Gladdest Hours

Laughing in the Leaves - Ha, ha, he!

My mother exclaimed when she saw this, "I wonder what's going to be sitting on the other side of Caroline next year!" 

Me too, Mom.  Me too. 

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Madeleine, Erika and Dorothy
With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, ha he!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"

~Laughing Song, by William Blake

Last year's picture is practically the same!  I better come up with something new next year.

A Nature Day From Beginning to End

A couple days ago, upon waking, I was feeling "OK," so we headed out the door.   No pond stomping today.  Simply an hour walk around our beautiful neighborhood.  Here are a few of our findings:

When we come home for a walk like this, we just sit down somewhere outside, place our findings out in front of us, and just sit there for awhile and chit-chat about any ol' thing.  On this day, I think we sat and talked for about 45 minutes.   

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The leaves are beginning to change colors.  The girls collected Red Maple leaves and made bouquets out of them.  Yes, those are Red Maple leaves, not Poinsettias.  They kept count of how many Maple trees we saw.  I forgot to ask what the final count was. All I remember is that they determined that there were more Maple trees on the east sides of the streets than on the west.

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Our neighbor's Chestnut Tree was dropping its "fruit," so we collected the husks and a couple nuts still in the  shell.  We measured the leaves.....13 inches!  We dissected the husks, and determined that they are "smelly, mushy and  prickly."  This led to lots of discussion about squirrels and chipmunks, etc. who are collecting nuts for the winter.  We came home and read Chipmunk Song. They spent about 30 minutes looking up chipmunks and squirrels in Mammals Golden Guide and North American Wildlife. 

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The girls were interested in the berries on a Juniper, so we picked a branch, came home and identified it as a Rocky Mountain Juniper. Identified the Rocky Mountains on the US map.

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I finally verified that the beautiful tree in our back yard that I look at every day is a Mountain Ash. That's what I thought, but I never actually checked.  We've only been here for 5 years.  Sheez.

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We read the poems for the Mountain Ash and Horse Chestnut from our favorite Book of Flower Fairies.  Caroline tried to eat the inside of the Chestnut husks while we were doing this.

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The girls did leaf rubbings.  We pulled out our Parts of a Leaf Cards.  And, they started tracing leaves from the Botany Cabinet.  I requested a few books from the library from my Books About Trees List.

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Copywork of "Horse Chestnut,"   "Mountain Ash"  and "Red Maple"

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Saw this tree for the first time today.  Anyone know what it is?  Dad?   

We looked at the September and October pages of Nature All Year Long.  Which led to making a list of all the birds that migrate and the ones that will stay the winter.  Which led to a call to Wild Birds Unlimited and also looking up a few things on our Birds of Washington software.  Which then led to listening to bird calls for an hour while I made dinner.  After dinner the girls drew pictures of a few things that they found and of birds.

Whew!  These days always just seem to take on a life of their own.  They lead....I follow, help and suggest.  I had absolutely no plans to do any of this.  They had a busy and fun day.  Me too.   Truth be told, I WAS a bit anxious to get horizontal in bed that night. :)      

Shape of the Week

Any guesses?  Come on.....just GUESS! 

We're a bit heart-crazy around here these days.  And, these are only the ones that have NOT been distributed yet.  You'd think they'd get tired of this.  They don't.  They just keep working on the SAME thing day in and day out, which is FINE with me.  Pete thinks it's becoming a bit obsessive; I tell him that I keep hoping for a bit of their focus and ability-to-stick-with-ONE-thing to rub off on me.

We've also been reading some books for the Feast of St. Valentine:

Saint Valentine, by Robert Sabuda

Saint Valentine, by Ann Tompert, Kestutis Kasparavicius

And, memorizing the ejaculation, "Jesus, make my heart like unto thine"

On Wednesday, we'll color, cut and paste our pictures of the Sacred Heart , and renew our Family Consecration to the Sacred Heart .

My Valentine

I have a little valentine

That someone sent to me.

It’s pink and white and red and blue,

And pretty as can be.

Forget-me-nots are round the edge,

And tiny roses, too;

And such a lovely piece of lace –

The very palest blue.

And in the center there’s a heart,

As red as red can be!

And on it’s written all in gold,

“To You, with Love from Me.”

      ~Mary Catherine Parsons~

St. Valentine, Pray For Us!

 

Waiting For the Kings

Over the frozen plain snow-white

The three kings will come to-night;

We shall know by the kettle-drums

Which way the procession comes.

They have come from very far,

Following fast behind a star,

In their shimmering robes of silk,

Riding horses white as milk.

They have heard of a wondrous thing,

That here is born a little King;

They bring treasures of great worth

To the Treasure of the earth.

~from “Waiting for the Kings” R.L. Gales

The Wind and the Leaves

Come, little leaves, / Said the wind one day;
Come to the meadows / With me and play.
Put on your dresses / Of red and gold;
For summer is past, /And the days grow cold.

Soon as the leaves /Heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, /One and all.
Over the meadows / They danced and flew,
All singing the soft / Little songs they knew.

Dancing and flying, / The leaves went along,
Til Winter called them / To end their sweet song.
Soon, fast asleep / In their earthy beds,
The snow lay a coverlet /O'er their heads.

~ George Cooper

The Night of the Harvest Moon

Oh! Look At The Moon!

Oh, look at the moon!
She is shining up there;
Oh Mother, she looks
like a lamp in the air.
Last week she was smaller,
And shaped like a bow;
But now she's grown bigger
And round as an O.
Pretty moon, pretty moon,
How you shine on the door,
And make it all bright
On my nursery floor.
You shine on my playthings,
And show me their place,
And I love to look up
At your pretty bright face.
And there is a star
Close by you, and maybe
that small twinkling star
Is your little baby.

~Eliza Lee Follen

Song of the Blackberry Fairy

Pete's mom and dad (aka: Opa and Oma) gave The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Mary Cecily Barker to Erika for her birthday. We LOVE this book!  September we'll be memorizing...

THE SONG OF THE BLACKBERRY FAIRY

My berries cluster black and thick
For rich and poor alike to pick.

I'll tear your dress, and cling, and tease,
And scratch your hands and arms and knees.

I'll stain your fingers and your face,
And then I'll laugh at your disgrace.

But when the bramble-jelly's made,
You'll find your trouble well repaid.

"Children" - H.W. Longfellow

What an inspiring poem to read on a hopelessly chaotic Friday afternoon.... CHILDREN

Come to me, O ye children! For I hear you at your play, And the questions that perplexed me Have vanished quite away. Ye open the eastern windows, That look towards the sun, Where thoughts are singing swallows And the brooks of morning run. In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine, In your thoughts the brooklet's flow, But in mine is the wind of Autumn And the first fall of the snow. Ah! what would the world be to us If the children were no more? We should dread the desert behind us Worse than the dark before. What the leaves are to the forest, With light and air for food, Ere their sweet and tender juices Have been hardened into wood, -- That to the world are children; Through them it feels the glow Of a brighter and sunnier climate Than reaches the trunks below. Come to me, O ye children! And whisper in my ear What the birds and the winds are singing In your sunny atmosphere. For what are all our contrivings, And the wisdom of our books, When compared with your caresses, And the gladness of your looks? Ye are better than all the ballads That ever were sung or said; For ye are living poems, And all the rest are dead. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

August Poem ~"Shore"

Play on the seashore and gather up shells, Kneel in the damp sand digging wells. Run on the rocks, Where the seaweed slips, Watch the waves, And the beautiful ships. ~Mary Britton Miller

I haven't figured out how to press the "enter" button without having the cursor go 2 lines, so it's in paragraph form. 

July Poem - The Hummingbird

We have been learning a lot about birds this summer.  Hence, the following poem for the month of July. 

The Hummingbird

I think it is a funny thing, that some birds whistle others sing. The warbler warbles in his throat, the sparrow only knows one note.  But he is better off than some, the hummingbird can only hum! 

Where does "Gladdest Hours" come from?

The Deserted Garden by Elizabeth Barrett Browning