Half Magic

Silent Auction

    Seeds collected from my garden, family and friends for the gr.3 Silent Auction Gift Basket

The Winter Fair is this Saturday at the children's school and  creative hands are in overdrive sewing little gnomes for the children's store and baking pies. This will be my second year of running candle dipping so I am pretty confident about that but I also took on the gr.3 gift basket for the silent auction. In keeping with the farming and gardening part of their curriculum I thought it would be fun to make the theme , A 4x4 Garden. Lee Valley has been slightly instrumental in making this basket presentation so beautiful. The glass containers, the wooden plant markers, the seed starters, the books, the shovel and children's tools all came from Lee Valley.
Since September I have been collecting seeds from my home but mostly it came from my Mother's garden and her collection of envelopes filled with seeds from friends. But the biggest prize didn't cost a cent and that is the garden journal I had the children create. Each child was given the task of drawing some element of the garden and had to include a recipe, or a story,or remedy or an activity or planting instructions. I don't know if I can part with it. One child gave instructions on a sundial, another provided recipes from Israel, while another provided the actual 4x4 garden plan. It really is a treasure for whoever wins the bid!

Drawings from the garden journal. The book and paper are made from recycled material.
Below is a photo of marzipan acorns that someone suggested I make for the fair. I would so love to buy these acorns that I actually asked for the recipe- was I dreaming?!

Handmade

A basket of puppies came to visit our neighbours ...but they still want a cat!

Every November I tell myself I will slow down and enjoy the process of creating Christmas gifts with my children and every November I promise to make hundreds of gnomes for the school winter fair and ...
okay, I am not panicking but where did November go???
I finally took the kids to a knitting cafe, The Purple Purl on a play-date and it was so cute to see them sitting in the chairs knitting away. That is, after I purchased them a drink, a snack and a ball of yarn. I must remind my self next time to set firm boundaries before we enter the cafe- like - no I will not buy you more wool at $12 a ball!
After that it was off to the OK Diner where we sat at the counter and they ordered ceasar salads and I ordered a burger- the complete opposite if what usually happens but I couldn't resist- I was in a diner!
Our next stop was across town to my most favourite place in the world though I have yet to sign up for a workshop- hence the name of the store is The Workroom. It is a sew and craft store where you can use the sewing machines by the hour. The space is so funky and the  fabric and patterns are similar to, if not, Amy Butler designs.I boldly bought a pattern of a funky tunic to motivate myself to learn to sew. I am trying to coax the owner into a sewing workshop for moms and daughters. Every town and city should have knitting cafe and a sewing workshop like these two places!

That is a Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig which we will not be considering- perhaps a cat...

Sustainable Parenting Doc

What a full weekend! My father-in-law received a lifetime achievement award for directing,we had many family visitors in and out, children's birthday parties, and preparing and shooting an interview with Chris Turner, author of Geography of Hope . This is not the documentary on the two schools mentioned in an earlier entry but on raising children based on a sustainable lifestyle. This book was a huge inspiration to David and I and is responsible for cementing our drive and passion for this project. I am sure Chris had doubts about saying he would help out with our doc, especially when I discovered he was coming to town and nailed him down for an interview on his only morning off.But he came and we shot the most fantastic interview. I was getting shivers just listening to him speak. We used only natural light in a beautiful  house that is lived in by a family pursuing sustainable values in a vibrant community. Ted, once again, was shooting and I commented on how much we owe him. He said the money is not an issue, he finds what we are doing so interesting he can't wait to see where we take him next. As we ran out of time with Chris we were still able to film the kids on bikes, kicking a ball and playing tag on camera. Then it was off to prepare one more dinner for visiting family and David had to pack and prep for a show in New Brunswick the very next day.

That is not Chris, but that is the room we shot in.    My kids telling Martha and George stories.