Faery House

Last weekend, Sophie and I built a faery house in the yard. She worked really hard on it and I think it turned out real well, considering we only used a recycled bird feeder for a base and everything else, except the doll house chair and clock were from nature.

She thought of all the ideas her self and selected the materials from our garden with little input from me. The table is a pumpkin stem from last year's jack o lantern, and the bed is a piece of bark covered in dandelion fluff with a dandelion flower for a pillow and peony petals for a blanket. I think it is just beautiful and I wanted to share it.

Spring has sprung!

Spring is here! And we are so glad. We have been so busy, cleaning, clearing clutter, and getting the gardens ready and having so much fun too.

Just in the past two weeks we have made violet jelly, made"mud people" in shovels and enjoyed each other's company. Sophie had a dental appopintment on Monday and stayedout of school, so we took advantage of the day off and visited her preschool teachers for a bit. They were so thrilled to see her and hear how well she is doing in kindergarten and that she is reading so much. Sophie was also happy to finally see them again and she even got to answer questions from the current preschool class about knidergarten. Finally, we have also removed half of the roofing from our carport and wow, what a difference it makes. There is so much more light that can come into the house now, and the whole place is brighter and cheerier. We love it. This week I have painted, I will post photos soon, also of the gardens which will be planted this weekend.

Spring Day @ the Park

Last week,(Sophie's last week of Spring Break) we went on a picnic to the park in town. It is a beautiful park and being in center of town that is unusual. There is a creek that runs through it and Sophie loves to explore it with her dad. They spent many happy days last summer doing just that, and I imagine there will be more this summer. I took this photo of Sophie among some of the hundreds of daffodils that are growing in the park.

And this one.

Here I am as a dryad. lol This is a huge tree that has been struck by lightening and is all but hollow inside. There is a huge hole all the way through it and you can look down into this space from above.

This is the beautiful old willow that we picnicked under. It reminded me of the Grandmother Willow character in Disney's Pocahontas. It was so lovely, and I gathered so many twigs that she had dropped over the winter, I am planning to make something out of them.



Sophie found this blue marble in this old tree stump. I thought it worthy of photographing.

David and Sophie having their sandwiches.

Sophie carrying the willow twigs to the car. In the distance is the bridge near the Friendship Bell where David and I held our wedding.

This is a close up of the section of the willow that made me think of the Grandmother Willow character, I could just see the wise old face in there.

Easter Delights

My grandmother has always hosted an egg hunt on Easter Sunday, for all of her grandchildren and now great grandchildren, and even a few great,great grandchildren. I took Sophie and she had a great time hunting eggs with the other children. This was her basket for the day, we sort of missed Ostara this year, so she got her basket for Easter. There was way too much candy and a purple bunny and egg trinket box that held a fairy dust necklace.






















The smile says it all, I think.


















This is the candy Easter basket grass that I found. I was looking for an alternative to the plastic yucky stuff, and I didn't start wheat grass in time, and I came across this at the grocery store. It is imported from Germany, its basically corn and potato starch and its sugar free. Tasted like banana and strawberry. Kind of weird, but the kids liked it and it was very eco friendly.














Thinking hard about where those eggs are hidden.














Very absorbed in the task.














The egg booty-plastic eggs with coins and candy in them.














"Can I eat this chocolate one, mom?"














And afterwards, back home, in her new dress, she played in the freshly tilled garden dirt. LOL














When I asked what she was doing in the garden in her dress, she said, "I'm planting the garden" ~well, duh! LOL

Eggs, eggs, eggs

Today while we were gone to the flea market, Emily helped Sophie and her cousin Becca to dye eggs for Easter. They had a really good time using only regular old food coloring. The eggs turned out beautifully.
Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Gnome sightings and other spring-y things

This little fella was spotted under the bird feeder, I believe he is a guardian of the winged ones. With three cats in the house with spring fever, he is very much in demand.














My little nature child. She spent most of today creating elaborate soups and salads from the various wild growing things.














Our garden beds all ready for planting!!! Yeah!!!














Beautiful pear tree blossoms, unfortunately there are so few on this ancient pear tree it doesn't produce fruit any longer.














My beloved comfrey plant reaching for the spring sunshine.

Trillium, I believe, growing wild on the bank behind the house.

Oh lovely, lovely spring, we are so glad you are here.

Mother Earth has awoke

Even Katy feels the call of Mother Earth....she spends a lot of time lying on the porch gazing at the yard and watching the birds and bees.

The beautiful Eastern Redbud that we planted at Sophie's Blessing Ceremony four years ago has gorgeous purple blooms on it now. She is so proud of "her" tree.

Welcome Spring!!!

Spring at the Park

Today my little one, Sophie and I went to the park. She has been waiting patiently for the rains to end so we could go. Today was a splendid, sunny day and we took full advantage of it. First going to the library storytime and then to the park after lunch.

Sophie enjoyed finding the first violet of spring and some of the first toadstools too. Being the little Earth Child that she is, she got down and dirty in her investigation of these new spring arrivals.

There was also what she decided was a little mouse's hole or maybe a gnome's in a tree. She knocked and called "is anyone home?" But we got no answer, so we decided the owner must be out for a spring walk too.

She also made time to enjoy some sand play with some other children and goofing at the top of the slide, and contemplating the universe on her own.