Thursday, August 11, 2011

Around here

It is HOT around here, so hot in fact that it is hard to do much of anything.
Even so, things are moving forward. Most of the main paths moving through the land are completed and the meandering feeling of these curved walkways, for there is intentionally no straight lines, gives the Land a much needed inviting feeling, and makes you want to go deeper.
I think we are very close to breaking ground on our house, next week if all goes well, 
and that is very exciting. 
(The crocodile has not been seen since last week, and we wonder if perhaps he found it too crowded and moved on, that would be nice indeed. We are starting to clean out the Cenote,
 so if he is around he will be found and moved)
Meanwhile this is how we have been passing the time....
The butterflies have now moved on, but the memories remain
We made it to the beach for a short while this week
I have been fermenting cabbage and such, with the help of Wild fermentation, a long time favorite around here, the sauerkraut was very successful and I am really enjoying the sour salty flavor of the kraut, I have not managed to convince anyone else in the house though:)
...on the other hand I have had many frustrating episodes with my sourdough starter, the one pictured below is now dead, but the one on my counter currently seems very promising, three is a charm right?
To the right was the beginning of a rye bread, which was going so well, and on the third day, the day of baking, it stopped bubbling, I baked it anyways, but ended up having to throw it out,  it simply would not bake through, so I am guessing that I had not added enough flour.
I have not given up and plan to bake some delicious sourdough bread this week.
I wonder if the heat has anything to do with all this, or if I am simply not feeding the dough enough, I did not have these problems with sourdough in North Carolina, as I remember anyways.
We, Kaleena and I, I have been working on multiplication, at first Kaleena was not at all excited about this, and did not understand the concept, but that same evening I found her outside working math problems with sticks and cherries, I love homeschooling....
Another beautiful gift at the end of the day...
We have been reading The Windboy, and are more than halfway through it, it is so very lovely, so well written and the story has the three of us captivated.
I have read other whimsical stories, such as The Seven Year Wonder book and the Book of Fairy Princes by Isabel Wyatt, but neither the children nor I could really get into them, sweet stories but the constant repetitions were too much for us. 
This book however is so thoughtful, magical and innocent. Beautiful!
I highly recommend it!
One of the mango seeds that we planted a few weeks ago sprouted about ten days ago and look at it, so healthy and growing so fast
and the avocado is just about to leaf out.
The avocado took somewhat longer, it was sitting halfway in water for a couple of months until it split open, then I planted it, and now it is slowly reaching for the sun.
These two trees will be planted right around our house in connection with our grey water outlets..
Ohh, and we have a new family member; meet Lily the cat.
She found us and adopted Kaleena straight away..
~Blessings~

5 comments:

  1. Oh boy it's hot here to. The boys have been swimming a lot, in the pool and the stream. You have a pet crocodile,, be careful please - my dog was snatched up in a second in SA. Thankfully we don't have them here. Love K's little kitty. Your photos are beautiful.

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  2. It is so nice to see so much warmth as we seem to heading out of the cold. The butterflies are so wonderful. I saw our bees for the first time today, after the wattle blossoms. Your blog is a breath of warm for me.

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  3. I have read The Wind Boy to all 3 of my children. It is one of my favorites! It is an enchanting story! : )

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  4. This does look like a wonderful book. I am always on the lookout for good reads for our children. What are some of your families most favorites? Could you even do a whole post on the most magical, memorable books you've come across? Pretty please?

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  5. Wonderful cat face. But the very best is the gift of cherries, sticks and understanding. Those are the moments that thrill the heart - and that make homeschooling the glorious thing it can be.

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