Kleas

mosaic monday-never let it fade away

 1. Linen stars, 2. beeswax star, 3. felt_stars, 4. Star Still Life, 5. ten garlands in ten days: day nine, 6. Birkenstern..., 7. Blue Paper Star Ombre Garlands, 8. Sweet star, 9. fragment no.1 - detail, 10. star, 11. fabric stars, 12. DreamWhimsy Needle Felted Sea Star

The temperatures here took a quite drop late last week.  Things are starting to freeze up quickly around here as you can see by the photos I took while on my walks around the lake over the weekend.

I've had this song stuck in my head for weeks...not sure why.  Did my dad sing it to me when I was a kid?  Anyway...here's a nice Perry Como version.  Listen to it...maybe you'll get it stuck in your head too.

mysterious thrift find

It's been a while since I've been to the thrift store, but I went today and found this interesting little treasure.  For sixty-nine cents, I couldn't help add it to my cart.  Maybe one of you has an idea what it is and what it's used for? 

On top of bamboo wood sticks are little pots made of copper.  Each one has a different sized spout at the top, so I imagine it's for melting wax or something (I hope that something isn't something illegal). Any insight would be appreciated!

I thought they could maybe be turned into little gnome dolls :).

it all comes down...

From my walk around the lake today...

In the deep fall
    don't you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
    the earth instead of the
nothingness of air and the endless
    freshets of wind?  

-Mary Oliver

mosaic monday-the one that got away

1. Untitled, 2. nine planets, 3. blue robot close-up, 4. I love this barn, 5. bookmaking 01e, 6. on my desk, 7. January Reflections, 8. Untitled, 9. hand crocheted soft sculpture, 10. Vintage Books, 11. work room, 12. sea captain

That robot of Mimi's...I was torn between that and the fairy when we first met, way-back-when.  I decided on the fairy.  While I love her, I sometimes pine for that robot.  I know it's silly.  But I loved that robot!  With all it's vintage sewing findings for buttons and parts.  Mimi hasn't made a robot in a really long time and now it seems like those days may be behind her. 

Happy Monday!!  Lots of beautiful blues found in my Flickr favorites.  It's going to be a full week before we break for Thanksgiving.  I've got lots of knitting and stitching projects on my table for my upcoming holiday fair...hope I can get it all done.  xx

chunky cowl crazed

I've been knitting and crocheting these chunky cowls like a madwoman over the past week.  I have my Fourth Annual Holiday Fair at the preschool coming up December 6th and I wanted to be able to offer some hand knits at my table. They are so fun to make and by squeezing in a minute here and there I have been able to make one a day this past week.  They are so squishy and cozy, if they sell, I may have to make more for the family.

In other news...I love that on my way out the door to the preschool this morning, my nine-year-old said with a heavy heart...I'm getting close to the end of this book and I'm so sad!  I don't want it to end!! Haven't we all felt that way about a book?  My boy who usually only feels this way about his Percy Jackson, Star Wars and Louis Sacher books.  This just feels more special because The Story of Helen Keller was my book when I was a girl...and it is from this book about Helen Keller that I learned the alphabet in sign language.  My boys are both fascinated with ASL.  We have been learning new signs daily through watching the series Swithched at Birth on Netflix and by visiting the video dictionary at the web-site called Lifeprint.  Our dinner conversation is a now mix of Spanish, English and ASL.

mosaic monday-white and gold

1. Zeichen eines Aufbruchs - signs of a departure, 2. sugar coated autumn, 3. linho, 4. spun cotton baby lamb ornament by jejemae a vintage craft OOAK, 5. o maquetista, 6. Collecting bush gems, 7. Saturday gratitude..., 8. Untitled, 9. cloud mobile, 10. papillons d cover1, 11. minimalist, 12. n74_w1150

Another mosaic Monday to start the week.  Follow links below the photos to see more of each artists works.  

Some weekend shots...

From my walks around the lake...reflections from the bridge, lots of leaves, setting the docks free so they don't break apart when the lake freezes.

Time for crochet.

Pumpkins on a hay bale, sprouting grass, with snow from last week (typical Minnesota).

From a Gems and Stones themed birthday party my son attended over the weekend.  We all fell in love with the rock shop ZRS Fossils and Gifts where the party was held.  The kids got to use a stone cutter to open the above geode. Don't you just love how the sun shines through the crystals?   The best gift bag ever...agates, crystals, fossilized tree and dinosaur bone, amethysts, sodalite and jasper. 

Hope your weekend was beautiful!

stone soup

This week at the preschool I've been reading Marcia Brown's 1947 version of Stone Soup to the children. As we enter the season of gratitude and thankfulness it seemed like the right time to do this.  If you're not familiar with the story, there is a nice version you can find on line here.

Some people aren't fond of putting actual stones into the soup, but I felt it was mandatory!  The children were in a fit of giggles at how rediculous it seemed to make soup using stones and they were all very curious about how it would make the soup taste.

As the children arrived to preschool, they each placed their food items into the basket.  We had...

• 8 carrots
• 5 potatoes (1 giant one and 4 small)
• 1 sweet potato
• 2 turnips
• chopped purple cabbage
• broccoli
• 1 white onion
• long green onions
• fresh rosemary and parsley from Eloise's garden
• and Alice brought in a small bag of salt that said "sprinkles of love"

Just as in Marcia Brown's story, we placed the three stones into the pot, added water, then began adding the vegetables.  One-by-one, each child got to wash, peel or prepare their vegetable, then under my supervision cut it into pieces and added it to the pot.  As it cooked, it filled our little school with such a delicious aroma that the children couldn't wait to get through circle so we could move on to snack.  

I was impressed at how much the children loved their stone soup...several of our kids wanted second bowls full.  I was happy to oblige.

We'll do this again tomorrow with the Tuesday/Thursday class...I'm really looking forward to it.

mosaic monday-mood board

1. snowflakes, 2. magnolia leaf & dates, 3. rain, 4. dark jug with yellow stems, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. mildred loves to make mushroom brie soup - that doesn't make her a cannibal does it?, 8. Installation "Die Guten" (Detail), 9. diamond + chevron: detail, 10. Goats in trees, 11. Wild Natural Free Towel, 12. chequered

Happy Monday to you all!!  A strange name for this weeks mosaic, but when I looked at all my favorites from the week, these seem to reflect what I've been doing and how I've been feeling since last week...

Unpredictable weather, a need for nesting and crocheting+knitting+stitching, my afternoon coffee ritual, trying to sort everything out for the busy months ahead.  And Cathy's beautiful painting?  Well, I just love all her artwork, and have paintings on my mind as we have been rearranging the ones we have on our newly painted walls and I feel a need for something new.  As for the goat in the tree?  Well, that just made me laugh.  Laughing is good.

We've had crazy weather lately...it snowed (albeit very lightly) in early October and we thought we were in for an early winter, but temperatures have been oddly warm for this time of year.  The leaves are finally starting to come down from the trees.  My daily walks around the lake by my house have been quite enjoyable...below are some of my favorite photos taken with my phone.

empty bowls

Yesterday was Powderhorn Park's seventh annual Empty Bowls fundraiser to end hunger.  I am impressed that last year they raised more than $29,000.  Information from the website...

Organized and carried out by a core group with the help of approximately 180 volunteers from the neighborhood this is an all-day event held on the first Friday in November each year. Local potters (including professionals, kids’ programs, and college departments) donate hand-made bowls, bread baked onsite and local volunteers cook soup. Neighbors come together, select a bowl, have a meal of soup and bread, and for this they make a donation.

My boys plus three of their friends and two of mine, trekked down to the park yesterday for some of the most delicious curried lentil and ginger squash soup I have had.  

We started by watching the bread being baked on-site in a brick oven built just for the day.

Then the tough part...choosing a bowl to eat our soup from...that we would later get to take home.

These are the three bowls we went home with.  I loved sharing why we chose the bowls we did.  My nine-tear-old loved the inscription inside his which reads "from my hands to yours", Julen chose his because it's gold (his new favorite color) and I just loved the way mine felt in my hands...also I had picked up only four other bowls and each one was inscribed on the bottom with the same name...so I felt I was meant to take one of Lydia's bowls home with me.

What a wonderful event this was and a beautiful way to begin the season of gratitude and thankfulness.

Look for an Empty Bowls charity event in your neighborhood...or maybe start one of your own!