Without Words

It's still hard to believe.

Phil & his students (including Noah) taking off for a balloon ride...

On Saturday we lost a great friend, colleague, Noah's former class teacher, a father to three girls, husband, musician, storyteller, 2nd grade class teacher...

Phil suffered a serious medical event at school on Thursday, his 44th birthday. He never recovered. 

Two years ago, when Noah wanted to be Jimi Hendrix for Halloween at school, I wasn't sure if it would be an okay costume for a school event. Phil was not only fine with it, but in fact let Noah use his Jimi Hendrix hat. This year Noah once again wanted to be Jimi for Halloween in high school. Phil brought the hat to my classroom Thursday morning...

For Noah's 8th Grade Commencement, I had ordered him a tie. It didn't come in the mail in time.Phil always brought ties for the boys to wear to assemblies. I asked him if he could bring a tie for Noah. He did. After the event Noah wanted to give it back to him. He told him to keep it... 

He was an amazing human being.

We are just devastated. 

There You Go!

I feel like the universe just keeps dumping crap on me.
I'm just so sick of everything.

And I'm tired of hearing, "It will get better."
I've been hoping for that & it's just getting worse.

There's my Ughhh Tuesday post.

Thanksgiving ~ Retro Rosie Shawl Giveaway

Just a tiny way to give thanks... from our house to yours!

This pattern has always had a Retro feel to me. The yarn is a 100%Merino in reds & purples. The shawl is 56" from tip-to-tip and 25" from top to bottom-tip. I had a very hard time taking a nice picture. I suppose it will remain a bit of a "mystery giveaway." (A Thanksgiving giveaway with a Halloween feel to it. How about that?)

The Giveaway will be open 'til
Thanksgiving Day, November 24th, 2011.

The usual Giveaway procedures: An entry for leaving a comment. An entry for following the blog. An entry for blogging about it. Please leave separate comments. Please make it easy for me to get in touch with you. Thanks. Good luck!

The Green Dress

What I really need to do is block all the shawls that have been coming off my needles these past few weeks & months, but this procrastinator has completed somethin' for Christmas in October! Voila...

 

Rasmilla's Elvira in Swan's Island.

One skein from my stash. 

I basically just knit til I ran out of yarn - or pretty close to it.

Nice dress for now - tunic for later.

I loved this pattern oh-so-very-much. She's such a funny girl!

Just Like Her?!

It is apparent that Nuriel looks nothing like me. I have curly brown hair & brown eyes. My grandfather was African-American & my skin tone reflects that. Nuriel has blond hair, blue eyes & she's rather fair. 

At one point during the postpartum period my midwife said that she looks like her Dad, but that Nuriel might reveal more of my inner qualities as she grows up. I always wondered about that...

Today a very young child said, "Nuriel looks just like her Mama." I had to laugh at first, because physically we don't look alike at all, but as I reflected more I thought about what my midwife had said. Children are still so much closer to the spiritual world. I think that very young child wasn't talking so much about the physical plane, but the spiritual one. 

Of course that poses more questions. What does it mean that we are alike? Nuriel can be quite intense! :-)

Richmond Folk Fest

 We had a nice evening at the Richmond Folk Festival last night. The wonderful Celtic folk music put Nuriel to sleep for a nap & when she woke up, she was jamming in the Egro, loving the Reggae.

Any halfway health-conscious person would be appalled at the idea of eating deep-fried Oreos. Noah & Nathan pleaded and begged. (Not for long!) We probably consumed our weekly nutritional need of fat in just one Oreo, but I have to say, they were pretty good. (We're having veggie soup for dinner today!)

Isn't this just hilarious? It had me laughing for sure. It's an Art180 project on display at the fest.

The Days In Pictures

A drawing by the artistically-challenged Waldorf teacher - Take one.

And two. (Not sure why this is so blurry.)

 Gifts for the Gods by 4th graders.

Iduna by a 4th grader.

Skadi by a 4th grader.

Making Mead with my students using kefir grains.

Nathan made yummy apple-pie. Nuriel is ready to eat. 

(She has her very own blog now. Since I mostly blog about Nuriel anyhow - Noah & Nathan don't like me blogging about them - I might shut this blog down and just try to keep hers up as a "baby book" kinda thing. We'll see.)

Another one from the State Fair. Crawl-away baby. She had so much fun. There was no way I could have kept her strapped into the stroller.

Lovin' to play with leaves & dirt & such.

October Already!

Hard to believe. I suppose time to give the blogging world a sign that we are indeed alive. It's Virginia State Fair Time & of course we had to make some entries given the success last year. I won two third place ribbons this year, one for the green Icarus Shawl & one for Nuriel's Boheme.

Nathan won a red ribbon (2nd place) at the Horse Art Competition. It's an awesome drawing. He is rather unhappy with 2nd place, though...

... which brings us to Zeus & Athena. This crayon/pencil drawing did get him a first place, blue ribbon. Yay!

I took a picture of this awesome cake from the Youth Baking Competition, also at the State Fair. What a great cake idea, huh? 

This was Nuriel's seond State Fair, and her first time in a stroller! (Yup, you read that right!) The girl is getting too heavy for the Ergo. She did enjoy the ride for the most part, especially when she had an Elephant Ear to munch on! 

She also likes to push her face against the hallway/dining-room French door. 

I'll try to have another update soon. I just wrapped up a 4th grade Norse Mythology block & I do need to blog about that! Life is just so busy - always...