The B Kids!

I enjoyed spending time with the B kids and mom (I convinced her to sneak into a few of the pictures)

down by the river. What a fun morning!

The Gorgeous L Family

I have a few photo sessions to share this week, so I thought I would start
with a few more of the L Family!

In Other Book News...

Are you tired of book reviews, yet? I told you I had been reading a lot, lately. Grin.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick: Excellent children's fiction. The book looks like a whopper (533 pages), but many of the pages are illustrations that propell the story forward, and many of the pages have little text on them. Intruiging story! Levi and Russ both read it also and loved it.

Triangular Road: A Memoir by Paule Marshall: A spontaneous grab at the library. Interesting memoir, but I particularly enjoyed the small peek into the life of Langston Hughes as well.

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie: Agatha Christie is a master. Her plots are wonderful and unexpected.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander: I was stretching my literary world to include a little more in the fantasy relm (due to the tastes of my hubby and oldest son). The Chronicles of Prydain seemed like a good place to start, as I've seen it recommended over and over again. The Book of Three was well-written (if out of my normal comfort zone), and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series. Russ enjoyed the series, and I may add it to Levi's stack in a couple years.

The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett: I've read a few of the Living History Library books aloud to Levi this year (Beorn the Proud, Beowulf, and Son of Charlemagne), and we both find that history comes alive within the pages of these books. The Hidden Treasure of Glaston was the most ambitious project at 340 pages, but I loved stepping into abbey life, learning more about the process involved in creating illuminated manuscripts, and the mysterious legends of the Holy Grail and King Arthur.

The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris: (As previously posted..) I'm not sure how, but I came across a series of books by Gerald Morris, retelling the Arthurian legends. I started with The Squire's Tale and am looking forward to proceding through the others. The writing is surprisingly effortless, fresh, and witty. I was quite drawn in. I think my boys will particularly enjoy this series when we revisit Medieval history on the next go-around.

Finding the Perfect Romance Novel...

...Well, searching, anyway.

I asked for romance novel recommendations a couple weeks ago (here and elsewhere), and came up with a long list of possibilities. My laundry list of expectations and requirements for the perfect romance novel was improbable, but I thought I'd try anyway. Here's what I sampled:

Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery: Lightly enjoyable and entertaining. Not nearly as compelling and well-written as Anne of Green Gables. The story line was interesting if predictable once it got going (could see the 'twists' coming miles away). Biggest criticism: I could not get excited about a man named Barney Snaith. Seriously. But a decent romance. Written in 1926 and set in Canada helps with the charm, I suppose.

Highland Fling by Katie Fforde: A guilty pleasure. This contemporary novel was highly entertaining (I'm easily amused), but not particularly well-written (much less masterly) nor particularly decent. British chick lit set in Scotland has an appeal of its own.

The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner: A unexpected hit with me. Three women. Three different places in time. One with a tragic story. One with a lifetime of sorrow and regret, but with a handful of days left to find happiness. One with the whole future ahead of her. I found the historical setting, the Salem witch trials, to be fascinating as I haven't learned much about that era yet. The author did spell out the 'lesson to be learned' for the readers, but I'll forgive her. The romance (what there was of it) was understated and decent. Some of the modern elements threw me a bit, as they always seem to leach a little of the elegance out of a story. This one left me thinking after I closed it up, though, and I appreciated that.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: Oh. my. What do I say about this one?... It's a page-turner ~ all 600+ of them. Time travel. Scottish Highlands in 1743. Adventure. Alpha-males all over the place. I was quite immersed in the story. Caveats: Very, uh, adult content. (Did I mention the adult content? Just making sure...) Improbable. Brutal. And the male hero is fair and red-headed. Unforgivable.

Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips: Well-paced, fun, romantic. Very modern and not-so-innocent. Used up a whole day on this one, without putting it down. I feel pretty guilty about losing a whole day.

Conclusion so far: it might be impossible to find a masterfully written, complex, clean love story with a happy ending. But I'll keep searching and let you know.

Living. Lovely. (Late) ~ A Spot for Beauty (or Function)

(It's never too late to live. lovely. but my challenge fell through the cracks last week. We're back up and running, though.)

Did you reclaim a spot in your home for beauty or function

this past week or two?

I'd love to hear what you did (and see pictures!) if you care to share. Be sure to scroll down for next week's living. lovely. challenge, as well.

Oh, and if you have any ideas for living. lovely. challenges, I'd love to hear them!

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I have several spots around my house that have become mini disasters. The thing about mini disasters is that they seem to infect the neighboring spots and spread like wild-fire.

I could have chosen any number of places to reclaim, but my porch was really bugging me. Fallen leaves from our willow, toys and shoes strewn about, sidewalk chalk decorating the tables, stray blue 'moon sand' (I hate that stuff) in the cracks of our door mat, and a million other things that set a bad tone when arriving home. Definitely not a porch that said 'Welcome!' to friends and guests, either.

I 'let' the boys get in on the action. I filled a pot with warm soapy water and had them scrub to their hearts' content. Recess, right? I tried to include a before photo, but forgot until I had some of the toys and junk put away.

We put away the toys, swept, scrubbed the porch floor and railings, hosed off the front door mat, cleaned off the tables, and added some fall decor we had just picked up at the local produce stand. I even grabbed a bundle of corn stalks from our tiny garden, tied them together with copper ribbon, and propped them up by the front door. Ahhh! I'm inspired to get to a few other spots this week....

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Next week's living. lovely. challenge:

Send someone a hand-written letter... Snail mail.

Find those places inside that jump for joy...

You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on.

~Ray Bradbury

It's possible to forget how alive we really are.
We can become dry and tired, just existing, instead of really living.
We need to remind ourselves of the juice of life, and make that a habit.
Find those places inside that jump for joy,

and do things.

~Anonymous

Look, I really don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that
if you're alive, you got to flap your arms and legs,
you got to jump around a lot,
you got to make a lot of noise, because
life is the very opposite of death.
And therefore, as I see it, if you're quiet, you're not living.
You've got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively.

~ Mel Brooks

Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty,
fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars.

~Ben Stein

Field Trip #3

We're on a roll. Apparently we will be adventuring about on many field trips this school year. Last week we registered for the homeschool day at Evergreen Aviation. We attended one of the monthly classes last spring, and I decided we would go ahead and enjoy the classes this coming year.

Evergreen is a bit of a drive so we had to get our sleepy heads up a little earlier than usual, but the scenic route is incredibly gorgeous. This particular morning we enjoyed the glowing sun as it rose in the sky and pockets of morning fog hiding in the rolling hills, fields, horse farms, orchards, and vineyards. Happy sigh.

I knew my plans were slightly ambitious, taking all 3 boys and having no friends or family along. (Y'all are coming next month, right? Right?!) We did our best as the boys started out in a class, and then moved on to (even more ambitious) group engineering projects. Whew! A bit much for this introvert to juggle, I'm telling you, but we survived. Luckily we had an hour for lunch al fresco. The boys spent every moment on the incredible play structure while I soaked up some sunshine.

After lunch, our group met up at the IMAX theater to watch a 3-D movie about astronauts landing on the moon. Leif cracked. me. up. with his little 3-D glasses, snatching them off with wide eyes whenever something appeared to be coming straight toward him. The boys got a little antsy toward the end of the documentary, but they did well over-all.

Next up, we headed to the side lawn to launch our pop-bottle rockets and our 'eggstronauts' (we each got an egg for an astronaut, and the purpose of the exercise was to use various supplies to protect our egg from breaking when the rocket landed). It was suddenly very, very warm and blindingly bright.

The boys needed to let off some steam before we headed home, and I didn't feel like corralling them inside the museum, so they worked up sweat again on the play structure with a new friend.

We had a lovely drive home, stopping at a roadside produce stand and store for ice cream cones. I'm looking forward to our trip up next month (though I might be leaving little Leif-man with his grandma...).

Stunning Talent and Artistry

Since I'm not getting around to the posts swirling in my head, I thought I would share this video I came across today. I was mesmerized!! What do you think?

For the Locals...

Announcing:

A Moving Sale

@ Shannon's Cottage

590 W D Street
Lebanon, OR

Sunday, September 27th

2pm - 8pm

(Everything under $40 will be 1/2 off after 6 pm)

Dressers, tables, dishes (new and old), general housewares,
aprons, clothing, home decor, etc.

If you have any questions, email me at heidi (at) poetsgarden (dot) com.

Postponing...

I have a crazy day planned tomorrow, so I'll be postponing this week's living. lovely.

I'll try to get it up sometime on Friday or possibly Saturday.

Medieval and Renaissance Life

How fun it was to attend the Renaissance Faire while we are in the middle of studying that time period in our history lessons! I thought I'd share just a few of the books and movies we've enjoyed in the past month, or so.


Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village is a gorgeous, thoughtful book. It contains 19 monologues and 2 dialogues, each from the perspective of an inhabitant (child) of a medieval village. Will, the plowboy. Isobel, the lord's daughter. Nariot and Maud, the glassblower's daughters. Giles, the beggar. Pask, the runaway. Jack, the half-wit. Simon, the knight's son.... When needed, the author includes background information on subjects such as falconry and the three-field system. This time around, we are treating it as a read-aloud, but I would love nothing more than to have a group of kids each choose a monologue and put on a simple production. I hope to give that a try on our next history rotation. Fabulous book!



The Making of a Knight follows a boy from 7 year-old page, through 14 year-old squire, and onto knighthood at the age of 21. This is a beautifully illustrated picture book for younger children.

I'm not sure how, but I came across a series of books by Gerald Morris, retelling the Arthurian legends. I started with The Squire's Tale and am looking forward to proceding through the others. The writing is surprisingly effortless, fresh, and witty. I was quite drawn in. I think my boys will particularly enjoy this series when we revisit Medieval history on the next go-around.

A Knight's Tale is one of our favorite family movies. I'm happy to have it finally fit in with our lessons, so we can watch it during school hours (grin). (Warning: some language, nudity, and romance. There is one scene in particular that I fast-forward through for the boys.)

We've been enjoying various non-fiction books on knights, arms and armor, and medieval life.

Castle Diary is one of my favorite books on medieval life for children. Do try to find the oversized hardback edition for the full-page color illustrations. They are fabulous. The story itself is humorous and chock-full of details about life in a castle over the course of a year from the perspective of an eleven year-old boy.

While at the library the other day, I stumbled upon this most excellent retelling of Don Quixote. It is a hefty 350 pages, but very straightforward prose with hilarious illustrations. Levi and Russ were laughing out loud as I was reading. Extremely entertaining, the humor particularly resonating with boys (small and large). (Speaking of the illustrations (brilliant, I tell you), something about them felt very familiar. It suddenly dawned on me that Chris Riddell also illustrated the above Castle Diary.) I realize that Don Quixote is not set in medieval times, but there are so many references to the 'age of chivalry' and 'knights errant' that I certainly think it qualifies!

Cinderella meets Leonardo da Vinci... I've loved the movie Ever After, and now is a perfect time for re-watching it. I can't wait to begin our studies on Leonardo da Vinci, especially after seeing the traveling da Vinci exhibit at OMSI earlier this year.

The Renaissance Faire

This was our third year attending the renaissance faire. The day started out very wet and gray at our house. I was unsure what we were in for, but hoped for the best. After two years of unpleasant hot weather (90s), we were in for a treat. By the time we arrived, the sky had cleared and blue was showing behind the fluffy white clouds. The temperature was perfect. The location itself is fabulous. The middle of nowhere in a huge field.

Walking through the faire, it is astounding the number of costumed actors and attendees. People-watching is the number one activity. In general, the costumes are fabulous and everyone is very willing to interact or pose for photos. (There are certainly a few strange birds mixed in, but overall the quality is high.) I felt very out of place in my jeans and t-shirt...

I'll continue tomorrow with photos of the jousting tournament and chivalrous knights. Grin.

Candid

It's candid week at i heart faces.

I don't know if this qualifies for candid, but I captured this image of a knight

while watching the jousting tournament at the Renaissance Faire this weekend.

Lots more photos coming up this week...
as soon as I get my nose out of a book...

Don't Bother Me... I'm Reading

I have lots to say. Really. A million thoughts, ideas, recommendations swirling in my head. But I can't stop to share them. I'm actually reading. Finally. But why can't I do everything at once? Like keep my house sparkling clean, apply my creative talent to decorating projects galore, fix scrumptious meals for my husband (and children who don't appreciate them), guide my sons through vast worlds of knowledge, nurture their little (disobedient) souls, share all my wisdom and insight (cough. cough.) with the blog-reading world, AND devour books? Nope. Not capable of doing it all. So I'll content myself with basking in each season as it comes, knowing another is right around the corner.

While you're waiting for my read-fest to wane (if you are), you can enjoy my mom's stunning photos of her trip to France on the two-year anniversary of her travels with my sister, Shannon.

Anyone attending the Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire tomorrow?

Living. Lovely. ~ Random Smiles

Random Smiling in Public



Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love,
a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

~Mother Teresa


A smile costs nothing but gives much.
It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it
and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.
Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen,
for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some people are too tired to give you a smile.
Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much
as he who has no more to give.

~Author Unknown

I wanted to post every quote from this page, but I felt the above two quotes most eloquently expressed everything I hoped for with this past week's challenge.

Did you step outside of your own world, look someone in the eye, and give them a genuine light-filled smile this past week?

Did they smile back? Did it affect your own attitude, outlook, or focus? Do tell!

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Next week's living. lovely. challenge:

Reclaim a spot in your home
for beauty and/or function.

Do you have a spot in your home that used to be pleasantly functional, that now is a disaster?
It can be small (a junk drawer) or large (the spare room). I know I have several.

Let's reclaim one of those spots this next week!!
(May I request before and after photos?!)

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful,
or believe to be beautiful.

~William Morris

Homeschool Day at The Oregon Garden

Yesterday was the homeschool day at The Oregon Garden. What spectacular weather (sun and gorgeous blue skies, and a little hotter than I expected) and what a huge turn-out! We spent the day roaming the gardens and learning stations with our best friends (Char, McKinnon, and Monet), but saw countless other friends along the way (it was so nice to see Heather and her family... it's been ages!!). It was one busy place, but luckily quite expansive.

The kids spent a bunch of time at the wonderful play area, while Char provided a picnic and I sat in the shade. By the time I had the boys rounded up and hiking toward the entrance, we were hot, hot, hot. The boys had discovered a fountain at the beginning of our day, which I managed to keep them out of, but we passed it again and I thought, Why not? Why not, indeed. In they went. I watched them whistfully. Why do I have to be the sensible adult? (That, and driving all the way home with soaking wet jeans didn't appeal to me. Luke didn't seem to mind, though.)

Homeschoolers have all the fun. Grin.