Pink in the Garden

Today I'm seeing the garden through pink-coloured glasses. Above, there is the sweet astilbe. And below, the spikey yet compact speedwell known as "Giles Van Hees".

No garden is complete without some form of hens and chicks, in my opinion, plus it possesses a most intriguing pale pink flower.

And then we have the self-seeding mallow. This one grows without any help or encouragement - perfect the lazy gardener. For example, me.

And finally my beloved purple coneflower who attracts birds, bees, and butterflies alike, and needs zero attention.

I don't consider myself to be a girlie-girl but I certainly don't mind seeing these beauties in the garden. Nope, bring on the pink, I say.

♥M

Pebbles and Pinecones: A Family Game

The Boy and I went out for our walk yesterday. We decided we needed to gather all the pretty nature things we found along our way: sticks, rocks, grass heads, and the like. We made quite a lovely (and extensive) collection actually. When we came home again, we had no idea what we were going to do with it all.

And then, magically, a game presented itself to us. We call it: "Pebbles & Pinecones". It goes something like this:

How to play Pebbles & Pinecones:

Once you've gathered together all the natural elements, you will now need to draw a shape in the sidewalk with chalk. We drew an 18" (45 cm) circle using a large platter as our template but you could also draw a square, a triangle, a soft-bellied amoeba, whatever! The game can be played by one, two, or many. If many are playing, make the shape bigger. If you're playing by yourself then you may decide to make it smaller.

Arrange all your nature things in piles around the shape. Decide who goes first.

Step 1: Player 1 chooses one type of object, say sticks, and arranges the sticks however she likes within the shape.

Note: No player is allowed to interfere with another player's turn, or criticize another player's design choices.

Step 2: Player 2 chooses one type of object, say grassheads, and arranges them however he likes within the shape.
Step 3: Player 3 (and so on and so forth) continues in this way, adding one type of element to the design, until the design is complete to everyone's satisfaction. Stand back and admire the team effort!
Step 4: Photograph the finished design.
Step 5: Play again if you like.
Step 6: Repeat steps 1 to 5. Make a collage of all the finished design photos and add it to your photo album.

The great thing about this game is that it can be played anywhere, with any objects and with anyone. AND everyone wins! Play it at home with Mom, camping with Grandpa and Grandma, on a picnic with friends, at the beach with your sisters, indoors or out. The Boy lasted well over an hour (not including the initial hunt) and in that time we made at least 10 designs. All in all our game was a rousing success!

Here are a few of our completed designs:

Naturally pretty, wouldn't you say?

Have fun playing "Pebbles & Pinecones" yourself!

♥M

Peppermint Iced Tea with The Injured Boy

Yesterday, The Boy broke his pinky finger playing some new-fangled version of basketball in gym class. This is the second time he's broken a bone at school. He's in Grade 2! I'm none too impressed with those stats to be honest.

So today we ran around from health office to x-ray clinic to doctor's office trying to figure out what, if anything, they could do about it. Is there nothing to be done for a tiny mangled finger? Because it does NOT look healthy, poor thing. In the meantime, I was very aware of trying to keep him from breaking anything else. Running was strictly prohibited. There was no jumping of ANY kind. Zero throwing of balls. Breathing was acceptable. And some talking.  I allowed eating, and careful walking.  He spent a lot of time reading; that was okay.

But the absolute most excitement I permitted was making freshly-picked peppermint iced tea. It was our first time making it. We followed Stefano Faita's (host of CBC's In The Kitchen) recipe (found HERE) to the letter.

The Boy refused to try it. But I had some and so did Lo. It had a quiet taste, our tea. We quite enjoyed it. But the best part? No bones were broken during the making of it.

Hallelujah for that.

♥M