Yarn along: anticipation

 
Ahh...I'm finally able to join in again for Ginny's yarn along.  I haven't had much time lately for either reading or crochet, but I have only one more day of work before I get to go on vacation!  So I've picked out a pattern and some yarn and have it packed and ready to go (6 1/2 hours in the car minus tons of Lucy-entertaining-time equals some time for crochet, I hope!)

I wanted something super-simple to help me ease back in to crochet after a long absence (my brain is going to be in vacation mode, after all), and I wanted to use yarn we had on hand (thanks, Melissa!).  I chose Merlin.  Wish me luck; maybe I'll come back from vacation inspired to be crafty again.

I'm reading One Vacant Chair by Joe Coomer, but unfortunately, it's been slow going.  In the past, I've loved Joe Coomer's books, especially Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God.  (I read that many years ago, and immediately began it again, very rare for me.  A few years later, I found myself in Portsmouth, NH, and kept saying "I've been here before," "I know this place," though I hadn't.  I finally realized it was his descriptive writing that made me feel I'd been there.)  This time, however, I'm just not getting into it.  I can't blame the book.  I've been like this with most books lately.  I just don't have the time to sink deeply into a book, and I am almost always sleep deprived.  I've packed pure fluff reading for this trip to accommodate my current brain fog.

Have any good recommendations for this tired, time-crunched Mama?

We've got mail

I was very excited to discover Lucy quietly at work in the studio this morning, on a project of her own design.  She'd collected clay, twist ties, wooden beads, and bamboo from their various places and brought them all to the table.

When I came in, she was just beginning her second in a three-part series (one for "mommy, mama, and Lucy--our whole family!"):

As she finished each one, she ran across the studio

to deliver them to our mailboxes.  (There's one there for each of the kids in our early childhood program, as well as for Andi and I.)

(I've just recently returned from a Reggio-inspired teachers' conference at which Lella Gandini described the three-year-old classrooms' mailboxes being transparent, because three-year-olds might put anything in there, such as a half-sucked lollipop.   :-)  So the intentionality in three-year-old Lucy's mailed gifts particularly struck me today.)

Help in the kitchen

Happening these days in and around the purple house

(Thanks for the good gear, Tim and Eric!)

(look familiar, Jules?)

(Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem doing songs from "Ranky Tanky"--a current fave)

(Julie, once we'd talked about it, it had to be done immediately!)

Great blue herons to the rescue

We conquered the sleep-deprived grumpies today by getting out into nature.  (Is it just us, or do full moons drastically affect sleep in your house, too?)

A friend recently told us about a hike we had to take, to a great-blue-heron rookery, from a downtown neighborhood, of all places!

The last time we went (a few weeks ago), we saw the herons building their nests.  Today, Lucy and I returned and found them all sitting on the nests.

It's so bizarre to see these big huge birds perched high in the trees like that!

Right next door to the herons is a bald eagle, also nesting.

It's a truly amazing sight.

Closer to earth, we saw a garter snake,

 a tuft of unidentified fur (a mystery to ponder), lots of animal holes, big fat bumblebees, some butterflies, red-winged blackbirds, wood ducks, and heard many, many different bird calls.

 It was amazing to see that the brown woods we'd visited so recently was now lush and green. (And completely full of poison ivy!  We kept our bodies small and centered on the path.)

Later, we went out to dinner with friends, followed by dessert and dandelion-blowing in a little park in the center of our town.

And when bedtime came and went by an hour, with no sign of sleep, I got Lucy back out of bed and into the car and we went in search of the "supermoon."  We caught glimpses of it through the trees in all its huge orange glory, and continued looking for a good viewing spot as it rose, lightened, and got hidden by clouds.

It was well worth the extra-late bedtime.

My best cure for a difficult day--take it outside and breathe in the wonders of nature.

Here

We're here.
 
We're doing our usual things. 

The computer and camera have not been cooperating.  Life has been hectic.  I don't understand how to use this new blogger (please excuse the mess).

But things are starting to look sunnier.
Perhaps you'll hear more from me soon?

Bird cat toy: Lucy's project

Lucy (observing our cat, Eliot, at the window, birdwatching): "Cats like watching birds, just like I do! We should make a toy bird for the cats. And put that stuff that cats like in it."
me: "Catnip?"
Lucy: "Yes!"
me (rummaging around in the cabinet): "It looks like we don't have any catnip right now. I can put it on the grocery list."
Lucy: (going into the studio, and finding some colored cellophane): "We can use this."
me: "That would make a good sound inside the bird. I think the cats would like that."
me: "Can you draw what you want your bird to look like?"
Lucy:

(the drawing picked up a few stray squished water beads along the way)
I lay Lucy's drawing on the light box, with fabric on top, and traced her design. With her permission, I added a line to the beak (the line on the far right), to make it more triangular, explaining that it needed to be wider for us to be able to cut it out and sew it. I cut out two bird shapes, pinned them together, and showed her how to sew the edges together. She sewed some, I sewed some, and we passed it back and forth until it was mostly sewn together. We were careful not to sew the beak shut, as she wanted it to be able to open. A friend helped her cut the cellophane and stuff it in.

The finished bird (now with an eye she added after watching me trace her drawing:

Proud of her finished toy, Lucy offered it to Austen:

He showed his approval by rubbing it with his head.

Afterward, Lucy had second thoughts. She didn't want the cats to tear her bird, so she decided that instead, it could be a "band for cats" (as in, it makes music, so we can play it for them like a band). She offered me pots to clang together and paraded me through the house, crinkling the bird, a band for cats.