A cute little fellow

An English robin. My mother's birthday present, whenever her birthday decides to arrive! Meanwhile, he is hanging out on my front porch. Isn't he adorable?

Caterpillar wars

That's what Julia and Peter decided to do on the living room floor this evening. Julia in her cocoon:











Peter in his. I couldn't get a pic of his face showing. He's too fast.


























Now he's a cool teenager again.













All this transpired while Daddy read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to us.

a few more...

Here's the pile that, hopefully, will go to the dump this week. Note the workhorse in the background.











This is the back corner of our property, and it is SO much more cleared than it was this morning! Adam's goal for this slope is more vegetable garden beds. That woodpile is for my evening fires next winter :)









And here's the adorable thing I found at Salvation Army today. I cleaned it up a little. It will go in Julia's room, if she ever gets her floor cleared of junk!

I'm Back!

First, some pics. Yes, the menfolk are at it again, in the back 40.












Making messy piles













Making neat piles













Today, they even brought in friends to help.













This is the latest area to be brought under control. There was a huge azalea bed around those trees. No more!.

Play it again, Sam!

Thursday's snow melted, but now it's coming down again :) The kids are happy. The dog is happy. The fire is snapping. Unfortunately, this morning I finished the book I was currently reading. A snowy day, a warm fire, without a good book to read, is like being at a dance without a partner.

Yippee!!

That's the sound of a teacher (or two, plus 4 students) who hopes to be HOME tomorrow, iced in, and unable to participate in all scholastic activities! Ah, to sleep in, sit by the fire, wear fuzzy socks, read a good book...sounds like Christmas break, doesn't it? Just for a day.

1/4" of ice, and 2-4 inches of snow, coming our way :)

Two words for today:

fossick - to dig around, to hunt for something

limn - to paint, to portray in words or describe

Both of these delightful words came to my attention in the book I'm reading, "The Big House." I'm enjoying it very much.

I have a thing about houses. Some women love make-up, some hats, some shoes. I'm desperately in love with old, mysterious houses, pieced together with odd corners, stairs, hallways and back rooms. Sigh. All my favorite children's stories have houses like that, from "Miss Suzy" to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." So, Mr. Colt's Big House is right up my alley, you might say! My aunt and uncle once lived in a very old house like that in rural Virginia. I must have been at an impressionable age when we visited them, because I've never quite got that house out of my imagination.

On a more practical note, not much new is happening at our house. Winterim will be over this Friday. We're all hoping for a little winter weather on Thursday.

The happy news is that I got my Smartboard in my classroom today! Yippee! I spent an hour or so playing with it, finding out what it will do. I can't wait to put some of my lessons in the program, and get some interactive grammar stuff for the students. Anything, ANYTHING, that I can get on my laptop (internet, and non) can be put on the Smartboard. And if it's interactive on the laptop with a mouse, then it's interactive on the Smartboard WITH MY FINGER. Amazing. The students love it.