showeredwithgrace

This All Hallow's Eve ~ St. Agnes of Rome.

This weekend we had our back to school clambake ( a little late)!

We are finding reptiles everywhere.  This is our Reptile shelf.  There is so much more we'd like to put on it but it is too small. . .  I must work on that.

 

Today we experienced the apple!

Left to right:  Rome, Honeycrisp, Fuji, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Gala ~  Red Delicious and Rome were the two favorite choices of the wee crowd.   Everyone tasted a slice of each apple (commenting accordingly) and then we sorted them into separate bowls.

Afterwards we made a yummy apple pie and took turns smelling and tasting all the ingredients that went into it:  cinnamon, sugar, fresh vanilla bean, dried cherries, flour and butter.  Finally topping it with the pastry dough A's they cut out with a cookie cutter.

Good fun.

creating art with nature

Our nature walk this morning brought home lots of seed pods!  We gathered up a sampling for our nature table and created this design with them.  We marveled at the different textures of the seeds ~ ridged, fuzzy, flat and smooth, prickly, fluffy, curly. 

Sometimes I wake up and wonder . . . where have those quiet moments of reflection gone?  Once so much a part of me ~ my daily breath.   Everyday, so much . . . so many. . . close in.  I am becoming lost in the needs of Others.  It is all joy. . .  except some mornings, when I wake up and wonder . . .

The pumpkins are here.

Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom God's love committs me here,
Ever this day be at my side,
To light, to guard, to rule, and guide.

Feast of the Guardian Angels ~ today.

We love this book by Frank Asch.  Linger over the words on every page ~ reading slowly, thoughtfully.  The beauty of mutual respect and relationship come alive in this book.

Rose Red discovered another reptile in her stuffed animal collection and brought it out to add to the rest.

The Crocodile

How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,

How neatly spreads his claws,

And welcomes little fishes in,

With gently smiling jaws!

~Lewis Carroll

While the rest of the family is hard at work painting and fixing up our new home so we can move in before Thanksgiving, Rose Red is thinking reptiles and created for herself a snake out of stones.  This, of course, thrilled me and I pulled out my camera. 

Today is the feast day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus (The Little Flower).  Last year Rose Red dressed up as St. Therese for All Hallow's Eve.  This picture is from last year ~ I am posting it today in honor of the feast.

My dh was able to fix the grinder and Rose Red has been having a great time grinding up wheat this week.  I was amazed at how well the old coffee grinder worked for this.  We'll have to run it all through again to make it a bit finer though.  It is difficult for Rose Red to grind up by herself.  She only gets a few turns of the crank in at a time before she needs a break but I have to say she loves the challenge and keeps going back at it!

We just love these  books by Denise Fleming.  The illustrations are wonderful.

" Ms. Fleming creates the illustrations for her books by pouring colored cotton pulp through hand-cut stencils.  The result is a series of images set in handmade paper."

We are looking forward to discovering her other books!