We've had a crazy pace this autumn, and our busy days have been punctuated by bursts of snow.  This weekend is the second big storm we've had-- enough again to snowshoe, and build snowmen.  While we haven't been very sick, like many we know, we have had a long string of colds and stomach flu.  It's a good day to lay low.  Peace to you today!

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Just as I was feeling like we've been accomplishing "nothing" in school, we came to the end of a few of the books we've been reading for quite awhile!

May we recommend The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Tirzah by Lucille Travis.  These are both historical fiction for the ancient period, The Golden Goblet set in ancient Egypt, and Tirzah being a child on the Exodus.

We also finishsed the fifth in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series, Coot Club and started right in on Pigeon Post, number 6.

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Okay, I know many of you love Facebook.

And I've tried, I really have.  But Facebook and I... we'll, we just don't understand each other.

As an example of our incompatibility, I offer this recent true story:

Several weeks ago I tried again to make Facebook my own.  I sat down with my cup of tea and worked on updating my profile.  I thought I'd add some photos and connect my profile to my husband's-- stuff many of you do without even a second thought.

So I click on Married, and it gave me the option to link to any of my friends, and I type S-A-- and there, Sam pops up.  Hooray.  I think I'm clicking on Sam.  I hit save, and it suddenly says I'm now married to my friend Sandra, and Facebook will just have to confirm this with Sandra...

Eek.  So I try to unclick Sandra, to no avail.  It turns out I have change my marital status to Single in order to fix the error... and then I went back through the whole thing again to marry Sam.  And then it told all my friends that I had changed my marital status to single, and then back to married.

Hence, a flurry of concerned calls to the house to ask what had happened here.

Well.

Facebook is not my friend.

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Stacy has had a great series of posts on Picture study lately-- be sure to check them out.

We did Klimt in September and have been doing Escher in October.  The kids have enjoyed his optical illusions, but we've also examined his delight in proportion and perspective.  My favorite is Three Worlds, one I hadn't seen before this week-- a very autumnal picture.  Here is O, rendering "Ascending and Descending".

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Here it is, at last... the very purple sweater for my girl.

She keeps trying to wear it over a T-shirt, but it is a wee bit itchy.

"It's kind-of itchy," she says.

I'm thinking, It took me three months to knit that thing, you'd better enjoy it. 

"Wear a turtleneck," I say.

Last week I went to the Yarn Shoppe and picked up some super-soft alpaca.  All alpaca, all the time, now.

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This is SweetP's favorite game right now.  She build beds and cribs (and crib-tents!) for the little lego people-- all called Bob-- and tucks them in under my dishtowels and napkins.  Then she sings them good-night, "Nah-nah, Bob.  Nah-nah, Bob..."

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Bobby McFerrin is so amazing.  Check this out, and ponder what it says about the human brain.

Pentatonic Scale with Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival, 2009

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Here are some of our favorite snow day books: Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day, Virginia Lee Burton's Katy and the Big Snow, and Jane Yolen's Owl Moon.  What are your favorites?

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Outside... This October has been colder than most, to my memory.  We had our first snow on the 10th, and it's snowed a few times since... and today.  The mountains have been so beautiful, in their white majesty, with the foothills still dark in contrast.

I am grateful for... a warm house and a scented candle (pomegranate-currant) on the table... recovering from the cold I had last week... many opportunities to be creative...

I am knitting... hats and fingerless gloves...

I am cooking... soup.  Lots of soup.  And oatmeal bread.

I am listening to... Rosanne Cash's The List.  David Wilcox's Airstream.

I am praying for... the women of my Weavings group... the clergy of our church... those in the Philippines who have lost their homes and families...

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Charlotte Mason includes Handiworks in her curriculum.  It is such an old-fashioned word, and in some ways, an old-fashioned practice.  To work with one's hands to make something practical.  Especially in our culture of Made in China, Bought at Walmart, bargain-shopping, disposable diapers, disposable dishes, and disposable clorox wipes.

Our Charlotte Mason group had a get-together last week-- it felt like lots of people! 

I taught the children (and some moms, too) how to finger-knit.  It was a hit, and we moms were surrounded by all these quiet, knitting kids. 

They knit snakes and garlands for the Christmas tree, and leashes for stuffed animals.

As they were ready, some added a crocket hook into the process. 

We had a great time, and apparently everyone has been knitting at home. 

 Happy knitters are quiet listeners to books.  Perfect for snowy days.

Handiworks.  Thanks, Miss Mason.

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