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Real life

I have a lot of various thoughts running through my head that I think are related, let's see if I can combine them all into something coherent. I actually have no idea if I can.  To begin, a brief outline of my differences trains of thought. First, J. and I often discuss learning and education. That's not surprising since he works in a college and I homeschool and read educational theory for fun. He mentioned that some college students, those who were in high school during Covid in particular, seem to be struggling more than previous students.  Then there was the conversation where I kvetched that with the prevalence of only online textbooks these days, there would be no way I would ever have been successful. I know myself well enough to know I cannot learn from text on a screen. I find it difficult to focus, sustain concentration, and to remember things. This is a telling because with a print book, I can succeed at a very high level. I did extremely well in school.  Next up is

Missing things

As you all know, we are working our way through Lonesome Dove at teatime. We're very neatly halfway through, just fifty or so pages away from having read 425 pages. Did I mention it is a very long book? We might finish it by the end of the school year. If we're lucky.  Anyway, sometimes you read something that you find yourself thinking about long afterwards. This happened yesterday and I have found it coming to mind throughout the day. The Hat Creek Cattle Company is taking a herd of cattle from Texas to Montana. Along the way they find themselves without a cook, so need to hire a new one. We meet the new cook, Po Campo as he is walking from Austin to where the cattle company is currently stopped with the cattle. " 'I like to walk slow,' Po Campo said. "If I walk too fast I might miss something.' 'There ain't much to miss around here,' Newt said. 'Just grass.' 'But grass is interesting,' the old man said. 'It's like my

Fiber Monday - it's not even my work

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It's been awhile since we've had Fiber Monday around here. That would be because I really don't have anything to show. I'm still spinning the fiber for the fabric I want to weave. I'm still knitting the hat I'm working on. I'm still weaving the band on the inkle loom. They all have had some progress made, but they are at the stage where all progress looks pretty much the same as the previous progress.  I did take a class on freestyle knitting and crochet at the yarn store in Tempe. I loved it and have lots of ideas. I even have the ability to meet with the teacher occasionally as I figure things out. But I have had no time to begin to work on my first assignment since getting home, so nothing to show, either.  My one accomplishment is to have taught one of my Sheep to Scarf students how to weave a twill pattern on the very simple weaving boards the are using. It's not a straightforward thing, so I'm proud of both of us for getting it working.  This i

March birthdays

We are three birthdays in March and as people have grown older we have taken to doing one big March celebration. Tonight was the night everyone could make it. Well, everyone but D.; we did FaceTime him so he could enjoy s bit of the celebration.  Our March birthdays are W., A., and K. Games were played, Kenzie got a walk, cats got played with, Vienna had many visitors, food was eaten, pie was served, gifts were given, and much laughter happened. And not a single photo was taken. When you have 16 people having dinner together everyone is having too much fun to think about taking photos.  I should have taken a picture of one of the pies I made for dessert, though. Last summer I had told you about finding a place where we could pick cherries and Saskatoon berries when we were up in Michigan. We came home and I responsibly froze all the berries we had picked. Where they sat all fall and winter. I suddenly remembered them this afternoon and decided to try making a pie with some. They made a

Weekly update - March 22, 2024

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Look, a regular update post! Life might be getting back to normal.  There was snow today. We didn't get as much as other areas, though. It was just a light dusting which melted away by afternoon. Areas north of us had a lot of snow. This is much more typical March weather, and while it doesn't excite me, it feels less ominous than the weirdly warm weather we had. In our pot luck assortment of chicks which arrived last summer, we ended up with quite a few Easter eggers. This means we can fill an entire carton with blue eggs. For some reason, this makes me insanely happy. And we have a lot of regular white and brown eggs as well. I planned two egg heavy dinners this week, using dozens of eggs, and we still have dozens left. I guess fifteen hens laying an egg a day will do that.  I had planned for everyone to watch a movie about Martin Luther and the Reformation, which they all dutifully sat down to do while I paid bills. But the disk (yes, we still use a DVD player) from the libr

Spring offerings

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Thursdays are our co-op day, so the combination of being gone all day and teaching three classes means I'm wiped out by evening. This means you get an advertisement for your blog reading today.  I finally sat down and planned dates for various horse classes (for children) and retreats (for adults). If you live farther away, but wished you could come visit the horse's, the retreats would maje a good excuse to make the trip.  Here are some links and details. Feel free to share with anyone you think may be interested.  The spring schedule at Bittersweet Farms is open for registration. There are horse classes and parent-tot classes. https://www.bittersweet-farm.com/classes  And I have several guided journaling retreats for adults. Come have a couple of hours to take a break, enjoy the outdoors and a chance to experience a little Equine Assisted Learning. https://www.bittersweet-farm.com/retreats/p/journaling  And I have openings for Equine Assisted Learning sessions. These are for

Miracle

While I was gone, R. had a couple of bad moments, often involving screaming at five am. While she was able to be calmed, J. did not get the most restful weekend. This surprised me because in the days leading up to my leaving, she would have a litany of things she would tell me. "Mommy go see Grammy. Mommy come back. Daddy take care of me." This was far better processing about an impending departure than we had seen, so I was hopeful we had turned another corner.  While there was interrupted sleep, it could have been (and had been) much, much worse. Of course, I also wasn't one of the people being awakened in the wee hours of the morning. I'm still going with progress, even if very incremental, has been made. What was interesting to me, though, was what happened this morning. First, she slept in. This is not a child who normally sleeps late, but her sleep had been interrupted, too, so she must have been tired. I was glad she could ratchet down enough that she could act