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A little peak at one of the family bouquets I’ve been working on.... it’s almost done and I can’t wait to start the next one! Can you spot the daisies? Those are April’s birth month flower... joyful, friendly, easy to grow and loved by all the pollinators. They are so cheerful and grow almost every where in some variety. I love the way most of the Mommas I’ve talked about this with are always amazed at how beautifully the flower fits with the personality of the family members. Happy Birthday April Babies 🎂🌼
Today marks 14 days of our quarantine, but nothing will change for us. We will still be staying home, working on our craft project and making space and improvements for the next person to love this little house. We’ll keep walking the same path through our neighborhood... remembering funny stories about our special community. We live in a neighborhood where the average age has been 60 and up for the last decade or more. It’s changing now, as all things do. But we remember all the dear sweet souls who’ve shared their stories and time with us over the years. I’m heartsick at times to leave this community that sometimes makes me crazy, but always makes me feel loved and cared for. I can’t imagine living somewhere else at a time like this. One of our favorite neighbors has been sitting on his porch playing guitar for everyone as we walk our 5th lap around the block. We have a neighbor who can’t leave her house under normal circumstances and daily her next door neighbor of 30 years taps on her window and they smile at each other. “Just checking in” she says. This community was devastated in the 2010 flood, there’s a famous neighborhood story about Ms Terry, the rescue boat came to her second floor window and she told them to go on and help someone else... “I’ve got a bottle of wine and a box of crackers, I’m fine”, they convinced her to go with them. She used to give out boxes of fortune cookies at Halloween, whole big boxes. She was amazing. There’s new young couple in her house now. I just don’t see them living up to peoples Halloween expectations. For all of you running into situations where people and communities aren’t taking this seriously, or where people are hoarding and behaving badly, there are still good neighbors, still communities taking it very seriously. We will get through this, this too shall pass. You know all the catchy one liners too. My favorite one is “Look for the helpers” and we all know Mr Rogers said it. I live in a community surrounded by helpers, most of them draw social security and don’t know what Instagram is, but they are helping. Staying home, loving their neighbors, and walking 6ft apart. ❤️
Well... this social distancing is kinda catching us at a strange time. We are in the middle of staging our house so we can move out of state soon. All our craft supplies are packed up and in storage... most of Dellas legos and all our none essential books are packed away too. Della was feeling a little blah today since so many things we would normally have to do are not options right now. So we took an extra long nature walk around our neighborhood... which prompted wildflower picking... which of course lead to an afternoon of wildflower portraits. Completely free fun... no glitter all over the house and her little creative heart is content. So often we think we need all the “bells and whistles” to entertain our kids... rocks, sticks and flowers have always lead to more creativity and fun than any toy or art supply I’ve ever purchased for Della. Throw in some mud and moss and it’s almost more fun than they can handle. Swipe to see her favorite portrait🌸🌼🌺
Sunshine Scones.... named by Della age 5: 3 1/2Cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter, frozen and grated 1 cup coconut milk, full fat. You could also use heavy cream but I never have any. 1 teaspoon vanilla Zest of two medium sized oranges Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl. In the measuring cup mix the orange zest, coconut milk and vanilla together and set aside. Using a pastry cutter, or 2 forks or clean fingers add the grated butter to the flour mixture until crumbly. Don’t over mix this part! Next add the liquid and stir until a dough forms. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead just until it comes together... form dough into 2 disks and cut each into eighths. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes... they should be golden but not brown. Let them cool and make the glaze. Glaze: Juice of the 2 oranges, and about 1 cup powdered sugar maybe more...I usually measure this part. It should coat the back of a spoon and be light orange. Whisk together and drizzle onto cooled scones. Let the glaze set and enjoy with tea and a few chapters of Black Beauty... which was what we were reading when we first made them. Happy distancing everyone! 💛
St Patrick’s Day is pretty special in our house, because it marks the last day Della attended school outside of our home. There was an incident with a leprechaun and we’ve been homeschooling ever since. I remember how those first few months felt completely overwhelming and hard. I know so many of you are finding yourselves in the same situation right now. I don’t have a secret to share after 7 years of having Della home full time. There is no curriculum that will make this all come together perfectly. There is nothing special about me that makes me a more qualified homeschool mom than you... it’s just about loving our kids, putting them in the way of things worth observing, and being willing to abandon our plans for what works best for their learning styles. Our days are not usually spent at home like this. I pray this time doesn’t give you a warped idea of what homeschool is. It’s beautiful, it’s messy, it’s usually busy...we cry (me, usually while reading aloud) and we laugh a lot. We spend a lot of time baking, we spend even more time on creative pursuits. We hike, we garden, we forgive and show grace because we all get grumpy. I know there will probably be some gaps in her education, and guess what there will probably be some gaps in your kids private/public school education too. Because we are all created differently, we all have our favorites that we are willing to spend more time on. Della will read about history All.Day.Long and be really happy about it. She will also probably roll her eyes at me today when she’s given copy work to do... even though she has done it everyday for 6 years... she’s just not a fan! I would highly recommend getting two books, Brave Learner by @juliebravewriter and The Call of The Wild and Free by @ainsl3y , founder of @wildandfree.co which is an awesome place to snoop around if you’re curious. My only real advice is that when concepts or attitudes are difficult our motto has always been “come back after teatime”, somehow everything is always better after a snack. I pray you all enjoy this time together. Take walks, take a break, give yourselves loads of grace❤☘️
This week has been hard... our beautiful and bustling city was ripped apart. But like Nashville always does... it’s coming together to heal, rebuild and move forward. Thank you to all of you who checked on us. We were among the lucky ones with no damage to our area. Let’s all hold this tragedy as a reminder to hug longer and tighter, speak love to our people, and be kind to our neighbors... life is short and the future is not ours to know... but God, he holds all things together.
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