On our timeline and in our Tapestry studies we are entering Napoleon's world.  Last week, however, we took a minuet-step backward, to the court of Louis XIV, and the French Baroque era! 

The girls worked hard, two hours a day, learning a Polanaise, the Sarabande, the Allemande, and, of course, a  Minuet!  They danced to harpsichord music, and their breaks featured a different additional instrument each day.  Flute, bassoon, clarinet, french horn, oboe, violin, and cello gave demonstrations!

History was entwined throughout, and even this slow-brained mommy learned bunches.

 Dancing:

Playing Harpsichord:


Kendra!  Your right wrist is drooping. 
 

Listening to flute and harpsichord:

Kaira dancing the Sarabande-- Somehow the lighting and soft focus reminded me of Renoir: 

As I gave Keianna a goodnight snuggle last night, and said, "Have a sound sleep." 

Shaking her head and looking very serious she replied, "Oh, no, mommy!  I will be nice and quiet."

We've so been enjoying watching"our" hawk and his mate.  (Yes, he has a lady friend!) 

The pair soar all day together!   And all day we hear them calling to one another, calling, "Keer-ee! Keer-ee!"--Which sounds exactly like our nick-name for little Kieran, "Kierie".  We've been joking that they are calling for Kieran by name.  (I hope it isn't because they think he'd be a good snack!)

I got a few sharper pictures of him yesterday and this morning. 

This picture was taken from about 5 feet below him!  He let me get up on the deck--barely under the roof where he perched!

Not as close, but better lighting--From here I could see his golden eyes!

And closer:

Aww!  Don't go!

(Posted with the Birdman especially in mind.  He identified our hawks as imature Swainson's hawks.  It fascinated me to read that these hawks eat primarily insects!  If he's right, our jack rabbit population -- and even Kieran--have little to fear.  It would also explain why he seems so attracted by our mud puddles!)

As part of our Tapestry of Grace unit celebration, we dined at a  Benjamin Franklin themed restaurant last night! 

The girls and I left our orders with Ken, then strolled around the restaurant viewing the curiosities!  Between the booths of dinner patrons (who probably thought us a bit odd)  we examined a franklin stove, pieces of type from old printing presses, and an optometrist's case full of lenses.  (The sign said that the eye specialist would take this case house to house to prescribe spectacles) .

We are leaving the War For Independence in the past and heading into Napoleon's World!  (Well, after a couple weeks of elective focus.  This next week we will be doing a slight tangent into the Baroque era... not too far off from where we are in history--more on that later.)

There were also reproductions of many paintings, both of Dr. Franklin and other Founding Fathers, and naturally quite a few excerpts from Poor Richard's Almanac.

Today as I fixed breakfast Keegan and Keianna said, "Mommy there is a BIG bird out by the puddles!"  There in the middle of our driveway sat a large hawk!  We see hawks circling over-head almost daily, but I've not seen them on the ground often. 

Strangely, hawks don't look as magestic on the ground as pearched or soaring.  On the ground he looked rather like--a turkey or something.  I tried to creep up on him, but he flew up to the top of our shed.  I caught him in flight as he took off:

All morning he stayed near our yard; going from telephone pole to shed to barn.  I'm kicking myself for forgetting to give sufficient weight to the "shutter speed" part of the photography equation.  The shot against the sky would have been clearer if I'd taken motion into account and frozen him in flight.  Ah, well. 

My inexperience with the camera failed to capture his glory, but our eyes took it all in! 

(Aside on distance--I don't have a  telephoto lens for my camera.  These were taken up close.. and the one with him overhead was resized to post here, but not cropped down much.  He was just above my head, at very close range!  GLORIOUS! )

The tree saga continues.  Thanks for all the kind comments!  (And I'll be looking up that book, Annie!)

We had a busy, and exhausting day of hard work!  Kaira and Ken helped our retiring pastor load up trucks for their move.  (Ken says Kaira was a phenomenal worker!), and the other children helped me clean our barn--a huge job, but so satisfying. )

 
When Kaira got back from helping the moving-crew, she had a surprise: 

Kind-hearted Mr. L (pictured here) offered to try digging down to the stump of the trunk below ground and grafting in branches.  Evidently he's he's rescued trees this way before.  Unfortunately, Kaira's Appley is at a disadvantage--the trees he saved were grafted immediately.  Kaira's went 18 hours.

Mr L carefully grafted and caulked the openings.  He then sheltered the little treeling with his own spare shirt.  (I don't know many people who carry an extra shirt.) Between Kaira and Mr L the little tree was misted with water every hour and watered every few. 

At sundown the leaves were looking fairly withered.  The odds are slim, and Kaira's come to terms with that, I think, but... it good to give life a chance and leave room for a miracle.  A day will tell.  There are other trees out there.  Perhaps even a Sweet Sixteen apple tree.

Just because after the previous, poignant entry I want to post a happier picture of my Kaira--here's one from earlier in the afternoon:

Today a worker drove over a little apple tree--cutting it off at the base. 

To whoever was driving the tractor, it was likely a non-event.  "Just a scrawny little tree." To the distraught little girl--who was the first in our family to discover it--it was a tragedy.  

Each child has their own tree--planted a few years ago, and tended with love. 

Kaira adored her "Appley".  She would go out in all weather to sing and talk to it.  Each morning she took the sprout water outside to nourish it thorough our dry winters and hot summers. 

When asked to name her favorite food, her answer was always the same,  "Sweet Sixteen Apples."  Never mind that she'd yet to taste one (this year we were hoping would be the first, and she was excitedly watching the small fruit grow and ripen.)

So devoted was Kaira to her little tree that when Ken applied for an out out-of-state job, she asked, "If we move, could we please take Appley?"  She longed for the day when she could see her little brothers climb up into Appley's branches. 

Today as she knelt beside her slain tree, she knew that those things would have to happen with another tree.  She picked the tiny green apples off the ground to dry as potpourri keepsakes.  Between pages of the Physicians Desk Reference, small apple leaves wait pressed between sheets of paper.   

Farewell, to a  much loved little tree.

I've mentioned before how it thrills my heart to see my "big girls" (who are still pretty young themselves) dote on the littles.  Soon Kieran won't want to be carried everywhere by his devoted big sisters.  Soon he'll be leading them around by the hand as he scampers here and there on his own two legs.  So I had to capture these while I could.

Sigh... they grow so fast....