Moments...

...this week of...

...happiness tidying and cleaning the house, a quiet weekend at home, a Spring equinox celebration at Forest School

...sadness at the events in the Alps

...creating a knitted sheep, the front of a cardigan, the start of a dress, a rainbow storysack, a plan for my garden

...reading The Making of the British Landscape by Francis Pryor, to the children Trouble at Rose Cottage by Emily Bearn and The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle Von Olfers

...learning about stars, black holes, density, galaxies, paper, lighting fires, Equinox, owls

...thinking about plans for the Easter weekend.

...wondering about and being frustrated by enthusiasm for ideas and folks actually committing to them

...hoping that a present I have posted is well received.

...enjoying this

...looking forward to a Maths course I have signed up for.

Playful

As I open my curtains each morning, I welcome the world back into my house.  It's the best kind of surprise not knowing what will be revealed*.  It keeps me in check with the seasons, that first glimpse a feel for what weather each day might bring.  I never cease to be enchanted and many a day I take a long pause to soak it all in.

For now, my view includes lambs.  I could sit and watch them for hours.  Those first wobbly steps close to their mothers.  As they grow they group together, gambolling.  Its infectious.  All four limbs leave the ground.  The sheer exuberance of it the essence of spring.

Spring is an awakening.  In every sense.  Whilst watching those lambs my own limbs have a strong desire to move, to emerge from the stillness of Winter and hibernation.

I want to be outside.  I want to embrace the light, the warmth, the sounds, the smells, wrap myself up in them all.

I carry that morning memory with me as I start the day, I know all will be good.

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*It was snow yesterday!

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Prompted by writealm

Mosiac

I am in love with March.

A month full of surprises.

Blue skies and sunshine,

Snow, rain, sleet.

Warmth on our faces,

Wet soggy boots.

Glimpses of lambs through hedges,

 tiny buds here and there.

We have run, we have walked,

we have learned, we have talked.

Moments...

...this week of...

...happiness a wonderful walk on a snowy hill, watching the eclipse through the clouds, a weekend with friends

...sadness friends in debt who take lots of expensive holidays, buy things when they want them rather than need them, scrimp on food quality and complain that they never have any money

...creating a front piece of a cardigan, a sewing pattern, a knitted piglet and sheep, lots of cake

...reading Secrets of the Sea House by Elisabeth Gifford, and to the children A Circus Adventure by Emily Bearn and several myths and legends about the sun.

...learning about the sun, friction, adding up, reading maps, contours, equinox, eclipses

...thinking about my garden

...wondering about presents for my niece and nephew

...hoping to give the house a bit of a spring clean and declutter this week

...enjoying this

...looking forward to a quiet weekend!

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The photo is not the moon but the sun during a partial eclipse!

Shoots

We have been learning about the sun, moon and stars recently.  We started with the sky which we learnt gave us maps and our calendars.  A measurable day with the hours of daylight, the phases of the moon, our months, and the earth's cycle round the sun our year, but what of the seasons?  Nowadays there seems to be an arbitrary change which bears no relation to what is happening outside our doors.  We lament the time it takes for Spring to arrive, perhaps we are trying to ushering it in when it is not ready.  Our ancestors were not slaves to clocks and calendars like we are, they were much more in tune with what was happening around them, the phases of the moon, the lengthening/shortening of the days and all that those changes herald.

So rather than thinking that Spring should be arriving at the beginning of February after Imbolc/Candlemas or at the beginning of March because that makes everything neat and tidy, I am looking forward to Spring from now on after the Equinox of today.  The change in the season often marks a change in our rhythm.  A few years ago I came to realise how important this was to me and the children.  It anchors our days and week with its familiarity.  It isn't the same all year round something that I resisted for a while, in those early days.  I could feel it slipping away from me, a rhythm that worked in the Autumn and Winter was not right for the Summer and vice versa.  We spend far more time outside and are usually a lot busier in the warmer/lighter months balanced with quieter time hibernating during the cooler/darker months.

It is a constant balancing act.  One which I don't always get right.  Its hard work, if I look away or loose my focus it sags and we all lose our way for a bit until I get it back on track.  I have to write everything down, if I don't I forget things I have too many balls in air to keep track of everything in my head, writing it down is what works for me.  I have to make the time to plan the specifics of each week otherwise we start to drift.  I use a diary, one of these, with a diary page on the left and ruled page on the right.  When I am planning ahead or come across an event that might interest us,  I use post it notes stuck to the relevant page which I can move if I need to, and reuse as I write on them in pencil.

Over Advent we found a lovely way to celebrate which focused our learning towards topics or projects.  This really worked for us and we have continued that for this year.  We have learnt about birds, mammals and now were are focusing on the sun, moon and stars.  This topic has been really successful, the children have loved it and I can see this continuing for many weeks to come, after that?  Well, we will see.  Balanced with our learning at home we also venture out and about, some weeks this is every day which I am still pondering over whether this is too much, especially if we are busy at weekends too.  I always need to be aware of the bigger picture and make lots of use of the year planner in my diary to make sure that I can 'see' this, but I don't always get it right.........particularly when I say yes to things without checking my diary first!

I know that last year our late Spring and Summer weeks were far too busy, rushing from one thing to another we lost our focus and our rhythm stopped.  This year I need to work on how to fit in all the lovely things that we like to do outside, especially making good use of the outdoor pool in our village, and balance this with quiet time at home.  The garden needs to be fitted in too, it got rather neglected last year at times.

So in a week where, we have seen the green shoots of Spring in some places*, we have played in snow drifts, we have worn many layers, and shed the coats completely feeling the sun on our faces, the shoots of something new are starting to take some form in the continuous and exciting journey of home education.

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* like different parts of the country and different countries in the northern hemisphere the timing of green shoots can really vary.  This photo was taken a half an hour drive from where I live, the shoots are much bigger than where I live.

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This, blogger tells me, is my 700th post!

Creating

I am getting near to the birthday season, I need to make lots of presents between now and the end of May.  Perhaps I should rephrase that I don't need to, I could buy them, but homemade presents are so much better don't you think?  May feels like a very long time away, not least because I am hoping that the temperatures outside will be considerably warmer than they are now.  The last birthday is in fact 72 days away, I know this because it is Alice's and she asks me almost every day how many days............

So, I was hoping that I would have some sewing to show you this week but most of it is work in progress, either in my head or as a paper pattern.  I find that my making and finishing always comes in fits and starts.  It always has to fit round everything else I do, I am under no illusion on that one, but when I have lots to make it feels like it won't happen in time.  Then suddenly it all comes together and it's all done.

So I have lots of part finished projects including some knitting for Alice.  I decided I wanted to knit her a cardigan for her birthday and remembered that I had some yarn left over from a project I knitted her a few years ago.  I didn't have that much yarn left and struggled to find a pattern I liked which used such a small amount of yarn.  I realised that I didn't really have enough for a cardigan but when I found a pattern for a fairisle jacket in a book in the local library I knew that I had found the solution.  I don't have enough yarn for full length sleeves, in fact I am not even sure I have enough yarn for any kind of sleeve but I am sure I can sort something out.........

I had lots of ends of balls leftover from other projects which all match together perfectly, don't you think?  The downside of this pattern is it is knitted in the flat which is not really my favourite, all that sewing up at the end.  But given that this is my first fairisle knit I didn't think it would be wise to try and convert this to a knit in the round pattern, one thing at a time, eh?

I have been reading a history of astronomy trilogy which was a fascinating read, the science was easy to understand and I loved the social history interwoven into the story.  I can thoroughly recommend all three books.  I am sticking with history for my next read, I am rather liking this genre at the moment and they are easy to find in my library, they helpfully have a small sticker of a castellated tower on the spine.  I have just started this book so I have yet to decided whether I like it or not but I do love this period of history so I am hoping I will.  Set in the 1400s it follows the lives of two remarkable women, both called Margaret who are pulling at the strings of succession during the War of the Roses.  I am a few chapters in and am making good use of the helpful list of key characters at the front of the book.

Moments...

...this week of...

...happiness a beautiful sunny day spent outside, meeting and making some new friends, catching up with some old friends we haven't seen for months, 

...sadness a friend who is really struggling right now, she has not been far from my thoughts this week

...creating more wee gnomes, the back of a cardigan, a knitted pig, a bender for Forest School, the beginnings of a new sewing pattern, watercolour paintings

...reading The Day without Yesterday by Stuart Clark, and to the children A Circus Adventure by Emily Bearn and several myths and legends about the Moon

...learning about the Moon, Drovers, Pilgrims, Queen Elizabeth I, gravity, Moonraking legend/myth

...thinking about the sun and hoping that it will shine this week for our project and the eclipse on Friday

...wondering about our rhythm and whether we are too busy

...hoping to take the children up a big hill this week

...enjoying this

...looking forward to a play day with several local orchestras 

Pie

Our weather is still cool.  When the sun does shine we still need coats, hats and gloves when heading outside.  The fire is still lit every night.  I have been thinking about the seasons and our marking of them of late.  I will share those thoughts another time.  The continuing cool has meant that Pies are still very much part of our menu, a welcome meal at the end of a busy day outside.  I have mentioned these a few times over the last few months and a few of you asked me to share my recipes, so I thought it was about time I did.

A pie, for me, has the potential to be a meal in itself and sometimes it is all I make and serve.  Of the two parts, the filling and the covering,  there are endless possibilities and combinations.  Most of the pies I make have one of two coverings, mash potato or pastry, shortcrust or puff.  I make the shortcrust but buy ready made puff pastry.  I sometimes add other root vegetables with the mash, swede or sweet potato are tasty additions.  The fillings can be cooked and frozen to be used at a later time, sometimes I cook double quantities and freeze half.  So many of the fillings I make did not start life as a pie filling, they are recipes that I have liked the sound of, cooked a few times, tweaked a bit and then turned into pie.  So here are some of my favourites.  My quantities are always a bit vague as I tend to go by what it looks like rather than weighing anything so I will do my best to give them but feel free to change and adapt as you see fit and to suit your tastes!

Spinach and Feta

This is probably my most adaptable filling. I always use pastry but have made this into one large and individual filo pastry pies and the same with puff pastry.  It is also rather tasty with jacket potatoes....
This is loosely based on the Spinach and Feta Filo Pie to be found in the Leiths Vegetarian Bible  if you have that cookery book.

1 onion
1 clove garlic
400g spinach (I always use frozen spinach)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinamon
Freshly ground nutmeg
225g feta cheese
1 egg (omit if using as a jacket potato filling)

• Chop the onion and fry on a low heat in a sauté pan until clear, crush the garlic and add to pan fry for a minute or so, being careful not to burn it.  
• Add the frozen spinach and cook until all the liquid has reduced.  
• Add the spices and cook for a further minute or so.
• Roughly chop feta into small pieces
• Turn off heat and add egg and stir to mix
• Add feta and stir again.

If you are going to freeze this don't add the cheese and egg, add these after you have defrosted.

Spicy Lentils

This is another very versatile filling, it works with or without vegetables and I have topped it with mash, and wrapped it in puff pastry as small and large pasties.  I tend to use red lentils for this but it would also work with green ones too. It is an adaption from a recipe in the book Entertaining with Cranks (this is an old book, which you can get secondhand).

1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Ground Coriander
350g Lentils (red or green)
Water

• Chop onion and fry in oil until clear, add garlic and cook for a few minutes.
• Add spices and cook stirring for a few minutes
• Add the lentils and stir to coat with the spices.
• Add water to cover (about a litre) and cook covered on a low heat, until all the water is absorbed and the lentils are soft. 
•  Stir occasionally to stop it catching on the bottom, if it does don't worry just leave the lentils in the pan for a few minutes with the heat turned off and stir again and you will find the stuck lentils come off the bottom of the pan.

This is the basic spicy lentil sauce. To this you can add any vegetables that take your fancy, at the same time as the garlic and cook until they are softened before continuing. I prefer to add vegetables if we are having this as a mashed potato pie but leave them out if we are having this with pastry.

Spicy Puy Lentils and Feta

Puy Lentils are also sold as dark speckled lentils, they are very small and hold their shape once cooked.  This pie is delicious with pastry or mash potato.  This is an adaptation from the Leiths Recipe book mentioned earlier.

2 Onions
1 Clove garlic
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne
225g Puy Lentils
2 tsp dried thyme or 2 tbsp fresh
Water/Stock
225g Feta

• Chop onions and fry in oil in a large saucepan until clear
• Crush garlic and add to pan, stir and cook for a minute
• Add the spices and cook for a further two minutes stirring constantly
• Add the lentils, thyme and approx 250ml of water or stock, enough to cover and cook gently for about an hour, stir occasionally to check for liquid. 
• Chop feta into small pieces
• Remove from heat and stir in feta

If you are going to freeze this don't add the cheese, add after defrosting.


Leek, Squash and Feta 

Feta seems to be a bit of a theme!  If it is not your cheese of choice I am sure there are many others which will work, something with tangy taste, maybe a goats or sheep cheese?  I have made this with goats cheese in the past.  I think that this is a recipe that I made up as I cannot find it in any of my recipe books.  I make this with a mash potato topping as it is a sloppier sauce and maybe too wet for pastry.  You could try just topping it with pastry rather than wrapping it, that would probably taste good, not tried it myself tho!

1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 -3 Leeks (2 if large, 3 if medium size)
1 squash (not too large otherwise it will overwhelm the dish)
2 tsp sage
2 tbsp flour
Stock
200g Cheese

• Chop onion and fry in a saute pan or large saucepan on a medium heat until clear
• Crush garlic and add to pan, stir
• Slice leeks, peel and chop squash into bite size pieces
• Add the veg and sage to the pan and cook until sofening
• Add the flour and stir well to mix (you can use any flour this is to thicken the sauce slightly)
• Add the stock enough to cover, usually a pint to a pint and a half
• Reduce heat and simmer gently to reduce slightly and cook until the vegetables are soft
• Chop cheese
• Take of heat and stir in cheese. 

I also make a version of this without the squash and cheese using a 500g bag of Quorn pieces which I add after having cooked the veg but before adding the flour.

To cook all these pies I would recommend the following....

Filo Pastry cook on 180°C for about half an hour.
Puff Pastry cook at 200°C for about twenty minutes for one large pastie or ten minutes for small ones.
Shortcrust Pastry cook as per the filo.
Mash Potato cook at as per the filo.

Enjoy!

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Something completely unrelated but which you might also enjoy is this wonderful and generous giveaway on a delightful blog that I have recently discovered.  Do go and take a look at this talented lady's beautiful artwork.

Yoke

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The washing needs loading

The sun is shining

The surfaces need dusting

Hair needs brushing

The sun is shining

The carpets need a hoover

The washing machine has finished

The sun is still shining

There are lists to write 

Can you read this book, Mama?

They do not swamp me or choke me

Are they my burdens?

They will be done, 

sometime

The sun is calling me 

Outside we go

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Prompted by writealm

Moments...

...this week of...

...happiness sunshine and blue sky, my sourdough starter, a lovely day out on the train, an evening with friends

...sadness at the difficulties a friend is having right now

...creating some wee gnomes, a shawl, two cardigans, two lavender hearts, paper

...reading Sensorium of God by Stuart Clark, to the children A Circus Adventure by Emily Bearn, the Story of Esther, several myths and legends about creation of the sky, the stars and the solar system

...learning about telescopes, bugs, sky, atmosphere, astronomy, Purim, Chinese Lantern Festival, Holi

...thinking about our solar system project

...wondering about presents to make for all the birthdays in April/May in our family

...hoping to have clear skies at night this week so that we can observe the moon

...enjoying this

...looking forward to a busy but fun weekend - we hope!

Friendship

Way back in the Seventies, when I was a child, I made a friend.  Our lives were intertwined by school and similar interests.  In our twenties as we tried to work out who we were I disappeared into the countryside to work and live in a tent* whilst my friend immersed herself in the London club culture working for a record label.  Our lives couldn't have been more different then and now but through it all we have remained friends.

We became pregnant with our second children at the same time, due a few weeks apart.  I knew when I did not hear anything for several weeks after my daughter was born that something was terribly wrong.  I reached out to the silence and was devastated that her baby had died during delivery.  We talked often on the phone, I have no idea how she got through that time.

Late last year she moved from London, her home for over twenty years, to a remote (by UK standards) farmhouse and a few weeks ago we went to visit.  We talk on the phone a lot but have spent little time in each others company since becoming mothers, one or two days a year at most.  Our last visit was for four days.

After I left I reflected.  I became aware during my visit that there was a gentle shift, almost imperceptible.  My presence, my words were giving cause for irritation.  The words were edgy and a touch hurtful.  Sadly, I couldn't wait to leave,  I always want to retreat when words become hurtful.

My reflections led me into confusion.  I realised that the differences in our lives had created a gulf that until now we had managed to bridge, could we carry on.  Had I touched a nerve, a deep seated, unrecognised unhappiness.  To walk away now could be unkind.

It is easy, isn't it to view a friendship through the rose tinted glasses of the past.  We hang on to those long ago memories of time shared, but are they enough to sustain a relationship.  Some don't last the passage of time, as we grow, move on and change, they are left and new ones are built in their place.

My life is simple, uncomplicated.  I am happy and content, I sleep well at night.  But I don't stand in judgement of those that live differently to me, even if they are tired and unhappy.  Perhaps the best thing is to be there, steadfast, like the joke that Cameron told me this week:

What kind of ship doesn't sink?

Friendship

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* I did spend February to September for two years living in a tent

Mismatch

Have you ever started on a project and then realised part way through that the materials you are using are not quite right?  Time is precious, I always strive to use it wisely although this ideal is not always the case!

A while ago now I bought three skeins of yarn, they were a bargain that was too good to miss.  The yarn I buy is usually for a specific project this yarn was not and it sat for a long while in my yarn drawer waiting for the the right time and the right project.  I found one, a pattern knitted in the flat that I was converting as I knit to in the round.  I had read the pattern itself very carefully working out how I could convert it, somehow the bit about the materials did not get read.  First time round I used a needle size that gave me an item that would have just about fit my five year old.  Second time round I knit as far as the collar and as I worked out what to do next I realised that I was not going to have enough yarn.  I knew that deep in my heart I needed to pull it out but it sat in a bag for a few weeks whilst I accepted it, other projects got knitted up whilst I ignored it.  One evening whilst watching a BBC Documentary I sat and pulled out all the stitches*, it was dark to ease the pain.  I then cast on another pattern which I do have enough yarn for, it grows slowly a row here, a row there.  I am adapting again this is my third make with this pattern somewhere in between the last two in size.  It is interesting to note the annotations I made first time round this was the first pattern I knit from Ravelry at a time when I was not able to count my rows of knitting with confidence.  How time changes things, perhaps frogging my stitches will also become easier.  I hope this will be ready for the spring when the warmer weather arrives, we have snow at the moment so I think I will have plenty of time.

Apart from making sure I am reading knitting patterns correctly I have been reading some historical fiction lately.   We are doing a topic on the solar system this month and I thought it would be interesting to do some learning of my own too.  I found, quite by chance on the library shelves, the first book in a trilogy on the history of astronomy based on historical facts.  I read the first book last month and have now started the second.  The first is set in the early 17th Century during the lives of Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, the second Sensorium of God in middle of the 17th Century and the scientists, Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley.

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*I am hoping to use all the time spent rewriting the pattern to knit this again in the future perhaps with some purple yarn, you are never too young for purple.......

Joining Ginny

Slow Living

It is always lovely to look back and reflect on what you have done over the previous weeks or months, taking stock, observing changes and celebrating achievements.  Even better if you can join together and see hat others have been doing too in their part of the world, blogging is a wonderful way of making the world a smaller place.  Christine over a Slow Living Essentials started this wonderful reflection and has now passed the baton onto Linda at Greenhaven for the monthly link up here are mine for February...

...nourish I have porridge for breakfast every morning in the winter, complete with some mashed banana and a teaspoon of slippery elm.  I have been meaning to soak the oats for some time now as I was sure that I had read somewhere that the oats were more digestible if you did.  I was intermittently remembering to soak them until I read an interesting blog post about soaking your oats and I knew that I had to try and remember.  I have taken to setting an alarm on my mobile phone to remind me to do this, until it becomes part of my evening routine.  The porridge tastes so much better for it, I soak mine in water and a dash of cider vinegar, but I am yet to be convinced that it makes me feel any better but maybe the benefits take a while to be felt?

...prepare I have a second alarm on my mobile phone to remind me to do something each evening and that is to feed my sourdough starter.  A few years ago when Alice was small I had a sourdough starter which I managed to keep going for a number of years.  Sadly, for reasons that I can no longer remember, that starter died and I had to throw it away.  I have been meaning to start one again for some time now but to get one going you have to feed it every day for a number of days, we were away quite a bit in January so it became a February job.  It is is looking and smelling good and I hope that in March it will be ready to make and bake bread with it.

...reduce my small pile of clothes that I mentioned last month got a little smaller this month.  I made a pair of trousers for Alice from an old pair of mine.  You can read how I did it here.

...green I have posted before in these refections about my uses of bicarb, I make deodorant, washing powder, dishwasher powder, carpet deodoriser, and wash surfaces with it.  I also use it to wash my hair in place of shampoo.  I started by using a recipe that I found on the web, a few months later I tweaked it slightly, then when I started swimming regularly it all went to pot and I had to add a Vitamin C rinse at the start.  There are many websites that give you advice which is based on the individuals findings but I have found that these don't really work for me.  There are so many factors to think about that it is likely that every person who washed their hair in this way would use a slightly different method.  So if you have ever tried it or are considering doing so then the only advice I would give is to persevere and keep trying different quantities of bicarb and water (and cider vinegar and water to condition if you are doing that too) until you find the one that works for you.  If you live in a hard water area then the bicarb will not dissolve as well in the water so it will not work that well. If your hair is getting very dry, reduce the amount of bicarb, if your hair is getting very greasy then reduce the amount of vinegar.  It is important to remember that what you eat effects your hair too!  I wash my hair once a week using this method, I have long hair ( a couple of inches below my shoulders) and I can wear it down all week.

...grow we have a few edible plants growing in the garden at the moment.  The snowdrops have been delighting us with their presence for a few weeks but no other bulbs have made an appearance, yet.  My rhubarb that I split late last year seems to have survived the hacking and all three plants have started to sprout.  I have cleared the polytunnel of all the plants that have died over the winter and it is now ready for Spring sowing, there are a few salad leaves that have survived the winter which we are enjoying with our meals.  I have bought all my seeds for the year now and am ready to go when the weather warms up.  Inside my sprouter is providing us all with some crunch to go with our winter salads.

...create I always do more of this in the Winter when there is nothing to do in my garden, so I have been trying to think about some of the Spring projects to make for all the birthdays coming up at a time when the garden is also pulling on my time.  I have made the pair of trousers mentioned under 'green', I made a skirt for Alice, some more coasters like those that I share last month and a shawl that I cast on last month is now ready for blocking before being sent off as a gift.  I also ripped all the stitches out of a cardigan I had been knitting for myself and cast on a different pattern with the same yarn.  I knew that I if I carried on I would be knitting something that would not be worn so despite it seeming like a lot of effort for little gain I knew it was the right thing to do.

...discover I have been planning a topic based on the solar eclipse that we will have in our part of the world in March.  As well as thinking about learning for the children I have also been finding interesting books to read for myself.  I have started a trilogy of books which are fiction based on historical facts. I have really enjoyed reading the first one this month and look forward to reading the other two books in March.

...enhance several people have mentioned in the last month or so that it would be lovely to have a home ed camp this year at some point.  We have been talking about doing this for a few years now, so I decided it was time I did something about it.  I have been making enquiries of various campsites to see whether they will accommodate such a group and hope to advertise it to my fellow home edders soon.

...enjoy we have been to a new home ed group this month, it has been running for a while but we haven't been as I wrongly thought it was going to be a really long drive.  We have made several new friends and hope to make this a regular commitment in our week.