bubble trouble

I usually post a list of our favorite books for the current season and, most often, they're based in a world of gentle imagination or in a wholesome farm, field or forest environment and include one or a number of spirits of nature.  I'd like of step out of that mold and talk about one of our very favorite children's publications that's just a silly and whimsical, rhyming and rollicking good read.

Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy begins with Little Mabel blowing a bubble that ensnares her baby brother and wafts him away.  She and Mother take off after him as he blows over various townspeople who join in the attempt to bring him safely down.  The story isn't much really but the ridiculous, nonsensical (and sometimes tongue tying) rhyme scheme in this book has us giggling every time.  Just read this excerpt...

...There was such a flum-a-diddle (Mabel huddled in the middle),
Canon Dapple left the chapel, followed by the chapel choir.
And the treble singer Abel threw an apple core at Mabel,
as the baby in the bubble bobbled up a little higher.

Oh, they giggled and they goggled until all their brains were boggled,
as the baby in the bubble rose above the little town.
"With the problem let us grapple," murmured kindly Canon Dapple,
"and the problem we must grapple with is bringing Baby down..."

So much fun, don't you think?  Ryan and I actually beg to be the one to read this to Naiya and she nearly knows the entire thing by heart.  (My husband is the one who encouraged me to share this gem on my blog.)  Actually, we've given this book to a number of friends and family and I'm not sure if it's the parents or the kids who enjoy it more.  Maybe it can become one of your favorites too.

powell butte nature park

A few days ago we wanted to get out of the house and so took a drive to Powell Butte Nature Park.  This is another of Portland's extinct volcanoes and, on a clear day, one can see five mountains from its peak viewpoint.  It's only 15 minutes from our house.

 We were able to view Mounts Hood, Jefferson and St. Helens on our way up the low hill.

 We did a little impromptu ice skating on the trail.

And just as we reached the top, the sun began to set...

first snow of 2012

A week ago we were wearing flip flops and bathing suits in Southern California.  Today in Portland, Oregon we had our first sprinkling of snow...

 

This is the way the snow comes down,
Upon a winter day,
But soon the golden sun comes out,
And melts it all away.

waldorf day of the week place mats

When school started, one of the items we were requested to have for our Waldorf kindergarten was a small place mat and napkin for lunchtime.  Just a few days before school began, then, I made a little mat and five napkins for my daughter and each day packed the pink fairie table setting in her basket. 

Turns out, one mat will not do. 
Three months later, that thing is disgusting, and I have to wash it at least twice during the week and hope it dries prior to lunch packing the following day.
Better, I thought, to have a mat for each day and wash them all at once at the end of the week.  I still have some of the pink fairie fabric left over but decided instead that it would be nice to use the traditional Waldorf colors for the days of the week to designate a specific setting for each day.  And while I'm putting them together, why not share the how-to with you?  (Let me just say before I begin though that sewing is not my area of expertise.  These are a little slipshod in execution...)

Monday: purple
Tuesday: red
Wednesday: yellow
Thursday: orange
Friday: green


These place mats require little in the way of materials.  They're intentionally small (about the size of a sheet of printer paper) to fit at the lunch table.  Of course, one could make regular sized mats using this same method as well.   

Each child's mat requires:
two 9"x12" pieces of fabric
one 9"x12" sheet of interfacing
matching thread
18"- 42" trim (optional - 18" if trimming only the short sides, 42" if trimming the entire mat.  The tutorial is shown trimming only the two short sides.)

Begin by washing and ironing your fabric.  Then cut the two sheets of 9"x12" fabric, one 9"x12" sheet of interfacing and (optionally) two 9" strips of trim. 

Lay down the interfacing.  On top of that lay one of the fabric sheets right side up.  If using trim, lay it along both short sides of the fabric before laying the second sheet of fabric wrong side up.

My fabric is identical on both sides.  If one is using fabric with a right and wrong side, the right sides should be facing each other with the trim in between and interfacing underneath.

Pin all four edges in place.

Hand or machine stitch around the perimeter with a 1/4" seam leaving about a 3" gap along one edge.







 

Reach in between the two layers of material (not between the material and interfacing) and pull the inside out until the mat is right side out.

Iron to press the edges flat.

Using matching thread, sew up the hole.

That's it!

I made some really plain mats and another set with the fairie panel.  All kinds of creative quilting and color combining is possible using the same basic idea.

For the fairie mats , I simply sewed two strips on either side of the printed panel, pressed them flat with an iron and put the pieces together as shown above.  Instead of sewing trim on the inside, one might also consider finishing the edges with binding tape.

Have fun!

winter in california

We're back from vacation!

This is an old photograph of my brother and me standing in the back yard on Christmas day in Southern California.  (Thanks Dad!)  I think we were about 3 and 5?  I've always loved this picture.  Partially for the color (which is better in the original but perhaps lost something in the scanning) but primarily because it's so representative of the strange (and sometimes wonderful) uni-season of the Golden State.  I grew up there.  I know it's almost always warm and ridiculously comfortable but, having lived in Oregon now for a decade, I forget about The Light in Southern California.
Man, it's beautiful.  I don't think I ever noticed it when I was there.  It's just what I always knew.  But it's so...so...(this is going to sound sort of stupid)...it's so... BRIGHT!

On this last trip we were out picking citrus on my grandfather's property.  In January.  In flip flops.

And I remembered that photograph.  And I remembered, despite the sprawl, the traffic, the excess and the haste, why people like to live there...

winter books

We've begun to put our festival books away already and I realize I never posted about all the sweet stories we read and re-read throughout the season.  There are so many that I figured I'd dedicate this post to those primarily associated with winter and not so much with specific holiday celebrations.  (Perhaps I'll back-post a "Christmas Books" list in the weeks to come.) 

One of our long-standing winter favorites is The Mitten adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett.  In this traditional Ukrainian tale, Nicki loses his white knit mitten in the snow.  The mitten is subsequently discovered by a growing number of animals who crawl inside the ever expanding weave to try to keep themselves warm on a cold winter day.  When finally a mouse crawls atop the bear's nose to snuggle in as well, the bear sneezes and the whole lot of furry friends are expelled from their makeshift shelter.
We like to re-enact this tale for puppet shows using our animals and any stray mitten or glove we find laying about.

A new addition to our winter collection is Owl Moon by Jane Yolen with illustrations by John Schoenherr.   This is a Caldecott Medal winner that we love for its beautiful and touching simplicity.  There isn't much of a story with this one - just a girl and her father walking in the woods on a winter night looking for owls.  It's a tale of wordless companionship in a hushed but magical world.  The understated narrative is a testament to the power of silence and the enchantment of the natural environment.

Two years ago, when storytelling as applicable to the seasons really became relevant for our young toddler, we discovered The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren with illustrations by Harold Wiberg.  I hadn't previously heard of this mythical little Scandanavian creature who guards farms at night but, from what I've read, he's somehow connected to the "soul" of the farmland over which he watches.  In this story, which so beautifully depicts the soft snowy silence of the forest farm, the Tomten looks after the various animals while the farmer and his family slumber.
(For an additional treat, check out The Tomten and the Fox by the same author and illustrator.)

Another offering from Jan Brett that provides a nice transitional tale from winter into spring is her beautifully illustrated Annie and the Wild Animals.  In this sweet story, Annie attempts to find herself a suitable new companion after her cat mysteriously disappears.  As with all Jan Brett picture books, what we especially love is searching through the borders and rich, imaginative drawings for clues and surprises.  This one contains foretellings of the birth of spring as well as the return of the missing cat with a new litter of kittens.  (Especially appropriate for us considering the newest members of our family.)

And what seasonal book list of mine would be complete without the pertinent book from Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairie Collection?  Flower Fairies of the Winter is another gorgeous assemblage of water colored fairie illustrations with accompanying poems and amazingly accurate botanical drawings of common winter flora.
Naiya loves the rhymes and I, as always, love that I can not only enjoy the beautiful pictures, but use them to help identify all the lovely winter foliage sprouting up around our neighborhood.




What are your favorite Winter books?

snow

   This winter break weekend we got a chance to get up the mountain (Hood) and into the snow.  I think most folks come here for the crafts but we've gotta get these shots in every now and again for the grandparents.  There's even a rare photo of me which is, of course, completely ridiculous.
   Hope all are enjoying a Happy New Year!