Yay! Our moth has emerged!


I was getting kind of worried. It had been in there for over a month, and I was told there was a REALLY good chance it was a parasitic wasp. Meaning, that the caterpillar had a parasitic egg laid on it and when it went into metamorphosis (cuccoon) then the wasp would take over and grow and use the caterpillar for food during this process. Still a really important part of the bug cycle, but kind of creepy and dissapointing. But it was not! It was a MOTH!

The moth (and caterpillar) is a Ruby Tiger Moth. I had never seen one, so this was really special. It was in the container Saturday, just a day or two after the last time I checked. We missed it coming out, but we were able to enjoy it a little since it didnt hardly move until dusk set in. It is, of course, a moth, so it flew away at night. Really cool.

Here are some pics of our little friend:

















In reality, it was a magenta color. A real red. Not this rusty brown.
You can look this species up at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_Ruby_Tiger_Moth. The description is for a variation of this, but the picture is good. Or here for a really good pic: http://wordpress.com/tag/ruby-tiger-moth/feed/


Im definitely going to do this again. But this time, we build the cage first! Cant wait for fall so the kids and I can go looking for a new caterpillar.

I love this picture. I wish I could spend my day like this.

This was taken from amethyste at http://amethyste.deviantart.com/

I wish she would put it up for sale!

A craft fair is a torturous and self deprecating event. You spend all your time making mulitples of a handy little item, know that there HAVE to be people who cant live without this one thing. You set up your tables of wares in the cold weather. You sit complacently with a smile on your face, waiting for someone to stop at your booth. You keep smiling when they walk past, but start to grumble and complain silently. You're freezing, you have to pee and it seems everyone around you is selling but not you! End of day 1. Rinse, repeat.

Who are these people who actually make money at this?! What kind of lives do they lead? They must be retired to have so much free time to work on these things. And their children are grown. There can be no other answer. There were some really impressive, beautiful items for sale.

I will NOT be doing another "craft fair". I will go to them, but not work them. I missed out on enjoying lots of kid things and doing some holiday shopping because I was stuck in a booth. I enjoyed the music immensly, but would have enjoyed it more if it had been shared with my family. I did, however, get to visit with all my important friends and family, because they all came out to support me! That was really the highlight of it for me.

So for my future ventures into business, I will be working towards attending the fiber arts festival next March. Look for my hand printed fabrics there. And if you want anything sewn between now and then, email me.


Maybe I will do a booth next year. Like this one:





















Im bound to do better.

Stop, Rewind, freeze

At what point do we stop blaming everyone else for our problems? When do we actually look at ourselves as the cause, and not just the effected? Are we too self centered to see these things? Do we really believe that the actions taken against us are all in malice, or are they reactive? If we trace it all back, where does it go wrong? And who's fault is it REALLY? If we could instantly remove that belief, that we are justified in our actions, then could we possibly change the result - the reciprocated action? Would the means create a new end?
Most definitely.

This is the situation that I find myself in. Something that I have long believed to be one way, and in fact, held as such truth I would have staked my life on it, has been openly denounced as false! Painfully honest is hard to ignore. And I can completely see it as they do, which makes me ashamed at my own behavior. Im sure this is the response that the divulgence was intended to illicit, but all the same, I feel it truly.
So what do I do?
I know that the "lets just see how this goes" attitude gets along for a bit but eventually becomes lazy and reverts to the old behavior. I can only attempt to be at once different. In a sense, this means to start at the beginning. At least for this kind of thing. Old ground has to be recovered, with fresh eyes, ears and hearts. Like looking for a lost ring. If you retrace your steps, you have to be more vigillant than before, more attentive to the things you missed. It could all be uphill, but I see no other way.

Only now do I see the things the Lord has been speaking to me about this week. And Im not sure I get it all completely, but Im listening.

I realize that this is all extremely vague, but such are feelings. Pray that I will embrace this change wholeheartedly and with vigour. It could mean everything.

German parents post baby on ebay for 1 Euro http://ap.peninsulaclarion.com/pstories/world/europe/20080524/282540842.shtml

Wow.
I know how they feel. Somedays you just want to get rid of your kid. But WOW.

Fuzzy friend

Last fall, the kids and I found a fuzzy caterpillar. He was pretty- All black with orange markings. After much research, I determined that it is some kind of fuzzy bear caterpillar, some kind of tiger moth, although I could find none identical to it in any book and no reason that it should be in Alaska at all. So we put it in a baby wipe container packed with leaves, to winter under the porch, with the intention of building a butterfly cage in the spring.

Now, spring came late this year, so we just pulled it out from under the porch about a week ago. We added what green leaves we could find, put in a wet cotton ball for water, and set the container in the garden until the cage is built. Too late! The kids opened the container 2 days ago and it has made a cuccoon on the side wall! Its an interesting cuccoon, dark and fuzzy, but you can see inside of it also. It even looks a little bigger in there today then it did yesterday! So we will keep checking it daily so we will be sure not to miss the wonder of a butterfly/moth emerging. Here are some pics of our little friend from yesterday:

Real learning

Just like nobody really tells you how hard raising kids will be,
Nobody REALLY tells you how difficult that first year of homeschool will be.

For me, it has been a rollercoaster. I have learned so much this past year about my sons and about myself as their teacher and mother. And Im glad to say that my ideas (or rather, ideals) about teaching them at home have changed a lot since last spring. I am even more resolved to continue homeschooling than I was before. .

Many of my friends, and family, are school teachers. I love them all and I love that all of them teach because they love to learn themselves. I wouldnt discourage them from their jobs. But I cannot support a public school system as the only means of teaching our children. Im not un-American. Im un-communist.

Yep, look it up. Kindergarten is a German word and a German institution, although the beginning of mass schooling began WAY before Nazi Germany. If you wanted to turn out (cultivate) an army with one mind, one way of thinking, you would need to start when they were children and teach them all the same thing. Not only that, but you would have to find a way to squash and exterminate any sense of self or free thought. Its my opinion that the majority of American public schools do just this thing. (Ill leave this subject now, but my suggestion to all of you is to at least read "Dumbing Us Down" by John Taylor Gatto, which incedently has nothing to do with Nazi's, that's from another book i cant remember but wholly support)

How many of you hated school? Did you love to learn? How does that work? I love to learn. I could read at a "highschool" level as an 8 year old. And somehow, by the time I was in 7th or 8th grade, I was keenly aware that I had been learning the same thing for a few years now and had only the same to look forward to for the next few years to come. The same curriculum, taught almost the same exact way, to every age group year after year. Monotony! So the only thing I could do was NOT do it! What other option did I have? I certainly wasnt learning and they certainly wouldnt let me learn on my own. So I protested in the only way I could control. Of course, a lot of schools have programs for this, but mine didnt, at least none that applied to my specific abilities, nor was I caught at the right age . So for me, the large part of my education has been obtained by me AFTER leaving the public school system. That means I have done most of my learning as an adult instead of as a child, like we should.

Children are like sponges. You hear it all the time, "dont say that, the kids will repeat it" You bet they will. And lots of other things you never thought they even heard. They can find sense where adults dont, accept truths where adults are unwilling to and find joy where adults cant imagine. The largest part of learning in a child comes thru play and from time to think. If we are constantly bombarding our kids with information and text books and rules for homework, not to mention modern entertainment, when are they getting time to think or play or internalize anything? Thats a big part of what I have seen this year. Im a public schooled parent trying to cut thru the jungle of proposed necessities of higher education, to find my kid and help him reach his full potential. Every time i tried to teach my kids like we were having "real" school, they fought me. They know that's not fun. They know its like prison. People arent made to learn like that.

So now Im kind of back to the beginning. My biggest hope for this year is to spend time exploring life with my kids, letting them learn where they find something of interest. Taking time to allow that everyday tasks and household chores are all part of learning to be an adult, of learning to be part of a community. If I can help them enjoy learning this year, then i will consider myself a success. Cause isnt that what its all about? A joy and appetite for life long learning?