More random

Here is another random sampling of things that go on in my house.

Caleb (4 years old ) made me an apple butter and honey sandwich. It was thoughtful and disgusting. I ate it.

Phebe has taught me the most sincere hugs are accompanied by teeth clenching. Tonight she gave me "an extra squeezy hug."

We have 20 items out of the library right now. 9 of them were found under Phebe's bed. I thought our library book shelf looked a little sparse.

Victor, Naomi and Caleb put a load of laundry in for me this morning. Helpful kids are the best kind.

Phebe continues to call Ethan her "new dad". I was also informed that New Dad has spikes coming out of his face. The rest of us call that stubble.

I am sure there are many things that I should say, but I can't think of them off hand.

My dream garden

I have a tiny little yard. Seriously. I know technically there are yards smaller....

My parents were very dutiful about gardening every year. They "taught" their (unwilling) children how to work in the garden. I thought it was stupid. Weeding? What a waste of time. Since moving out on my own I have found that I actually really enjoy gardening. I can't claim to be fantastic at it, but I do find pleasure in it.

Right now I have 2 blueberry bushes just in the establishing phase. One has yet to produce anything but leaves. The other has produced a few berries that always seem to go missing before I ever taste them....

 I grow garlic and chives and green onions and oregano

We have golden raspberries and red raspberries. We have a beautiful (and small) strawberry patch. We had a ton of strawberries last year. I was so impressed. (Random fact, mulch strawberries with pine needles, you get more and sweeter berries.)

Spearmint and chocolate mint. Rosemary and parsley. I am hoping my stevia plant comes back this year. (I am trying to make sure my children do not figure out which plant has leaves that taste like sugar.)

I love plants.I love growing things. I love harvesting them and knowing that I saved my family money on groceries and knowing how fresh they really are. I love my kids eating berries right off the plant or peas right off the vine.

I am contemplating starting an asparagus patch this year. My family likes to eat asparagus regularly, but man is it expensive.

So I decided to make a list of what my dream garden would include.

I want a passion fruit vine.
I want a peach tree and an apple tree.
I want a yummy grape vine.(note yummy, not the kind with tough skin, seeds and flesh the consistency of mucus.)
I want to grow lemons and elderberries.
I want to have a nice patch of comfrey and basil (especially thai/ cinnamon basil, put that in tomato soup- amazing)
Cherries! Wouldn't that be awesome to have cherries in your own yard!

All this is just in addition to a normal garden with peas and tomatoes and all that standard stuff. I would probably be able to get away with a lot of this if I didn't need to leave room for my children to play, room for plants to get big, or worry about enough sunlight.

I would have a beautiful herb patch and fresh lettuce (that tastes good. I have yet to master good flavor. Mine is bitter most of the time, any suggestions?)

I love plants. Maybe I will get a growing light someday and have fresh stuff all year long. Those are some of my silly dreams. What are you going to plant this year?

Reclaimed

I love the message in this video. 

If you have ever felt like you have just messed up too badly, please watch this video. It is so full of hope and beautiful imagery. I love the symbolism.

Fathers

I can not express how much I love this video. It fills my heart with joy. It is only a few minutes long. Please watch it.

Le Canne

This weekend my husband and I went out to Rhode Island for Templecon. He had the opportunity to teach other people how to play a new game that is coming out. While he ran demos I had free time.

Ethan, mentioned there was a class about "Bartitsu". I had no idea what that meant. He referenced a Sherlock Holmes fighting style. I am always up for such things so despite my lack of preregistration I showed up.

Here is Wikipedia's quick definition of it, "Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defense method originally developed in England during the years 1898–1902." So just think of it being a way for the gentle folk of Victorian England to stop being easy targets. If you have seen the Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downy Jr. you have seen an example of Bartitsu. Those moments where time slows down so he can analyse the perfect strikes for the most effect is the essence. Well, ok maybe not, it is supposed to be self defense but he does a fair amount of attacking. 

Our teacher Professor Mark Donnelly, as shown here-

He taught us how to defend ourselves using canes and umbrellas in addition to hands and feet. It was pretty awesome. I really enjoyed myself there. Here is a link to their Bartitsu society blog if you want more info.