The Medicine Garden

I received an email the other day asking about the medicine garden.
What?  How?  Why?

I dug this particular spot out a few years ago.  It was just a "color bowl" for a while.  That's how I thought of it.  A spot by the fence that was filled with bright, beautiful flowers.

All winter it lays under a bed of icy, muddy snow.  Never sees the winter's light.  Always the last to burst forth, and always I'm so eager to see it and play here.

Eventually it comes to life.

Wild and filled with unsavory volunteers.

 First picture... what it looked like a week ago.

When I first decided it was the proper place for a green witch's garden, I didn't dig up any beloved perennials to eject them from the space, but rather just built around them.  Garden phlox lives here, happily.  Shasta daisies.  Hollyhock.  Gorgeous, huge orange poppies.

Now there is also yarrow.  Peppermint and sweet woodruff at the outside edges.  Spearmint.  There are chives and garlic chives, lemon balm, calendula, st. john's wort, cinquefoil, echinacea, horehound, chamomile, mother of thyme, and I've just this year planted comfrey, valerian, and hyssop.

It's started...

Once my bee balm and bergamot (from the herb garden) get large enough to split, I'll invite them, as well.

.... still working....

I'm never rigid about these garden spaces... conformity and obedience are definitely not on my list of desirable traits.

Finished!

We do pay attention to companionship laws around here... but for the most part we plant something where and how it feels best.

It's Spring, and this garden is entirely too civilized for my taste at the moment.  I prefer... riotous.
I like gardens the way I like life and my children...organic, a little wild, and free.
But soon, hmm?
Just let them grow.

sunday : snow

girls reading.

girls sledding.







godzilla
and the unlocking of the mothership
"Is this The Mothership?"
"Nah... this is Sidney, Australia."
"Oh."
"Don't you recognize this little piece of Sydney Opera House right by my feet?"
silly me.

snow painting.


this is one of my favorite things (I first had the idea a couple of years ago)...
painting with watercolors,
planting icicles (sculptures),
icebergs and rivers,
creating a frozen arctic-
seals, penguins, orcas, snow shoe hares...



snowplay while being warm inside? awesome.

here's something-

almost an inch in 19 days.

make ready.



three sled.
(daddy and baby and baby.)


uum... make that four.

tired of sledding pictures already?
what to do?
we have snow and this fabulous hill just two houses over....

at 4 : something--

still snowin'.

snowy ice lantern

waiting for the gear to finish tumbling in the dryer...

time to go!


so good....

so good.

walking softly

yesterday was one of those "extra soft" days.
you know the ones I mean, I'm sure.
everyone walks softly.
calm, quiet tones are used all day.
everything is slow, and easy.

a tone that was begun, no doubt, by my lying about on the couch with a wicked headache was carried throughout the day.

their daddy was home, so of course they played a while, too.

there was a few minutes of jumping.
a round or seven of tag - with giggles.

but the real news, for me, was Trevelyn's thoughts on the day.

several times yesterday, he appeared thoughtful and a little... off.
i don't think any of this came out of boredom, as I think Trev is like me, and is almost incapable of being bored.  if needing something, we'll just go find it, we are easily contented with small things.
it didn't come out of an excess of energy, either, as we were all satisfied to walk softly this day.

"If you were feeling better... we would be talking about a family bikeride." offered he.
and "Usually we'd be playing Qwirkle or something right about now."
and, later, last night... "If you didn't have a headache.... we'd be sitting outside at the table playing the Lewis and Clark game with Dad."
"We can play the game, Bud, if you want to," I told him.
"No, no, I'm happy to just lie here and watch Jake Long... I'm just thinking."

and he was.

it's not as if we rarely have quiet, drifting days - we have lots of them that look very similar to this one.
but for some reason, Little Son was in a pondering place today.

I think that he was thinking upon his life.
valuing his life.
maybe in these quiet moments there was a gift for Trevelyn -
an opportunity to contemplate and appreciate Life, and the love and joy and learning and adventuring within it.

mostly -especially when we're small and know no other way- we accept our world as is.  it doesn't necessarily seem fancy or extra fine or particularly dashing.  the living within it just Is.

as parents, we do things.
we drive them to a library twenty miles away to pick up Jurassic Park, because it will take four days (weekend) to get to the neighborhood library, and we know if we were really excited about something, we'd drive out post haste.
we say "of course" to cake for breakfast.
and an icecream cone right before lunch.
we spend eight dollars - when we only have seventeen - on a new dinosaur, just because it isn't expected, and he only wants to go to the toy store to look at it and touch it one more time.
we keep them home, with us.  because we can't bear be parted from them.
because we can't send them away, and just hope for the best.
and because it gives us so much joy to learn and laugh and play and discover with them Every Single Day.

and sometimes we wonder if we're doing it right...
and if the children are happy with their lives.
maybe it's been five minutes or so since someone sighed, and said "this is the life, isn't it?"  : )

and then...
and then, yesterday.
when you're not worried, and not expecting it.

your Little Son gives evidence that he's philosophizing, and evaluating.
and you just know that everything is beyond alright...
that everything is so fine, and good.

it is evident in his syrupy sweetness.
it's evident in the way he voluntarily (on his own) picks things up in the livingroom and puts them away.
it's evident in his volunteering to help his sister find her favorite videos on youtube.

it's seen and felt in the way he tucks us in with kisses and extra hugs, and says "I Love you, Maddie.  See you in the morning."

and you just know that your child has been thinking in the quiet,
and that everything is just as wonderful and right as you imagine it to be.

... Since.

Well.
Let's see...
Maddie-Mine has gone through a rite of passage.
Maybe even two of them.
While shopping the other day (birthday, autumn's must-haves for the babes -- fleeces and undies, whatnot) Madeleine picked a pretty right off the rack and said "I'm getting this. Help me try it on."
Then she preceded to keep telling us to watch for people-- she was stripping down.
We convinced her that we could definitely get it in her size, and she didn't need to try it on.
Thank goodness her outfit was very cute (read: no plastics on the front or cartoon characters).... and on sale.

The second All Growed Up is that she has upped the ante on her Invitations. These are the scraps of paper that she cuts, decorates, and has me address to her friends, family, and favorite toys.
That child is good with scissors. I don't think Trevelyn uses them nearly as efficiently as she does.Not only does she make her invitations to Tea very fancy, but she has now started to put actual letters on them.
I blinked when I saw that.
And!-
She has drawn her first self-portrait.
With sunglasses. And she's happy because she's jumping on the trampoline with Daddy and Trev and getting high bounces.
And a portrait of her brother.Who wears Daddy's sunglasses.
Trevelyn tried to be honored and not offended, even though he had to explain.... "Look, Mom. It's not that I want to be rude.... but Maddie's pictures.... it's just that I like pictures of me to actually look like me, and not some pretend cartoon thing or something."
We had the "Practice" talk.
Not that I expect it to change his ideas about being able to do something easily and Right.....

We were invited to our friends' annual Halloween Party.



We had a blast.
Our hosts made me laugh when they greeted us at the door dressed as what one would expect of hosts in a typical home around here. :) Think Ward and Joan Cleaver.... though I was thinking Mr. and Mrs. Little.
I was trying to get a picture of my friend's bow when her husband came along and inserted himself into our picture.I appreciated the laugh. It made the blur worth it.

It's well and truly autumn, now.
Leaves and colour and rains and cold.


We're cleaning
and making Wish Lists for Santa


and making room for our new books
and rotating our shelves that hold our current projects and interests.




We're thinking trick-or-treating, carving jack-0-lanterns, an afternoon playing and experimenting and spooking with friends, and Panyo.

All is well, here.
We'll see you tonight.

babies

We have babies!

Quite a few of the italian large leaf sweet basil variety.

and we have a jack-o-lantern pumpkin baby

and a red onion baby

and a watermelon baby!

We're on our way
(and we've tucked them in the house for tonight - expected 20 degrees and six inches of snow tomorrow)....

two millimeters

Sprout!Our basil in the kitchen window has sprouted!

October 12

I'm glad that I've gotten into the habit of just calling the post by the date, 'cause then, for days like today, I don't have to think too hard and come up with something clever, when I can barely put a couple of thoughts together!
Not that I'm really out of sorts today, just... floating (and dipping, and sinking, maybe) along.

Now both the babes are sick. Yesterday Trev had this barking cough, and while it doesn't sound violent anymore, it is now every few seconds, so that's not so good, either.

We went to Costco today - all of us, and that was interesting.
On the way there we discussed John Wilkes Booth again, and Abe, and Thomas, and Sally, and Thomas' father.
Trev is so fascinated by the whole thing that I'm feeling a bit guilty - like I've done him a disservice by not offering the information, or other similar things before. He's never asked, and we've discussed others - Davey Crockett, and a few others, but he was never really interested. (So I guess I shouldn't feel bad, after all. But who woulda thought?)

We picked up some Magic Treehouse books today at Costco.
And Jumpstart World - ready for Vista. woohoo!
I looked thoroughly for a history book for us to bring home, but didn't have any luck with that. Really, folks, I mentioned it before, but I'd really like some suggestions on history books! I'll have to go look up the ones Child'sPlay mentioned the other day....
Also on the Costco agenda was a couple of pairs of jeans for Trev, as he's runnin' around in thermals and shorts - which I don't mind, it's often my own preferred style, and one dh likes as well, so it suits us... still, long pants would be nice.
And guess what?
Size six? No.
No way!, in fact.
The child skipped right over the size sixes, and went straight to seven!
In length, also mind you, not just around the tummy.
They are not even too large. If they had eights, I would have gotten them (only 2T-7).
Hmmph.
Somehow that just seems wrong.
Wrong, I tell you, wrong.
sniff.

Maddie started talking to me in a make-believe growly voice yesterday. It was hilarious. Grown up, but hilarious.
Trev reads (in his way) while he's eating soup.

Today my son asked me when time began.
And a few minutes later he asked me why Abraham Lincoln had to be assasinated.

On the way home from Costco we saw a haunted house, and I told Trev that it was for older kids (he doesn't like masks and scary things) so he starts sayin' that pretty soon he'll be fourteen and eighteen.
"Before we know it." Dh complained.
"Not before I know it - I'm expecting it tomorrow. It damned well better not be before then," the Mama grouched.

Surprise!

The first one - though it isn't all that shocking Still...

Madeleine discovered today the wooden cobbler bench sets.

I think today was the first time Trevelyn played with them, too, even though I got them for him when he was roughly 12 months old....

Second - here's the shocker!

I measured my son today, as he was playing near the hung measure-thingy, and he is an inch taller than last time! Which was two months ago.
Maddie of course "Me too, me too!" and though I told her "I'm sure you've shrunk an inch" as she seems so tiny and dainty, she has gained an inch, also!

Holy sh-moly.

Dang!

Honest to Goodness, folks, this and my thoughts on mortality are the foundation of why I initially chose this (ru) way of life.

Enjoy it while it lasts sort of thing.

Just as I blinked my eyes and went from twenty-three to thirty-eight, so I know will my children go from three to seventeen.

And in the grand evolution/eternal/spiritual/what-the-tarnation-does-it-all-mean thing, it just really doesn't matter if my son can read "they" at the age of six.

I just don't see it as a problem.

And damn it all, neither should anyone else.