What's In My Teapot?

The splendors of July are in full force and I am delighted by it all as though it were my first summer ever in one of the loveliest spots on earth (so call me prejudice!) There are so many things about this time of year that make me happy, from fresh blueberries, green beans and watermelon, to barefoot children and fireflies, that sometimes I get a hoarding instinct. How can I get the most out of this summer? I ask myself. How can I make the summer last longer? And yet, I know even before the questions take shape that the point is mute and that the best way to make the most of anything is to notice and participate in the simple pleasures and opportunities that are right in front of me... Blueberries on my yogurt. A bike ride on Rails to Trails. Extra reading with the children to fulfill their Summer Reading Challenges Morning walks with my sister. Muddy shoes in the green bean patch. A cup of tea at bedtime (Yes! Even in summer!) Fresh bouquets from the herb gar...

This last day of June is special, for we have finally come to the point of discovering who all has joined this month's reading challenge ... And you get to see what I planned for our giveaway!!! Ready? Here it is: Two pillows, all  ready and waiting  to go to a good home!!! I sewed them just yesterday  (with a little help from this tutorial ) and  while I am introducing them, let me tell you about a few features: Number one, they are four-way-pillows!!! In other words, I have designed them so that they can be displayed four different ways: 1. With the yellow chevron and the birds... 2. with the black print and the birds,,, 3. with the yellow chevron and the black print... 4. with both pillows showing the birds... And secondly, the pillow covers can be be removed from the pillow forms via a handy-dandy invisible zipper! This makes them very easy to take off for laundering, and also makes it so there really is no front or b...

There are two things I cannot even begin to imagine: walking for hours every day just to procure enough water for survival... being alone in the world and separated from all your family members... Both of these scenarios are played out in parallel stories in A Long Walk To Water , by Linda Sue Park. Based on a true story, this book is both vivid and moving, and while it may be written with a juvenile audience in mind, it certainly has a message worth reading for adults as well.  Reading about Salva brings this question to mind: how much can one human endure? Salva, a young boy in Southern Sudan, was in school one day when gunfire sounded nearby. It was rebel fighters, and the teacher sent his charges into bush and away from their homes, knowing that the rebels would be invading the villages. Salva fled into the bush and it would be years before he would see his family again. The hardships, losses and starvation that Salva endured while fleeing for his life ar...

Summertime seems to be the perfect time for reading challenges, so I thought I would have one on my blog, too, to spice things up for the month of June! Here's what we'll do: I will choose a book of the month, as usual, and if you read that plus one other book of your choosing , you will be eligible to enter a surprise give-away which will be hosted on the fifth Tuesday of this month!!! Sound like fun? I thought so, too! Now, for June's book of the month, I have chosen A Long Walk To Water , by Linda Sue Park. Based on a true story, this New York Times bestseller begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and...

It is said that you learn something new every day. Well, today I learned that in the language of flowers, or floriography , a peony means anger! Funny, because I am writing in a kitchen scented with peonies and the last emotion I feel toward that lovely vase of blooms on my table is anger! Nor would I consider them a good flower of choice to give to someone I was angry with, so don't get worried if I show up on your doorstep with a vase of peonies!!! So I guess it can be deduced that not all flowers speak the same language! May's book of the month,  A Memory of Violets , by Hazel Gaynor, talked a lot about flowers, and, in particular, showed the contrast between the beauty of flowers and the poverty of the flower sellers of London. I must say that this book never become a favorite. While the history in the story was interesting, and I enjoyed reading about London and the flower sellers during the Victorian Era, I like a book that I can't put down, and...

There has been a newfound freedom these early May days for the student and the teacher in our little school! Elasa is very nearly a graduate of first grade (bring on the celebratory fireworks!!!) and since we don't have to count days yet, it's just a matter of finishing up books. Reading, phonics and handwriting are done, leaving just math, and on that we are in the final light unit. My hope is to complete that as well in the next several weeks, doing several lessons a week. Maybe one of these days I will review first grade in hindsight and how it all worked for us. Until then, if you're curious about what first grade looked like at the beginning of the year, you can go to this post . You would think that with school wrapping up, I would have a whole hour or two free for reading and other luxurious pleasures, right? Well, nice thought, but not quite reality! The curious thing is that the time that I would normally be teaching gets sucked right up into other cho...

What do you get when you combine a collection of stories about life around the table with a variety of  recipes that will leave you licking your lips- if not digging deep into your own culinary skills? Why, Bread and Wine , by Shauna Niequist, of course!  Now, I am just going to tell you upfront that I am "cheating" a bit this month by picking and choosing from the handy-dandy list of questions in the book-club section at the back of the book!!! I didn't know when I chose this book that the review would come on the very day that I was giving achievement tests to nine  third graders in the morning, or that I would be faced with nine workbooks to check, or that I would be finishing the book on the day that the book review was due, or that I would not have tried a single recipe...but here  we are! Sticking to schedule, but giving myself a few breaks in the brain department while I am at it!!! Why try to come up with my own unique questions when I can have...

I struggle almost constantly with being indecisive... Put me in a fabric store, a restaurant, or in front of the computer trying to choose a quilt for my bed and I can soon turn myself into a ball of knots! Should I go with the grey or the coral?  Am I hungry for pesto linguine or the fettuccine alfredo?  Will this quilt clash with my curtains?  And don't even get me started on paint colors! There's a reason you still haven't seen my new bedroom yet, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that there's a certain yellow on the walls which I still can't decide if I like or not, and it's been about a half-a-year since it was rolled on! Now that I am choosing a book of the month, I have a whole new world of options in which to be indecisive! This month would be a prime example: I researched quite a few options on Amazon and other sources, ordered several books from the library as a result of that research, browsed through the actual library and sele...

This book was hard. Harder, even, than I expected. Hard to the point that at times it was almost agony to turn the page, and yet it would have been equal agony not to! And yet, if I thought reading it was hard, analyzing it for this review was even harder, and that was something I didn't anticipate when I chose it for March's book of the month . I tried to come up with a list of discussion questions, like I did in  January and February , but it just wasn't coming, and I think it was because of how complex and sensitive the subject matter is, as well as what I am working through with this book. And that is the horrifying clash between good and evil and the clash between the book's worldview and mine. Because of this "clash", I intend to give a few thoughts on the book, instead of a list of questions, and hope those of you who have read it will do the same! First of all, it must be said that The Auschwitz Escape is a riveting work of historical...

I spent the evening sitting on the recliner with a sick toddler and a book. I was glad for the book, but not so thankful for the bug that put Parker's temperature up to 102 degrees and made him throw up on the two of us. We've had more sickness in this house over the winter than I care to think about, and the cozy effects of the season are beginning to wear thin, but I am trying not to be dismayed.  After all, Spring is only 17 days away, give or take a few, and the earth is already tilting towards the sun to our distinct advantage. The other reason I am ashamed to complain too much is that so many people, past and present, have had more than long winter days and recurring viruses to deal with, and sometimes there's nothing like a reminder in the form of a good story to give us some perspective on life.  This, of course, brings me to the book I have chosen for March's book of the month...   The Auschwitz Escape , by Joel C. Rosenberg, is...

Oh, hi! I thought I heard someone at the door! Next time don't be afraid to use the big knocker, and if that doesn't work, you can lift the mail slot and give a holler! It's been done before and it's actually pretty effective. Do come in out of the cold and stay awhile! I know it's February and all, but when did you ever see such weather? I mean, when it got up to close to forty on Sunday, we started feeling HOT, and that's a little unreasonable! Oh, well, we're in our last week of the month and thankfully this can't last forever. I've just brewed up a pot of Lemon Lift tea , so here's a cup of that, and please help yourself to some biscotti ! Sorry about it being two weeks old, but I am discovering that biscotti has a very impressive shelf life. I've kept mine in a container on top of the fridge, but don't worry, unlike Father Tim and Cynthia, I don't have a Violet that lives up there. Only dust bunnies. (Bu...

My Mom made choosing February's Book of the Month easy for me and she did it by giving me the perfect belated birthday gift! It's not every day that you get a birthday gift in January when your birthday is in August, and it is even more rare that the gift bag holds the very thing you wanted: a brand new book by your favorite author!!! Needless to say, I was delighted! Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good , by Jan Karon, takes readers back to Mitford, which for me couldn't be more welcome! After following Father Tim to Ireland and Holly Springs , there's nothing like "home!" Since this is not my official review (that will come the fourth Tuesday of the month!), I will quote what Amazon has to say about the book: "After five hectic years of retirement from Lord’s Chapel, Father Tim Kavanagh returns with his wife, Cynthia, from a so-called pleasure trip to the land of his Irish ancestors.             While glad to be at home in Mitford, something i...

Welcome to the very first Book of the Month review!  I should say here that this is set up more as a discussion than a review and that my questions and answers are not going to make a lot of sense to you unless you have read the book! However, you may get a sense as to whether or not you would be interested in the book by reading over the discussion! Better yet, maybe your interest will even be piqued enough to read the book and enter into the discussion yourself, which would suit my purposes pretty well, come to think of it!!! For anyone who wishes to join the discussion, just leave your remarks/answers to the questions found in this post in the comment section below. I have been looking forward to talking about January's book,  The Light Between Oceans ,  and hearing what others who have joined me in reading this book have to say about it! Before we begin, however, we must set the perfect ambience for a book discussion... Picture coming in out of the...

It's a brand new year and somehow that never fails to inspire me to brand new ambitions! And mind you, ambitions are quite a different thing than resolutions!!! In the blogging and book review department, my ambitions have taken on the form of a formal (albeit unfinished) book list and some new ideas for how my book reviews are going to work out in 2015. Here's the plan: I am compiling a list of books- twelve to be exact- and I am hoping to introduce the title of a new one on the first Tuesday of the month. Then, on the fourth Tuesday I will review the Book of the Month. What about the weeks in between? Well, on the second Tuesday I will plan to review a children's book and on the third Tuesday I will do a random review on something that interests me, be that a recipe, a book of poetry, a game, something relevant to homeschooling or homemaking, or a place we have visited. And the fifth Tuesdays, you ask? Well...there is the possibility of something special for my ...