Cometh The Rain

there's something about the rain that seems to force me up and out of the house.

i cannot seem to resist its sweet serenade and beckoning call.

cozy rainy days are on my top ten list of favorite things by far.

(the kids nuzzling in a little closer to me to keep snug & dry is just an extra bonus).

we started the day at the Boonshoft museum, and there were only a few other people there. 

the warm and comfy tree house is the best part on a rainy day.

 rain tapping and splatting on the windows from all sides,

and birds on every feeder, taking refuge under the roof ledge just outside the windows to our benefit.

hummingbirds hovering just outside the glass looking in as if we are the one's on show.

later, the rain poured down and pooled up even more,

and we were sure to take advantage of it.

we played and splashed and let the rain kiss us right on the face.

if only i could bottle it up and keep it for a icky summer day.

one things for sure, no matter when or where, if its raining,

were gonna be somewhere singing and playing in it.

♥"cometh the rain..he-hi-ho..cometh the rain"♥

afterwards, we jumped in the hot tub, baby boy naked as a jay bird...

all except for his umbrella of course.

if you ask me, i say thats what hot tubs are for.

were another day closer to fall earthlings!

some more of these dreary rainy days and the trees are sure to burst into those brilliant bold autumn colors in no time at all.

and i'm tickled to the core about it.

swoon.

♥

The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency. - Susan Allen Toth

Schools are for fish

we spend our days roaming the land

holding hands, laughing, loving, learning

searching our souls

and living our purpose..

building, bonding, becoming...

relishing every new day givin to us..

giving each day a brand new start in the endless abyss of possibilities..

savoring each and every moment we have with each other..

talking, singing , playing

and appreciating.

make way my friends! fall is fast approaching!

xoxo

~call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it.

whoever you are, you need one.~

Jane Howard

~Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance.~

Milton R. Saperstein

Back to School.. thanks, but no thanks.

all this back to school nonsense shivers me timbers.

people spending boat loads of money on clothes and shoes and supplies, and fee's and pictures and school lunches, fundraisers and on and on and on.

i would much rather spend that money on things my children choose to do.

things that matter now and solely for their benefit.

we'll just sit back and let it all pass us by, avoiding the madness while the only regret is...

not realizing it sooner.

 People will say "How will they learn algebra in the real world?" Is there algebra in the real world? If not, why should it be learned? If so, why should it be separated artificially from its actual uses?

"Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how. If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world then anyone else could make for them"

~John Holt~

“We ask children to do for most of a day what few adults are able to do for even an hour. How many of us, attending, say, a lecture that doesn’t interest us, can keep our minds from wandering? Hardly any.”

~John Holt~

How you live in the moment affects how you live in the hour, and the day, and the lifetime.

~Sandra Dodd~

"We who believe that children want to learn about the world, are good at it, and can be trusted to do it with very little adult coercion or interference, are probably no more than one percent of the population, if that. And we are not likely to become the majority in my lifetime. This doesn't trouble me much anymore, as long as this minority keeps on growing. My work is to help it grow. "

~John Holt~

"What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out."

this is the real life.

 we're here, right now,

 enjoy it, live it, be it.

get lost in it...

for no one is guaranteed tomorrow.

~Erica Trent~

M is for Molly

another addition to the train table arrived today.

me and denver cuddled up the other night and got online to choose another train for his collection.

he wanted molly so we snatched her up.

today she showed up in a cute little package addressed to a bum.

after checking her wheels and a quick lookover he introduced her to the train table

where she has been chugging along the tracks ever since.

up, down, pushing and pulling and whooshing and zipping.

train table, craigslist, $50

Molly the train, eBay, $14

that smile... priceless.

under and over the bridge and around the 'difficult bends'.

 toot! toot!

every train near and far came to greet her, it was getting crazy in there!

she's a really useful engine that molly.

~A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means ~

William Hazlitt

~ We welcome passion, for the mind is briefly let off duty. ~
Mignon McKaughlin

~The same passions in man and woman nonetheless differ in tempo; hence man and woman do not cease misunderstanding one another. ~
Fredrich Nietzsche

~ Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. ~
Anthony D'Angelo

~ A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them ~
Carl Gustav Jung

~Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night.~
  Terri Guillemets



Tedious Trip to the Zoo

it's been over a year since Denver started asking to go to the zoo.

finally today we up and went.

forgetting our credit card, money, I.D. and the ever so needed stroller.

sometimes i just wanna poke my eyeballs out.

but we made the best of it with the little we had, and cut our trip a tad bit short due to aching arms and rumbling stomachs. 

needless to say, it feels good to be back at our good old hacienda.

 i think we'll stick closer to home from now on though:)

(Nev 2 months into dreadlocks)..pure beauty.

Brian has less than two weeks left before school starts back up and he gets back to teaching.

that means our 'unjobbing' summer is close to end.

the zoo was the last thing on our summer checklist and now were set on cruise control.

scoot on over summer, and let Fall in already.

 (sigh).

“We learn because we want to learn, because it’s important to us, because it’s natural, and because it’s impossible to live in the world and not learn. Then along comes school to mess up a beautiful thing.” ~ Peggy Pirro