Where the Sky and the Sea Meet

 

 

 

 

The little ones and I went to the beach with church friends after Liturgy today and though I am burnt to a crisp, it was good to be there.

Oliver + S Chambray Everyday Skirts

 

Oliver + S Everyday Skirt Pattern

Robert Kauffman Cotton Linen Blend Fabric

Merchant and Mills European Linen

 

Thursday with Kate

 

 

 

 

Today was the first great feast of the Liturgical year.  Normally, we have church services on the eve of the feast and then again on the day of the feast, but because Father John is still recovering from his surgery, we only had an Akathist for The Nativity of the Mother of God this morning.  I made a carrot cake for dessert tonight to celebrate the feast...  I always think of carrot cake as a good early autumn treat.

Kate and I are making such good progress on our chambray skirts!  She cut everything out yesterday while I made dinner and then once the little ones were in bed, we ironed and finished the pieces and started putting the pockets and fronts together.  Today was spent finishing up everything else except the hemming!  I can't wait to wear these gorgeous things!

Terrain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I love going to Terrain, but since it is located over two hours away, it is a rare treat reserved for when we are nearby.  I was very excited to be able to introduce Kate to this little gem and am looking forward to visiting again with my other sisters some day!

Longwood Gardens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  It's been just about two years since our last visit to Longwood Gardens.  The last time that we were there, our little nephew, Sebastian, had just been born and baptized.  Now he's about to turn two and enjoyed running around the beautiful garden grounds with his older cousins and big sister.    The Trio and I met up with Kate and her little ones for this little day trip and now we get to spent the week together taking adventures and sewing new skirts!

Chambray Skirts

A parcel of fabric arrived last week and I bought some thread, elastic, and interfacing today.  Now that the fabric is washed, everything is ready for Kate's arrival tomorrow.  We will embark upon sewing two chambray skirts for ourselves by Saturday evening  I cannot wait to start this project!  We'll try to document our progress each day.

Knitting Away

With Father John convalescing after his surgery, we've spent more time than we ever do watching films (Truth, Star Trek, and Star Trek:  Into the Darkness).  This has meant that I've been able to fit in a little bit of knitting these past few days.  I finished the body of my winter woodland pullover and have started one of the sleeves.  Sleeve knitting is always a bit slow going, but it is a bit easier when I use circular needles rather than double pointed ones. 

A Gracious, Civilised Occasion

I bent low over the bin and scrabbed a few tea leaves and potato peelings out of the bottom of my bucket.  I was embarrassed that we should meet like this.  I had meant to ask Mrs. Napier to coffee one evening.  It was to have been a gracious, civilised occasion, with my best coffee cups and biscuits on little silver dishes.  And now here I was standing awkwardly in my oldest clothes, carrying a bucket and a waste-paper-basket."

Excellent Woman

Barbara Pym

Saturday

 

Bad weather blew through today.  It was very rainy and windy - a tree even blew down across the driveway necessitating help from Miguel to cut it up, as Father John is still recuperating from his recent surgery. Once things calmed down a bit, the children spent several hours in the shed making mud pies and I set myself up on the porch for a little knitting and an episode of The White Queen.  It was nice to be out-of-doors in the fresh air.

A Cheerful Mantle

Carl Larsson and Geraniums...

I bought white geraniums in the early spring and they valiantly held on despite being accidentally waterlogged multiple times over the summer.  I flipped my Carl Larsson calendar page over to September today and was greeted with one of his a homey scenes.  This particular one featured a pot of vibrant red geraniums.  Seeing the geraniums flourish on the page and recalling that these cheerful plants can often be spotted in Larsson's works, I thought of my sad little pot of white ones languishing on the porch.  I promptly decided to repot them and see how they fare in a sunny window in our dining room.  Hopefully they will be happier and will reward me with blooms in the winter.

Annointing

 

What do you do when the priest needs to be anointed? Our little trio traced crosses on their Papa's forehead with oil from Saint John's tomb in San Francisco and oil from the Myrrh Streaming Hawaiian Iveron Icon. 

Father John

 

Father John was admitted to the hospital for an abscess early this morning.  He will be undergoing surgery at some point today and will either be discharged tonight or tomorrow. Please keep him in your prayers!

The children and I are fine!  We have family to help and are very thankful that Father's suffering (since August 18th with three incorrect diagnosis before today's correct one) will soon be alleviated.

Late Summer Wardrobe...

 

We have a few more months of warm weather and things were feeling a little stale.  I ordered the linen tunic in early August (it should arrive in mid- to late- September), tried a new combination of skirt, sweater, and camisole after seeing Matushka Rebekah Bethany wear recently, and Kate and I are hoping to sew some chambray Everyday Skirts in the next couple of weeks.

Our 2016 - 2017 School Year

Mathematics
Teaching Textbooks 5 and 3
Horizons Math 1
Xtra Math App
 
Language Arts
Brave Writer:  A Quiver of Arrows
Reading Comprehension (Grades 5, 3, and 1)
Daily Language Review (Grades 5, 3, and 1)
Phonics (Grades 5, 3, and 1)
Handwriting (Grades 5, 3, and 1)
Spelling (Grades 5, 3, and 1)
Writing (Journal Entries, Copy Work, Free Writing, etc.)
Calendar Work 
Read Alouds and Daily Reading Practice

Geography
Stack the States App

History
The Story of the World Volume 1
Story of the World Activity Book

Science
Tinker Crate Subscription

Art
Liz Steel's Foundations Sketching Course

Music
Violin Lessons
Listening to Classical Music During Breakfast

Gym
Homeschool Gym Class
Daily Outdoor Play

Misc. 
Speech Therapy (for our youngest)
Reading Eggs and  Math Seeds