Greening up

Dipping in.

Listening and watching for our feathered friends. We're all loving this book.
Outdoor snacking.

The Sun

Have you ever seen
anything in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and down into the clouds or the hills, or rumpled sea
and is gone-
and how it slides again

out of the morning blackness
every morning on the other side of the world
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils
say, on a morning in early summer, at its perfect imperial distance-
and have you ever felt for anything

such wild love-
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough for the pleasure

that fills you, as the sun
reaches out as it warms you

as you stand there empty handed......................

Mary Oliver

A fiddler

I love watching him learn new things.

The skin you're in

When I was a teenager, I was a complete sucker for all the skin "fixing" products out there. I was a regular at the drugstore scooping it all up: scrubs, Noxema, peeling masks, and benzoyl peroxide. I thought these products might be the key to blemish free skin. I also felt certain that a heavy slathering of make-up was a necessity before leaving the house. I came to rely on that makeup "mask" to help the vulnerable me feel a little safer, a bit hidden.

When I went off to college and especially while pregnant with my first baby, my pendulum swung the other way. I no longer wanted to buy into the false beauty system. I didn't want to put so many chemicals on my skin. I fell in love with herbalism and natural healing. Though Rosemary Gladstar's book- A Family Herbal - was a later addition to my herbal bookshelf, it's become one of my favorites. I still remember her calm and radiant presence when I went to hear her give a talk at a little Cambridge health shop years ago.

The book is full of recipes and general instruction for making and using all kinds of natural/ herbal remedies. Her "Perfect Cream" is especially satisfying to make.


Here's the recipe:
Waters
2/3 cup distilled water (or rosewater)
1/3 cup aloe vera juice
1 or 2 drops essential oil of choice
Vitamins A and E as desired

Oils
3/4 cup apricot, almond or grapeseed oil (I actually used olive oil)
1/3 cup cocoa butter or coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon lanolin (I left this out)
1/2 to 1 ounce beeswax

1. Combine waters in glass measuring cup. Set aside.
c 2. In double boiler over low heat combine oils. Heat them just enough to melt.
3. Pour oils in to the blender and let them, cool to room temperature.The mixture should become thick, creamy, semi-solid and cream colored. The cooling process can be sped up in the refrigerator, but you have to watch it closely so it doesn't get too hard.
4. When mixture is cooled, turn blender on to highest speed. In a slow and steady stream, begin to pour the water mixture into the whirling oil mixture. You may need to turn off the blender and scrape down the sides with a spatula.
5. When most of the water has been added, listen to the blender and watch the cream. When it begins to cough and choke and the cream looks thick and white, turn off the blender. Now you can add the remaining water by hand and beat with a spoon- don't over beat though.
6. Pour off into jars. The cream will thicken as it sets. Store in a cool location.

As the lotion is quite thick and rich, a little goes a long way. Use only a small amount on the face, more can be used on the body. This is my favorite part about Ms. Gladstar's instructions for using this cream:
"The only real 'rule' about this cream is that it can never be used with any negative thoughts about the body it's being used on. When smoothing it over the creases and maps of the skin, do so with love. Do it as if you are anointing yourself with precious balm. You are! This is part of the cream's magic."

While I really love the lotion itself, perhaps this kinder attitude toward oneself is the more important aspect of using this skin cream. I do appreciate this reminder to be just a bit more gentle with myself.

Crafty bits

The kids and I made a few little crafty things. To lend a festive vibe to our dining room, we made papel picado:

Ava and Rowan loved making these and given a little more time would probably have covered the entire house with paper banners. We used fairly large rectangles of tissue paper, folded them in half many times and then cut out various shapes to create the designs. There are some amazingly intricate ones pictured here.
The painted silhouettes of the kids were a gift. I used acrylic paint on 11" by 14" canvas panels. This project has been waiting on the back burner for ages.  And with the help of a digital camera, the whole process didn't take very long- just part of an afternoon. First I took profile shots of each child against a blank wall. Then I fiddled with the size of each photo and printed them out. Next I cut out the profiles and traced them onto the canvas panels. Lastly I painted two coats of black acrylic paint inside the outlined silhouettes.

Shoe horse

Oh Lilla just loves shoes- especially fancy shoes that make a delightful clip clopping sound. While I am getting ready for the day, she fishes around the closet looking for a pair to slip into. I have a few fun ones to choose from, but nothing compared to some other members of my -ahem- family. Can you imagine Lilla's glee when she spied these shiny, high heeled numbers belonging to my sister?
She was instantly smitten and trotted off like she'd been wearing shoes like this for years.They look smashing with the little homespun Easter dress, don't you think?
The pinafore dress pattern came from The Children's Year book. I love, love, love the simple ideas in that book. I thought I would make her a matching bonnet, but somehow time ran out before it was time to pack up and hit the road for Cape Cod. Time has been short for blogging too...maybe I'll manage to catch up one of these days.

Peep, peep

Rowan and I made a few new woolly friends:

With patience, warm soapy water and willing hands, a mass of fluffy wool batting can transform magically into a dense felted fiber. Well, perhaps not so magical when a favorite sweater shrinks three sizes too small, but that's a different story.

Any-who...to make our little woolen eggs we started with a hunk of batting.
We fluffed it up a bit and then layered it over some plastic Easter eggs. You could use any sturdy egg form. Before wrapping we taped our eggs closed so they wouldn't open up during the felting process. We wrapped 4-5 thin layers of batting evenly around the egg and then added a bit of colored roving.

Carefully, we dunked the woolen bundles into a warm soapy bath and gently began molding the wool around the egg form. In the beginning the wool feels all mushy, but slowly the fibers tighten up and begin to bind to one another. Before the wool begins to really felt, you have to work slowly and gently to avoid popping your egg right out of the wool.

Once the wool firms up, you can add more pressure as you cup and squeeze the wool, gradually working toward a smooth round shape. Every once in a while you might dunk it again in that warm soapy water.
Once the wool is firmly felted, all the soap must be rinsed out and the egg left to dry for a day or so. After the wool is completely dry, I used a small sharp pair of scissors to carefully remove the plastic egg within and to reveal our hollow woolen egg.
And this can be filled with any treasure you wish...a coin, a little sweet treat or even a little chick.
We cheated on the chicks and sewed them up from a felted sweater (oh yes! those shrunken sweaters aren't a total loss). The pattern is based loosely on one from the All Year Round book.

Just fold a small square of felt on the diagonal: you will have a triangle shape. Sew together the open sides of the triangle, stuffing the form with wool batting before sewing the entire thing shut. Now you will have a stuffed triangle. A little stitch of blue embroidery floss suggests the eyes and a snip of orange felt becomes the beak. A button sewn on the bottom lets the chick stand up.

Nothing too fancy...just a fun little thing to make and something for the little ones to play with. I'm thinking one of these will end up in Lilla's Easter basket. Hope you and your peeps are having a nice week!