“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln
Author: Diana B.
I am a wife and the mother of two beautiful adult daughters and a wonderful new son-in-law. I am a seminary student and also do some part-time freelance writing, editing and graphic design work. My interests include reading, photography, baking (mostly bread and chocolate), and studying God's Word.
The Voyage of a Tidy Little Ship
Reposting this from June 2011 in honor of Father’s Day.
This is the story of a tidy little ship that sailed on Father’s Day.
O it’s I that am the captain of a tidy little ship,
Of a ship that goes a-sailing on the pond;
And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about;
But when I’m a little older, I shall find the secret out
How to send my vessel sailing on beyond.
— from “My Ship and I” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Just Call Me Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison once said, “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
He also said, “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”
Well, prepare to be astounded, ladies and gentleman, because I took a pile of junk food and invented something that astounded myself. I say this with utmost giddiness because I’m a journalist married to an engineer and rarely get to invent much of anything except stories and an occasional logo.
Necessity breeds invention and as a transplant to Minnesota, I’m here to tell ya, s’mores are a summertime necessity. This is a cabin-crazed, bonfire-loving culture. But how does one keep the key ingredients easy to find and easy to transport from kitchen to fire pit when the fire finally reaches its s’mores-perfect status and children begin begging and drooling?
Well, please allow me to introduce…
(insert drumroll here)
The s’morganizer.
This attractive caddy holds two bags of marshmallows, a dozen Hershey bars and 27 graham cracker sheets.
Don’t worry. I doubt I’ll be seeking a patent. Technically all I did was spend $11.99 on the caddy at Target and then borrow a black Sharpie from my 10-year-old. But let me assure you I’m taking full credit for inventing the word s’morganizer.
Perhaps next year my engineer hubby will introduce the new and improved s’morganizer 2 featuring a cool way to keep the Hershey bars below 86 degrees en route to the cabin.
But until then, I should simply mention that no Hershey bars were consumed in the making of this invention or in the writing of this blog post. That, folks, is the real miracle here.
Happy s’morganizing!
So I Married a Rocket Scientist?
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… BLAST OFF!
For the Fairies of Hollow Oak
A friend of mine introduced me to fairy gardening when my oldest was still in preschool. Her neighbor, a master gardener, runs a fairy garden supply store nearby. It didn’t take much to convince this mom of two little girls that fairy gardening was an essential thing to do.
The big sister is the leading fairy expert of our family, having had two fairy-themed birthday parties. Having read many fairy poems by Cicely Mary Barker and a few books on the topic of building fairy homes adds to her expertise in this field.
Using some natural supplies imported from Oregon by a very special aunt, the big sister built this lovely fairy home at the foot of our hollow oak tree. Isn’t it darling?
My youngest daughter and I built this A-frame style fairy dwelling. I think this image was captured before she added some flowers.
Fairy gardening is so enchanting. Find a little spot and give it a whirl!
And God Made a Tulip
That husband of mine. He was headed home from a week-long trip to Russia. He had a layover in Amsterdam. And knowing how much I love tulips, he bought a box of tulip bulbs in the airport.
It wasn’t easy getting the bulbs through customs, as you might imagine. And I was delighted to receive them when he came home. In January. In Minnesota.
The box of bulbs said in big bold letters: “Plant immediately.”
In January? In Minnesota?
The box of bulbs went into the refrigerator until the week we moved. I packed up in a laundry basket full of food from the pantry. We moved. And the snow fell. And I unpacked the food and re-read the box. “Plant immediately.”
In March? In Minnesota?
The snow kept coming and piling up high. It kept coming and piling up high right through March. It kept coming and piling up high right through April, to the very end of April. And then finally I pulled out the box again.
“Plant immediately.”
In May? In Minnesota?
So we did.
And God made a tulip!
The Smell of Spring
A goldfinch rests on a branch of golden-green leaves.
A red ray petunia blooms brightly on the deck.
My frog-colored rainboots sink in the soggy bog.
It looks like spring, yes, with the bright yellows and reds and golden greens. But spring doesn’t truly smell like spring until the lilacs bloom.
For three of the past four years, my daughters and I have made an annual romp through the blooming lilac collection at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
This bud is for you, Aunt Lilac!
We adore their heavenly scent, which is why we heartily believe L is for Lilac!
We Heart Wood Ducks
We’ve been a bird-watching family for years. But two months ago we moved into a house with trees and water in the backyard. Actually it was still ice back there until April 28.
Anyway, in these new surroundings we have quickly become certified naturalists. Besides being completely captivated by wildlife and bird-watching in general, we’ve become downright overwhelmed by all things wood duck.
Our first wood duck sighting was April 17. The lake was still completely frozen, but snow was beginning to melt and pool up in between the edge of our yard and the marshy cattail area along the lakeshore.
Then it snowed some more.
And thawed. And snowed.
Again and again. And still more wood duck sightings.
One snowy afternoon a pair of wood ducks came as close as the rocks below our bird feeders. That’s just a few feet from the edge of the patio!
A few days later the snow melted again, the sun came out, and the wood ducks flocked high up into the next-door neighbors’ trees, hunting for the perfect nesting trees and basking in the late morning sunshine.
The very next day — a Saturday morning — my husband and 7-year-old woke me up with the thrilling news that the wood ducks were in the hollow oak tree just outside my bedroom window.
The early morning sunlight captured the handsome and colorful details of male wood duck as the female wood duck searched inside the tree for a good nesting spot.
Ultimately, the wood ducks opted for this newly constructed home, rather than the traditional old oak tree. I think Mrs. Wood Duck was planning ahead and preferred her ducklings have a shorter fall to the ground and a much shorter route to the lake. Makes sense.
Along with the next-door neighbors, we have been putting out corn for the ducks regularly. The price of corn adds up fast. And as the neighbor says, we might not be able to afford to send the kids college because of all the money we’ve spent feeding the ducks, but at least our kids can say they had wood ducks!
This stump is one of the ducks’ favorite eating spots. It quickly becomes an island restaurant when spring rains cause the water to rise. Nearly every evening we watch three or four wood duck couples swim up, waddle through the cattails, and make their way over to this stump or the neighbors’ corn tray for dinner. After dinner they take a little romantic stroll through the yard in pairs and then make their way back to the water to dabble at dessert.
Once the trees leafed out, we spotted another couple up high in the tree next to our hollow oak. I doubt we’ll ever get accustomed to seeing ducks so high on a tree branch.
Then again, I don’t think we’ll ever grow tired of watching them glide through the water either.
If you’d like to learn more about these and other fascinating ducks, be sure to visit PBS.org and watch An Original DUCKumentary.
Magnolias for Mother’s Day
It’s spring, nearly Mother’s Day, and my grandma — my mother’s mother — her hair is blooming all glorious white, right along with the magnolia trees.
Dear Heaven, I give thanks to thee
For things I did not know before,
For the wisdom of maturity,
For bread, and a roof, and for one thing more,
Thanks because I still can see
The bloom on the white magnolia tree!
-from a poem by Helen Deutsch
8 Tips for a Great Kindergarten
Homeschooling Kindergarten is so much fun. And while both my Kindergarteners seem to have run off to higher grades in a blink, many of my friends are making plans to teach 5 and 6 year olds at home next fall. So here’s my two cents on Kindergarten.
1. A little structure with curriculum was helpful for me the first year of homeschooling, mostly because I didn’t have a teaching degree and didn’t feel super-confident. But don’t feel compelled to buy/use lots of curriculum for this age group. You can do wonders with a library card and a little creativity.
2. Read-aloud, read-aloud, read-aloud. Reading lots and lots of picture books (and a storybook Bible and maybe a few chapter books) out loud is most essential. Listening to written word read is a vital part of literacy. This is where the library card comes in handy. Check out audio books in the children’s section, too. These are great for car rides, younger sibling’s nap times, or times when Mom is busy elsewhere. This post about reading includes various lists of children’s books you might want to put on reserve at the library.
3. Emphasize reading not handwriting, and don’t complicate letter names and sounds with pictures of apples, bananas and cats. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is an excellent curriculum that avoids the unnecessary “B is for Banana” work. Instead, you point to the letter and say only the sound. A very dear friend/elementary school teacher used it with her children, and that’s how I first heard about this book. It worked really, really well with both my girls. We waited to start it when they were nearly 5. There’s a tad bit of handwriting included in those lessons as well; I consider that part very optional, especially at first and especially with boys. I’d suggest just doing the 10-15 minute reading lesson part and then take a break.
4. If you want to teach handwriting, too, do it at a separate time for 5-10 minutes and don’t rely on pencil and paper only. Hands-on learners seem to like to do letter handwriting lessons on Mom’s back or in a tray of salt or with finger paint or play-dough. Have fun with that; there’s plenty of time for pencil and paper later. Also, lacing cards and writing with chalk are other fun ways to work on strengthening fine motor skills for pencil-holding.
5. Do teach math. For my youngest’s Kindergarten year, we used “RightStart Math Level A.” (We’ve also used RightStart curriculum with my oldest since 1st grade and love it. Check out http://www.alabacus.com for samples and more details.) What I like best is that it is Montessori-style teaching, so it comes with lots of manipulatives and fun math games and visual reinforcements like the AL Abacus. It is really light on worksheets, which I think is wise, and it de-emphasizes counting. It stresses the importance of mental math and thinking through math problems, rather than just memorizing math facts. I personally have totally re-learned how I do math with this curriculum!
6. Go outside! Aside from reading together, almost nothing is more wonderfully memorable than time spent enjoying God’s creation with your children. Soak up the sunshine, smell the flowers and learn their names, discover what little creatures are living nearby — what they eat and where they make their homes. This is science!
7. If you do purchase a boxed curriculum like My Father’s World or Sonlight, don’t let it consume you. You are the parent and the curriculum writers are simply giving ideas. You have excellent, creative ideas, too, and you are the world’s leading expert in what your Kindergartener knows and likes and needs to learn. Don’t become a slave to any curriculum.
8. Stay flexible. Don’t feel like what you do the first year sets things in stone. As you go along, you can always change it up or combine styles or switch out what isn’t a good fit for your child’s learning style or your teaching style. Flexibility is one of the huge benefits of homeschooling.
Starlight Writer 