apple::birthday

My baby girl is turning six on tuesday. Six whole years since I slept through the night. Not that it has been all her fault. Her baby brother picked up right where she left off.

This afternoon we had a birthday party at the park for Ella and her friends. There was apple cake, apple bobbing, an apple pinata, apple races, and apple printing on fabric. The day was sunny and sweet.

English Country Garden

This was one of the children's favorite songs last year in preschool. If asked to choose the song this is what most of them would pick. I think is is the rhythm of it, but strangely enough the song reminds me of the nature of the teacher. I've joked that she could create a weeks worth of curriculum and art projects out of a bucket of dirt. It is certainly a gift to know the nature of small people, to speak their language and respect their magic.

In an English Country Garden

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We'll tell you now of some that we know
Those we miss you'll surely pardon
Daffodils, heart's ease and flox
Meadowsweet and lady smocks
Gentian, lupine and tall hollihocks
Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots
In an English country garden

How many insects come here and go
In an English country garden?
We'll tell you now of some that we know
Those we miss you'll surely pardon
Fireflies, moths, gnats and bees
Spiders climbing in the trees
Butterflies drift in the gentle breeze
There are snakes, ants that sting
And other creeping things
In an English country garden

How many songbirds fly to and fro
In an English country garden?
We'll tell you now of some that we know
Those we miss you'll surely pardon
Bobolink, cuckoo and quail
Tanager and cardinal
Bluebird, lark, thrush and nightingale
There is joy in the spring
When the birds begin to sing
In an English country garden

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We'll tell you now of some that we know
Those we miss you'll surely pardon
Daffodils, heart's ease and flox
Meadowsweet and lady smocks
Gentain, lupine and tall hollihocks
Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots
In an English country garden

dance

dance, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

my crush

my crush, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

friends

friends, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

i say cheese

i say cheese, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

apple party

Ella's party is sunday afternoon. I need to:
1. make apple pinata
2. order cake and cupcakes. I was making them but then I realized that someone else could::apple spice cupcakes with caramel frosting and a maple walnut gateaux.
3. get galvanized tub for apple bobbing
4. apple craft? apple prints on muslin?
5. collect acorns
6. make caramel apples
7. plan a game
8. drinks:: water and cider?
9. clean house
10. buy house on 42 for next year's birthday party.

virginia::tennessee

by Earl Neikirk

This picture was in the Bristol newspaper after the Rhythm and Roots festival a few weeks ago.

aziba ziba

zipper- aziba ziba
one more time- one finger up plus ma ma ma, (serious face)

John still says very little for a two year old, but he is learning new words almost every day now and is getting more bold about saying them. He knows his colors and can pantomime the various emotions. My favorite is excited because he shakes his arms and grits his teeth.

He is quite interested in crayons and paper and returns to his coloring books and paper several times a day. He holds his crayon just like a pencil and "writes" very carefully. His hieroglyphics look a lot like letters that he sees his sister writing.

Speaking of sister, she had a bee in her ear today. She started screaming outside and holding her ear. Looking in it, I saw nothing so I got a Q-Tip. There seemed to be nothing in her ear, and then out flew a little sweat bee. It obviously stung her in the ear and she was nothing short of berserk. I put some imaginary cream on it and it seemed to be fine in about ten minutes, but I had to tell her about every bee sting that I had as a child as well as every bee sting that uncle John had as a child.

house

I'm having a little flirtation with realtor.com these days. This house is about the same distance from town as our current house. It was built in 1880 and has five acres. Like all houses, it is a bit out of our price range. It also claims to have only two bedrooms. 2500 square feet and two bedrooms. I'll sleep in the parlor.

a group of butterflies is called a flutter

So one day I'll start talking about Ella's school more. I think I have to name it and it just hasn't come to. I want to do it justice. Today Ella joined some other children at their "work" on the playgound. They work for a tree.

Yesterday I pulled into the parking lot as Ella's class was filing out the front door. The monarch had emerged from his chrysalis at snacktime and was taken outside. They read a book about butterfly metamorphosis and then went back inside. Back outside an hour later, they saw the butterfly emerge from the butterfly house, spread it's wings, and fly as the children shouted their best wishes for a safe journey.

I know that it is hard to be five, but don't you just wish for a moment that you could work for a tree, study rainbows all morning, and have science unfold itself in front of you like the wet wings of a butterfly.

thinking about myself

Sometimes I can get things done. Sometimes not. I am going to just take it as a compliment that John thinks that I can stain our decks this week while he is at work. While taking care of a twenty five month old boy.

singer

singer, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Part of the whole oya baka dilemma is not buying the children everything in the whole wide world. Then again, Santa Claus is starting to make his lists, and this will be under the tree.

Marble Run

After saving for quite a while Ella finally got to go to the toystore and get a marble run. We got the Haba one because all the blocks can be moved around quickly--lots of experiments. If you are local and haven't been to the new toystore at the old train station send me an email and I'll give you directions. They sell environmentally friendly wooden toys and cooperative games. I fear they won't survive.

She has been playing with the marble run nonstop and already wants more pieces. We brought in our big basket of wooden blocks to add to the building process so she can build castles and cities with a moving component. Even John has been propping up the "running" blocks and sliding marbles down them. I put some more components on the Froogle Wishlist for the holidays if you are a friend or relation with my littles on your shopping list. All in all, it is a toy I can recommend without reservations. I think that means that the grownups in our family like to play with it too.

seuss and seuss

seuss and seuss, originally uploaded by ellajohn

Friday was Ella's twenty fifth day of kindergarden. She is getting more confident about her long days there but is still quite happy to see us at the end of the day. She seems to be exploding with language. In five short weeks she has mastered the ASL alphabet as well as many new signs. I was thinking how interesting it must be to be approaching spelling from three directions. Phonetic spelling, fingerspelling, and a few sight words in Spanish.

I know I haven't talked much about her new school apart from her nervousness about being alone there. Perhaps I'm still thinking about how going to an alternative school is going to change her in comparison to the public school. Everyone packs their lunch, so she won't be experiencing cafeteria food. Some of her friends in other schools are experimenting with "steak and gravy" and elementary school spaghetti. Even I remember the steamy smells on spaghetti day. The puffy noodles with the bland meaty sauce. Ella will never have to change for gym or take a shower in front of other kids as a middle schooler. I'm sure there are many other differences that I haven't even thought of yet. For now she is grappling with her newfound reading skills. Suddenly she can write words, rhyming words. I have to slow her down. Today she was plowing through a workbook and worrying about getting her homework done, but it isn't due until next friday and she has already started it. I'm trying to get her to bed by seven thirty each night and keep her schedule predictable. She is playing outside at school for two hours a day, thirty minutes in the morning, an hour at lunch, and a half hour at snacktime. By dinnertime she is exhausted.

Friday afternoon I picked her up and went to a woodland park in the nearby national forest. The leaves are just starting to change and the air was cooler and misty. We found green and red acorns and saw lots of wildlife. Three deer were on the trail, and Ella and her friend walked so close to them that Ella was afraid. We saw a salamander, several turtles, frogs, and a dead snake hanging in a tree. Little John walked all the way around the pond, two hours.

Today may be the last day of summer, but it seems that fall is already upon us. Ella's birthday is in two weeks, and I know that we have long weeks of indian summer ahead of us. For now, these are the weeks of misty mornings and spider webs, slanty light and red trees, warm days and chilly mountain nights.

.

pink vanilla play dough

The girls are playing tomorrow afternoon, so I cooked them up some pink vanilla playdough.

4 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
4 cups of water
4 tbsp oil
1/2 cup cream of tartar

Mix in a large pan on medium heat, stirring until glossy not sticky. Let cool and store in a container or plastic bag. I added some vegetable dye and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. It is lovely to knead while it is still warm.

to the moon seven times plus infinity

school, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

We have had two successful school days. I picked her up every day last week in an attempt to calm her fears about the afternoons on the playground. She arrives home happy but later suggests that she may have to throw up at school tomorrow and would I be able to pick her up if this happens? I'm noncommital, and she moves on to other thoughts.

My mother called with more factual information about my first days at school. I knew she would feel guilty that I thought that I was being kidnapped--thirty six years ago. Apparently I had survived some sort of orientation that involved being wrenched from my mother in a cafeteria and taken to the kindergarden class screaming. Then on the first day of school the kindergarden teacher met us at the elementary school and rode with us to the annex. I must have thought that she was in on the kidnapping conspiracy.

To be honest, I loved kindergarden. I was the smallest and always got to sit on the teacher's lap during story time. I remember playing kitchen and the smell of modelling clay in that room.

I'm pretty sure that Ella will feel the same way. She woke me up very early on saturday morning to whisper Spanish words to me.

Every morning in her classroom we write her a reminder of who will be picking her up in the afternoon and at what time. We draw a clock with the pickup time, and I write her some huge declaration of love. She probably shows her friends thinking that she has more love than they do. At five, everything is compared. She likes it when I make it into a math problem. I love you to the moon seven times plus infinity.

bristol

Back in early spring John and I got out some notebook paper and sketched out all the things we wanted to do during the summer. The budget was pretty tight, so we choose some camping and some music festivals in our area. This past weekend was our last festival of the summer, and it was a really nice way to launch us into fall. We went to the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion in Bristol, Virginia. Well, one side of the main street is in Virginia and the other side is in Tennessee. Anyhow, this past weekend State Street was well loaded with bluegrass and old time bands, cowboy boots, and hipster north carolina boys. I don't know if they were really from north carolina, in my mind they were, with their artfully messy hair and carefully selected green t-shirts. Finally, I saw the Everybodyfields... Outside at sunset with thousands of bats swirling in the sky like an undulating bat roller coaster. It was fantastic even with a thirty pound man strapped to my chest.

We had a tremendously cheap hotel room, so cheap that the nonsmoking room smelled like a dancehall, but we had loads of fun.

appalachia rising

dungarees, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

One of my favorites from the festival is a little outside the traditional.

"We like a good bit of hootanany and hoedowns that tickle the gizzards way down to their sultry inner depths...little bit of good boot stompin' fiddle banjo/tunes passed down along the way...what tunes we can carry on long journeys we do- and travel frequently in old dusty backpacks and vagabond hammocks, throwing out a hitch hickers thumb as often as possible..." -Leah.

Freak-Folk-Soul from the South... Sisters Leah and Chloe Smith grew up from the hood to the hollar'. In the streets of urban Atlanta's musical revolution and in the bosom of the Southern Appalachian music renaissance. Born to a fiddlin’ mother and a folk-sculpting father, they were raised with old-time mountain melodies as their lullabies. But, having also grown up immersed in the underground hip hop and spoken word movements of the urban South, Rising Appalachia stays true to their deep love of lyricism, hip hop, jazz, blues, soul, funk, indie-folk, and roots music from around the world. Rising Appalachia’s eerie banjo originals, gritty lyrics and effortless sister harmonies are compared to that of Ani Difranco, Jill Scott, and even Bjork. Touring again as a duo hear Rising Appalachia carnival folk approach to a beautiful old tradition.

ella::paramount theatre::brisol, tennessee

ella::paramount theatre::brisol, tennessee, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ella::bear

ella::bear, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

state street, bristol

state street, bristol, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ice::cream

ice::cream, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

bear meets turtle

bear meets turtle, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

lamby vest

lamby vest, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

monarch metamorphosis

Time elapse photography of a monarch metamorphosis. Ella's class has one of the their table, and yesterday it formed its chrysalis during school.

because I need you all the time

It isn't as bad as Juniper. Ella skipped into preschool and never looked back, and I think that is what makes her fears of kindergarden harder to work through. I think that she misses the kindness of preschool.

In the evening when she is tired she starts talking about how scared she is at school. Apparently she is scared every minute that I am not there, but then again I know that she is often playing and working happily.

On my first day of kindergarden I caught the bus, but no one ever told me that I was going to get off of this bus at the big school and take another bus to the smaller kindergarden and first grade annex. I thought that I was being kidnapped, and that I would never get home again. I was wearing a navy blue and red plaid dress with an itchy lace collar. I wonder how many days it took me to realize that I was safe

poop talk

John pooped in the toilet twice yesterday. He asked to be put on the adult toilet instead of the little one. Voila!

late night cooking

I need some new lunch inspirations for lunch boxes around here. Maybe I'll go back to scouring the archives of Vegan Lunchbox. Tonight I cooked some spinach tortellini and made hummus with smoked paprika, roasted cumin, and parsely.

Ella has had a hard time with the long days at school lately and doesn't want me to leave her. She also wants me to pick her up the instant that school is over. They usually have a half hour to play outside, but she has been afraid of this afterschool play time. When we are carpooling our neighbors pick her up at three thirty some days and four o'clock two days a week, and she has been having a hard time with that. For the past two days I've been going to school and staying with her while she plays. They have adequate supervision and most of her class is there. She is contemplating dropping out or going back to preschool. All because she misses me. After two years as the big bossy preschooler she is little again.

heart sutra

Avalokiteshavara Bodhisattva,
practicing deep Prajna Paramita,
clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty,
transforming anguish and distress.
Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness,
emptiness no other than form;
form is eactly emptiness,
emptiness exactly form;
sensation, perception, formulation, consciousness are also like this.
Shariputra, all things are essentially empty-
not born, not destroyed;not stained, not pure; without loss, without gain.
Therefore in emptiness there is no form,
no sensation, perception, formulation, consciousness;
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind,
no color, sounds, scent, taste, touch, thought;
no seeing and so on to no thinking
no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance,
and so on to no old age and death
and also no ending of old age and death;
no anguish, no cause of anguish,
cessation, path, no wisdom and no attainment.
Since there is nothing to attain,
the Bodhisattva lives by Prajna Paramita
with no hindrance in the mind; no hindrance
and therefore no fear;
far beyond delusive thinking,
right here is Nirvana.
All Buddhas of past, present, and future
live byPrajna Paramita
attaining Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
Therefore know that Prajna Paramita
is the great sacred mantra, the great vivid mantra,
the unsurpassed mantra, the supreme mantra
which completely removes all anguish.
This is truth not mere formality.
Therefore set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra,
set forth this mantra and proclaim:
Gate gate paragate parasamgate*Bodhi svaha!


Translated by Diasetz Suzuki as "Gone, Gone, gone to the other shore, landed at the other shore."

Sometimes when you are looking for a new mantra you find it in the drawer of your bedside table where you put it eight years ago.

ballet

girls, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Ella started her new ballet class tonight, but in even bigger news she really started reading. She has been sounding out words for a while, but I don't think she believed that she could read. Fox in Socks. Box, socks, Who sews crow's clothes? Sue sews crows clothes. Slow Joe Crow sews whose clothes? Sue clothes.

See what eleven days of kindergarden can do.

toadstools

toadstools, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I heart these.

week::end

The kids were asleep at six fifty five tonight. Willingly. Yesterday we went to the farmer's market for tomatoes and the first kale of the season. I'm determined to get more greens into Ella's body, so I let her use a knife to finely chop the kale and saute it with garlic for dinner tonight. She also helped make a bumblebee pie, peach and blackberry. After the market we took the children scootering on the trail and then to the library. We dropped Ella off at her friend's house for her very first sleepover. After a few weeks of negotiating all the new faces and new rules of kindergarden I think she really enjoyed returning to the comfortable familiarity of her best alphagirl. They stayed up late, but apparently not too late. This morning they went to the Unitarian Church, something we have been planning to do for a while. She saw a friend from her kindergarden class, as well as some other's from preschool, so perhaps we can start going there more regularly.

I picked her up this morning and took both children to the natural foods market for tofu, organic oats, and tempeh. I hesitate to take both of them there because they have child sized shopping carts, and have you ever seen a two year old piloting one of those things down narrow crowded aisles? I alternate putting items in his and her car and then try to instill in them a sense of duty about getting to the cashier calmly. Along the way we gathered some little juice boxes and dried vegetables should we reach the car with decorum intact. All was well until Ella tried to divide the snacks in a numerically even fashion, and he lost patience.

John was home all weekend for the first time since our vacation, and he was feeling domestic. That or just afraid of all the spiders trying to set up housekeeping in our house. He vacuumed the whole place while I was out getting Ella, and every bit of laundry is washed, dried, and put
away. Ella has her first ballet class tomorrow evening. Lunches are packed.

pledge

I pledge allegiance to the earth of our beloved solar system
and to all her creatures,
for here they dwell
one planet united in harmony
with universal love,
and compassion for all

caity cat

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by styro.

This is my friend Cait, and she is the Mother Teresa of cats. She has been rescuing feral mama cats, taking them in for spaying and then releasing them. She also spays and neuters their kittens and finds homes for them.

Who needs a kitty? This is Maxwell Smart and he needs a family.

links for later

http://www.littleacornlearning.com/

sticks and stones

Ella has gotten some flat stones and written on them with a brown sharpie. They are for the "future people". They include all of our names and phone number as well as some drawings meant to depict the evolution of man from the apes. Information for the future people in case they have not figured this out. Later, she had to rehide these stones in our yard because she was afraid some of the neighbors might find our phone number. Top secret.

She would also like to make some lists about "what people are really like, what people really are instead of just what we already know."

Recently John picked up a copy of "Little Big Minds, Sharing Philospophy with Kids" by Marietta McCarty. From the back of the book, "Children are no strangers to cruelty and courage, to love and to loss, and in the unique book, teacher and educational consultant Marietta McCarty reveals that they are, in fact, natural philosophers. Drawing on a program that she has honed in schools around the country over the last fifteen years, Little Big Minds guides parents and educators in introducing philosophy to K-8 children in order to develop their critical thinking, deepne their appreciation for others, and brace themselves for the philosophical quandries that lurk in all of our lives, whether we are young or old."

you can't wear white after labor day...

..so we tie dyed a bunch of white clothes this past weekend. What a nice two days of crafty goodness and hanging out outside. The children all enjoyed the creek, the hot tub, and running around like banshees.

Today we were back to school and then to a kindergarden class meeting tonight. It was interesting to meet the parents of the class that could be together for quite a while if everyone hangs in there.

dive

dive, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

jerry

In the attics of my life
Full of cloudy dreams unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see
When there was no ear to hear
You sang to me

so twangy it hurts

The Everybodyfields are coming to Market 202 in Roanoke, and the big question on my mind is who is going to babysit? John B, they are also coming to your smalltown on November 8 at the Mad Hatter. That is a thursday. They are twangy, warbly alternative country songs about lost love, hometowns, and making your own whisky while you mother cries.

horned daughter

horned daughter, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

The pottery studio was closed down today after one of it's founding members slipped and fell into the mud and had to be hosed down outside before being returned to kindergarden and some fresh clothes.

bloggy dropout

Kindergarden is really cutting into my blogging time. I'm going to write about it soon. I promise. Today at recess Ella and her friends opened their own pottery studio and shop. Some carried the dirt while others transported the water. In their mouths. There was mixing, forming, and a sales area.

I'm getting up in six hours to start making the peanut butter sandwiches.

ella in dc

ella in dc, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

gwynn's tomatoes

gwynn's tomatoes, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

red.house

red.house: red.house friends

If I wasn't dreaming of living in a plain Jane white farmhouse wouldn't a red house suit me perfectly? With sunflowers.

twos

twos, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Now that the sibs are somewhat settled in kindergarden, the little guys got some quality playtime this morning. Three two year olds!

Co-Op For Littles

Here is the newspaper article about the cooperative preschool I've been involved in since last winter. I think the article leaves out a lot of pertinent information, and next time I'd like to hand him a press release. He seemed to grasp at the concept of an organic classroom, mentioned Waldorf when he was asked not to, and never mentioned that our group "hired" a lead teacher because of her qualifications and experience. The assistant teacher also has experience in several cooperative preschools. Somehow the article makes us sound like a bunch of mamas circling some wagons and starting a school...which might not be a bad idea, but he could have mentioned that some of the parents starting the school are educators. Me, I'm the director of sewing projects and in charge of researching natural toys on the internet. I'm working against Sponge Bob and the powers that be. I'm fighting the Chinese toy makers and cheap plastic in general. When my money tree starts to bear fruit, I'd love to buy an old farm and build a school that is also a working farm, a school that could integrate a natural, handmade environment with a progressive academic stance. Sustainable school. A chicken in every cubby.

ella::schoolgirl

ella::schoolgirl, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

dirt road

dirt road, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

kindergarden, night 4

Ella just tried to brush her teeth with method lavender hand wash. We are all exhausted now that she has completed four days of kindergarden.

1st day of kindergarden

1st day of kindergarden, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Ella didn't get a good night of sleep. When I woke her up she claimed to have "four hours left". Her swimmer's ear woke her up as well as the dragon dream, the same dragon dream from the night before. I know she was just anxious about going to a new school in the morning.

On the way to school she said that she had a "little throw up in her mouth but she swallowed it". Luckily she saw a friend in the parking lot and then Judy showed her where her classroom is. She knows three of the other girls and one of the boys. There are fourteen of them in the class.

I cried when I left her there, not because I was leaving her but because I'm so happy for her.

1st day of kindergarden

1st day of kindergarden, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

The Breaks

We arrived home last night after a week in the Breaks Interstate Park on the border of Virginia and Kentucky. We were car camping within sight of showers and a playground, so it wasn't really roughing it. That is, until nightfall when the padding of large feet around our tent had me unable to sleep. I heard the ranger say, "We got some bear up here. Don't worry. They just want your food". Only he said, "bear" like "burr". Burr. Then I started thinking how a bear might like to eat my tender little morsels of children.

I love to cook over the open fire and sit around the campfire at night. As far as Ella was concerned she was camping at the playground. She and her daddy played UNO on one of the stone overlooks. We went to the pool and took Ella horseback riding.

I must confess we bailed on the last night. After dark a roaring wind came up the gorge. There was a thunderstorm in the distance, and the wind was blowing small limbs out of the trees. We tried to ride it out in the car for a while and then went back to the tent. Debris was still coming down, and Ella thought that the dead tree in our campsite was going to fall down. Daddy wanted to stay and we were trying to convince her that this just wasn't going to happen. The wind is roaring and she is yelling, "You people are crazy. Dead trees fall down all the time.". We went to the motel down the moutain and slept. The thunderstorm came through. The dead tree did not fall down, and I slept in a rickety old bed with my two babies knowing that the burr was not going to get us that night.

two roads diverged in a yellow wood....

...and because we could not travel both, we have chosen the alternative kindergarden for Ella. I always thought that I would send my children to public school, that is until yesterday when a space became available at a progressive, academically rigorous primary school that starts teaching foreign language in kindergarden.

ella on the trail

ella on the trail, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

cliffs

cliffs, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

family

family, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

checking out

See you next week :: We are headed for the woods :: Campfire cooking :: Swimming pool :: Mountain :: tent camping :: new mattress :: daddy won't have to sleep on the yoga mat :: perseid meteor showers :: reconnect

clogging on main street

street dance, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

She'll dance on the sidewalk, but if you are about ninety years old and ask this little one dance, she'll clam up and pretend that she can't even walk. Some amazing dancers, grandfathers and great grandfathers, tried to clear the way for her to dance on the board tonight, but she was too shy.

We drove down to Galax this morning for the Old Fiddler's Convention. We stayed for the Folk Song competition, the Flatfooting competition, and the Bluegrass Band Competition. I'm sure the Old Time Band competition is still going on as I type, but we'd been sitting on concrete bleachers for much of the day. We took some great strolls in the parking area to see even more bands and dancing. I love that eighty year old men were telling me where to catch a hot set. It seems that all the grandaddys have a thing for Martha Spencer of The Whitetop Mountain Band.

boy::beans

boy::beans, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

clogging

clogging, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

south of the sweet tea line

south of the sweet tea line, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

bikram backyard

Wait until you go outside. There is a steaming breeze from the bowels of hell.

john turns 2

blow, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

We celebrated the little one's birthday today, just the four of us, with carrot cake and toys. He absolutely grinned when he saw the wooden garage and cars.

friends in floyd

, originally uploaded by Punk Rock Mama.

It is so fun when someone snaps a picture from a completely different angle. This is in the dance tent with the Wild Turkeys and the Hooraah Cloggers at Floyd Fest. Punk Rock Mama found us via Flickr. Clementine was clogging with the big girls.

kitchen

stove, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

http://www.threesisterstoys.com/p-121-squirrel-nutkin-wooden-play-kitchen.aspx

sparkley pink::ella is shopping

John and I are having a pajama day. Alphagirl, still with her granny and grampy, is going to a hair salon to get a haircut and then out shopping with her grandmother. A very girly day. John and I are reading books and playing train. Yesterday Ella took the train to Baltimore, and I'm looking forward to hearing about the aquarium there.

I am still stunningly sleepy. Could I really be that old and tired that four days in the woods could render me so useless? I've gotten two good nights of sleep in a row.

traveler

My big girl has gone to her grandparent's house for five nights. She left yesterday morning and my is it quiet around here. There are no leggings or cardigans on the floor. Ella's perfect weather requires leggings, a cardigan, and a sundress, but it is August, and she sheds the extra layers rapidly. I miss her. Last night when I talked to her she was eating "a cookie the size of an elephant that has so much sugar that I can see the crystals of sugar on the outside"

I spent the day playing with John and trying to extract our house from a state of squalor caused by not being at home for a few weeks. It is coming around. I cleaned out the fridge and prepared for the next big round of vegetables on tuesday. For dinner we had salad, steamed carrots, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions with vinegar, green beans cooked with fingerling potatoes, and biscuits.

comparative early childhood approaches

analysis

Toys

Seasons Natural Toys

oya baka du jour

After music camp today Ella says, "I think I"m going to need a little violin."

boot::scoot

boot::scoot, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Ella wants some boots for winter, and oh, I'm hoping this comes in the big girl size as well.

summer

summer, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

alpha::girl

Ella has been taking swimming lessons for seven days. Today she jumped off the diving board and swam to the side. I could barely believe it. "I'm not doing that again tomorrow" she said.

poet::tree

poet::tree, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

We spent three nights camping in Floyd at their annual festival, and the pictures tell most of the tale. It is stunningly gorgeous up there, the music was great, the children had an amazing time. John cried when we took the tent down. Mama and daddy, on the other hand, seldom sleep on the ground...in a tent..with people talking all around...and bands playing all around...and drumming that ends after three am. John's air mattress gave up the ghost on the first night and spent the rest of the festival sleeping on my yoga mat covered with a sheet. (His back feels so much better) We had given up the big double stroller. We have a Scion XB, and we packed it to its limit. I should have driven home for the stroller because all my bones are still aching from the hauling. We have our list of how to do it better next year, and of course it means more gear, a folding picnic table and a screened shelter.

Ella had friend's everywhere. My Flickr looks like we went to a hula hooping convention. It is amazing that she remembered so many people from last year. She talked to the same two little girls under the poet tree last year. She was a trouper in the shower, a hose coming out of a cold Floyd county well. Actually she was thrilled that we were only taking one shower in four days. I've just got to give a shout out for Kiss My Face Liquid Rock deodorant. It comes in lavender and peaceful pachouli, and it will keep you fresh for four days amid some pretty stinky hot dancing folks.

We are already excited about next year. We are headed out soon on a much more peaceful camp out at the Breaks Interstate Park. No drum circle. Just crickets.

We enjoyed completly breaking out of our routine, our comfort zone. For all the excitement, I loved having lunch in our tent in the rain, the four of us sitting in a circle around a lantern eating tempeh reubens and strange pickley potato salad.

ella

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

painted lady

painted lady, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ice cream

ice cream, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

gravity and motion

gravity and motion, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

tattoo

tattoo, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

double e

double e, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Kid's Craft Weekly

Let's Go Shopping is the theme over at Kid's Craft Weekly if the littles are feeling bored over at your house. Yours truly is the featured subscriber blog over there, so that's why these pages are feeling a bit warm today. Amber always has inspiring "make your own" ideas, creative games, and interesting shopping.

Doesn't The Little School need that Kinderkram theatre/shop? We are opening a new preschool and I've been looking for sturdy natural toys and materials to stock our room.

According to Ella a towel makes a perfect conveyor belt for getting the groceries from the cart to the cash register.

john and grace::floyd fest

john and grace::floyd fest, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

John Deere

Sometimes you just get on a tractor and end up in the paper. And Isacc's there too. Ella feel out of that hammock and her head made a clonking sound on the ground. There are many stories to tell, but for now I'm going to go sleep in an actual bed with no late night drumming.

And more here.

chickaroo

We are tiptoeing off the grid until sunday night. With nothing but nylon between us and the daily chance of showers and thunderstorms. By off the grid I merely mean no cell phones and computers. There are showers and toilets, thai food, and oyster sandwiches. And the Duhks.

I made cucumber gin gimlets:
ice
3 oz cucumber infused gin
3/4 oz rose's lime juice
cucumber slices for garnish

To make the cucumber infused gin you put two peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers in a bottle of gin for two days and then drain.

I bet Martha never had to serve these out of a purple nalgene water bottle.