Michaelmas!!!

Happy Michaelmas!

Today is the first time we've celebrated this Waldorf holiday.  In it, we celebrate bravery, courage, and guidance from above...

I've already told the story of George and the Dragon many times.  I made a drawing up of St. Michael adding his help to slay the dragon.  And we've talked a lot about dragons.  When they are older we'll talk about how "dragons" are metaphors for any difficulty or hurdle in our lives.  Through self-reflection and perseverance, we can slay our own inner dragons. 

Reading Corner

I found this little shelf through our local Buy-Sell-Trade.  It was the perfect size to fit a corner of our living room that was just bugging me.  Lord knows I'm no interior decorator, but I needed more storage for books and that corner needed *something*!  I knew what it was when I saw it and $5 later it was mine. 

Here it is all cleaned up and decked out for Autumn...

R promptly sat down and declared it the "reading corner".  I thought that was a fitting title. 

Happy Autumn Equinox!!!

On this day we celebrate the changing of seasons, day and night being equal length, harvest goodies, and watch for a mosaic of leaves.  

 

Happy Autumn Equinox!!!

 

 

The Wind and The Leaves ~ by George Cooper

 .

“Come, little leaves,” said the wind one day,


“Come o’er the meadows with me and play;


Put on your dresses of red and gold,


For summer is gone and the days grow cold.”

Soon as the leaves heard the wind’s loud call,


Down they came fluttering, one and all;


Over the brown fields they danced and flew,


singing the glad little songs they knew.

“Cricket, goodbye, we’ve been friends so long;


Little brook, sing us your farewell song;


Say you are sorry to see us go;


Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.

“Dear little lamb, in your fleecy fold,


Mother will keep you from harm and cold;


Fondly we watched you in vale and glade;


Say, will you dream of our loving shade?”

Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went;


Winter had called them, and they were content;


Soon, fast asleep in their earthy beds,


The snow laid a coverlet over their heads.

More Autumn

I can feel it in the air! 

We've decorated the house. 

Last year's Martinmas Lanterns make for lovely candleholders on our table.  A few days ago we collected all the acorns and pecans out of our yard and put them in a Mason Jar.  We added them to the spiney balls and pinecones we found on our last walk.  That's the jar behind our lanterns.  (There is also a cat butt in the picture, please ignore it).

Just yesterday we received the Autumn Swap items back.  I didn't post here, but I made smaller versions of the banner hanging on our mantle.  Here are a few favorites.  (Just moments before I snapped this picture that lizard stole those acorns from the squirrel.  It was quite the scene.)

Both children loved looking for places to put our decorations.  This was a particularly sweet little vignette.  It's the top of our play kitchen and it gets a lot of love. 

Even though our house needs a lot of work (overwhelmingly -some days), I love it so.  I am feeling very blessed to be spending our first Autumn in this home! 

Making Beer

Making beer has been much more fun than I expected.  Messy, but fun.

And talk about the SCIENCE involved.  Precision, sanitation, timing and even more sanitation...

Here are a few pictures from the process (which took 3 weeks from brew to bottle, but we won't be drinking it for at LEAST another 3 weeks)...

Getting ready for Autumn

My favorite season is almost here!  But we're trying to enjoy this last week of summer.  We had out the kiddy pool earlier this week.  Though it hasn't been particularly hot this year, it has been DRY!  (Except for that one week of wet a month ago.  Where did all that moisture go???)

But back to Fall, Ya'll!

Here's the Autumn bunting (what I used to think of as garland is now called "bunting"):