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The Importance of Play
The importance of play is grossly under stated. School recess, lunch time recess and after school, each is an essential and important part of children’s need for play. Face to face interaction without the confinment of a classroom or structured environment. This brief, daily period allows children to ‘blow off steam’, run around and release pent up energy or boredom from lessons. For generations of children, this welcome break provided a healthy outlet during the school day. Recess during lunch and you ran around like a rabbit. Free for a little while! Why is outdoor recess rare today? Worse still, why is physical education not being offered in many areas?…
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The Tablecloth
In my family, the tablecloth is special. It was always present for important celebrations and holidays- Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and every birthday. Often with matching napkins, the tablecloth set the tone for a happy, festive ocassion. The tablecloth served to frame the meal. An elegant, damask cloth was unfolded, carefully smoothed and arranged over the table. Next, elegant china and silverware were placed around each place setting. As children, we were encouraged to help fold napkins and place them folded edge along the left side of the dinner plates. This small task made us feel important and I think it also helped us to remember the family tradition. Perhaps one…
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Laundry – Whites, Lights and Darks
How I learned to sort laundry: whites, lights and darks, one pile for each. I think laundry is among the important things learned through family, specifically mother, grandmother and aunts. Why? Because they were taught the methods that we still use to clean our clothes. From my mother I learned by taking good care of clothing, it will last much longer. Since I am overly attached to everything I wear, this has proven to be very true. Before each of our kids prepared to go off to college, I taught them the same way of sorting and washing. I’m thinking that it was a success since neither of them ruined…
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Physical activity
Ever wonder why folks seem to be more sedentary than say, 50 or 60 years ago? I think much more of the population today is employed in sedentary work and gets little physical activity. We’ve moved from an agrarian and trades-based society to a service-oriented one. The reverse was true back then; physical activity happened all day long. The workforce was less desk-bound and was certainly not tied to a screen. Women who worked in the home engaged in cleaning, washing, preparing meals, caring for and educating children. It was an all day job. Women who were employed outside the still had work waiting at home; often, literally working a…
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Moisturizers
If I don’t keep moisturizers on my hands them and keep them hydrated they look rough. It’s the time of year that my hands are always cold. Even when the rest of me is warm, my hands are cold. They look like lizard skin; dry, crepe-like hands ready to shed their uppermost layer. We currently have a lizard in the household so it’s easy to make this analogy. And I do every time I pass by its ‘abode’ but at least this reminds me to put on more moisturizer! Hands that work hard need more moisturizer In cooler weather it’s a lot more challenging to keep my hands moisturized. Cooler…
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Wine making season
As summer ends its brief, humid run, mid-September brings with it grape harvest and wine making season. A few short, frenetic weeks of work must be done before the temperature drops too low to support the fermentation that is essential to the birth of wine. The frenetic part is timing the arrival of the grapes with your supplier. It can be frustratingly hit or miss. If you produce just red or just white, then it’s not too much of an issue, you’ll buy your grapes, take them home and prepare to crush and press them. Since we make red and white wines, during a year that we make both, this…
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Cornwall, U.K Part 2
Our live like locals, Cornwall, U.K. journey continues. Being based in Porthgwarra placed us equi-distant from many different things to do and see in south-west Cornwall. Not least among them, the Minack Theatre, Porthcurno. Besides its breath-takingingly beautiful location; carved into the side of the Porthcurno cliffs, Minack, ‘meynek‘ in Cornish means a rocky place, has a unique and amazing history. The theatre is completely open to the sky and performances are rarely cancelled due to weather. Minack Theatre is the fruition of an extraordinary woman’s dream. Rowena Cade designed and built the Minack almost completly by hand, without heavy equipment or power tools. The building began in early 1930…
