The Play Tree

Another this week and last- the horse chestnut tree I can't help the thrill of seeing this sort of garden growth- over and over :) )

The same tree is know as the 'play tree'. It has a swing, some hammered in wooden steps and a knotted hanging rope for jumping and swinging and climbing on.

Canyou see Isaac has his hair tied up today? One horrible word. Headlice. Headlice are what you can expect if you play with school children. This is a soaking treatment of tincture of Larkspur (powerful so called natural insecticide), hair pinned up for several hours and then the glossy locks washed out with nettle shampoo. The leftovers? Dead lice floating in the bath. Then of course it's the long process of combing with the Nitty Gritty comb to try and pry out the sticky pin point 'nits' or eggs. I make up (looong) hanging-by-the-seat of your pants type stories to keep a boy sitting for long enough to do this. Again. We have done this (plus several other treatments and vigourous sporadic combing since February. If you miss even one egg? They are back within a week and lyaying as fast as I can type. Wierdly Felix, nor I or Don have been attacked by them. Isaac must have sweeter blood. Lets hope this was the last time. Sigh. Such a process.

Garden Time

Calendula in a week - from this to this:

First, second and third place. It's Isaac's Yellow-Car-Only Grand Prix don't you know :)

Time to take the Easter tree down to make way for jars of blossom - but what to do with our delicate blown eggs? Felix brain-waved the outdoor tree notion.







I spy a bird, feasting on a worm!





That just about sums up the afternoon in the garden :)

Indulgence

Forgive my indulgence in photographing this itty bitty baby bonnet so many times and showing the resulting pictures here.

I loved knitting this, even though it was with skinny 2.75mm needles.

I think it would fit a 2-4 month old.

Errr, I just don't have anyone to give it too.

That's a bit embarassing, usually people start off knitting something for someone. Rather than trying out patterns that look cute. Ahh well. It's been done many many times by me before and these little scraps of knitting always find a happy home eventually.

The nice thing is though that the cords were made by Isaac and Don. I was sent a free Inox I-cord machine by a dozy online knitting store (I asked for a ball of apple green yarn and they sent me the yarn plus the I-cord contraption). This was about a year ago. I tried the thing once and ended up with such a crazy tangle of wool that I tossed it in deep disgrace (ridiculous thing!) in to a forgotten cupboard. Don and Isaac figured it out for me this morning and they spent an hour or more making various lenghts just for fun. I managed to wrangle a couple of little ones for my bonnet. So this hat is a joint project :) How many hands and love and joy went into one little bit of knitting then? Answer: a lot. That's why the amount of photographs make up for it being just a tiny wee thing.

Yep. That there is a juicy little melon.

Thinking, in the round

When you are colour blind these sort of puzzles have an extra dimension of trickery. But are still much played with. Isaac asked if I could help him sort the colourd blocks into piles because his eyes could not see some colours and when I said... hmmm I wish I could swap eyes with you to see what you see. He replied; Well... you can't! You need to wait until you get another pair of eyes in your next life! These are my own special eyes! I agreed. His eyes are indeed special in the way they see the world.

While he built the leaning tower of Piza I carried on with my knitting: in case you were wondering it's cashmere wool and it is going to turn (magically) into a little baby bonnet. Not sure which baby's head it will adorn as have a fair few friends and family members with swelling bellies.



We dug a bag of clay from the side of a stream on my friend's land. Isaac shaped a chunk into a little Insect House complete with holes poked with a stick. Already we have seen stirrings of life and families of tiny things moving in :)



I shaped mine into something else. Can you see what I made?

Yeah. There it is in the middle: A tiny pregnant Goddess figure appeared in my hands as I thought about a friend without the support of her own embracing mother. It's there so when I catch a glimpse my thoughts can be guided to her.

And.

Unbelievably.

Walking on the beach later, I found this pebble.

It looked to me, exactly the shape of my previous clay-thoughts.

In honour of eggs

In ancient family tradition (or at least from my own childhood) we spent Eatser Sunday (or 'Eostar Sun Day' if you fancy) eating eggs, decoratings eggs and rolling eggs from a wonderful place nearby called Trefenter Hill. We were the only ones around for miles and with only the mildest of breezes, and the sun in the sky we watched circling Red Kites and rolled our eggs at least thirty times. What helped us out with this was the hillside being covered in springy moss and our eggs bouncing in a cloud like bed at the bottom rather than cracking open. Felix developed a fond attachment to the egg box and to his lattice worked, flakey eggs and decided to take them home. Hugging the box to him in manner of mother with small child. Yes our car did smell like rotten eggs on the way home.

Beltane, blossom party

As the weather turns cloudy and reminiscent of the winter just passed, we all have illness and tempers to match. Trying to soothe us back into Spring we plan a Beltane/May Day party and in doing so we happen to create a butterfly wall (in one of those round-about spontaneous crafty ways). We have had one of these at Spring time for the past couple of years and seeing the first dancing wings of colour always remind's us of doing another.

Last night bored by my knitting (gasp!) I remembered some mehndi I bought a while back and decided to have a quick go. Brushed the dry crumbs off, went to bed and this morning it's a lovely burnt amber colour. I think I will bring this out at the party and pamper my women friend's feet and hands.

So far our combined ideas are - wearing something white (just like the Blossom) making flower garlands - either with willow or wire and threaded with garden flowers amd cherry blossom. Skipping with a very long rope. Having a fire. White food. In particulare fairy cakes. Lots of them :) My mental contribution whilst thinking food and drink: honey mead - yum!

Hoping for the sun to make it's return in time for outdoor celebrating.