On the Go

I guess I've been too busy to take pictures and blog for a couple days. Time to slow down.

The highlights of my day were:

1. Driving along the highway through the gauntlet of changing leaves.

2. Doing cardio dance fusion class, even though I still can't get all the steps remotely right.

3. Selling a little bag on Etsy. The thrill of somebody liking what I sew never gets old.

4. Lunch. Wendy's chili and french fries. Ok not healthy but really tasty after a hard workout.

The low points of my day revolved around my eldest daughter, who has a penchant for drama. Her sky was falling this morning because I asked her to bring extra socks to school so she would have a change of clothes from her dance tights. She interrupted an otherwise peaceful afternoon when she came home from school and found various reasons to overreact to the extreme. She insisted on drinking hot chocolate with a straw, then spit it out and shrieked for several minutes, claiming it burnt her teeth and that it was all my fault. She tried to slam the front door closed for some random angry reason and got three fingers in somehow, which naturally led to several minutes of death-be-soon screaming, in spite of an ice pack and two parents, a sister and a dog trying to soothe her savage rage.

And sewing? I sewed. I sewed random things that led to nowhere. Does this happen to all seamstresses? Does everyone have days where their sewing is oddly unproductive? Maybe this was just brought on my exercise and being tired. Too much hip hop to sew? Hmnmnm...

I'll have to get the camera snapping tomorrow. Got to take pictures of those good moments.

Morning Glories

Some late blooming flowers appeared in the garden today. We planted them from seeds in the Spring. It was a long wait but still rewarding. These are the first morning glories from seed I have ever produced.

The Edge of Fall on a Rainy Day

Today was a planned Mama-day, trade in kind for my taking the girls out on adventures yesterday while Tom enjoyed some time on his own. So my day was all about catching up in the sewing room.

Sometimes, that takes me quite a far distance from the sewing room. This morning I had to drive around the lake to Center Harbor, for some specific fabric at Keepsake Quilting. In spite of the rain, I enjoyed a colorful drive as Fall has begun in the cooler meadow areas.

Heavy fog lingers in the nooks of the lake.

Something about meadows...

There are the most enchanting little houses around the lake. I always want to stop and photograph them. But often there are people standing outside, which would mean a conversation in return for the picture. Usually I am too busy on route.
Sometimes I can get a good picture just rolling down the window. Drive-by photography.
Back at home again with new fabrics. The pets slept the rainy day away. BlackJack seems to like the fire going, the music playing, the sewing machine humming.
Among other things, I sewed some of my doodle embroidery onto a pouch. So much accomplished today while the family was out and about.

Field Day at Berwick Academy

I got these shirts and sweatshirt out of the "sale" bin for 2 and 5 dollars each. Next thing you know, I'm the Fairy Godmother of team spirit and we're off to the ball! Actually, it was Field Day. The girls were filled to the brim with enthusiasm.

Relay races were lively. Dance music was pumping everybody up from very large speakers. Teachers were cheering on the kids. There is nothing so great as when teachers and students come to school voluntarily on a Saturday to hop in a potato sack to celebrate school colors.
Ellie in action. I told her I was proud of how brave she was to try all the relay races. She said "We had to do it." I said no you didn't even have to come and some kids sat on the side and watched. "Oh. Well it was fun," she said. You'd never guess how shy and cautious Ellie was during her preschool years. She has been right in tune with every turn at her new school.
Little sister is already quite bold. She was happy to join in with many of the races. Her favorite was anything where she got to ride on top of me somehow.
We enjoyed the barbeque and a glimpse at the high school sports going on: field hockey, soccer. It is a unique environment having elementary, middle and high school kids all together on a campus like this. It is beneficial to all of them, I believe, like being in a big family.
The school seems to breathe. Everything you touch or see sends a subtle message if you are open to it. It makes for a sort of chorus to the things I try to teach as a parent. In fact a lot of the time my job is to nod and agree, because already Ellie is learning to lead the way. "This is how we do it here," she explains about so many routines. I love that a school, a location, a place can itself be a conveyor of morality, education and inspiration. It's as if everyone here has agreed in advance to raise the bar, without knowing what it was to begin with. All the kids agree to do their best, without yet knowing what their best is. The parents agree to a (mostly) common value system set by the school, assuming and hoping that it falls in line (mostly) with their own family values. And you know, when you see a kid talking to your kid, that you know that kid and his parents, (or you soon will). And further, that you will likely know them for many years. The community is intertwined so it's much less likely to identify others as "them." In fact, they are us. We are all in it together like a big positive pirate ship.

I guess there are all kinds of ways to teach kids values. In Japan, they ask the school to be a much more active leader in teaching morality. In the US, often we actually block schools from "imposing" any particular morality on kids. You might need a permission slip to hear the President speak for fear that he might distort your kid's views from your own. In Japan, I think it is far more expected the parents will fall in line with values established at the school.

Personally, I'm hoping for an in between. I take responsibility for providing morality and values to my kids on the home front. But I've got all my eggs in the basket at this "independent" school where values and morality are mingled throughout the curriculum and social scene.

So many ways to think about it. I'm happy I've found one that feels right for us.

Nice Day for a Job Interview

Today my sights were focused on the upper school at Berwick Academy. I interviewed for an administrative job.

After dropping Ellie at kindergarten, I had 3 hours and too much focus to go to the gym and tire myself out on the treadmill. Instead, I found a quiet spot in the library to organize embroidery floss. How funny to sit there doing this, feeling a flood of my own school memories from high school, college, law school. Here I am in a school library sorting embroidery floss. Perfect example of how broad my experiences have become. Imagine how colorful I will be by the time I am 80 years old.
Finally the time arrived and I was off to meet with several interesting people in their very interesting offices. I am such a school-romantic. I love the history of the school and the sentimental objects of school spirit like the bulldog statues and the paintings of the buildings. Berwick certainly has a lot of history, starting back in 1791.
It was an interesting day. Looking into the world of high school students is a mixture of new energy and old memories. Especially having just passed my own 20 year reunion point, I've given a lot of thought recently to the nature of the teenage years. In some ways our minds and young bodies seem very sharp and able. In other ways, in hindsight I realize there was a lot I did know at that age about myself. Yet we form relationships that reflect a lifetime of choices to come.

Julia says it's time for this blog entry to end and for story time to begin!

Detail Oriented

This afternoon I focused on my closet. Emptied it. Cleaned it. Examined my wardrobe. Then reorganized it to meet the needs of my new goal: office employment. Changing gears from full time Mama, to part time tennis instructor, to office assistant (and beyond), has been a big mental shift. I used to hang my polo shirts and athletic pants on hangers in the main section of my closet. Now I'm bringing in skirts and slacks. My resume has undergone a similar alteration recently. I wonder if Wonder Woman had this challenge.

I am an organization fanatic.

Julia ended my adventures in the wardrobe when she woke up and insisted we do something other than clean my closet. We decided to build a fairy house, using the materials Ellie had gathered, plus some new ones. It turned out pretty good considering we didn't use any glue or tools. My favorite part is the large mushroom that is the fairy table, with an acorn top as a bowl filled with berries.

The days are growing shorter. Our town is sooooooooo quiet in the night. Good night to everyone. I hope my new alarm clock works. Tomorrow is a job interview, hooray!

Dance Dance Baby

Here I am, in the Cardio Dance Fusion class this morning. Shortly after I took this photo, the room filled to the edges with women who would happily spend the next full hour doing hip hop choreography in sneakers, sweating, spinning and laughing to loud music.

This is brave of me because I have never been a dancer. My motivations now are to spice up my exercise routine, improve my fitness and ultimately get more/back in touch with my own physical self (image, weight, coordination, strength). That's a lot to ask but after watching the girls at Ellie's dance school for the past few years, I've come to understand that dance has a lot more to offer than my previous image of drunken co-eds in loud disco clubs.

Anyway, I get to wear sneakers.

The instructor let me take her picture. Really her true glory is during the middle of the class, when she somehow helps the rest of us learn a complicated dance while also fully extending herself physically in spinning leaping arabesques and "suspensions." Teachers seldom get photographed in the midst of their work, often because the students don't want to be in the pictures, or because there is an inherent privacy to the class setting. It feels safe to extend yourself doing wacky moves incorrectly. She is an outstanding instructor for making the class feel this safe, even for a newcomer to the class and a newcomer to dance in general.
Not much going on the rest of the day. Julia and I went in the pool. Then home to bake some cookies and sew some things. I put my embroidery practice into this little pouch. This is the most original hand made item I've done so far, no stencil or pattern. Just an idea, some thread and fabric. Ready, set, create!

Stepping Into Fall

September means warm days and cool nights. The trees are green but they are raining acorns. On my walk today, I felt lucky to have avoided getting smacked on the head with any acorns.

The road had flashes of color now and then. These are the leaves from the tip top of the tree. Or maybe they are from the early turning swamp maple.

A chippy watches the dog go by.

The promise of fall makes this particular walk seem very dull. All those green leaves on the trees. I gathered up irresistible leaves and acorns.
When I got home I noticed this tiny tree frog snuggled up in the mums. This is a small mum. The little guy here is super tiny, about the size of a dime. He looks so fragile. I will listen for him tonight. Last year I spent hours researching tree frog songs on the internet, trying to figure out what I was hearing.
A mushroom pops up near the mums. I realize now that I've forgotten all about gardening for weeks.

Treasures from my walk.

Treasure from the mail box! Another used book find. I am crazy for hand embroidery right now.
After I sat down for lunch, the mail lady arrived at our house a second time. She had forgotten my other package: other embroidery books! These are newer books, but ones I've had my eye on for a while. They were worth the wait. Both great books that have practical instruction as well as inspirational examples. Nice of the mail lady to come around again. I never would have known if she had waited until tomorrow.
My own embroidery supplies are now finding the beginning of organization in this handy (yet plastic) box. Probably most people look forward to their favorite fiction book or the tv remote control. I like non fiction books. And action. So embroidery fits the bill perfectly.

I'm looking for embroidery floss the right color to stitch a pumpkin.

Pumpkin. Mnmnmn... Soon there will be pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin loaf, carved pumpkins, and candy.

Mama Time

I've concluded that I enjoy my mama time most after I've put in my work and workout first. So this morning I got the girls off and going, dropped Ellie at kindergarten, went with Julia to the gym. I gave her a mini tennis lesson and faced down my workout with a brave determination. Then later, when we got home and she fell off to sleep in nappy land, I felt happy as a clam to enter my mama domain, the sewing room.

Naturally, just as I sat down to sew, the phone rang, the dog barked and the post office lady arrived with a package. A nice package! I got this used book for 9 dollars. What a deal. My husband says used booksellers make a profit no matter what they sell the book for because the profit margin is in the shipping fee. Maybe so but this is a fantastic book in excellent condition. Maybe I will become more elegant after drooling over the pictures. Many, many treasured pictures. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... make the tea.... time to peruse.

Then I sewed cute things. Elegance eludes me again. But isn't this so cute?

It makes me smile. I can just imagine walking into Starbucks with this quirky raccoon on my cup. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw some of these coffee cozies sell for 15 dollars. I'm thinking... less than that. It's supposed to be fun. Maybe that was the price for an elegant coffee cozy.
I sewed a couple other things too before Julia woke up and came to sit on my lap. This now concludes your sewing time, mama. Push me on the swing now and bring a sippy cup with apple juice.

The Fairy House Tour in Portsmouth, NH

This afternoon we headed down to Portsmouth, a wonderful town with so much going on all the time. It's a historical harbor town with lots to see, great shopping and restaurants too.

Today we had one particular destination in mind, at the Strawberry Banke gardens and historical site.
It's not everyday we pay money for a tour that gets our knees wet.
Look closely, hidden in the gardens. Look beyond the flowers, the statues, the tiny snails and butterflies. Look downward, to tiny places hidden away.
Because this is the weekend for the Fairy House Tour. Girls and boys from all around dress in their fairy best to come and see the work of students, garden clubs, volunteers and professional artists, who have spent hours creating imaginative homes for the unseen, nature loving fairies.
Click to enlarge the photos, to appreciate the details involved. Natural materials are transformed into useful objects for economizing fairies.
I don't know where this all started but a large portion of the credit now goes to the author of two wonderful books, Tracy Kane. She was there today. She has inspired a generation of children to search their surroundings to invent little homes for sweet creatures of mystery.
Quite difficult to photograph most of these, due largely to the dramatic shadows and bursts of sunlight. Here is a giant goose, with a first class fairy transport cabin on his back. He was quite remarkable to see. It's almost impossible not to drift away into the imaginary world of fairies when you see the tiny chairs inside.
Here was one of the most popular ones, a fairy yoga studio.
My favorites were any fairy houses with tiny, hand made baskets full of fruit. They crafted tiny buckets out of bark, then filled them to the brim with tiny berries or other treasures from the forest.
All of this was happening at a historical garden and museum. I didn't realize until we were about exhausted that our ticket price included admission to the historical homes.
For America, this is history. It's so easy to ooh and awe over homes that are 200 years old. We so easily forget that other places in the world celebrate much older historical buildings. Nevertheless, it's older than now. There was nothing plastic involved.
The one home we did peek into was much more intriguing than I had suspected.
The colors, the items, the layout, the scale: all interesting to my current mindset. On the one hand, I am so relieved that I live with all the amenities we enjoy today, such as heating and refrigeration. On the other hand, looking to the past is a revelation of what priorities are. Food, warmth, yes of course. But also, art. It is fascinating to me that in a time of such labor intensive chores aimed at satisfying basic needs of life, these people clearly spent an equally significant amount of time on creating designs that were pleasing to the eye.
For example, this tea pot. I want it. I'm sort of glad I can't have it. The historical homes seem to offer that lesson as well: we have too much. We have so many options and whims that we sometimes lose touch with the important basics. Heating, yes. Tanning beds? Maybe too much. Fruit and bread, yes. Bacon cheeseburgers? Maybe too much.
Art, yes. A roomful of so many supplies that I could probably go for a decade without running out of things to do? Maybe too much.

.... so ends my blog post for today... except for the extra bit below:

To anyone actually planning to go on the Fairy House Tour, (and/or to me next year):

There are many details that may help you enjoy your journey. I wish we had known a lot more of these details before we arrived.

1. Tickets may be purchased at a significant discount if you buy them before the event, at a local toy store or other places downtown. Tickets may be purchased on the day of the tour at a higher price. There may be a surcharge for purchasing tickets with a credit card the day of the tour. Tickets are not needed for many areas offering fairy houses. Nobody checked our tickets (hand stamp) all day. Ticket proceeds benefit local charities. Tickets also include admission to the historical structures at Strawberry Banke.

2. Bring cash. There are places along the tour selling small items such as bake sales and "fairy fluff" cotton candy. By the halfway mark, you will wish you had a dollar for water. They also have tee shirts and books available.

3. Wear your fairy wings. Most children (and some adults) dress in as much fairy garb as they own.

4. There is free parking on Pierce Island. This is the easiest place to park.

5. There are performances on the garden stage. You may wish to check the times when you are planning your tour, otherwise you might miss the ballet while you are on the other side of the tour.

6. This is a walking tour. Comfortable shoes and layers of clothing are wise. It is very sunny, then very shaded. There are many people. You may need to bend down, crouch on your knees, peer into masses of leaves and shrubs. You will want a hat and sunglasses. You will not want anything heavy, like a camera or a toddler.

7. It takes hours. Small children will dart in front of you, blocking your view of any given fairy house. Patience is required.

8. The author of the books is there in case you might like to bring your books from home for signing.

9. It's worth all the minor hassles but will be better the more planning you can do. It doesn't open until noon, by the way. Next year we will be better prepared for everything.