Restoration Place

Friday Brain Dump

:: Messy but thriving...we put this new garden in late and very hastily. We wanted to increase the size of this year's garden (and change the location), more than quadrupling it from last year's tiny postage-stamp plot. It is approximately 20 x 10 feet. It's not pretty, but it is full of the herbs and vegetables we love. I'm just glad we got it in at all this year.

:: My 14-year-old is visiting extended family for two weeks in Tennessee and Illinois. I'm happy for her, but miss her very much.

:: Current read alouds: Cheaper by the Dozen and Pippi Longstocking. I meant to begin Kim as we never go to it during the homeschool year, but feel like sticking with lighthearted books for the time being.

:: Tidy and pretty...happy with how this bed turned out this year. Maggie (14) planted the impatiens and set in the three bumblebee stepping stones behind them. The back half of the bed needs serious pruning/transplanting.  Maybe next year.

:: The three younger children are immersed in the Redwall series (can't make the link to work).

Ben (7) doesn't have the reading skills for these books yet, but the older ones read aloud to him sections and tell him about the characters.

:: There are many butterflies but no honeybees on our property. This worries me. I haven't seen even one.

:: Karl surprised me with a small chicken tractor/coop for Mother's Day. A friend offered to bring us four of her Buff Orpingtons when we're ready. I've wanted chickens for years, but now that the time has come I'm envisioning waking up to chicken carnage.

 :: I'm so glad we invested in a pool last summer (above ground). The children are swimming at least a couple of hours each day and I very much enjoy sitting and reading or watering the flowers while watching them.

:: We recently hosted out-of-town family and friends for 11 days. It was fun but exhausting. One of the visitors was my precious 5-month-old niece. It was delightful having a baby in the house again!

:: Pondering how to create more margin for myself during the coming homeschool year.

 

And Now it's July

Well, hello dormant blog! I have been wondering if I could resurrect the motivation I used to have for blogging in our pre-relocation days and I haven't felt any sparkly feelings so I'm not sure what to do with Restoration Place.

But my family very much enjoys visiting the blog and looking at who we have become over the last few years. My, how the children have grown! They are now 14, 12, 10 and 7.  I am in shock that I am a mother to a teenager (!) and that my youngest is already 7.

 

Recording such changes and sharing our lives in this place used to bring me joy. But I have become so very, very busy with our family and all it takes to simply maintain our daily lives I haven't been able to create (or steal) the time or desire to blog.  But now it is summer. Home education full-time has dropped off the radar and I am taking time to simply be. I want very much to be and to see...to take all the joy in these moments.

Double Rainbow

An early evening walk, with a thunderstorm rolling in. I wasn't really up for it (tired from the day, planning and packing for an out-of-town trip, and every other acceptable excuse) but was so glad we pressed on and experienced this wonder.

What We're Up to Lately

I finally got my camera back after sending it away to be repaired, so that means I can blog again. Because I simply can't blog without photos. I will try very hard not to drop my camera in the ice rink parking lot again.

Our small garden is producing nicely, now...

 

 and that made for a late morning snack today.

 

We are inundated with butterflies, and having fun photographing and identifying them. It's fun when they perch on your hand and probe your skin for something tasty...

 

Here, two of them flitted around the open butterfly identification guide. Can you see where one landed right on the page? Look closely at (or click on) the second photo, lower right hand corner. These are some sort of Crescentspot, maybe a Gorgone. Butterfly identification can be tricky!

 

We're making scones. These are blueberry and they were heavenly...

 

Exploring interesting things growing on the property, and trying to avoid the rampant poison ivy...

 

Rediscovering favorite games when it's just too hot to play outside...

 

Reading. Lots. Maggie, Jacob, and I are working our way through The Tripods...

Mailbox Wren

Actually, she's a newspaper box wren, and she was very insistent about this particular nest location.

 

 

I discouraged her at first, pulling out the bits of moss, dried leaves, and twigs for a couple of days. Then one day I was away from the house for most of the day. That evening, when I checked the newspaper box, I found this:

 

 

 

I didn't have the heart to interfere with the carefully crafted, dense, tunnel-like nest. After all, she might be ready to lay her eggs, and I know just what it is like to be close to delivery and just barely having one's nest prepared.

The newspaper delivery man must have seen the nest because he has kindly bagged our newspaper each day, whether it was raining or not, and deposited it on the ground under the mailbox.

 

 

Isn't that kind?