Tuesday, February 17, 2009





Well its been a quiet February for the most part. We did another hike in George Washington last weekend, making the most of the warm spell and this time we did a portion of the Signal knob trail. I was hiking in the rear and looked down and found a huge crystal in a bed of moss. Then Zita found two more in a tree stump and the search was on. We found a whole bunch of them all hidden on the trail in funny hollows of trees and such. It was so magical! The girls told me they are now convinced that fairies are real. It turned out to be an awesome hike and the crystals are now sitting in a little wooden bowl in the living room and the girls get them out and play with them all the time.

Currently I am reading an excellent book called "Fruitless Fall: the Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis.° For its very doomsy title it is actually written in a very witty way and quite delightful. The guy who wrote it obviously wishes he was Michael Pollan but gives an important subject a just treatment. I didn,t realize how agribuisness really depends on the honey bee and how they are all dying. Like um tons of them and its mostly because they are pushed to the limit being trucked around the country to pollinate massive monocrops of almonds, etc. Oh well, I'm sure Barack Obama will sign some kind of magical stimulus package for the bees since he is going to solve all our country's problems and herald a new era of soaring real estate, bulging 401ks and wildly productive apiaries. Whatever.

Pardon my sarcasm. Anyway I am looking forward to someday owning some bees of our own and when I do, this book has convinced me to buy Russian bees because they are REALLy tough little bastards and are not as prone to mites and varoa and all the other things that plague our poor Italian bees.

Its sad of course because I feel like I should have solidarity with the Italian bees.

Well until next week, cheerio.

Thursday, February 5, 2009



One more thought on warmth. I think that dressing warmly--with undershirts and heads covered-- is the single biggest thing I wished I had realized more when Angelica was a baby. I think it has taken me a while to understand the importance of warmth for health partially because I was raised in California and had to learn about layering clothes only after moving out east-- but also because our society of constant temperature control 24-7 and shuttling from heated house to heated cars to heated stores has made us forget the connection between our bodies and the world around us. It is possible for us to lose heat very fast, especially a child, and when that happens we are much more prone to illness.

My favorite book for home remedies is by Aviva Jill Romm, called Natural Healing for Babies and Children and she has a whole section on the importance of warmth for the child to grow and thrive, which is wonderful to think on. This is not always easy because children often insist that they are warm when they are really cold and just distracted. Remember those kids that pee their pants because they'd rather play. But I think the payoff is well worth keeping those little necks and ears and chests well covered from the cold winter winds.

okay, I'm off my little warmth soapbox.

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Ah February. This is usually my least favorite month of the year, but this year I am not finding it quite so bad. We have been blessed with one unseasonably warm weekend and another in the forecast. When the weather hit the fifties last weekend we drove out to George Washington national forrest and hiked. Ben has this rock face he loves to climb but getting to it was tricky and at one point we were crossing passage creek which was frozen over in sections and the spot we crossed over on broke off and we were stranded in the middle of the raging creek. (Thank God for the Beco!!) Anyway poor Ben saw that the only way to get his family back across was ferrying us each on his back while he forded the freezing creek. It wasn't deep but I have an idea of what it was like. Ben didn't catch a cold either which was what I was afraid of. Righty, well I'm going to post a little posty for all our friends in Gravagna now which was what I came on the computer to do. . . oh and Mary Grace thanks for your comment and I am working on an e-mail to you about all that Waldorf stuff!!!.

Ciao a tutti! Ecco qua la prima neve qua in Virginia. Finalmente. Angelica era triste a prima perche ha detto Ben che cèra la neve in Gravagna, ma non qua. Forse venganno a Gravagna i genitori di Ben questo Maggio e Ben ancora sta lavorando sul libro. La Giulia diventa piu dulce e intelligente quotidianno. Ma anche birrichina. Adesso ha scoperta come butare i giochi net toilet. Io parlo italiano con la Giulia quasi sempre e adesso capisce lei, le parole "bano" e "stelline" e "micio." La Angelica e Zita stanno bene anche loro. Oggi ci habbiamo trovato ala biblioteca un libro dei fiori delle Montagne di Virginia e Angelica ha trovato dentro tanti fiori similare da quelle che nascanno anche in Gravagna nella primavera. Mandiamo baci a tutti!!!!!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Finally updated my links to include Jamie, Clare, and Kelly. Ben was so sweet and said, hey, I'll make you a new header. My only complaint is that it is a bit narcissistic. (But Annie, you can see the hat I made from the yarn credit you gave me at River Knits!)

Jamie, to answer your question I use prefolds, snappis, and a combo of wool wrap covers and recycled sweater covers. I like the ruskovilla wool longies and disana makes WONDERFUL wool soakers but I have yet to buy any (a dear friend has some though and they look WONDERFUL). I also have a couple stacinators that I got on ebay a couple years ago and man are they sturdy. I have some kushies all in ones that are nice for outings as they are quick for changes . I know , ask a cloth diaper question and you get a dissertation. Sorry.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009





I have to sneak in my updates on tuesdays since Ben is always out with his RPG group then and I can hijack his compy to post pics. Angelica has taken to using our camera latley ever since I taught her how to use it and the last two pictures are taken by her!!! Josepha has been coming over almost every Friday and Saturday which is really nice. I have gotten myself into a weekly menu and weekly chore schedule so as to organize the new year. I am finding that the secret of unschooling at least in this family is hyper organizing everything else so that there is time for learning and not me chasing a pile of laundry around the house all week long with a spear. The cat has also gotten fatter since Angelica has assumed feeding responsbilities. And the girls still are really lazy about toy clean up but the HUGEST breakthrough has come with the "if you want your breakfast you must make your bed and get dressed rule." Almost all battles on that front have ceased like magic. There are still days but I no longer feel like half my day is spent having motivational talks or randomly yelling to get three little people changed out of pajamas and the morning chores done.
And I bought a beco, which is like an ergo, but with cute patterns, and it rocks. I love it. My back no longer aches and Julia likes it too and I feel like I am free to jet out the door at a moments notice again. Last week I carried ALL my groceries out of the car all by myself with Julia on my back and was pain free even after carrying her and groceries and putting them all away. Hurray!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009





some little pics from christmas.

It has been a hectic new year so far between Julia turning one and a trip into the city to the Smithsonian who is is running two wonderful exhibits right now. The Pompeii exhibit is every bit as wonderful as everyone says it is and the girls really enjoyed the live butterfly room exhibit at the Natural History museum. I had to laugh when we were going through the stuffed animal section on the first floor and Zita looking at all the preserved exotic animals asked if there would be "stuffed babies". Thanks heavens no.

There sure are a ton of porto-potties in the national mall in preparation fro the presidential inauguration. Wow. They must be expecting quite a crowd. I will thankfully not be going and probably spend the evening curled up with a good book.

Lastly I found the most wonderful blog in the world. Try it to live your life vicariously through this amazing gypsy lass from the British Isles. Her wagon is so cool. intothehermitage.blogspot.com. Talk about leaving the rat race. . . . .

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A christmas of books and art. . . .


This Christmas I sent my neice and goddaughter a book from Floris books, (www.florisbooks.co.uk) who put out such lovley children's books. They put out a beautiful selection of very sweet innocent children's books. We bought their copy of Grimm's fairy tales a year ago and it is probably the most beautifully illustrated copy I have seen yet: vivid colors, yet very soft illustrations. I enjoy reading it to the girls so much and it has "The Hut in the Forrest" which is such a great not as well known Grimm's gem.

Also I have found another new favorite painter (in addition to my own husband of course. . . .) I of course love, love, LOVE his house too!!!!!!! Carl Larsson is his name and he and his wife are considered somewhat swedish cultural icons but they do have a lovley home and yes the painting above is his. . . here is his site (http://www.clg.se/start.aspx)

Otherwise we have been spending our time enjoying the lovley books sent by my mother-in-law and Aunt Allison, Ben has been laughing at his new Jack Handy book, the girls have been playing under their new playstands, and Angelica has been modelling with her beeswax nonstop. I have been enjoying looking at the lovley painting of Gravagna that Ben framed for me for christmas, every morning as I sip my coffee.