Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
--John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901
yet again, my little girl woke with a purpose midweek. early wed morning, she walked briskly down the stairs and asked her papa to help her with a stone outside. D, probably went, "huh?" but like the sport he is, he went along and found two big rocks he had to carry over to an area that was convenient for a little project. A, with dad comes in for breakfast and asks me, (before eating ha) "mom, can i have some paint?" i said, "ok, for....?
she got on an EVEN bigger rock and painted away. (thanks yvette, for this wonderful parent activity last christmas break. she must've remembered it)
while indoors, I cut a bit of stashed fabric from my craft shelf, for my first buttercup bag. I immediately fell in love with the pattern! i am a very novice sewer of course, but didn't care. i promised myself that i was going to get this done, come what may! am not wholly happy with the choice of fabric but it wasn't going to stop me. check out rae's site on the button sidebar made by rae very cool. she has other free pdf patterns available. (not for commercial use pls)
check back for a post on the finished product very soon! happy weekend!
This is our Nature Table at the moment (the flower dolls and child were made by a kindergarten teacher; thanks t. Ira! The rest are ours) I sort of roused myself from being asleep to the contents of our nature table because two mornings ago, Adriana came back from her walk giving me these beautiful dried flowers that she found during her time outdoors. It was sweet of her to bring to me (kind of like how a cat brings her catch of mice for the day) the only thing to do was put them somewhere to be enjoyed....the nature table is what this is for.
Ten years ago, when i joined the Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher/Parent Training, they told us that the nature table is a reflection of the constantly changing nature around you. As part of the course we learned how to make dolls and toys for the kids and for a nature table. Shortly after, there were these beautiful Waldorf Craft books that I began to buy hoping to make all of it for my kids. Guess what! they were not EASY! It didn't help that we didn't have half the materials available in this country. I started becoming discouraged because my dolls didn't look half as good as the pictures in the book. So, I seriously started questioning if a nature table was really needed just to bring my kids up the Waldorf way. I got lost and caught up in the beauty and perfectionism.
Thus my question, "What is the nature table really for?" I guess I was searching for its essential worth. Of course, it came to me only in time and from talking to many people. I saw that a huge effort is placed into making things beautiful for the young child. Playing with simple toys made of natural materials forms an aesthetic sense and develops imagination. But there is more that happens when a child is allowed to imagine; it keeps their minds flexible and open to various possibilities. It made sense since I believe that our children will need this capacity as adults to face an ever modern & changing world. The nature table also highlights the natural phenomenon around us; the weather, its seasons, the animal world etc. and the children are able to take this into their souls without learning complicated words like 'evaporation", "condensation" etc. They experience the phenomenon FIRST, without judgements and then know the concepts after. (Learning a word for something is by its nature--concept-forming-- defining what we see or experience) Then and only then, can we form a judgement of it. Much of Waldorf lesson blocks are left open-ended to allow for these experiences to unfold and the child to make their own connections (concepts) based on their own observations or together as a class. I value this process and recognize this as what Waldorf Pedagogues call "living thinking".
Hello again. I made a trip to the computer shop yesterday coz uploading those photos took sooooooo long that I had a feeling it wasn't just about the connection. I was right! I had to add a little bit of RAM into my computer and I was so excited to try it out last night only to find that we had no internet connection or something else was wrong with computer! I thought that maybe the computer shop tweaked it and didn't return the settings or something, but today, the man assured me that all was fine and helped me edit some past networks i joined, just to be sure.
I am trying it out, so here goes,
Okay, IT IS quicker. That makes me smile. This is going to make you smile.
This was further down my walk. A felled tree from the last storm. Actually, there was a lot of these, branches falling, fruits scattered, leaves strewn about.
There are a lot of these birds here. Anyone know what they are called? There is a kind of blue bird also around these parts. Blue, with a black underside and orange i think. I have yet to capture it in a photo.
I sat at the front porch after to cool off. Here is a little fountain in front of it. And lastly,
My aloe vera plant to the side of my front door. Wishing you a cheerful day!
It was a great start to my day today. I walked with my little wee one in his new stroller. (Thanks Dad! It's working very well)
It was windy, really nice. Here in the "bundocs" (adapted from the tagalog word "bundok" for mountain), when its hot, it's really hot and when cold, its cold. So, I welcome a bit of breeze on a sunny morning like this. I was walking along when I saw a SUPER MAMMOTH of a frog. Wow, i couldn't believe it! maybe measured a foot long adn 10 in wide. It could've been pregnant....... not sure. But it was lying on the side of the road, like roadkill actually. It wasn't a pretty site but you couldn't ignore it.
Amazing, isn't it? I also took some photos of the trees....
Sorry everyone, I was going to post more photos but my computer, or our broadband service, i don't know which one is so slow at the moment. I will be back for the rest of the photos in my next post. Grrrr
Everyone is bracing for the storm, Santi. We just finished fixing our roof tiles from the last storm since some of them literally flew off. You wouldn't wonder why, if you can experience a typhoon passing in our neck of the woods.
When we built this house two and a half years ago, we found out that the roof tilers did not install all the screws intended for proper installation. WHY I had to ask, it's not as if they had to figure out how to install it, they just had to do what they were told! We are quite exposed to the elements out here that the least thing one should do, is to do it properly. Well, I guess most architects and workers in Manila are used to building for flat and mostly concrete lands unthinking that outer conditions in the mountains are very different. They are also used to builiding under specifications! (let's not even get into that) So, my husband being the way he is, asked the workers to redo everything and do it the way it should be done. I truly admire his spirit and tirelessness to do this. Here in the Philippines, you can feel like your going against the tide every single day for the most usual of tasks. People are, shall I use the word-- apathetic, to all that surrounds them.
Admittedly, for a number of reasons; poverty, overpopulation, under-education, (don't think that's a sociologic term, but you know what i mean) I really believe that the environment has so much to do with the apathy felt in this country. If a group of individuals have a certain standard of doing things, like in their homes for example, and there exists an unspoken culture that this is what we expect, then anyone who comes to share that space may "feel" the difference in this manner of doing things. Its so hard to do though with openness, firmness and compassion at the same time!
The storm is suppose to hit us at dawn. Our roof is intact, all our garden furniture is in, we closed and locked most of the windows, there is diesel for our generator and food in the refrigerator. I think we are ready for anything.
It is dark already and getting late. I'm still waiting for my two boys, T, E. In the meantime, all is at peace.
I wake up to this view every morning. These are the mists i'm talking about! And behind that is Mt. Makiling. They say that this is a National Park Reserve, which means that no one can develop or build in this land. I hope they keep it that way and enforce whatever law it is that prohibits people to exploit it. It's beautiful and the air here is cool and refreshing. D says that we are always 3 to 4 degrees cooler than the city. It is true, you certainly feel the heat once you go down the mountain.
Ever-changing forms around the mountain.
Not only the forms but the weather in general is so fickle and unpredictable. We could start the day sunny but end up with a rainy afternoon or vice-versa.
