hats off, hands on hearts….

by Mama

I’ve seen some interesting sights out our second-storey window these past few years (ranging from children at eye-balling me from a tree to children passing notes from one second-storey room to the next second-storey room via an outdoor contraption that I still don’t know how you got it there to children….ah yes, what is the consistent factor? CHILDREN!) 
But to day was the first time I’ve had a KNOCK at the second-storey window. And what had come a-knocking?

Your flag, complete with hoisting mechanism. It’s impressive, guys.
Very Realistic (the accolade you most like to hear!)

lunar lights

We were allowed to get up in the middle of the night.
It’s not every night there’s a lunar ecclipse.
This one was much more impressive than the solar one of about a year ago. For that one we were all prepared with light-boxes made to protect our eyes……and….nothing really happened.
This one was exciting. You could actually see the moon going dark. We imagined what it would be like to be up there looking down here. In fact, we’ve been talking about it all day. Asking questions, wondering, supposing, even comparing it to our jar of peach jam.

artiste

this is what happens

when you try to be Michelangelo
painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel!

three blows on the horn

and Robin Hood’s band comes running.

They have made fairly regular appearances round here….ever since we read Howard Pyle’s very long version aloud – last year, was it?

And now that they’re are on the screen (yes, the Bears have been watching commercial television!!!), the craze has returned. Only *this* time we have leather as well as cardboard for making our props, and as Grandpa gave us a leather punch, the leather is easy to use! Although L6 still likes the stapler;-)

We have bows and arrows and quivers and spare-bow-string-pouches enough to keep the whole band merry!

sew special

It’s so good to see you smiling again and to see some colour in your cheek and a sparkle in your eye after your bout with pneumonia. Soapy has loved you this last two weeks, hasn’t he?

And now you have reciprocated his love by making him his own special quilt. I hope he likes it as much as you love yours! I’m sure he will be especially fond of the mirror button.
(Now here’s a little secret: even though you have been sad lying on the mattress on the floor beside us each day, it was kinda nice to see you all snuggled up in your-specially-requested-brand-new-made-with-love-for-you quilt. I’m so glad it helped you feel better. M5 is on the mend – YAY)

it’s all in the name

No-one seems to know what our maternal grandmother has in common with some medieval Italians! So it’s time for us to tell you – and we’ll keep the prize for ourselves – we’ll go out to the garden and pick the silverbeet and put it in tonight’s chicken noodle soup.

Sandro Botticelli started off life as Alesssandro Filipepi.
His first name got shortened to Sandro. He was sent to live with one of his older brothers who had acquired the nickname “Botticelli” which means “little barrel” (that’s not where grandma comes in!!) Even though Alesssandro was tall and slender, he became known by his older brother’s nickname! He changed his name.

As for the de’ Medici clan……they changed their name from Medici to Popolano when their family fell out of favour with those who could do them some serious damamge.

When we read about these things they took on special significance for us. If we’d read them a month ago we probably would not have thought twice about it all. But our own Grandma has changed her name. She would now like to be called Gran and so we are totally familiar with what these guys’ friends would have been experiencing. Every time they said “Mr de Medici” someone would have called out “Remember it’s Mr Popolano now!” And for them it must have been much harder – because they had been using those names for years and years and years – we are making the shift after only 13 years. Even still, we pick each other up on it every single day. But at least our Gran won’t lose her head when we use the wrong name; the stakes were higher in 1494! 

We wonder whether the Medici’s papers or manuscripts were changed…..just the other day we got out “Grandma’s Fruit Cake” recipe – Mama said we didn’t have to change it to “Gran’s Fruit Cake”, because Grandma wrote it herself and it’s not wrong to remember the time when she was Grandma. Same goes for the inscriptions in books we have been given.

When *we* are old grandmas and grandpas we’ll be able to show our grandchildren the recipe and tell them the tale of “when Grandma changed her name”….but by then we’ll probably be mucking it up the other way, saying “when gran…ooops I mean grandma…..changed her name” instead of the “grandma…oops I mean gran” that is her current title!

hint

no takers for the riddle…..well, we’d better give you a wee clue.

Sandro Boticelli shares the same thing as the rest of them (and it’s not their birthdays!)

blow, M5, blow

And because we had to chop the top off the cake so the horses wouldn’t fall down the hill, you ended up with a special morning tea cake too (and we *hardly ever* have morning tea!)

YUMMO SCRUMMO

Nature is what we see

Emily Dickinson continues to inspire us.

Nature is what we see,
The Hill, the Afternoon –
Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee,
Nay – Nature is Heaven.

Nature is what we hear,
The Bobolink, the Sea –
Thunder, the Cricket –
Nay – Nature is Harmony.

Nature is what we know
But have no art to say,
So impotent our wisdom is
To Her simplicity.

And now Emily Dickinson visits New Zealand:

Nature is what we see,
lightning flashing across the sky,
frollicking in the hills white sheep,
kumara, plums, eggs – our kai,
a glistening spider’s web.

Nature is what we hear,
wind whistling in the trees,
waves crashing on the shore,
fantail, cicada, tui,
at the zoo piped peeps of kiwi.

Nature is what we know
in the midst of suburbia –
glimpses of God –
exclamations, exhortations.
He is.

(a collaborative effort!)
(kai = Maori word for food)

The Tower of Babel

Dadda hasn’t fixed the computer-camera-connection, but he has found another way to get photos onto the computer…..here are our favourite shots from our Sky Tower trip.

Eight kids:

One wild kid:

Watching the rain come across:

It really is high: