had a few days off so has been catching up with various things, like painting with Nin. These were 'blow paintings', where they blobbed paint on and then blew it out into patterns with a straw (yes that is a Spear of Destiny t-shirt he's wearing, for anyone who is straining to see).

I made jam with the blackberries (adding some apple to it) and these are going with the stash of pickled beetroot and squash chutney. I need to pickle some more beetroot and get down to what is now probably a rather pitiful allotment, as the rain has put me off going down there. I need to put in some kohl rabi, but have recently started making enquiries about finding a small piece of land instead. The plan is to share it between a few local families and the hope is that we can have a few goats, another family want some bees and the idea of a couple of pigs has been tossed around, amongst other things, so enquiries are being made. It's a big step, but I've wanted goats since I was a girl (I really love them) and so, for me it would be better and I would transfer growing stuff, which has sort of put the allotment up in the air atm as I'd prefer to share a space that I could keep animals on.

Grrrrrrr!

The cheek of some people! One of my neighbouring allotmenteers is giving up his allotment and wants £75 (!) for the fence or he's taking it with him to sell for scrap. Unsurprisingly I said no (as I can't see him getting anywhere near £75 for it as scrap) but it's still bloody annoying as it means my allotment (all the allotments on the plot are fenced) will be open to anyone to come on until someone new takes over and puts a fence on the front, so I've had to move my tools and hope nothing gets vandalised. Hmph!

More potatoes and shedloads of beetroot today, so will definetely be pickling beetroot tomorrow and MUST make some pumpkin marmalade out of the squashes Kris brought round.

I bought some more books from the market - an encyclopedia of the British Countryside, an atlas of historical maps and some children's books. I'm still knitting a sock (eventually to be 2 socks, but I've got to finish the first one yet) using some lovely yarn from the Knitting Goddess (I'll post a link when I've got a photo of the yarn).

It's a distraction from the pram blanket which was boring me a little and I *still* need to finish the rosette I'm making from the Rowan Yorkshire Tweed I felted. I've sewn the front and back of some denim trousers for Ned, my first attempt at making some trousers ever. The machine stitching isn't wonderfully straight, but doesn't look too bad.

I've cut out the pieces for a shirt (using cowboy fabric - again I'll post the link when I get a photo) and when I've some red thread I'll sew it up. I'm feeling rather domestic :) and would be feeling even more so if the vacuum cleaner wasn't packing up.

I've ordered the Romans Unit Study from Christopherus because even *if* R. does go to school (part-time) there'll still need to be things we do together. I like Donna's books because they're no-nonsense and realistic about home-ed and reasonably priced too :) If you look on the Main Lesson inspiration pages (under Norse Myths) there is a picture that R. drew, currently the third one down on the left-hand margin - of the Eagle chasing Loki and Idunna (also transformed into birds). So I'm looking forward to receiving it and having a think.

Gilbert is still convinced that cornflakes and kiwi-fruit are normal cat fare and Fern has moved into the boys' bedroom in protest.

It's no good

It's far too hot to think of a title. I think I'm the world's worst thinker-upper-of-titles - no dry wit pretensions here. Life seems to be getting in the way of blogging and indeed of being on the PC very much, although I have had brief forays into cyberspace to search for cat breeders (we're getting a kitten), fabric (so I can have a bash at making some clothes to Ned and work up to larger things from there) and finally to go round the MP ring (because it's rather large now and I don't get around it as often as I used to). Ned is getting bigger and now has his second tooth coming through. He rolls around everywhere and is perfectly capable of making his way across the living room in order to get to something he's spied on the other side of the room.

He is such a smily little boy and likes to talk (and laugh) with his mouth full! Nin has been spending most of her time in mud (as, IMO, all small children should) in various states of undress - I really must post some photos, but she's generally just in a pair of pants and a sunhat :) Erk has broken up from school and we're sending him to Norway on Sunday (as it's his turn and it'll hopefully avoid some of the bickering that would otherwise be very likely over the summer holidays). He is not impressed ATM as he doesn't like the teacher he's been allocated next year. We've had the Family First team out to assess our needs (with re. to R) - the hope is that they will be able to find some support for him to attend some activities over the summer holidays to get him out of the house a bit. It's a bit tense here, but he's been doing a lot of sewing of late (which he finds calming) and finished a bat today (on the sewing machine). Doubtless he'll take a photo and will want it posted up. The greenhouse has been busy:

Rik has pickled the first lot of chillis, but there's plenty more to come. Ashamedly I've not been down the lottie as much as I could, but the heat has been squarely putting me off. We have picked quite a few blackcurrants and raspberries that have been enjoyed, but really I should be down there sorting out the spuds (and everything else that is doubtless suffering under this dryness) and I dread to think what the nettles are like! (I MUST bring the camera with me next time).

The shows were good fun over the weekend, with the opportunity for some interesting chat. The Barefoot Books sale is still on (until the end of July). If anyone places an order, if they quote my stallholder number: UK-1006663 I get a credit :) The beautiful Little Red Riding Hood (illus. Nicoletta Cecolli) is down to £1.99 (amongst other great bargains).

The learning centre now has a working title: Ingenero Schola. The tender spec. for the feasibility study is good to go and once I've got a bank account set up, it's time to go for the funding to pay for the study - so very, very excited about that!

Busy, busy, busy!

It's been a busy old time just trying to keep up with life! It seems that with the coming of the warm weather life takes an upswing and things get manic again :) So this is sort of a list of what we've been up to fairly recently: Saturday: My first parcel from my Secret Pal (knitting) arrived. It was lovely to receive something in the post and the items were well picked, being a bar of Green & Blacks (not in the photo as I ate it before it had the chance to have its photo taken), 2 skeins of mohair boucle from the Natural Dye Studio, a pattern to make a scarf from the mohair, 2 copies of Gardeners World and a selection of organic veggie seeds for the lottie. In addition my Secret Pal had also sent a present for each of the children: sunflowers, different sorts based on his/her perceived idea of the children (e.g. Ned got 'Teddy Bear' as the sunflowers are small and round :) )whilst R. got 'Nature Walker', etc.) Clearly a lot of thought went into the parcel! So thank you Secret Pal!

In the evening we watched the Eurovision song contest (I wanted either Finland or Lithuania to win, so was pleased Finland got it!) We munched on a selection of dippee things with hummus and also some dolmades (sort of honouring the Greek thing as Eurovision was in Athens this year, plus I love dolmades!) Thursday and Friday: I was working, J. (the little boy I look after, I am a registered childminder) is very *attached* and cries if he's not carried or has me sitting directly next to him. As he only comes a couple of days a week for the morning it is a bit difficult for him to get used to me, but then that doesn't exactly appear to be the problem - he likes me - unfortunately so much so that he cries if I try and do anything that doesn't involve focussing attention on him (which is a little difficult with other children here). Still, we're muddling along and he's usually happy towards the end of the day with me and confident enough to toddle about and do his own thing. We went for a walk to the market and bought a couple of fresh pineapples amongst the usual local stuff. Two of Kris' girls came for the afternoon, so Nin had a good day with lots of small people to play with.Wednesday we went to town to get to the Farmer's Market, bank some money and also pick up some stuff for the spoilee that I?m being Secret Pal to. Annoyingly the *nice shop* selling candles etc. wasn't open, so I'll need to find some bits and pieces elsewhere (we're not really very well served for that sort of thing in town and certainly not in the village). So I was a bit disappointed. We bought some more 'Gruffalo' cheese and I picked up a tin of okra salad which will be nice to try later on. It was also the 17th May which is a day of celebration in Norway, although in rather un-Norwegian fashion we had a nice meal of a selection of Indian foods :) Tuesday we went to the market before Sarah and Co. came round along with two of Kris? girls (and Kris popped in for a bit too). Monday we went to the allotment, something that is difficult to know with how busy it has been of late! Anyway, here are some updated pictures (we've done a lot of work down there!) They're not up to date though, being older than the last time I went down there.

The nettles are rampant! R. has made a great compost bin (which I will take a photo of when I next remember to bring the camera with me).

We've cleared quite a bit and got various bits planted - but actually this photo is a few weeks old and now the radishes, beetroot and broccoletto is coming up. Must go so will blog more later!

Some photos

Plant nursery on the kitchen windowsill.

Because he looks so cute!

I'm still here!

Still really busy! I've been carrying on with getting R's jumper finished (just a couple of inches on one sleeve and another sleeve before making up), I've started a little tunic for Ted (I've almost finished the back).

The allotment now has 13 raspberries (because I bought some and as I was putting them in our lottie neighbours popped their head round the gate and asked if we wanted some more!) 2 (possibly 4) blackcurrant bushes - I wasn't sure about the 2nd two as I couldn't remember what I'd got - and 2 redcurrant cuttings (which will hopefully take - I did have 4, but gave 2 to the neighbours as they'd very kindly given us some raspberries and also some beans some of which they helped R. plant up and leave in their polytunnel to be collected later). I also planted some carrots and R. put in some beetroots (in between hiding in the shed from the rain), so a rather productive day!

We had a meeting with the LEA last Wednesday. This has been a bit of a sore point as R. didn't want to meet them and of course I supported his decision, after all, we don't need endorsement from an outside agency, we've HE-ed since 2003 and it's going very well. I don't lack confidence with the decision to HE and know that R. is getting the best education he can (certainly better than school could provide for him).

However, the LEA was insisting on 'examples of work' and I was arguing that R. didn't want this and there is nothing in the Education Act (or case law) that dictates that 'examples' must be provided. This has gone on since last year and there has been much to-ing and fro-ing of letters and I was preparing to dig us in for the long haul (and had taken some legal advice!) The R. changed his mind and declared that he wanted to meet the local HE Advisor. So this duly happened last Wednesday.

It actually went very well. R. made scones (mostly because Fiona, who came along too, had made scones last time we visited her, so he wanted to return the kindness) and the 2 bods from the LEA were fed them with organic strawberry jam and a cup of tea. We discussed various subjects, I told them something of my thoughts on how children learn and R. told them some of the things he was interested in and what he had been up to recently, quite a bit of which involved gardening, history and cooking. Not one scrap of work was shown (as R. didn't want to show any of his work) but the response from the HE Advisor was that R. is clearly a very intelligent, articulate young man and we must be very proud of him :)

I'm not a person that looks for (or needs) outside approval - but hey, it's a bonus! R. has been continuing with his project on Ancient Egypt. I've given up on 'the schedule' again, as it's behind (again) and R. is quite happy meandering along. We will get to Ancient Greece when he's ready, but we've so much else on too that it's hard to squeeze in the time for his project as he's spending a lot of time reading and with the planning for the allotment, him cooking (he's doing more and more) and just getting out and about more, we seem to be busy all of the time!

Anyway, time to get on with dinner. I've a nice home-made jam sponge ready to go in the oven (yum!)

We've got an allotment!

So we went and had a look and took some pics:

(including random child I picked up on the way to the allotments)It's a good job I'm such an optimistic soul! Guess what'll be featuring very heavily in our HE plans for a while!