What a perfect activity for a seven year old (or a twelve year old, a 25 year old, a 45 year old or a 72 year old!) I love that origami teaches Little Mr. B. the skill of carefully reading & following detailed, step-by-step instructions -- the same skill he learns when following instructions for putting together a Lego set. Except that, at the end of a Lego project, he ends up with a big, plastic piece of junk, while when he completes an origami project, he ends up with a lovely bit of paper-art (Me? Biased against Legos? No, not me!)
Mama & baby owls...
Papa & baby hedgehogs...
And a little, purple bat!
The other morning Little Mr. B. asked why he had no clothes in his bureau drawers. My response was, "Because all our clothes are in those 3 large laundry baskets sitting on the family room floor." Little Mr. B. asked why I hadn't folded all that laundry. When I informed him that I'm just too busy, he said he might fold it(?!) Well, that was 4 days ago.
This morning I woke up to find seashells scattered beneath me across the sheets. Had mermaids swum to my bedside secretly in the night to whisper songs of the sea in my ear as I lay sleeping?
Courtesy of a swap dreamed up by Nicole over at Gardenmama, stones from afar have been arriving in my mailbox.
Wrapped in pretty paper & tied with colorful string (sometimes accompanied by a poem) each adorned stone is unique and lovely. Sweet Baby helped me open the little packages which arrived Saturday...
This beautiful stone was sent to me from Massachusetts by Nicole of Gardenmama...
She adorned the other side of the stone, too...
This soft wool-felted stone (accompanied by an Emily Dickinson poem) was sent to me from Louisiana by Rachel of Woolgypsy...
This magical, two-tone, beaded stone was sent to me all the way from Australia by Shannon of Rhythm & Rhyme ...
I'm fascinated & charmed by the little golden-wire swirls on the flip-side of this stone (definitely a "thinking-outside-the-box" stone...)
And finally, this stone came to me from Valaries garden in Tennessee (her blog is A Place Like This...)
"They look like a nice family, but I'm not sure I belong here... Maybe if I stop drooling they'll let me really be in the photo. Meanwhile, I wish that kid in the red shirt would stop using me as a sofa cushion." Yes, this really is an unfortunate photo. And, no, this particular photo will *not* be featured on our holiday card.
After taking some "proper" photos, we got silly and started rolling around on the floor...
Hey, little baby, please let go of those (fragile & expensive) wire frame glasses...
Ouch...
"Hey, where are you going? Come back!"
"How did I get stuck up here, suspended at the top of this photo? Could someone please get me down?"
If I Were a Featherbed
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Another favorite lullaby...
Here's a link in case you want to hear some of the melody...
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. -- Dr. Seuss
Besides eating apples & honey, it's traditional to prepare sweet dishes with apples. I was visiting Little Green Bums the other day and discovered her link to a recipe for apple cake over at The Inadvertent Farmer. I can't wait to try it...
Last week we celebrated Rosh Hashanah -- the Jewish New Year. One of our favorite rituals associated with this holiday is called "Tashlich" which means "casting off" in Hebrew.
Tashlich is thought to have originated during the Middle Ages inspired by a verse attributed to the prophet Micah:
To perform the ritual of Tashlich, one symbolically casts off one's wrong-doings or transgressions of the previous year by tossing bread crumbs into a body of water. As the bread crumbs are carried away (or eaten by fish) one's sins are symbolically cast away, giving the opportunity for a fresh start in the New Year.
My husband and I first observed Tashlich together in 2001, the week after 9/11. The world had suddenly become sadder and scarier. As we performed Tashlich, I looked out and saw sea lions on the rocks 20 yards from shore. They were peaceful basking in the bleak Autumn sun. The world had changed for us, but it had not changed for them, and that was comforting.
This year we performed Tashlich at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve -- a tide pool wonderland where, if you look carefully, you can find turban snails & hermit crabs, star fish & sea anemone, sea cucumbers, several types of small fish (the names of which escape me at the moment...) and beautiful sea lions basking nearby on the rocks.
As you can see in the photos, we do not have "sunshine & palm tree" type beaches in Northern California (if you want sunshine and palm trees, you'd best head for Southern California, Hawaii or Florida...) Around here, we bundle up in pull-overs & hats when we head to the beach. Our beaches are gray, blustery and cold -- with those soulful-eyed sea lions who just might be related to the selkies of Ireland...
A few years ago I was doing some research about Tashlich and stumbled on this sweet story called "Breadcrumbs & Magic." Maybe it will inspire you to head to your local beach (or body of water) for a bit of spiritual cleansing. Either way, I wish you Shana Tova -- a Good Year, a Sweet Year.
