Luckybeans

The Problem with Reading Poetry

Most people, most days, can certainly appreciate beauty in their lives. It is hard, for example, to be entirely unmoved by a riot of rain-spattered rhododendorons reaching some three meters into the air over one's head.

But when I spend too much time digesting poetry, I begin to become affected. I stop to note the drops on the ends of fir needles, and then the ombre effect of the new growth layered against the old. 

I wander through the ruins of the barn and abandoned house next door, quite heedless of the fact that I am soaking the bottoms of my trousers, because I suddenly observe that the piles of rust and shattered wood and peeling paint are most beautiful and intriguing after all.

The pocket of my coat acquired a hole, and two pennies slipped down into the lining, clinking copper faces softly together in the hem as I walked. "Ah," I thought. "There must be poetry in this."

I fear I shall never get anything done again.

How to Spend a Saturday Night

Invite grandma to spend it with you. Pick her lots of flowers. She will even mow the lawn for you, especially if you feed her frittata and artichokes fresh from the garden.

Obtain the first Harry Potter movie from the library. Make sure everyone is suitably excited and attired.

Provide authentic edibles.

Relax and enjoy (even if you don't make it past the first hour and a hlaf as the rest is full of scary bits).

 

Happy Days Are Here Again

I can't believe I wrote that. Particularly as I don't even know what that cliche is referencing. Hmn.

All of the decorations are up, from the dots to the pocket board to the lovely flowers from the Lapotres. The perfume of a single blooming hyacinth is just right.

Ayyam'i'Ha is sometimes called "the days outside of time", which is absolutely magical if ever anything were. It is a time to focus on family and community, gift-giving, hospitality and charity. And so we apply ourselves as best we can, a few days of joy and festivity before we begin the period of fasting.

The children (and Simon, Grandma and I) made gifts for their friends-- mushroom pencils inspired by this post.

Grandma even came and spent the night (she might again later this week).

We brought Grandpa bags of cookies, both for himself and to share with the friends and staff who visit and help care for him.

We went to a big community party and hosted a smaller one in our home. Over the next few days, many special meals will be prepared and shared.

The girls are participating in a habitat restoration project, and Asher packed a big bag of food to donate to the food bank.

Of course there are gift exchanges occurring at home as well. I try to keep things somewhat moderate. We started with gifts that focused on an activity each child might enjoy. Ana received a stamp-carving set I assembled for her, greatly inspired by Gennine's work; Bella got a new apron, a mini-cupcake maker, and decorations (she also got an electric mixer from my mother!); Asher finally got his real drum, brought back from Malawi and made with the proper wood.

I am particularly fond of this gift: mug of tea with a handstitched tiny button tag.

Full, sweet days, squeezed in around schedules determined by a world that doesn't pause to accomodate them. But, oh! We enjoy them all the same.

Hidden Words Numbers 16 and 17

Oops. I keep forgetting to post these. Ahem.

Hidden Word 16 is:

O SON OF LIGHT!

Forget all save Me and commune with My spirit. This is of the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it.

~Baha'u'llah

For this one, we discussed that forgetting everything except for God isn't so much about spending your life sitting in a cave doing nothing but praying and meditating. Instead, it is about bringing that prayerful state and approach into our daily actions. 

To help us be mindful of times when we remembered to do this, we made simple books (card paper covers hole-punched and all bound together with binder rings) to record some of these times over the course of the week.

 

Please excuse the bad lighting, bed-heads and pajamas. Reality.

 

 

Hidden Word 17 is:

O SON OF MAN!

Be thou content with Me and seek no other helper. For none but Me can ever suffice thee.

~Baha'u'llah

Here we discussed the reliability of God; how God provides for us precisely what we need in an internal, meaningful way. We contrasted this with material happines, and also talked about the dual aspects of God as the Omnipotent (all powerful) and the Omniscient (all knowing). This in turn led us to refelct on the importance of trusting in the Will of God and adapting a grateful attitude, even in apparantly difficult times (something I have been thinking about a LOT recently). We actually talked quite a lot and had to stop for a tea/snack break.

We then did simple crayon drawings of times when we had called for help, or times when we need to do so more!

 

A bit more sunshine was around this time! The things we identified were: when Lukas and April moved away (Bella), controling her temper (Ana), balancing the many demands and responsibilities I have (me) and dealing with other people's less-than-positive emotions (Asher).

Hidden Word Number Ten

This week's Hidden Word:

O SON OF UTTERANCE!

Thou art My stronghold; enter therein that thou mayest abide in safety. My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayest find Me near unto thee.

~Baha'u'llah

Discussion:

The last Hidden Word told us that God's love was our stronghold-- now He is telling us that we are! What does this mean? 

How do we enter into our own selves? What kind of "self" is that?

Is it comforting to know how close God is to us? Is it a little bit scary, too? 

If God is in me, is He in everyone? How should we treat them? What part of them should we address?

 

 
 

Activities:

Right now there are lots of acorns around. An acorn is a symbol that is used a lot because inside this small nut, the mighty oak tree is hidden. That is like God's love hiding inside of us. As a reminder of hidden potentialities, we made felted acorns. We wet felted balls, let them dry overnight and then glued them into collected caps. I love seeing them sitting in the living room as a reminder of who we truly are. I also thought the idea of making these necklaces with felted acorns would be lovely (this link has clear instructions for wet felting, too).

We have been doing these Hidden Words as a famliy for a while now, and this time spent together is something I have really come to enjoy. So often, we get caught up in the whirlwind of chores and activities, that taking these few minutes to stop and discuss meaningful things, and create something together, is a precious time. It doesn't matter what exactly we do, but it does matter that we do it, and regularly. 

 

HIdden Word Number Seven

Sorry! Just realised I didn't post this earlier. We did this while we were at the Coast.

This week's Hidden Word:

O SON OF MAN!

If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in Thee.

~Baha'u'llah

Questions/ Discussion:

What does it mean to turn away from yourself? What part of yourself does that mean? Why would you do that if you love God?

It’s kind of strange to think of death leading to life. Use the example of the caterpillar “dying” so that a butterfly can be born. The whole idea of sacrifice leading to transformation and growth is incredibly powerful.

Activity:

Make a felt model of the butterfly life cycle. (I'm sorry I didn't do any instructions here; it is really very simple using a combination of cutting out felt with minimal sewing and needle feltng).

 

Around Here

We have been working on our summer to do list. We can add new idea cards to our wall whenever we have them.

In the meantime, we set to work: enjoying goodness from our own garden (and heading down to the farmer's market this morning).

Wearing paper beads.

Mixing up vinegar, a dash of dish soap, a drop of colouring, and a spoon of baking soda (idea from here). The dish soap truly makes all the difference. Asher sat and played on the tray for over an hour. (I sort of assumed it goes without saying, but don't really eat it).

The wild roses are in bloom. They smell like nothing else, except perhaps a bit of heaven. Ana wanted to make rose jelly, so we stopped by the roadside and picked some petals to try it. The most amazing part is when you add the lemon juice, it suddenly becomes brilliantly pink again! It is luscious and fragrant, and we plan on picking more rose petals soon, soon, soon!

We have also been to the bookstores and the library. We do not believe in boredom.

Since You Asked

The dog doodles are from the Usborne "Make and Do" series, animal edition. We are also fond of the mermaid and wizard editions as well.

Although we seem to be on a drawing kick today.

Over the past few days we have begun needlefelting a Ridvan garden. I am already sick of poking at wool with a needle. Must get children to participate more. Maybe I can swap dish duty... I am sure it will be much more fun when we get to the flowers and nightingales and such. 

I took Ana out for a Talk today. This parenting-- it never stays static. I am trying to figure out how to gracefully parent a teenager. It seems like I am constantly re-inventing how things work, what the expectations are and how capabilities have evolved. I left Asher and Bella home alone and came home to this:

Also, the girls had their first outing today. It is still very cold, so they were only out for a few minutes. They blinked around wide-eyed and never strayed more than six inches from a pair of friendly feet. Tomorrow we are thinking of introducing WORMS.

 

It's that Ayyam'i'Ha time of year again! And oh-- we have been busy. Even though I am in the midst of exams, there is a question of priorities. Like cookies. How can we not have cookies?

We started somewhat inauspiciously with the shortbread cookies we have been making for years. Somehow, they became this:

So yes, I moped and grumbled for a while. Different ingredients? Different oven? The tried and true did not come out so true for us this time around. But then we tried again. And again. And again. Although, not with shortbread.

We are pleased to report that the marzipan/almond roca bars, pepernoten, pecan Mexican wedding cakes, haji badam and these chocolate sugar cookies with nutella filling all came out just fine. Perhaps we may have over-compensated. A little bit. We certainly made enough to give to teachers and friends (and for my dad to give to his friends-- we'll bring them for you on Sunday!)

...and a Cookie Tower of Goodness. 

We sent a parcel to cousins in Canada. Shhhhh. No cookies, though.

The children have also been busy making fantastic gifts for their friends.

Bella made these peg people with leaf beds. I almost stole one. They are wonderful.

Ana made needlefelted flower magnets. I almost stole one of these, too.

Asher made pipecleaner/wool roving caterpillars. I do not know how one ended up in my apron pocket. I gave it back. Truly.

Finally, we made Lukas and April a needle-felted flower garland for them to hang up somewhere. I think we should make more for us, too.  

It was so different crafting with the children this year-- Ana needed no help at all aside from a few initial instructions, and even Asher was able to do the bulk of his work alone (although as the number of caterpillars for making grew, I did help out more so as not to spend all day supervising him with the felting needle). Such capable people they are.

Now we are off and running, excited and happy to be able to spend some precious time with one another and friends. 

A very happy Ayyam'i'Ha to all of you! And feel free to come by and help disassemble that cookie tower of goodness.

Edited to add: You can find some of the cookie recipes (haji badam, pepernoten and shortbread) in the archives from two years ago here.