Sometimes I wish to experience the beach as she does…full of dance and play, chasing a shadow or a bird, running towards and awat from waves… I am invited to watch her, build castles with her, run along the surf and try to remember what it was like to be two, when everything was a new adventure. This in itself is my adventure today.
By Ryan www.shadowtraveler.com
This will be an incomplete post for now as we will not be releasing our butterflies after all. Today I am thinking about letting things go. Sometimes this means letting a thought take wings, releasing something back into the :wild: or simply letting go. Sometimes it is hard to know when. We should be releasing the butterflies at school today, but it is too stormy, so stay tuned for pictures next week. In the mean time, we have been discussing the following poem (taken from the Houston Holocaust museum linked below) and gathering materials to make butterflies for this Butterfly Project.
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The Butterfly |
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The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone…. |
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Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly ’way up high. It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye. |
For seven weeks I’ve lived in here, Penned up inside this ghetto. But I have found what I love here. The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut branches in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly. |
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That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto. |
| Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942 |
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Born in Prague on January 7, 1921. Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942. Died in Aushchwitz on September 29, 1944. |
things that are making me bubble today:
1. anticipating a visit
2. the strength of my partner-in-everything
3. sleeping babe noises
4. cool morning breeze
5. hearing a train covering tracks
6. smells of the familiar
7. wondering if any more butterflies will open today
8. an upcoming trip to the ocean
9. cotton candy azaleas captured by Ry
10. And you? What makes you bubble?
This is our year-old Spruce Creek Rainsaver. A year ago, we attended a rain barrel workshop and received this free rain barrel. Since then, we have not needed to use tap water for any of our outdoor watering needs.
The set-up is super easy. We bought the green bendable downspout to divert water to our barrel. Ryan cut our downspout (and saved the extra for winter) and lined to black hose to our drain so that when the rain barrel is full (which happens quickly), the extra water goes into the drain. We also bought a soak hose so that we can let the barrel empty slowly onto our planter if we want it to self-water. In the winter, he just reconnected us to the white pipe, using the cut downspout.
When I come across some cinder blocks, I will probably set the barrel up a little higher so that there is a bit of water pressure, but the watering can fills just fine as it is.
For my Philly friends, if you’re looking for a quick way to get your own rain barrel, sign up here for one of the free workshops! If not, the barrel is a little pricey, but there are plenty of directions online to make your own. In fact, if we had a bigger yard, we would probably make a second barrel and hook them up to each other. Here are some of the online versions to check out too.
Diverting water is just a little thing and in the whole scheme of things, we’re only saving a small amount of storm runoff, but even little things can help. Having this rain barrel also makes me more accountable to water usage, it reminds me to stop and think about how and why I use water. Plus, playing with the rain barrel happens to offer much entertainment to Riana so it’s a win-win.
A Friend gave us this Oak seedling, which he grew from
an acorn outside the old Quaker Meeting House in West Chester.
We were looking for a tree to plant and this one is about Riana’s same age. 
So we planted it, along with special dreams, wishes, notes, and things. It was already November (2007)
and we feared that this was too late; that our little seedling might not last the winter. 
So tiny, can you find it in the picture?
Yet it took root and continued to grow.
Now it is one of those special things I wish we could take along wherever we go.
I did not think of trees growing so quickly.
Then again, I did not know how it would feel to have children growing before our eyes.
At least for now, she is willing to go wherever we go.
