Play Ball

Whether catching or hitting Eli brings a fierce intensity to this game. Always focused, always ready to get a batter out.  He throws off his helmet and flips his mane out of his eyes looking closely at where the play is.  Throwing to second or playing pickle with the runner he's there playing for his team.  As the batter he plays pickle with the other catcher.  Challenging and daring.  His favorite game within the game.   Go Buster!   

Mural Painting

I started teaching a new Garden Art class at school this month.  It is delightful and a lot of work.  The most time consuming part is prepping and then getting the pieces ready for display.  For this painting project I had a lot of help with the prep.

I have completely loved working with the students in a new way and coming up with projects every week that will work for grades K-6th.  I have found that most projects work with all ages with a little modification.   This project that you see here was my form of a mural. I work with whole classes and I couldn't quite figure out how to have 20 students paint on one mural all at once.  So, they're making a mural quilt.  When they're done they will all be mounted on a piece of plywood and displayed in the garden.  They turned out beautiful.

The first class I did this project  with was the kindergarten class.  The assignment was very structured.  I showed them Georgia O'Keffe paintings and they were all asked to draw a close up of a flower.  They were also told to fill up the entire square.  No white paint showing.

This class shown here is a little older.  I told them to pant something they like in the outdoors.  I also put around the same inspirational pictures that I used in Kindergarten.  I thought the paintings came out beautiful.  I loved watching the focus  and complete absorption of some of the same students who often have a difficult time focusing. 

Ferry Ride

Just a ferry ride away from San Francisco there's a whole other world.  Angel Island.  Such a great get away for a day.  A combination of a beautiful natural sight and a place steeped in history.  We  went in the museums which echo of the stories of the people that went through there.  The poetry is etched into the walls.  That poetry, that is still on the wall, is in Chinese as they were detained there the longest.The rooms are set up as they were then at the turn of the century and you can almost hear the anxious voices in all the languages waiting to be let into America. The ferry runs just twice a day so after a few rides on the rope swing we raced back to sail back to the mainland.  

Colored Eggs

I bought the egg coloring this year.  Yup. That's the kind Emily wanted and frankly I didn't quite have the time to make it myself.  We had a baseball game until the evening then had to pack to go away for a few days.  On top of that Eli had an encroaching fever that just came on with a set of chills.  So the eggs were decorated and shiny even covered with a little fairy dust.  Or, actually, a lot of glitter.  They were bright and shiny. Good for the hunt!   

Spring Blossoms

 

Spring has sprung and even with a certain amount of neglect things still bloom forth in all their glory.  I look around our yard and there is a riot of blooms.  Not a lot of color in these pictures but there is some.  These first blossoms are a product of our neighbors hard work and lightly fill the air with a scent of sweetness as I race by them to or from somewhere.   Jasmine that covers the fence and a sprawling bulb the I'm not sure the name of.  The other ones are from our pear and apple trees repectively.  They are old but oh so productive.      

Across Country

 

Across the country we sent a birthday package.  Containing lots of handmade goodies including cards and a note written by a Japanese student who is visiting here.  I asked her to write Happy Birthday and she wrote a whole paragraph and then translated it, on another piece of paper, into English.  Also, in the box was a package of local salt water taffy and a water color.

It was fun doing the watercolor.  First we all came up with 21 adjectives that describe the birthday boy.  Then Eli painted a full page watercolor painting.  I cut the paper into small strips. I was just going to put them randomly on a piece of ribbon but noticed how cool they looked when placed almost back together.  We all wrote a few words so everybody's handwriting was represented.  Then I taped them onto the ribbon into a chain of colorful words!     

Happy Birthday to Nate

From the Utah mountains,

to the California deserts,

to the glacial lakes,

to the organic farms.

                        Here's to lots more adventures in beautiful places. 
                                          Happy Birthday to Nate!!!!!!!!!!