Category: Celebrating

Autumn, Celebrating, Family, Knitting, Spinning & Dyeing

Remember Remember the 5th of November

by raisinglittleshootsLeave a Comment on Remember Remember the 5th of November

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, guy, t’was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England’s overthrow.

By God’s mercy he was catch’d
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

Today has been all about Guy Fawkes. Between our regular maths and grammar lessons, we read stories about him, made acrostics about fireworks and Rose made a smashing firework painting.

For dinner there was Tomato Soup eaten by the firesideImage

Followed by delicious, sticky home made Lancashire Parkin. Which was followed by s’mores 🙂

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We watched the fireworks from the vantage point of our living room window, whilst I knitted on (what will become) an adorable baby bonnet.

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The girls went out doors and we lit their sparklers…

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Autumn, Books, Celebrating, Faith, Family

Hallowe’en

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Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the new year in Celtic times.  A time for us to set new intentions, think new ideas and formulate plans…to incubate those ideas over the cold winter months and birth them into the warm sprain time breezes…

Our Hallowe’en moments

: : Carving pumpkins

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: : Pumpkin maths

: : Reading our familiar Hallowe’en stories

Mousekin’s golden house

Pumpkin

The Pumpkin Blanket

Scary Stories

When my children were younger, we kept away from the ‘scary’ aspect of Hallowe’en and focused on the Autumn aspect – hence the first three lovely, cosy books. Despite being older now, they still love to read these books (and even better, have them read aloud!) They also enjoy a good scary story and I find the last book to be perfect for their appetite.

: : Made ‘Hallowe’en Soup’ (onions, pumpkin, orange peppers, sweet potato, carrots) all served up after dark in a big pumpkin 🙂

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: : Created Hallowe’en art

: : Decorated our home

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: : Had oodles of fun at our local Book Cycle party

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: : Trick or Treating

: : Supper with good friends

Today (November 1st) is All Souls Day. I will be remembering loved ones passed in my prayers today and we are going to visit the cemetery where a loved friend rests. We shall be tidying the graveside and Rose will be leaving a special gift.

Autumn, Celebrating, Family

Michaelmas

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Brave Saint Michael is my guide

As free and fearless forth I ride

With courage of Saint George of old

I dare to face fierce dragons bold

Did you have a lovely Michaelmas? It was such beautiful autumn weather here – blue, blue skies with a light breeze. We enjoyed a late afternoon stroll in our local park before returning to a feast of beef stew, Dragon bread and blackberry jam tarts. (Remember – no more blackberry picking from now on; the old legend says that when Michael cast the Devil out of heaven, the Devil landed in a blackberry patch and promptly spat on them!)

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The girls and I have also begun to prepare our ‘Courage Balm’ – a home made balm to rub on to any wee cuts or grazes, stings or rashes. We shall be giving this as Christmas gifts and also keeping a supply for ourselves – it is wonderful stuff!

Firstly we have to soak the herbs for a few weeks to make an infused oil – the recipe is very fluid to allow for what you have on hand from your garden. But make sure to dry your herbs first, or the oil may go bad with the presence of the moisture.

We have used lavender and calendula from our garden, plus some organic chamomile that I purchased. The herbs we covered with Organic olive oil and will be left in a sunny spot for a few weeks, then we shall make the balm.

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We had a couple of recitations of the poem we have been learning this month ‘Brave Saint Michael’ along with stories of our brave Saint. (Stories, always stories!)

The inner work of this time of year is always challenging – taking stock, what needs to be left behind and finding the strength to face my own dragons….

Saint Michael has helped our family in a very personal way, however. Do you remember how we struggled to find a name for our new kitten?

He has now been named Michael. Our very own fierce and fearless warrior!

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Autumn, Books, Celebrating, Faith, Family, Nature

Autumnal Equinox

by raisinglittleshoots1 Comment on Autumnal Equinox

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Did you have a good day? We enjoy marking the passing seasons and the Autumnal Equinox with it’s gentle light, morning mist and crisp Autumnal scents is no exception.

This year we have a new member of the family to help us celebrate

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We are struggling to name him; so far we have had Dr Kenneth Blackberry, Jinx, Vortigern, Jonty, Roy, Autumn. The list literally goes on and on. Any suggestions?

We kept our celebrations simple.

We discussed how the plants & trees appear to sleep through Autumn and Winter, but how actually there is development under the ground, the rest & rejuvenation that allows the tree to produce flowers and fruit again next year.

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We talked about how we too can plant seeds within ourselves; seeds of gentleness, kindness, courage and bravery.

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And then we each chose what we wanted to be growing within ourselves over the months ahead

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We ended up with two pots, filled with spring time bulbs – filled with gorgeous intent.

We also took good care of our bird friends.

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And if any hedgehog friends would like to visit, they are most welcome too.

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We walked at dusk in the meadow and along the edge of the woodlands. We came home and read some Equinox classics – The Secret Of Saying Thanks and We Gather Together.

We gave thanks to God for all we are blessed with.

Books, Celebrating, Family, Nature, Summer

Hello Harvest Moon?

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Last night was Harvest Moon. We set off in eager anticipation, packed up with our read alouds, snacks and science notebooks in which we could record our observations of the Harvest moon.

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We have walked under the Harvest Moon every year without fail since the girls were tiny; it is a much anticipated part of our year and never missed.

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We were treated to a spectacular sunset as I sat and read to the girls. I brought a poetry book and ‘Hello Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher’. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! It is a luxurious, lilting read that hightens the anticipation of small (and not-so-small !) people for the night ahead..

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The girls played in the woods, hunting dragons and wood faeries until we headed off to a better spot to view the moon rising in the east.

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The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the equinox. It is so called because it allowed farmers to continue working on bringing in the harvest after dark, due to it’s wonderful brightness. The Harvest Moon hangs low & full in the late summer sky, ripe like the Harvest named in it’s honour. It’s appearance is due to the seasonal tilt of the earth and therefore the light coming from the moon is passing through a denser atmosphere, than if it were directly overhead. 

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We made it to a good ‘moon watching’ spot, but sadly the Harvest Moon kept her mystery and remained hidden behind cloud cover. This was the first year we could not see her full glory. We were so disappointed, but thankful for the walk we had, which was so thrilling on the way back – there is nothing quite like being in the woods in the dark!

I fumbled around and managed to pick some Rose Hips – and sustained a few pricked fingers! We headed home to hot chocolate & thick buttered toast. (my not-so-secret hot chocolate tip is to use Nutella – gorgeous!) Then my tired-out girls dropped into bed (always dress children in their pyjamas under the waterproofs for night time walks!!!) And mummy & daddy were not long after…

Celebrating, Family, Learning, Summer

( Not ) Back To School Traditions

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Yesterday was our first day back at lessons since the Summer break.

As always, we had our traditions to follow:

The annual photo shoot

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A new daily school verse

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Help us to do the things we should,
To be to others kind and good;
In all we do, in work or play,
To grow more loving every day.

Rebecca Weston – 1890

Our morning was simple; more of an easing into the new end-of-Summer rhythm, than of serious school work.

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We began to work on our individual ‘Wheel of the Year’ that we shall each be keeping

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As always, we had Alphabet Soup for lunch. This was followed by a quick trip for the dentist for Rose, to check her over after The Accident.

Back home for our ‘Back to School’ tea party; Gingerbread biscuits and spiced apple juice (recipe below). The girls ate and I read some lovely, simple end of summer nature stories.

It was a good day….

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Spiced Apple Juice

Pour 1 bottle of fresh apple juice into a pan.

Add about 5 whole cloves and a cinnamon stick.

Warm gently without allowing to simmer or boil.

Serve.

(We always add a little water to our juice)

Celebrating, Family, Summer

Birthday Celebrations

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Yesterday was Rosie’s eighth birthday!

We began, as always, the night before by reading Happy Birthday to You! by Dr Seuss followed by tucking up the birthday girl in bed and after prayers saying the following verse:

When I have said my evening prayer,
And my clothes are folded over there,
And Mummy switches off the light,
I’ll still be seven  years old tonight.
But, from the very break of day,
Before the children rise and play,
Before the greenness turns to gold,
Tomorrow, I’ll be eight years old.
Eight kisses when I wake.
Eight candles on my cake!
Then we shared our last hug together with Rose as a seven year old and said good night.
I was woken bright and early by my rather excited birthday girl wearing her birthday crown. (Both girls have their own, made from soft wool felt & embroidered with their initial.) We had eight big kisses & then set off downstairs…
: : Birthday Burst – the presents are placed in our living room and I cover the doorway with
    wrapping paper. The girls love bursting through to get to their presents!
: : Birthday breakfast – a muffin with a numeral candle on top. We sing ‘Happy Birthday’
    and the birthday girl blows it out. This is generally eaten whilst playing with new toys
   and is followed by an easy-to-eat green smoothie.
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: : Rosie appears to have formed her own tradition of visiting a local farm each birthday. They always have super staff and the girls and I really enjoy ourselves.
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: : A tea party with family and friends.
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: : Birthday Cake and wishes
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Photos of birthday presents to follow….
Celebrating, Knitting, Spinning & Dyeing

Birthday Crafting

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We have a Very Important Birthday coming up soon – Rose will be eight years old!

There is a lot of secret crafting going on..

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Do you remember the white yarn I recently showed you? Here it is all dyed up with used coffee grounds (along with some other knitting..)

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The days are ticking by at a quite disconcerting speed (although I am sure Rose would disagree!) So each spare moment if filled with sewing, stuffing and knitting. Wish me luck!

Celebrating, Summer

The August Nature Table

by raisinglittleshoots8 Comments on The August Nature Table

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Elianna has taken charge of the care and keeping of our nature table; clearing it up every month and adding the various flower fairies and gnomes that reflect the changing seasons.

Both girls delight in adding the treasures they find in our garden and on our walks.

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The toadstools tend to make a year round appearance as we always seem to find fungus of one sort or another on our walks.

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And our fairies form a magic circle….

Celebrating, Family, Summer

Fireside

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Fire fascinates me….I could stare into the flickering, dancing flames for hours….

Fire transforms; it can both create and consume. Perhaps the fascination stems from a natural instinct to master & control it’s instability.

Necessary for our day to day living; but also it’s magic is brought into our celebrations. We have roaring fires at the Winter Solstice and Christmas time. A candle is lit as we say our morning verse before we begin our day’s work and who could say no to roasted marshmallows at the end of a long, sun-soaked day?

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Four of the pre Christian festivals are fire festivals, testifying to the importance of fire in our ancestors lives; Imbolc, (the return of spring) Beltaine, (fertility festival) Lughnasadh (the beginning of the harvest) & Samhain (the end of the harvest, the beginning of winter). Bonfires were lit and feasting began…

The girls did plenty of feasting on roasted marshmallows and s’mores whilst daddy & I chatted. I took time to knit of course!

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I love how fire has the ability to draw us together, to bring us close as a family. Sharing the warm summer evenings outdoors, or cuddled up beside the hearth on a chilled winter night.

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Many of our ancestors believed in fire elementals…do you see our own fire fairy….?

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