Time for Boats

Uncommitted time--
                                                                                                         





An Inspirationally shaped piece of leftover wood...

A Pond...











                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                         Happy Boys...

                                              

                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                 





Happy Memories!

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Twelve is a great age.





It allows you to appreciate a new violin... 










While still having fun with the lego set your little brother gave you...

...Or maybe that's just our Lydi.

                                 Happy Birthday sweet girl.

the last leaves of fall

Here are a few last photos of flying leaves before the snow begins to fly.

I had fun playing with slower shutter speeds, larger apertures, and spinning myself around under the trees for these ones.  I probably looked like a lunatic, but the effect was interesting...

Some last minute clean-up before Superstorm Sandy arrived...

And finally, after several years of good intentions, I got around to planting garlic!  It's one of those fall jobs that I have always thought about after the moment of opportunity has passed.
Working in the garden often means guaranteed solitude for me,  (which has its own charm), but now and then someone joins me to chat and help out.  Moriah is the most likely candidate to join in...

 Good conversations happen while you share tasks.

It's been a beautiful fall.

It's a Dog Eat Dog World.

Literally.

Our dog ate a stuffed dog.

Then he had surgery to remove the stuffed dog.

Then he tried to recover,

But didn't.

RIP Cocoa.

The best pictures I have of fall colour exist only in my mind.  It's hard to capture the incredible saturation of colour at this time of the year.  It turns the light itself into something golden that can not only be seen, but felt.

It restores the soul.

Last night was the night--the big freeze.

Well, the first frost, at least....   It sent me out to the garden to cut some last herbs and flowers for drying.

Including these lovely lavender flowers that are destined for a future soap-making project.

School Daze

Here we go again!  Every year looks a little different, and this year looks more different than any other so far.  With the oldest graduated from high school and on to University, and the youngest in second grade, we've crested the add-a-student-every-couple-of-years peak, and are coming down the other side.

Which is a strange feeling in itself.

                       But it's a good strange.
Most of the time this year is just the three younger kids at home with me.  So we re-organized the school room to make it a more workable space, and a more pleasant space to spend time in.  Because we do spend quite a bit of time here.

Apparently, we do school in pajamas frequently enough that I didn't even notice until I posted this photo.

I have a place of my own to work, or umm, sit and make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing.

We even have a place to sit and read in the school room this year without retiring to the couch.  

Rachel is at home part-time this year, doing History, Chemistry, Bible and Literature with me, and  I'm really happy to be able to continue reading and discussing ideas with her at home.  (Chemistry, on the other hand, I could live without). The rest of the time, she is at Freeport High School taking Art, Math and an AP Literature class.  She is really enjoying the classes there and doing well.  So far, she's received comments from her teachers along the lines of  "I'm very impressed with your writing", and "I like the way you do these equations".  

 I think she's even given homework help to some friends in classes that she hasn't taken there.

My only regret thus far is that I didn't take a picture of her "first day".  So, I'll have to include one from last summer.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that not only is she smart, she's gorgeous too.

Things feel a little slower paced this year, and that's a good thing.  It's been good to feel less rushed through the day.  It gives me some sanity time to keep up with the necessary parts of life, and also to play a little, with things like making soap, for instance.  See?  Chemistry can be fun too.