Email me at sinclair@naturewithme.com
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Our existence on the skin of this earth is a fragile one; give it strength through the work of your hands.
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Inspired by the Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline's Halloween & Other Spooky Tales follows the creepy-crawly adventures of Madeline, her dog Genevieve, her classmates and bad hat neighbor, Pepito! Watch as Madeline and her friends encounter a spooky haunted castle, a real mummy, a crazy Halloween night in New York City and more!
This is a fun collection of five stories that I find appropriate for even a young child, as there is really no Halloween ghoulishness to scare the little ones too much.
There are Five Adventures, Including:
Madeline s Halloween Madeline And The Mean, Nasty, Horrible Hats Madeline And The Mummy Madeline And The Haunted Castle Madeline And The Spider Lady
It seemed like such a great idea! Amilia wanted to play "animal shelter" in which she was a dog awaiting adoption. I refused to snap together our wire dog kennel for her to play in, but instead offered to put up the "puppy tent" in the grass out front. It was slightly windy, so I used my knitting needles as tent stakes.
Who knew knitting needles could pull double duty as tent stakes? Well, probably MacGuyver did, but if so, he learned it from his mother. Or grandmother. After placing the stakes, I went inside to grab the camera so I could photograph the pound puppy in her shelter...
Which is where I was when I heard the scream and the crying. In she ran; not a pound puppy anymore, but a wailing, arm flailing little girl with a bee or wasp sting on the soft underside of her flesh near the armpit. OUCH! She was so sad that her game was over. It took longer to prep the game than was spent playing. She was lying on the picnic blanket and something just stung her. We didn't see the culprit. A bee? A wasp? It was a sting and dash operation. So we tore down camp and came inside to doctor the wound thus: Baking soda and water poultice for 20 minutes followed by ice for 20 minutes followed by calendula gel. Luckily, she is not allergic to stings. Today, the animal shelter game took place indoors...
Today I drove home from my daily obligations with a red balloon bumping back and forth across the ceiling over the back seat. It bounced and slid in and out of my field of vision in the rear view mirror, and as it waved at me from the back seat, I was transported outside myself.
Suddenly, it didn't matter whether or not I am gainfully employed or that I had a hectic day, or even that I am feeling inept lately in the big scheme of life. What mattered was that I successfully wend my way home to deliver the fragment of joy I had managed to capture in the back seat of my vehicle.
In a way, it felt strange to be alone in my car as an adult woman with a balloon in my midst. I keenly felt the lack of a little girl in the car-seat behind me. I had a fleeting thought about all the accidents that happen on all the roads when all the people are going to and from work. Having had a fatal accident occur near my home recently, it is forefront in my mind when driving. My mind's eye said that this balloon was somehow a safety shield against any catastrophe. Certainly, nothing bad could happen to one who is transporting something so precious to a child as a red balloon.
This thought took me all the way back to balloons of yore, and I remembered, again, that the cares of "responsible adults" are hardly the ingredients for a slice of the most delicious pie of all. The pie of happiness, joy, laughter, and family. Having made my way home safely with red balloon following behind and found the first red tomato of the season greeting me from the garden, I am sharing a slice of that very pie this evening.
Merriam Webster says that Pesto is a sauce made especially of fresh basil, garlic, oil, pine nuts, and grated cheese. I say Pesto is a sauce that could be made from those things, but might just as easily be made from...3/4 container of cottage cheese, one bunch of organic watercress, 1/4 cup organic, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil from your kitchen garden, 4 cloves of minced garlic, and some raw sunflower seeds. All bound together in the food processor. Spicy, peppery, garlic infused, MMMM.
Place on some crusts of toasted rustica bread with some sliced red onion and fresh garden tomatoes, and you have a perfect summer meal. For those sensitive to gluten, you might substitute the bread for a gluten-free variety.
I was inspired by the children. Some friends of ours visited recently, and their daughters are nine and 13. They are into the friendship bracelets that I used to make...ahem...over 20 years ago. The oldest had 12 bracelets on one arm and 13 on the other, but she didn't know how to make them! She was relying on friends to make them for her. She saw my box of embroidery floss skeins and asked what I do with them. Well, I explained how embroidery works, and then I pulled out a friendship bracelet that I had begun a very long time ago and had never finished. I then used that start to refresh my memory of technique, and then I taught them both how to make a basic 1/2 chevron stripe bracelet.
I was so refreshed that I came home on Friday and made myself a bracelet and a necklace. I pulled out my stash of hemp twine and glass beads and have decided that, in addition to knitted items for Christmas, my younger recipients might also be sporting some handmade arm and neck embellishments.
It is time again for me to tell you about CSN stores. No doubt you have seen a few blog posts around the Blogosphere about them. That is because they are spreading the word about their wonderful site by word of mouth, er, keyboard.
As I mentioned yesterday, I have been under the weather this past week, and I am looking forward to the time when I am feeling better again and can sit outside and watch the chickens from my new patio set (the one I put together in April, remember?). Maybe I will get to use one of their dinnerware sets sometime on my new table.
Or perhaps it will be a rug. Or a tablecloth, or a sun dial. Whatever I wish to have out there with me on my patio, CSN surely has it in stock. Mind you, I am not saying that I will forgo handmade in place of conglomerate store, but I do like that they are web-based and doing their marketing by web-based methods. Soon, I will have another little CSN goodie to review for you...
I have made a kitchen inventory spreadsheet so that I can keep track of what is in my kitchen. I hate having to throw out something because I forgot it was there. My spreadsheet will be free to anybody who answers my Friday Surveys (and emails me that they are interested in receiving the spreadsheet by email).
I realize that there are others who know how to use Excel and I have not invented something that will save the world, but it did take a couple of hours to sit down, take stock of my cupboards, and create a usable and helpful sheet. To that end, it saves time for others who may wish to give it a try.
Now, what's for dinner? Friday evening, it was fresh organic strawberries, cantaloupe, and organic green grapes. It has been so warm finally that we really feel like eating light. Raw foods are very appetizing this time of year.
One of the many things we are lacking in "modern" society is a connection with the natural rhythms of life. We want it all and we want it now. We want the fast food, the quick fix, the instant mix, the get rich quick, and any other scheme that will help us to bypass the words "wait, patience, pace, in due time."
We are taught now from birth onward that we deserve it and we deserve to have it now. Overweight? No need to follow a whole foods, healthy diet with the number of calories and nutrients intended by God and nature - just follow your entitlement to the surgeon's knife. Stomachache? Take a pill or a dissolving effervescent tablet. Headache? Don't attempt to determine the cause - take a gelcap! Hungry? Don't bother cooking or doing any work in the kitchen- just go buy some paper-wrapped chemical concoction masquerading as food at the local fast food chain. Need to talk to someone? Just pick up your cell. No need to worry about the pleasantries with the cashier at the market...they understand that you couldn't wait to make that call.
What is the cost? The cost of all of this is much deeper than a monetary cost. Yes, money makes the world go 'round (and 'round and 'round and 'round), but are we healthier now for all our quick fixes? Are we happier with the meals, the medicines, and the social interaction? Do we even stop to notice life passing?
I have found that I am still guilty of some of these shortcomings. I want things sooner than later. I want to pop an Ibuprofen when I have a headache (but these days, I mostly do NOT). I do occasionally still use a cellular phone, though never in a business establishment at the expense of others.
But on this journey back to the simple life that our ancestors knew, I am finding that it is better to allow life's rhythms to engage. It is better to slow down and wait sometimes. It is better to let a fever run its own course than to stop it from doing the work it was intended to do. It is better to cook from scratch. It is better to grow your own food. It is better to drink raw milk. In learning the knowledge that was robbed from us by modern society, I am finding that there is much discord, and it is better to reconnect with our lives, our health, our nutrition and our own mind as nature intended. Slowly, with patience and quiet reflection.
(post-edit) I wanted to share with you a visual of one of our summer meals. The meal is a mix of local, non-local, organic and non-organic. These are elements that comprise most of our meals, and it is a stepping stone on our path to as local and organic as we can get. Percentage to be defined as we go.Amilia had organic potatoes (not local), boiled and smashed; organic steamed broccoli (not local), organic raw zucchini (not local), sour cream (not local), and a bit of salmon patty (not local). Ours was salmon patty on organic sprouted grain burger buns with cole slaw and corn (corn not pictured here). The burger elements include mixed greens (not local), tomato (local and pesticide free, though not "certified" organic), local onion (also pesticide free from same farm), and the green onion was plucked less than 5 minutes before this photo from my own garden.
Though the foods that are not local have not supported a small local grower, my purchase of these items has helped to support a small, local chain health food market. Every time I shop, I engage in a thorough thought process about origin, organic/non-organic, ingredients, packaging, and price. Though I want to purchase only from local growers and only organic (not necessarily "certified" organic), I cannot always afford to COMPLETELY stick to this ideal. I make the sacrifices where I must, with full investigation first.
We had a lot going on this weekend and in the upcoming week. We have been waiting for Tempest to come to town, and then found out that they were here over the weekend at a local Renaissance Faire. We could not pass it up, so this is how we spent part of our Sunday afternoon:
I need your help! I am working on a project now that will take about one year (I hope no more!), at the end of which I plan to have a published work to show for my efforts. I am actually working on two projects that walk together hand-in-hand, but I need your help on at least one of these.
What kind of help could a blogger possibly want from me, the reader, you ask? Well, here is what I want to know: Who among you is willing to assist me in my research effort by answering some simple survey questions?
Your answers will be private and your name will not be used in my published work. I am collecting data for rough statistical purposes and will be using the information for anecdotal evidentiary support and to help me understand regional and national food habits and preferences.
Are you still with me???
Then please email me with the answers to the following questions:
How often do you grocery shop?
How often do you cook?
How often do you eat out?
When you eat out, do you eat at sit-down restaurants or fast food?
Do you purchase processed foods? (microwavable, boxed, packaged, frozen, ready-to-heat, snacks, etc.)
Do you cook or bake "from scratch"?
How often do you cook or bake from scratch?
Do you read ingredient labels? (NOT nutrition information, but INGREDIENT lists)
Do you think Canola oil is a healthy oil?
Do you know what Canola is?
If you are willing, please email me with your answers to these questions. Please tell me whether you are willing to answer future simple surveys along my research path. I am going to attempt to use my "food Friday" post slot to do a survey each week for the next several weeks. I will be chronicling the process three days a week on Outside The Garden. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! Ask them to help me as well.
Are you ready to be a:
If you are, grab the badge (copy and paste the text below the Food Revolutionary badge) and paste away!
