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fingerpuppets
For a crowd of children crafting at a birthday, I wanted to create a project that was pretty quick, left room for invention, and drew on some good, useful, simple skills. With smaller groups we’ve held...
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chalkboard routines
All kinds of trouble, I have found, is averted by following simple routines. My habit, if I have one, is to regard the new day with fresh eyes, as if I’ve never seen a morning before, and no...
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aeroplane
Playing with flight has been a human obsession for thousands of years. Around here, as in history, an adoration for good old fashioned kite-flying developed into a fascination with aviation. Our small...
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to the lake
A full year after leaving the old cottage in the English countryside for the Pacific coast of Canada, we have found home. On the island, on a lake, in a cottage. A moment at the lake, and we all knew...
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paper dolls
Simple, pleasing pastimes seem never to lose their charm. On a rainy day, my children teased their aunt to cut them paper dolls, then thoroughly enjoyed drawing on them. Aren’t they just? Soon they...
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painting the 1940’s beds
Having left our children’s beds behind in England, I was very pleased to stumble on a pair of twin 1940’s beds for sale not far from the lake. They were taken apart, but they showed great character and...
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hopscotch
Peevers, peeverels, pabats, piko, bebeleche, kith-kith, laylay, potsy, pon, delech, avioncito, scotch hobbies, hop-score! Peregrina, rayuela, bebeleche, amarelinha, rrasavi, thikrya, marelle ronde,...
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candling eggs
On the eleventh day of incubation, we candled a couple of the chicken eggs. Shining a bright light behind the warm little egg, you can just make out a mass in the middle of it, and veining lines all...
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newly hatched chicks
Everyone gathered round the incubator to watch the hatch. Around the 21st day of incubating, the pipping began. Having spent a lifetime with eggs that do not move or cheep, an egg that does is...
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Our little flock at a few weeks old, falling asleep to a lullaby. It is so brief, this moment of growing in feathers, and napping in the day. The chicks remind me of every other baby I’ve known. They...
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gingerbread village
Having spotted a charming image of flat gingerbread houses carved in low relief and filled with powdered sugar, we just had to try it for ourselves. A whole wintry afternoon was spent in great joyful...
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feta cheese
Some friends came round for a day of cheesemaking. Feta! We followed the recipe from Mary Karlin’s excellent Artisan Cheesemaking at Home, reprinted below with kind permission. Little by little I’m...
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