Meet Claire, the tomato loving toddler! I grew more then a dozen tomato plants this year in a variety of hues. Some I nurtured from seeds and others I grabbed on markdown from a local farmer. All thrived. The tomatoes survived drought, neglect and most importantly – deer. We had a real hodgepodge out there, but it allowed us to sample a lot of different … Continue reading Future Foodie?
Claire is devouring books lately, and while I adore reading to her I was happily surprised by the selection of audio books for the young child at our local library. We’ve been listening to a fantastic recording of Winnie the Pooh narrated by Judi Dench featuring Stephen Fry as Pooh. There are a bunch of other well known British actors involved in the reading and … Continue reading Reading…or listening as it may be!
The air is crisp and colorful leaves are dotting the trees – it appears autumn has arrived! Last week Claire and I grabbed some crayons in fall hues, gathered a few leaves from the front yard and sat down to make some rubbings. As I expected, Claire found this project magical! The veins and edges appearing as she rubbed different colors thrilled her and the … Continue reading Autumn Artwork – Exploring Leaf Rubbings
Earlier in the summer we made 3 separate trips to our local strawberry farm. The weather was so pleasant and a few mornings spent picking yielded some stellar berries and homemade jam. Claire carried her own basket and was a great picker! She refused to eat any insisting they were all for her basket, what a change from last year! We wound up with enough … Continue reading Strawberry Jam
Because I love a good story and one told strictly though pictures intrigues me, this is what we’re checking out from the library tomorrow:There are quite a few other wordless picture books out there (Goodnight Gorilla is a Claire favorite) but this article on ohdeedoh had a number of titles new to me. I’ll post Claire’s version of the events in the book, I can’t … Continue reading Wordless Storybooks
Success! An early morning dig to find a few spuds worthy of roasting yields an entire colander full of gorgeous little potatoes and one excited little girl. We’ve had great luck with our raised bed gardening at home this year. Aside from losing all our radishes and a few beets to ravenous pill bugs everything else has earned its keep. Well, everything EXCEPT the sexually … Continue reading Potato Hunt
Claire meets her great-grandparents for the first time (more here) I wrote the post below when we found out Claire’s great-grandfather had few days left in life. I was torn about taking her to the wake, and eventually decided with my husband to take her. What a great decision! The deacon who spoke to us in the evening said he loved to see children at … Continue reading On Life and Death
Chalk In My Pocket 