Use Well The Days

Mermaiding in Florida

jer — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:43:00 GMT

On my recent short trip to Jacksonville, FL, I got to spend an hour at the beach before heading directly to the airport. Let me tell you, mermaiding in the ocean is so different from in the pool! It was tricky to get the tail on in the waves, though they weren't large waves. Then to swim there with the waves was a much bigger workout that at the pool--I only swam for ten minutes, then was ready to take a break. It was the first time I'd opened my eyes in the ocean, and found that the sting was not any worse than at the pool, and my eyes recovered much faster. At least I got some good shots on the beach--enjoy!

Mermaiding -- Our newest hobby!

jer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:39:00 GMT

So we did it! The girls and I got our monofins and I sewed the tails (my 9yo son is still waiting for me to sew his). Now we mermaid regularly at our pool and it is addictive, as well as a great workout! And it's great fun to hear the little ones exclaiming, "Mom, I see a mermaid!"

Climbing Pike's Peak

jer — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:17:00 GMT

I just spent two days climbing Pike's Peak!! It was my first fourteener. I joined my high school best friend, Julia Phillips, and her 10yo daughter, Lola, both from Iowa. Julia had done this climb before so I decided to join her this time. It was one of the most amazing adventures I've had in my life.

The mountain is so exotic -- every section has its own beauty, surprises, views, habitats and discoveries. The forest is like Sherwood Forest, full and lush and thick and so green! (Anyone who lives in Colorado can appreciate green!) Then there were parts that were full of boulders, or full of caves, or full of nature-sculpted deadwood. And the wildflowers and alpine meadows! At timberline there is an A-frame cabin, situated in an alpine meadow that was covered with bluebell flowers, with a mountain creek babbling through, and an amazing view -- it was exactly like a picture from the classic book, Heidi! Now I've got to get my kids up on this amazing mountain -- it's a world full of adventure and exploring and playing just waiting for us, right in our backyard.

Waldorf Homeschool

jer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:19:00 GMT

I’ve been reading and learning about the Waldorf philosophy of education, recently, and I totally feel like I’m home! I may not agree with all the finer points of anthroposophy, on which it’s based, but the intuitive, spiritual, fairy-land imaginative and simplicity of it feels so much like me. Plus I was able to find a very inexpensive guide for implementing a Waldorf homeschool. This one mom’s guide for the whole year is only around $22. I got the one for 1^st grade and went over it all, and it looks like so much fun, so wonderful, and delightful. The things I especially love about Waldorf are:

Celebrating Festivals – this becomes a part of the homeschool, not something extra I have to do by myself.
Natural Rhythms – watching and keeping balance among the natural rhythms of a day, week, month, season, year and lifetime.
Simplicity – keeping life simple, caring for the home, using natural materials, homeschooling inexpensively, eating healthfully, etc.
Nature Table – have a tray, corner or table with items we put on it from outside, to reflect what’s going on in nature that season. I want to start this immediately, I love it so much. The first week you put on it rocks & minerals which you’ve found from outdoors, the second week you add plants from outside, the third week you add something symbolizing animals (a feather, a nest, a playdough animal you’ve made), and the 4^th something symbolizing humans (a handmade craft, for instance). You leave it up for as long as you want, then clean it out and start again with a new month, or a new season, whatever. It’s a way of bringing nature indoors.
Form Drawing – this looks so fascinating to me. Plus it will be an awesome way for any of my hesitant drawers to learn, slowly and easily, drawing techniques.
Focus on Art – I really like the whole Waldorf way of learning which incorporates hand drawing and painting and sculpture to cement learning. We don’t do enough of this. I like how a beginning reader makes his own books to practice reading, doing the art for it and everything.
Handwork and Music – I love how students spend time learning handwork skills (like knitting, embroidery, sewing, and later, woodworking, etc.) and learn to play the recorder and sing.
Nature Walks – like Charlotte Mason, there is a focus on going outside and doing a nature walk every day.
Story-telling – I love the focus on learning through imaginative stories, whether classic fairy tales or a teacher’s own made-up stories. The stories are awesome!
History – even though the Waldorf method is not Christian, per se, yet third graders spend an entire year learning the Israelite history from the Bible and experiencing some of their culture, etc. I also like how many ancient cultures are studied, especially through their literature and myths, which will be so fun and fascinating.
Blocks – I like the simplicity of scheduling subjects by unit study blocks, lasting 3-4 weeks each, then moving on to something completely different. This is the opposite of Charlotte Mason, where you do a lot of very different subjects each day, going from one short lesson to another. I much prefer this idea where you concentrate on one topic deeply for a period of time, and not much else (some elements are daily, such as music, handwork, form drawing, etc.) until the next block.

Plus, I’ve also noticed that I could be doing 3 grades at once, and all three kids will enjoy and get things from the others’ lessons. Justin (1st grade) will be especially interested in Shannon’s ancient Egypt studies, for example. I think I could either order our days so that I spend 30-60 minutes on each grade each day, or I could set aside one day for 1^st, 1 for 3^rd and 1 for 5^th, and on that day we’ll all do that grade’s work together (several days or a week’s worth of work in that one day). On the fourth day we’d catch up and do more group activities, such as recorder, handwork, form drawing, painting and other skills that they all need to learn.

My Daily Garb 5

jer — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:44:00 GMT

Can you see the versatility of medieval clothes? I can have a few undergowns, a few overtunics or cyclas's, and I can wear them in many different combinations.

Here's how I've found medieval clothes to be superior to modern clothes:

I'm almost always completely comfortable, temperature-wise (with modern clothes, you can't always predict that with your dress, and you end up dealing with feeling too hot or too cold a lot of the time)
The clothes are loose and comfortable--no tight, pinching fashions that make me feel fat
I'm always modest
The clothing is beautiful and feminine
This style of medieval fashion is easy to sew, and not necessarily expensive either
Do you notice how often men show the "penny slot" when they bend over working on something? If they would all wear medieval tunics, that would go away!
The breathable fabrics are so practical and comfortable
In the Middle Ages clothing was expensive, so everyone had just a few gowns, and wore them repeatedly during the week. I can do the same thing, and it even becomes an identifying mark if someone spots you from a distance. If I wear my undergown by itself one day, I can wear it again the next with a cyclas over it. So I need only a few gowns, not tons and tons of clothing like most moderns have, in order to wear something new and fresh every single day.

My Daily Garb 4: My Woad Dress

jer — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:31:00 GMT

This is my woad dress, which I made back when I was in the SCA and I dyed it with woad. This is made of nubby raw silk, which I have since discovered is not a period medieval fabric. It's awesome fabric, though!

As you can see, medieval clothing works in just about every situation. So far I have found that it is far superior to modern fashions. I have worn it in all kinds of weather, from cold Colorado nights to hot and muggy North Carolina days. I noticed on the hot days, that the gal with me, wearing a t-shirt, was sweating quite a bit, so I figured that I wasn't any hotter than she was, though I was wearing long sleeves and a long gown. The fabrics I use, the same used in the Middle Ages for the most part, are breathable, natural materials. So I feel the breezes on my arms through the fabric about as easily as if I were wearing a t-shirt. And I don't have to worry about sunburn!

The best thing is that I am almost always completely comfortable, temperature-wise. If it gets too chilly I first don my medieval hood (I have a red one and a green one, both shown above). It's amazing how when your shoulders and neck are covered how much warmer you feel. On occasion I'll put the hood up on my head, it has come in handy in the rain and when it was cold. I can also put on an extra layer if it's cold, or remove a layer and just wear my undergown if it's hot. I do have a gray woolen circle cloak, but I haven't yet needed that much.

Lots of times I've noticed friends and family around me suddenly get too cold, and I can't help but say, "If you were just wearing medieval clothing..."

Oh, and notice above how easy it was to go wading. Everyone else had to roll up pants-legs and they still got them wet! When I went horse-back riding, I simply wore long pants underneath my gown.

My Daily Garb 3

jer — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:24:00 GMT

Here is my off-white linen Saxon underdress, which is great to wear by itself on a hot day. This one has a bit of a low neckline, so I have to either fasten it at the top with a brooch, or wear an undergown with it.

Over the past year I started wearing garb in public, on occasion. I loved it. What surprised me was that I was expecting to receive comments from people, but I received none. People just ignored the fact that I was wearing medieval clothing. Now that I've worn it every day straight for over a month, I have received a few comments, all of them compliments on my beautiful clothing. But generally people don't say anything to me at all about it.

My Daily Garb 2

jer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:19:00 GMT

Okay, now on to the real reason I'm wearing garb all the time. I miss the SCA terribly, but I'm not able to be involved with it at the moment, due to various reasons in my life. So instead of re-creating the Middle Ages with my local community, I'm doing it all by myself! I often feel like I belong in the Middle Ages, at home there, and sometimes a bit of a foreigner in our modern times (I don't even like bright electric lights anymore, now that I've had a taste of minimal lighting). So when I'm wearing medieval clothing, I feel at home and at peace with myself.

The first time I tried wearing garb in public, about a year ago, I didn't feel comfortable, because the garb was homemade, and modern clothing is all professionally made. But after I purchased my first outfit from My Arms Street Store, I had the confidence to wear it in public, and it looks so nice. Here it is, it's an off-white linen underdress with a heavy black cotton overtunic, Saxon style:

The outfit pictured above is this same undertunic, with a red patterned cotton cyclas I sewed.

My Daily Garb

jer — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:26:00 GMT

A second reason I decided to forsake modern clothing is that, though trendy clothes and fashion are a lot of fun, most of them are not modest enough to be wearing around my growing sons. With almost all of modern clothing, anytime I would bend over to give one of my sons a hug or a kiss, or to pick something up, I had to worry about them seeing too much. I got so disgusted with this problem, I'd finally had enough. Now I don't have to worry about it.

This is a Saxon linen underdress from My Arms Street Store, with a green cotton cyclas I made myself.

Wearing Medieval Clothing Every Day

jer — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:43:00 GMT

I decided for an experiment this summer I'd try wearing medieval clothing for a month straight, all the time, in public and at home. And then, without really thinking about it, I just started wearing my medieval clothes. After about a week I realized that my experiment had begun!

There are several paths which led to this decision, but I'll share only one today. I had been reading about the Amish and thinking about simplifying my life, over the winter. I even made an Amish-style dress, and also bought a few from Ebay, and wore them a little. The idea was to shed the craziness of modern fashion and dress simply and modestly, without having to think about it a lot every morning and without spending a lot of money. It was interesting, but in the end I realized that if I were to dress this way every day, I'd feel much more at home in medieval simple dress than in Amish, which is based on pioneer-style clothing.

Over the next several posts I'll share photos of my medieval clothing. It's a mixture of handmade simple gowns with some outfits I bought from My Arms Street Store. This photo shows me in a black medium-weight linen simple gown, a basic style for much of the Middle Ages (1100s & 1200s). I sewed it myself and added a light green bias-tape trim.

Traditional Group Games to Play

jer — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:02:00 GMT

Whether celebrating Midsummer or just for fun, let's not let these traditional group games disappear!

Btw, in Sweden, Midsummer was the one time of the year when parents joined in with the children in playing games!

Hide & Seek
Ring Around the Rosy
Tag
Duck, Duck, Goose (traditionally called Drop Gloves, and is played with all players standing instead of sitting in a circle)
London Bridge is Falling Down
Hot Potato: sit in a circle, everyone facing in or out. One person, who is facing away from the group, must keep time. He says go and the players pass the potato around the circle as fast as they can. When the Time Keeper yells (he could shout “ouch” or something like that), the person holding the potato got “burnt” and is out of the game.
Kick the Can: instructions here; once it's safe for hiders to come out (in any hiding game), the phrase is called out "Olly Olly Oxen Free!"
Sardines: like Hide & Seek, except only one person hides, and as each player finds him, they join him. When there is only one left searching, the crowd hiding together shout out “Sardines!”
Hoodman’s Blind (or Blind Man’s Bluff): One person wears a blindfold and stands in a circle. The other players try to buffet him without being caught. If he catches one, he has to identify that player in order for the caught player to become the next “it”.
Jingling: all the players are blindfolded except for one. He wears jingle bells around his wrists, ankles & neck. Everyone tries to catch him and he tries to keep from being caught. If he can remain uncaught for a set time, he wins a prize. It is best to have a referee available to warn the blind players if they are in danger of injury at any time. If the Jingler is caught before the time allotted, the person who caught him becomes the next Jingler.
Hot Cockles: One person sits while another kneels with his face in the sitter’s lap. The other players take turns slapping the hands which the kneeling player holds out behind him. If he cannot guess who has slapped him, another gets an opportunity to slap. If he guesses right, the slapper takes the kneeler’s place.
Frog in the Middle: the “frog” squats on the ground and may not move from a sitting position. The other players are arranged around the frog and may buffet it, pinch it, or whatever (within reason) as long as they are not tagged. Once tagged, the player so tagged becomes the frog and takes the position in the middle.
Tierce: Players stand two deep in a loose circle. Two players are chosen to be the runner and the chaser. The chaser pursues the runner in and out of the circle. If tagged, the runner becomes the chaser. A runner can seek safety at any time by standing in front of one of the pairs in the circle. The player in the back of what is now a line of three then becomes the runner. The game continues until the players become tired of it.
Beat the Kettle: For this, one player is blindfolded and stands near a kettle and ladle. He is armed with a soft stick or switch of tall grass. The other players attempt to sneak up, pick up the ladle and strike the kettle, then put down the ladle and run off without being hit by the blindfolded player. The first person hit becomes the new blindfolded player.
King Caesar: The King (who must hop on one foot) must tap the other players on the head, making them his subjects. They then capture the other players by the same method, until one is left, who becomes King for the next game.
Fox in the Hole (or Fox and Chickens): the fox must chase the chickens on one foot. He has a hole (a base) where he may stand on two feet, but whenever chasing chickens, he must hop on one foot. The chickens are free to run on both feet. Once a chicken is caught, it returns with the fox to the hole and becomes a fox also. The game continues until there is only one chicken left. The idea is that the chickens won’t be able to refrain from teasing the fox and coming as close to him as possible. Any time the fox stands on both feet, he must return to the hole.
Prisoner’s Base: Two camps are set in two corners of a field, along the same side. Two prisons are set up in the other two corners, with each team’s prison diagonally across the field in the opposite corner. The game starts with two prisoners, one in each prison, and each team has a captain, one in each base. The captains will not play in the field. The game starts when one captain sends out a player to taunt the other team. The other captain then sends out a player to catch that player. The first captain then assigns one of his players to catch that player, etc. So each player (except the first) has one person to catch, and is being chased by one person. Each person may only chase one person. If a player is caught, he is taken to prison by his captor, who is immune to capture until he returns to base and is sent out again after a new person. The opposing captain may send one of his men to rescue a prisoner, but he is subject to capture by a man sent out by his opponent. Should a rescuer reach the opponent’s prison, both he and the prisoner within (he may release only one prisoner at a time) may return to their base immune from capture. The game continues until all members of one side (except the captains) have been captured, until an agreed length of time has elapsed (in which case the team with the most prisoners wins), or until the game has become hopelessly confused.

A Christian Midsummer Song

jer — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:51:00 GMT

Here’s a song I wrote, which we could sing and dance to in the moonlight on Midsummer's Eve, if we wish, based on a traditional Irish tune from my Clannad CD ("Dulaman"--you can hear it here). After each verse the chorus is repeated. The title is Gaelic and means Dance.

Damhsa

Here we like to dance in the moonlight

On Midsummer’s Eve, to celebrate the sunlight

chorus:

Oh, our God, we love your creation!

We worship and praise You, Lord of all creation!

Our fairy crowns we don in the moonlight

Twigs and flowers kissed by the sunlight (chorus)

The Bride reflects her Lord like the moonlight

His love and life shine forth like the sunlight (chorus)

And as we dance together in the moonlight

We bid good-night to midsummer sunlight (chorus)

Midsummer Celebration

jer — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:23:00 GMT

We are going camping this weekend, which happens to also be Summer Solstice, traditionally known as Midsummer. The kids and I would like our family to celebrate this natural holiday (I had to assure Sean that we wouldn’t do anything pagan). I’ve come up with a lot of ideas, but we’ll end up just choosing a few. Here are my ideas:

DURING THE DAY:

Nature Crafting: gather natural materials and make a sculpture, a fairy home, a crown or necklace, toy swords or spears, etc.
Nature Exploring: explore the woods/area where we’re camping!
Tales of Robin Hood: read a chapter from our current read-aloud, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Practice archery, or other rangering skills such as tracking, scouting, identifying herbs, plants or trees, etc.
Play group games, the parents joining with the children

EVENING:

Build a good fire, cook supper over it and have sweets (s’mores).
Watch the sunset on this the longest day of the year, and bid farewell to the sun
Around the fire, share our favorite things about summer and what we’re grateful for
Around the fire, share a memorized poem, song, instrumental music, or story
Once it gets dark, dance in the moonlight wearing our fairy crowns we've made, to a simple summer song we can sing together
After the dance, throw our fairy crowns into the dying fire

We won’t try to do all of these on our first celebration, plus it looks like another family will be joining us, and I don’t know them well, so we’ll keep it simple. I think this year we’ll just do:

Camping
Nature Exploring
Nature Crafting
Learn a group game to play (Kick the Can?)
Bonfire, supper & s’mores
Share our favorite things about summer

I'll bring the Robin Hood book and archery equipment just in case.

Here’s the tricky thing. To be traditional, we would have to (1) celebrate Midsummer on the evening of June 23^rd (in the olden days the longest day of the year was June 24), and (2) have our main celebration on the evening before, which would be Friday, June 20^th. But since we’ll just be driving up and setting up our camp on that night, I think we’ll just celebrate all day and evening on June 21^st. That’s a modern tradition (celebrating on the day and evening of, instead of the evening before), but it feels right to me. After all, it’s actually on the longest day of the year!

Mastering Phase 2 of The South Beach Diet

jer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:38:00 GMT

Since I have always failed at Phase 2 of the SBD, I decided to try a different approach, a few months ago. Instead of doing Phase 1 for 2 weeks, after which I'm always totally burnt out on SBD and ready to throw in the towel and eat whatever I want, I decided to do Phase 1 for one week, then focus my week 2 energy on mastering Phase 2. After all, Phase 2 is actually almost exactly the same as Phase 1. You are still eating all the same types of meals, you are just adding in one new food every few days, and monitoring your weight reaction.

So after I finish one week of Phase 1, I use the motivation I still have then to focus on mastering Phase 2. The last time I tried it, I was actually able to follow Phase 2 for about a week. My weight went up and down because I didn't get it perfect, but I felt I had reached this new step with some success for the first time.

Now I am trying again. I've started Phase 1 for one week, and will then move on to Phase 2. This time my best friend and I are doing it together, so that's really fun and should be a big help. My friend Jo-Anne even planned out all the meals, and I put them together in a plan for each day. The food is delicious! Bon Apetit!

The South Beach Diet Has Been Redeemed in My Eyes

jer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:25:00 GMT

I never have updated my readers on this, but I had an interesting experience quite a few months ago with the SBD.

I believe in the Law of Attraction, and one day, after being sick of always having heartburn and indigestion and stomach upset on a regular basis, I started focusing my energies on desiring intestinal health. I simply repeated to myself several times "I want intestinal health, I want intestinal health." After a little while, I suddenly was filled with the strong urge to follow SBD Phase 1 and this was accompanied with incredible joy in the process--planning and preparing the delicious meals, enjoying the exquisite and gourmet tastes, etc.

So I promptly went on Phase 1 the next day, and had wonderful joy in the foods I was eating. And I learned a second reality--the meaning behind the song "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Because when you have real joy in something, it becomes very easy, and is not hard at all--it's a continual delight. Thus the joy is the strength you need to accomplish the task. It is no longer hard, it is easy.

At that time some interruptions came into my life after the third day, and there was joy in those as well, so I didn't continue Phase 1. However, my indigestion problems went away and I felt so much better. I realized then that the South Beach Diet can work very well, and just because I may fail at it sometimes doesn't mean I should throw it out, but simply that I just need to keep trying until I succeed.