"The Schoolboy" by William Blake

The Schoolboy

by William Blake

I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me:
O what sweet company!

But to go to school in a summer morn,
O it drives all joy away!
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.

Ah then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour;
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning's bower,
Worn through with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring!

O father and mother if buds are nipped,
And blossoms blown away;
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care's dismay, -

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

For no other reason than I am decluttering and just recycled my paper copy of this poem :-).  Love it!

Powerful quote ... just because...

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its trouble, it empties today of its strength." (Corrie ten Boom)

I'm sure we can all think of occasions where we were so busy worrying about possibilities, that nothing in real time got accomplished. I know I can. Love this quote. Here's to being strong in our days :-).

And to help us with this ...

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

"Don't worry about anything instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

"Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not...Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't worry or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you?... Your heavenly Father already knows your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6: 27-30, 32-34

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33

"I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid." John 14:27

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:28-29

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you." 1 Peter 5:7

"God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea." Psalm 46:1-2

"They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them." Psalm 112:7

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation." Romans 5:3-4

"Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall." Psalm 55:22

"The LORD is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid? The LORD protects me from danger - so why should I tremble." Psalm 27:1

"Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory." Psalm 50:15

"So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." 1 Peter 1:6-7

Be strong TODAY, friends :-).

I am blog post deficient :-)

What a truly crazy summer. Our summer has consisted of:

Driving kids to work. Picking kids up. Over and over again. Foster babies for respite (TWINS! Who were only 2 weeks of age on their first visit :-) ...). Working with the lambs for the show which was yesterday. A massive decluttering effort on my part, that is every so slowly emptying our house of things not needed. (Thankfully I did keep a bin of newborn things, heh, heh ... came in useful!). We weren't able to go on vacation, per se ... Kev is taking the two youngest kids to the zoo and to Nan's birthday party this Friday and Saturday, however Alison wasn't able to get the time off work, so as her driver I get to miss the trip too. I'm actually a little bummed ... I haven't been to the Toronto zoo since I was pregnant with Iain (therefore he has NEVER been!). I'd love to go, BUT it will give me a great chance to get ready for Iain's school year.

This school year for Iain has fallen into place well. I will be using some Christian Light materials for Reading and English, and I think they will be a good fit for him. Donna Ward's "Courage and Conquest" as a history outline. MEP mathematics from England for Grade 7 Math. Singapore Science, which will be a lot of work for me to outline the text, and I'm not sure how this will go, but we have the material already. And barring something coming up, he will be doing the Homeschool option at Sonrise Christian Academy in Picton Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, where he will take one period each of Art and Music, and two periods of Phys Ed and French weekly. He'll be in the same class as the kids he was with in 2004-2005 for these subjects. I am BEYOND excited because I often get scattered when juggling so many different things, and these last few subjects are the ones that either 1) I can't do a very good job with only one student (phys ed), or 2) I tend to let slide when things get busy. (Interestingly, after observing their elementary school classes at SCS I no longer worry about the "let it slide" bit ... I couldn't believe how much of the curriculum DIDN'T get done at public school.)

Claire is thrilled to be starting in the Grade 9 Venture Program this September, and can hardly wait for the 25th when she goes in to pick up her schedule and get her lock, etc. There are a fabulous bunch of eighth graders in this county ... she will have a rock solid class and I expect it to be a very fun year for her. She has really loved working at West Lake Willows, and three days a week was perfect for her.

Alison will be in Grade 10 Ventures this year, and discovered last week that one of her good friends was invited into the program for Grade 10 (a whole bunch of kids dropped out after being frustrated by the fact that the teachers had expectations of them). Her little summer job has ended up being full-time ... great for the bank account, but not a particularly restful summer. Her boss wants her to continue to work a couple of days a week, but Kev and I are leaning to having her quit, or only helping them in a pinch. They did a party of 50 last week, and at the end Andreas brought out the kitchen staff and introduced them to the guests. They received a standing ovation (by the way, this is a VERY cool restaurant! The chef will spend quite a bit of time out visiting with the guests, in particular if there are visitors from Europe since he speaks German, and likely a couple of other languages).

Kevin has been enjoying his new position as Promotions Manager with UCB. This past weekend they ran a family event at Wesley Acres ... a concert with Joel Auge that was WONDERFUL, barbeque, swimming for the kids ... nice relaxed day. Kev is very good at event planning and I was proud of him :-). He also enjoyed two weeks off, in a ROW, in July. We didn't go anywhere, but it was great for him to just hang around.

All three children had a week at Wesley Acres Camp this year, and all three had a great time. Claire's camp was a Worship Camp ... the kids formed bands and the finale was a concert. Claire went in as a vocalist, and next year hopes to go back and play guitar as well. Since they've been home, Alison has joined the girls that went and they have been doing some music for our church (Alison is paying the djembi!). Iain went to camp, and his high point was kayaking. He just loves it! He had a good counsellor, and an AWESOME LIT. Alison went to the teen camp, and didn't know anyone so she had the most difficult transition to camp, but it ended up a great experience. The girls in her cabin were each given the book "Captivating" and she loved it.

Having the twins has been a complete privilege and a total challenge. They only come for two days at a time, and the first day is almost impossible each time. The next day is lovely. The first overnight they didn't sleep .. I crawled into bed at 3 a.m. and managed to sleep until5 lol. Woo hoo. So far, the second night they sleep, and alternate wake times, which is hard on sleep as well, but MUCH better. I was always more of an attachment parent with my babies, so listening to a little one cry just about kills me. Feeling very, very thankful that we had our babies one at a time :-).

The girls are assessing their options for community hours this year. Alison was hoping to volunteer at the hospital, but when we went last week she found out she would only be able to help in the cafeteria. Since she is more interested in the medical end of things, she is now looking at different options, and hopes to get in to a large nursing home in Picton. They have a substantial recreation department, plus their own physiotherapy staff. Claire was hoping to volunteer with our local MP Daryl Kramp, but the Picton office is tiny and they are not set up for volunteers. She is also considering Ten Thousand Villages (her favourite store) and Sonrise Christian Academy (which is right beside the high school so would be very convenient).

Must get going for now ... I hope your summers are all going very well!!!

Working women at our house!

First, let me start with Alison. Oh my. All I can say is she is going to be mightly glad when September rolls around and she has some time to herself. She is working two jobs this summer. She still continues at Marathon Stables, which is normally just Saturdays, however she also has two consecutive weeks of helping at riding camp. She insists this doesn’t feel like work (and in fact, until recently, her only payment has been riding lessons. Mary has also started giving her a nominal amount of cash as well!).

Her second job was the result of a “chance” meeting I had with a chef at No Frills. As we reached for the same perfect head of romaine, we ended up chatting, and he suggested that Alison submit a resume to the restaurant. It turned out he was the owner of Blumen Garden Bistro, and Alison has now been working there for a week and a half. She is the fourth “cook” in the restaurant (I say cook loosely, since this is a lovely upscale place where they serve daylily flowers in the salad and chickpea fries; oysters and creme brulee). Andreas is the head chef; there is a sous chef, a salads and appetizers chef, and Alison is now their preferred dessert prep person. However, she fills in for everything and they are thrilled with her, consider her part of the restaurant "team" and keep begging her to work more. She has made homemade egg noodles, crab cakes, the aforementioned daylily flowers in salad (she says the flowers are yummy) and is having a great time. She finds being in a kitchen soothing and restful (SHE IS NOT MY CHILD OBVIOUSLY LOL). This little restaurant served almost 100 people last night! She works Friday through Sunday, 3 - 11, and some Mondays as well. He would like her to come in Wednesday night as well, but I've said no.

Claire also scored in the job department this summer. She REALLY, REALLY wanted to work this summer, however being only 13 she figured the best she could do was babysitting. Last year she volunteered to clean trailers for our friends Scott and Sophie who run “West Lake Willows”. She is quite a good cleaner and she thought this might be a good way to get some experience. It has turned out that they had their full allotment of cleaning staff, so she is predominantly in the store, running the cash register, tidying displays, making registrations with a computerized system, scooping ice cream and making milkshakes. It is a GREAT job for her. She will clean if it is necessary, and also watch the children if Sophie has paperwork to do and Scott is unavailable. This is a beautiful place (I encourage you to go to their website and check it out!) and she is lucky to spend 3 days a week there this summer! She is working 12-6 Thursday and Friday, and 9-4 on Saturdays. Kevin actually spent the day there today SALMON fishing so I have hopes that our dinner menu tomorrow is taken care of ;-). Do you think a boat of guys thought to take a picture of the event??

Next post: Claire’s amazing week at Worship Camp at Wesley Acres (last week)

Alison’s new smile :-)

Today was “debanding” day in Belleville.  Alison went in like this:

 

And came out like this :-):

 

She will have to wear a retainer for a year (that gets fitted on Thursday), then nights only after that.  What a gorgeous smile now!

Lamb Fleeces (the great experiment continues)

Dave came over to shear on Saturday, and while we were out I spent some time looking at our 2009 lamb fleeces.  It’s been an interesting experiment.

Here are the three 4H lambs, then a fleece shot for each of them

Paris, Claire’s lamb:

Paris’ fleece:

Loralei, Alison’s lamb:

Loralei’s fleece:

Babette, Iain’s lamb:

Babette’s fleece:

(Some of you fleece types may remember my comment at Babette’s birth … that she was born with a lab puppy coat rather than fleece.  It “seemed” that she was shedding out the odd coat of guard hairs.  I spoke with someone familiar with her grandma, and she mentioned that there was some Romanov in the lambs ancestry that could have spontaneously shown up.  However, although inconsistent across her fleece, she DOES have a fleeces, and not only is it crimpy, it is VERY soft and lustrous, and she has double the staple length of the other lambs!)

Claire’s lace socks done … finally!

This is the first summer I’ve actually continued knitting in the summer.  Generally, once lambs are born, then there are gardens … and I don’t pick up needles again until October or November.  Something about wool and heat … and our house become a terrarium in the hot weather!  Perhaps because we had a real spring this year, and it did not heat up too quickly; perhaps because I’ve created a handknit sock addiction in my family and there are not enough fall and winter hours to complete what needs to be done … whatever the reason, I continue (so far) to knit this year.

Yesterday I finished these (should have finished them a week ago but I tried to cast off on a car trip without instructions and messed up sock two … I use a purling cast off used in Russia that I can never remember properly).

They are knit with Tofutsie sock yarn (soy silk, chitin, wool, nylon blend) on size US 1 (2.25 mm) circular needles. They are knit using my normal sock pattern (figure 8 cast on, toe up, short row heel) with a slight modification along the foot to allow for the lace pattern (I borrowed a stitch from the heel needle during the pattern portions of the sock).  The lace pattern would have shown up more strikingly with a plain coloured yarn, however this is what I had in my stash at the time :-).

 

The lace rib stitch pattern is as follows:

(Multiple of 10 stitches)

Round 1:  k9, p

Round 2:  k2, k2tog, yo, k, yo, ssk, k2, p

Round 3:  k9, p

Round 4:  k, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k, p

Round 5:  k9, p

Round 6:  k, yo, ssk, yo, (slip knitwise, slip knitwise, k, p2sso), yo, k2tog, yo, k, p

Round 7:  k9, p

Round 9:  k3, yo, (slip knitwise, slip knitwise, k, p2sso), yo, k3, p

Claire’s Grade 8 Graduation, June 23,2009

What a wonderful evening we had at Claire’s grad. She was lovely and poised, and looked older than her years. Our friend Victoria once again worked her magic, and completely straightened Claire’s hair. Her Annie-hair is still growing out, but it looked lovely despite this fact.

Claire won three awards, which was pretty astounding since she was in a very strong class. She won the High Academic award (won by Alison last year!), the ETFO Award for History and Geography, and the Art Award (this is the only one she was secretly hoping to win!). Her Auntie Kim was particularly proud of the ETFO Award, which is sponsored by the Ontario Teacher’s Federation (Kim is on the executive). The theme for the night was “Hollywood” and the kids put a great deal of time into decorating.

Claire, leading her class in:

The Sophiasburgh Central School Class of 2009:

Mr. Stone presenting Claire with her diploma:

Nanny and Papa with the three kids:

Proud parents :-) … :

Us with all three kids:

Claire with her Principal, Mrs. “Pooky” (rhymes with bookie lol) Scott

Claire with some of her friends:

Claire and Kevin dancing the first dance, which by tradition at Sophiasburgh is a Father-Daughter/Mother-Son dance:

Claire, dancing with a BOY!! Gasp! (In fact, the “boy next door” … he invited her to grad as her date, however we don’t allow dating quite yet ;-) … )

One of Claire’s awards … check out the 2008 winner.

We had a genuinely great evening with Claire and her friends, many whom we have got to know over the last couple of years. It was awesome to be there to encourage them all!

The visit

A few days ago, we went on a family walk.  Iain and I trudged on a bit farther to go to one of his favourite “quiet” places, and came upon this little guy on the road.  When we approached him, he fluttered to the side of the road, but he didn’t look great and had some feathers missing.  I suspected he had hit a windshield.  I easily caught him, then held him in my cupped hand, and walked a km home with him happily peering through my fingers.  At home, we let him cool off for a couple of hours with food and water in our cage (make sure Myrt sees this mom ;-) ..), then once he perked up, we set him free out by the pond.

This little bird is a male yellow warbler, and as well as being very bright, was completely unafraid of the whole procedure.  We could put our hands in the cage and ask him to “step up” and he would hop up on our finger!  It was remarkable.

In the cage once we arrived home:

Letting T.J. go in the evening:

A couple of last pictures in the bushes by the pond:

We haven’t seen him since, but we hope he sticks around. Even if we don’t see him again, this special visit by such an incredibly brave, friendly little bird was a real gift.

Summer Plans 2009

It promises to be a busy summer here.  First, each of the kids has been blessed by a week at camp, here.  They are very excited … it’s been a few years since they were able to go to camp!

Plus, each of the kids has at least one job!  We have always encourage the kids to start working at a young age, and to volunteer to build up a good reputation.  Iain has chosen this year to start, and he is volunteering at a local Nursery called Arbour Gardens.  He has so far been twice, and has weeded and watered for the owners.  It’s a lovely place .. incredibly restful and a wonderful environment for a first job. The owners are very involved at the high school, and are educators at heart … so he will learn tons.  He is thrilled :-).

Alison will be continuing on at her job at the stable, with the added benefit of a pay raise this year.  A few months ago, her employer deemed her capable enough that along with the lesson she also receives some cash.  In addition, she is HOPING to get some weekend work at a local upscale restaurant called Blumen, due to a chance conversation I had in No Frills (Mom, I’m just SO MUCH LIKE YOU .. it’s scary!!!).  This one is not for sure yet, however.  She is a very talented cook and baker, and rather than a dishwashing-type or waitstaff job, he is considering her for dessert and meal prep (can I tell you how much I would hate being in a kitchen for work :-P; she finds kitchens restful.  So not related to yours truly!)

Claire also has a first “real” job this summer.  She will be working at a local resort belonging to our friends Scott and Sophie, West Lake Willows, where she will be doing various tasks including working in the office, watching their three young children, working in the store and cleaning (cottage turnovers).  She is SO excited!  She will work 3 6-7 hour days per week.  She has a high need for busy-ness, and was dreading a summer “doing nothing”, but didn’t think at 13 she would be able to find a job.  So if you are reading this, Sophie … thank you again!!!  She can hardly wait.

One more thing I will always appreciate about this place … there are infinite opportunities for kids who want to contribute to the local economy!