Sunday, May 29, 2011

typically untypical

 
 Hot rocks & melted crayon: Heat clean stones on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes @ 350. Use old or broken crayons with the wrappers removed & paint away.





 
 
 Growing crystals



Coloring.
Reading & more reading

 

No Bake Cookies:

1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup milk
Boil for 3 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Add 4 cups oats.
Spoon onto a cookie sheet & let cool.

 
 More reading & The
Wizard of OZ, oh my!

 
 History & Math
 

An outfit change & a break
 
 



















A little more science & a lot more rain

*flood stage*

I can hear Beach arguing with Colby.  “Why were you so mad at me?” he asks.

“Because I wanted to be able to do it perfectly by myself, that’s just how I am.” 

Oh dude, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something, guess you found it on your own.










I should set the scene.  Saturday Memorial weekend. The sun was out.  If you live in Utah the sun is a star, it is the basis of our solar system it sustains life on Earth as the source of heat & light.
To say the weather & sun has been lacking is polite. 
I spent the early morning writing, mid morning doing farm chores, & the afternoon at the park with friends & kids; buckets of kids.  We played at the play ground, ate street tacos, threw a boomerang, walked around the International Peace Gardens 4-5 adults (we lost one half way through at least we didn’t lose any of the children), 1 teen, 8 kids 8 yr-old & under.
 
Came home started reading The Eden Hunter by Skip Horack. Fell asleep to the sound of Colby mowing and Beach playing on the tramp with a little neighbor girl.  *All summer in a day*

I woke to the sound of a gun shot followed by the sound of Kilo trampling small children to get to me.  Then the noise of a storm moving in.    

We have sprouts & baby chickens in the house.
We have a hen who believes she is hatching rotten eggs. 
Baby turkeys so ugly I think we should put them out of their misery & eat them now.  How can you say that about one of God’s creatures?!?! Easy, like this: yes, can I have a bacon cheese burger?
We have thistle & vine weed.
Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, beans, & peas in the ground; snow in the mountains.
We have a bbq and a thunderstorm scheduled for Monday.
BUT it is still raining despite the fact that this is a desert…

 Now the home school list, we didn’t start reading Dragonwings until this week.  There is a lot of information in there which is both wonderful & daunting.  It reaches so far outside its context it leads to the fantasy of never teaching individual subjects again.
We have three chapter books lined up for her independent reading and a jump in math topics looming on the kitchen table.

I think I just found the word I was looking for LOOMING.



The storm is looming over head.
The rivers are at flood stage, record snow pack looming in the mts. 
The dog is looming in the corner.
The house, farm, & school work is looming under foot.
And summer is looming on the far edge of never. 
I’m not in bad mood. I don’t have the attention span for that not with a squirrel looming outside my window. 
But it is raining again.



“Mom, Becca wants to go home.”
“Want me to take her?” Colby asks. Rain on the windows.
“I will.” I meander downstairs peer outside into the dark.  “Hold on girls I think we should take an umbrella.”

“You have an umbrella?” Colby asks from the loft wondering when I grew up enough to buy an umbrella.












We head out the door two little girls huddled under a green umbrella walking in the rain.  Life is really beautiful even when you don’t want it to be.  Even when you wake Sunday morning to a cat, & a dog, & a kid in your bed and more rain rumbling through the valley.       

Who wants to go for a walk? I have an umbrella…