Cottage Blessings

Sun-bleached bones, gargoyles, and one unlucky elk

can only mean one thing:

One of my favorite people in the world has a brand new blog!

And the memorable stories are just beginning to pour in!

Watching Birds in the City of St. Francis

I just loved this photograph of Agnes thoughtfully watching birds near San Francisco's soaring Palace of Fine Arts. Since coming here, we have been amazed by how tame and fearless the birds are. Pigeons and starlings, blackbirds and swans approach undaunted, flocking round every outdoor cafe and picnic area. They are used to being fed, of course, but I like to think St. Francis' influence has something to do with it as well.

We have noticed something troubling about the birds though. Many of them, of all types, have foot injuries, often missing toes or hobbling about on one foot. I would be very interested in finding out why this is.

We now return to our regularly scheduled May

We woke from our Midsummer Night's Dream to find ourselves approaching the end of May without having taken a single Nature Walk or, other than our Marian May Baskets, completed any of our planned Marian Crafts. With a few days left, we hope to make up for lost time and began yesterday with a long walk through our favorite local gardens (the place that was the setting for our final performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream last week). Here Maureen and Eileen frolic in front of our dream thatched cottage--it is not our own, but we love it as if it were.

It did my heart good to nurse Eileen at a bench, breathing in the wild bouquet of lilacs, watching red-winged blackbirds, flashing fish, and romping, happy children.

Margaret discovered that the unassuming purple flowers dotting the lawn look like fairies' teddy bears. This little fellow rests on my new pink shawl. According to Agnes, the shawl is "the springtime equivalent of the Irish Walking Cape."

How many more chances will I have to see my older two girls holding hands? This photo seems the perfect symbol of a family growing up--with the older ones setting out toward a bright future and the younger ones not far behind.

How is it possible that a little one who was not even born this time last year could trot all over the gardens with us, looking like some pale purple blossom freshly sprung?

Slow down, Time, slow down! Let me tarry a while here in this place with these children!

Blessed be thou, fair, sweet May!

A Bouquet of Days

Realizing our destruction theme may be growing a bit tiresome, it seems high time for a splash of color. Drawing an idea from the always lovely Kim of Starry Sky Ranch, here is our nod to blooming Pink!

Pink Petals:

Pink Pedaler:

Pink Pregnancy:

Pink Present:

Pink Portrait:

Pink Perspective:

Pink Peaks:

Pink Pallor:

Pink Picture:

Pink Pals:

Pink, Precious:

Pink Partiality:

Pink Playtime:

Pink Pixie:

Pink Palladian:

Pink Pots:

Pink Pet:

Pink Publicist:

Pink Project:

Pink Parting:

Silk Roses in December

"Am I not here, who is your mother?"

--Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego

Yesterday afternoon, Marie sat gazing out the front window. "What's that in the bush?," she asked, pointing. I pressed my face near the glass and could just make out the outline of something pink in our dormant rose bush. "Margaret," I called to one with better eyes than mine, "can you see what is stuck in the rosebush?" She squinted to get a better look and announced, "It looks like a rose."

"A rose?" I said, doubtfully. "It would never be a rose this time of year."

"Well, it looks like one," she insisted.

Sure enough, it did look like a rose, and within a moment one of the children suggested, "It is a rose in December--just like Our Lady of Guadalupe!"

Unlocking the front door, the children all went sprinting out. Theresa was the first to reach the bush, plucking off a perfect, pink silk rose. "It's one of the roses from the wreath," she called across the gray-brown flower bed.

As she held the rose aloft, I readily recognized it as part of the pretty pink wreath no longer on the door. The landscapers had been by to do the winter cleanup in the morning. Evidently, one of them had found an errant rose lying somewhere and stuck it in the bush for safekeeping from the leaf blowers.

I was laughing at this point and feeling a bit silly, because, quite honestly, a part of me had become excited over the prospect of having a full blown rose in the front garden on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Standing next to me, Agnes noticed my reaction and asked, "What would you have thought if it had been a rose?"

"I would have thought Our Lady had sent it to let us know how much she loves us."

Agnes considered a moment and asked, "Well, couldn't Our Lady have sent a silk rose?"

[And there you have it, dear friends. As usual, the eyes of children are open and ready to see what we adults too often miss.]

"Yes, Agnes, yes, I do think Our Lady could have sent a silk rose," I smiled, draping an arm around her as we walked back into the house.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Why does Eileen look so sad?

Might it be that the sizable spider lurking in the lacey folds of her bassinet is making her a wee bit nervous?
This fellow is large enough to be seen in the top photo.

"Phew! That was a close one!"

*******
3:41 pm, editing this post to add a reference to a much more harrowing spider story.

Late Autumn Field Day

When it comes to fabulous carnivals, we have an embarrassment of riches with the lovely Dawn's Late Autumn Field Day to add to the wonder of it all.

Thank you, Dawn! Your Field Days are always a joy to behold.[Margaret and Marie stroll the grounds of a local nature center in this photo taken yesterday. I love that they still hold hands!]

Nature's secrets revealed

If you look carefully at the uppermost branches of this birch, you may see the outline of a Northern Flicker thrumming the papery limbs to its steady, endless beat.

Our red-headed friend is not the only thing visible now that the last Autumn leaves have tumbled to the ground--please take a look at the world beneath the blossoms in The Cottage Garden.

Skyrockets in flight . . .

afternoon delight!

This is our contribution to the Science Fair Carnival, dreamt up by Dawn and hosted by the infinitely resourceful Stef of The Eclectic Homeschooler. Our family has cheated just a bit, featuring pictures from a science class the children took last week at a local nature preserve. Theresa (11) will narrate from here:

We began by assembling our rockets from a tube, a piece of straw, a strip of metal, three wooden fins, two pieces of string (elastic and teflon), a small blue ring, a premade engine, a nose cone, a paper tab and a streamer. The tube is the body of the rocket; the straw and the metal attach the rocket to the launch pad; the fins help it balance as it flies; the elastic string keeps the nosecone from coming off the rocket; the teflon string keeps the elastic string from burning up; the ring keeps the engine in place; the paper tab keeps the strings in place; the nosecone cuts the air in front of the rocket; the streamer allows you to see where your rocket has landed; and engine provides fuel and force for the rocket. Without the engine, the rocket would not be able to fly.

The launchpad is attached to a remote control. When the button is pressed, the engine within the rocket is ignited, causing it to lift off the ground. Please click here for a video of one of our attempts.

We loved shooting our rockets in this beautiful setting . . .

and, of course, while we were out, we found yet another mantis! They seem to follow us wherever we go!

House pet

The girls neglected to tell me that their praying mantis was loose somewhere in the house. Take a look at where I found him.