Under the Sky

Gorgeous September

Posted by: Under the Sky | September 8, 2010 | No Comment |

It is a lovely delicious fallish kind of day today and I just love it. We are beginning a new year this week and I am glad. It is hard to believe that I have the wide spread of ages and schoolwork I have this year, but we do and it feels almost normal. I have tenth, eighth, sixth, fourth, and second grade children and that means we are all over the educational spectrum. At the moment though, four of them are outside in our court running in the wind with delight. It has been pretty warm here so to have a 74 degree day to play in is just too enticing to miss. I will call them back in soon, but isn’t this one of the gifts of our choice? I think so.

We are doing a different kind of co-op this year with a dear family and sharing the teaching load. Science and history are the subjects as well as gardening and possible animal husbandry. (Or something along those lines anyway!) We started yesterday and I think it is going to be a great year. The beginning of a school year holds a lot of promise and hope. I am grateful I get to live this life and grateful for the relationships it brings.

I wouldn’t want to live any other way. Thank you, Lord!

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Here we are!

Posted by: Under the Sky | June 22, 2010 Comments Off |

A new blog site and a new blog look. I am still getting used to it all and will have to reload all the links to favorites I used to have, but it just might be helpful to someone.

That’s all for now! The grocery store is a callin’!

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Glorious Monday!

Posted by: Under the Sky | April 19, 2010 | 6 Comments |

Some Mondays are hard. Today is not! It is a lovely breezy day with spotty sunshine. We have much planned ahead of us and not the least of which is a very exciting day planned to visit the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Bouquets to Art is this week and I am so excited. I studied floral design in college and we visited this event then. It was a spectacular showcase of floral art in combination with the permanent collection housed there. 20 (cough) years ago was the last time I attended and this week I will be going with my children, my mother, my aunt, and my grandmother. Four generations of family!

We will also be belatedly celebrating what used to be an every-year family tradition of Saint Patrick’s Day. Now those who read this blog regularly know we do Saint Patrick’s Day pretty big here, but I have not had a full-family SPD event in many many years and my children have never celebrated it with their 100% Irish Great Grandmother due to distance and timing. Wednesday evening will be it then! (Hey – we can celebrate Saint Patrick in the middle of April, right?) My Grandmother is 91 and I know she isn’t going to be around forever. Do you have family like that? I love the time I spend with my Grandmother and rejoice that my children have that blessing.

It has been many months since we have spent any time with my mother and her husband and we are excited to do so. Family is a gift of God and we are grateful for them! What are you grateful for this week?

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Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Posted by: Under the Sky | March 17, 2010 | 1 Comment |

I love this day of the year! I grew up with a grandma that is 100% Irish and we celebrated this day every year with gusto. My corned beef is in the crockpot and we will be dining finely tonight! My children asked me today how corned beef was made – does it involve corn and if no, why the name? I found this little tidbit here.

Why do they Call it "Corned" Beef?

The term “Corned” comes from putting meat in a large crock and covering it with large rock-salt kernels of salt that were refered to as “corns of salt.” This preserved the meat. The term Corned has been in the Oxford English Dictionary as early as 888 AD.

Irish Were the First Exporters of Corned Beef. Irish were the biggest exporters of Corned Beef till 1825. The English were serving corned beef but also the Irish. In this day and age corned beef and cabbage is not very Irish, but corned beef is. The area of Cork, Ireland was a great producer of Corned Beef in the 1600’s until 1825. It was their chief export and sent all over the world, mostly in cans. The British army sustained on cans of Cork’s corned beef during the Napoleonic wars.

I love little tidbits of knowledge that that. :+) Do you have a good recipe for Irish Soda Bread? I often recommend this one, but make sure you substitute butter for margarine. It will not be the same without that change!

We are heading to our co-op today for some good "book larnin’" but also for some great fellowship and a build-your-own-potato bar! Yum!

For those of you looking for something "Irish" to study today, you might enjoy this old post of mine. The Book of Kells is exquisite and amazing and well worth your time. The picture links are no longer working on this old post, but you can see some of the gorgeous artwork here.

And another old blog post about the real Saint Patrick.

And to close I want to share a poem that is oft quoted this time of year, but I love it just the same.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.