Christmas countdown 4 - labyrinth

Starboy has been delighted to hear about how Martin, of Martin and Sylvia, took over the family job of building the advent spiral out of rocks and tree branches and small candles. The story is lovely, of determination, pride in working hard to complete a job, growing up. It's from last year's Christmastime Audio Book at SparkleStories.com.

Unfortunately, our yard is too small for a decent spiral — at least this year...maybe next year I can figure it out while his feet are still small—So when I discovered that there's a proper Chartes labyrinth right here in LA I knew Starboy needed to try it. (And it was free!)

I found out later that the center of the labyrinth is a place of transition. "You can go to the empty center and get something you feel you do not yet have, or you can leave something in the center that you no longer need." I don't know that I did either of those things, though Starboy may have. I encouraged him to walk slowly and quietly, and later I learned that running and dancing is just fine.

The Peace Awareness Labyrinth also has some stunning gardens, in a very tiny space. Starboy enjoyed the koi and searched for a place to leave a gift for the fairies there.

In the Martin and Sylvia stories, the characters often go out into nature and in a quiet moment, they discover unexpected things, like a fawn and a doe munching grass, for example. I was surprised to look down in this lush, manicured garden and discover a single four-leaf clover in an unusual spot. I don't think I've seen one in 35 years. I remembered that day, and I did not need to be reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by an incredible husband, an amazing son, a warm and beautiful house, friends locally, from long ago, and online, and so much more.

What a lovely moment of magic.

Starboy said this was a fairy church, because there was no place to sit and settle, as there would be in a proper fairy house. He would not leave his fairy gift here.

The gardens were filled with fountains, cascading waters, dappled sunlight, rich hues.

Starboy finally left his gift for the fairies up near a reflecting pool. He said he'd seen some up there, and they were more likely to be attracted by the blue tile than the gardens below. I disagreed, but he was quite adamant. We did both think the fairies would enjoy the acorn he gave to them.

I've been making labyrinths at home to share with Starboy and the kids at school. Starboy was drawn to these right away.

This are for tracing with a finger, as a cheap and insufficient version of these. I used air-dry clay and the lid of a giant nut jar. I think it looks terrible, and recommend the Etsy ones. But it will be fun for the preschoolers to trace.

I also made some cretan labyrinths using felt and puffy fabric paint, following some great directions from a web page I now can't find.

Today's completely unrelated book: "Mim's Christmas Jam," by Andrea and Brian Pinkney. A well-illustrated story about a hard-working Daddy coming home for Christmas, slightly edited for preschooler language (bad words like "mean" and "evil").

Story of a fairy garden

This year's fairy garden started out beautifully. I never got around to entering Donni's contest, which we really enjoyed participating in last year, but the design is basically the same, anyway.

Starboy used his heavy construction vehicles to do some of the big work.

We added a bubbling creek this year.

The arbor has done well outside since last year.

The animals still love the pond.

Looks wonderful, right?

Well, that lasted a number of weeks, in late spring. Then we cut down a bunch of bushes, changed the light on the garden, and fried everything. Instantly.

Except for the bacopa that we couldn't keep alive last year, which seems to be thriving, despite intense neglect.

The melon isn't doing so well, either. I actually took care of that one, but he didn't make it.

The tomatoes are coming in. Although a skunk or a mole snagged this yellow tomato before we could enjoy it.

The peacevine tomatoes are delicious, but are sized for mice. Tomatoes sure are a lot of work and water.

So, hopefully next year we'll do better with the fairy garden. Hop over to Donni's site to see the amazing creations made by those with greener thumbs than ours!

Cork boats — dry dock

 Jonah Lisa Land had a great post on cork boats, and I knew we had to try them! I set up a special, impromptu playdate with a couple of art class pals, at the only park  I could think of with a small stream.

To save time, I glue-gunned the corks together and inserted the screw eyes. The kids did the string, the mast and the sticky foam sail (they didn't want to hunt down a leaf for the sail). Not that stellar in terms of participation, but I wanted them to focus on the floating.

Only the "floating" bit was a little pathetic. We couldn't hike far enough to check out the stream, and the dog-walkers coming from that direction didn't think it was running, anyway.

 So the kids dragged the boats through the Los Angeles dried desert sand. Cue cartoon sad trumpet.

Hopefully we can find a better stream for a re-do. I'm setting the boat aside for a camping trip.

Free Spring Sparkle Story!

Sparkle Stories is offering a free Spring tale that honors death and rebirth. "Elija's New Home" talks about love and loss of the devoted family dog. A secular story for all (or no) religions.

And check out the deal for By Thistle By Thimble's sample audio book—only $3 ! I can't wait to hear these stories.

Clucking spring chickie — this one's for Julie!

Meeting Julie reminded me I have tons of crafty ideas to work on, and it's time to get crackin'! Thanks for the inspiration, Julie— Here we go!

This hilarious chickie is from the Willowday blog. I could not resist trying it. When you yank on the string inside the cup (the cup also serves as a stand to hold the chick up), you can make it cluck! Check out her video.

Starboy loved doing his own cutting, and this led to a full half hour of self-directed cutting. He took a paper filled with stickers he stuck yesterday and cut them apart into "toys" for his little plastic animals to play with. All the stickers were round or oval, so it was great practice for him.

So nevermind that this is a yellow, young chick, that also happens to have a rooster comb. And that young chicks might peep. I guess we should have used white or brown paper, maybe.

Speaking of paper, our regular 9x12 construction paper was pretty flimsy for this project. I'd recommend tag board or an old folder. I see now that we over-glued the are in the valley of the U, which makes him look a little strained. Oh! And googly eyes! I totally forgot about that! Ah, well.

We used foam stickers we had on hand for the beak and comb.

Happy Spring!

Spring Nature Table

Spring has sprung at the nature table! Chicks, frogs and overpriced handmade wooden birds are verily frolicking.

Starboy was thrilled that the scene had changed.

You can compare to last year's scene here, here, and here. And how I set it up in the first place here.

 I love the wooden animals.

But the gems are really fun, too.

Easter snail mail treats

I'm still a fan of snailmail. The gratification of email is addictive, but it's not the same as the satisfaction of receiving something a person created with his hands. Took the time to sit down and write. 

So I'm a huge fan of Amber Lee's 13 Ounces or Less series on GiversLog. The post office will ship nearly anything as long as it has correct postage. They prefer things to be secured in a box, so they can safely travel through their machines, but where's the adventure and love in that?

Last year, I sent The Optimist a plastic egg made with a felt chickie. This year I found a larger egg, so the package was a little more deluxe. I took out a few of the things that came with the egg, and added a few more.

It included a felt bunny that I made, some chocolate carrots, chocolate eggs, and declarations of love about books. The Optimist loves books. And chocolate. What could be a better surprise in the mail?

I slipped the address inside the egg, and the stamps went outside.

Christmas Countdown - Dec 8-9 *

We're reading a winter / holiday book every day and doing something special, so we can really be engaged in the season.

This is my favorite project so far—flower lights! I've been waiting months to do it with Starboy. It's a two-parter, once you've acquired all the materials.

The night before, I cut the cups out of three egg cartons and punched a hole in the center, found the tempera paint and some glitter, brushes, bowls for paint. Starboy and I had made a special trip to the drugstore to find a short string of Christmas lights.

Then the fun began. We started with light blue paint, then added white, then added pink to make lavender, then more pink.....he only worked with one color at a time, but we ended up with flowers of many colors. I usually limit the palette for gift items. Susan Striker may or may not agree with this approach, but we were making the lights for Mary Jane's Christmas present, so I wanted to choose something that her parents might bear to look at.

We dusted the cups with glitter before letting them dry overnight. Starboy had a really hard time waiting for them to dry.

The next day, we popped the flowers onto the string of 20 lights. We only could find colored lights, but they look much more special than the white ones. The bottoms of the cups still were a little damp, but that made it easier to put the lights through. Make sure the cups are on the housing, and do not touch the bulbs, which can get hot. I had Starboy wash his hands when we were finished, to keep glitter from wandering towards his eyes.

Look at how beautiful!

Again, the books are a bit random. Perhaps something on giving gifts would have been better?

I've Seen Santa!

by David Bedford and Tim Warnes

A cute story about a baby bear who wants to see Santa but keeps catching his parents doing the elfing. Nice twist in the ending. Really nice illustrations

The Mitten

by Jan Brett

A classic folktale with Brett's well-known gorgeous illustrations. This would be a lovely gift for any holiday—it's not Christmas themed.

My collection of holiday books isn't that large, and I didn't plan far enough ahead to order really great stuff through the library. Next year will be better, with some thanks to Santa. I think I'll make my plan this year, for next year, with a shopping list, so the project doesn't seem overwhelming.

*Join us at some linky parties! The Magic Onions and Natural Suburbia. Both have really awesome Friday linkups with about a gazillion ideas each week.

Creating our fairy garden *

A work in progress!

As you saw earlier, we first chose a location. We decided that the gnarly tree with the rock and the woodland plant would be perfect. I only cracked my head three times on that branch while setting the (smelly!) wine barrel in.

The barrel was rough around the edges. 

I also realized this gorgeous, wine-tight cask would also be...water tight. It needed some drainage. Luckily I realized this before the sanding, because none of Techman's batteries for the power drill were charged. So I put them on the charger, went to town on the barrel edges with the orbital sander, and snacked on pretzels and dried cranberries with Starboy.

Sanding results were smooth and soft.

After the sanding process, the batteries finally had enough charge for nine  3/8" holes (the largest bit I could locate in Techman's tool set).

We added some broken pots and river rocks for drainage. We probably could have used bigger rocks. Then we added two full bags of organic soil. I recommend holding out several handfuls of soil to use for a garden path.

Starboy and I mapped out our plan for the arbor, the cave, the well, the pond and the bridge.

 

We made choices about where to place the plants.

 Starboy was very gentle with the plants as he planted them.

We used all of the one flat of moss I had bought. I'm glad I didn't get two! One was exactly enough. I had planned to place the path between the moss, but the moss was so tall, and a little hard to cut, and there was so much of it, I decided to lay the path on top of it. Hopefully the stones will settle in over time. You also can cut away the moss with a knife, then build the path up with a few handfuls of soil you held aside, and place the stones directly on the earth. This may look a little more realistic.

 Starboy says that the fairies live in the cave. He was surprised to see that deer come to visit too.

 I'm delighted with the way the well fits in. I may never get around to making that roof!

The arbor and bridge will be coming in the mail this week. Can't wait!

 Starboy says the deer loves to go swimming in the pond and the well.

You can read more about building fairy gardens at The Magic Onions here and here. And you can enter the 2012 contest here!

Stay tuned for a few updates as we tweak our garden!

* Here's a final look!