In Memoriam 1921-2012

Nan on her 80th Birthday

My Nan passed away two weeks ago.  She was 91, and had lived a long and full life.  It was my Nan who taught me to knit.  I think she taught my Mum too- and Mum taught me to crochet.
Nan always said that she learned to knit on two matchsticks in school.  And I always had this image of all the little girls in her class, happily knitting away on matchsticks.

She lived in the centre of London for most of her life.  The last dozen years, she was in a home nearer family, but far away from the city she loved.  Nan was a Londoner through and through.  My siblings and I have fond memories of going to stay with her and Grandad.  Taking the train, riding the bus.  Walking the streets of London, standing on the crack at the centre of Tower Bridge.

The kids stood on the crack too.  Well DD did.

It is the reason I made the kids stand on the crack when we went to London a year and a half ago.

We took the kids to see my Nan.  She looked frail and old, and yet happy to see us.  My husband charmed her, he says she had stunning blue eyes.  I like to think my grandad thought so too!

Nan and Grandad, ages ago :)  Sometime in the 80s I think.

They were married almost 50 years.  Nan soldier on another 26 years after he died.  And never remarried.

There were things Nan did that I remember well.  She would pick up pensions for local elderly people who were not able to get it themselves.  I remember one old man had a budgie on his shoulder.
She would walk 'down the blue' to shop.  I never did understand why she called it 'the blue', and I could never quite figure out where it was in relation to Nan's house- because walking took us a totally different route from cars or buses!  There was a market there and some little shops.

I remember going with nan to help clean a building, and her taking me to a library where I got a cartoon book.
I remember 'cooking' with the copper fondue set on her glass table, and getting fingerprints over everything.  I remember watering the plants in the windowsills of the flat, getting locked into the bathroom - and grandad rescuing me.
I remember sleeping on the camp-bed in their bedroom- and it folding up on me ;)
I remember running down to the playground near their house (I loved the slide) and her taking us over the road to the BIG playground.

Nan lived in London during World War II.  While Grandad fought in India, Nan was raising their children.  She lived there through the blitz, and I am told, would go down into the underground for shelter.
Mum tells me she met grandad when he was a baker's boy.  They married when she was 17, and shortly afterwards World War II started and Grandad went off to fight.

She was part of that 'greatest generation', she and grandad both.
So today, my knitting and reading are in Memoriam.  I am knitting from a 1940s pattern.  I am reading about the 1940s.  And I am thinking about my Nan.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

1940's Pattern (copied to work from), Grandma's Wartime Kitchen by Joanne Lamb Hayes, and the back of the jumper- plus the sleeve, which I knitted as a gauge/tension 'square'.

Catch more yarn alongs over at Ginny's place and at Keep Calm and Craft on at the Frontier Dreams Blog.

Tired...

Inaugurations are hard on 4 year (almost 5 year olds)

I thought she was playing in the other room only to find that she was not!

New Member of the Family

Meet Mocha, over on Wortcunning :)

Christmas

I do hope you all had a nice Christmas Day. For much of the world, it is back to normal… for those who are Catholic, Christmas doesn’t end until January 13^th (the baptism of the Lord)!

My family had a wonderful time. Our Christmas had been somewhat bothered by the fact that an elderly family friend got sick and died, but the day itself was a little oasis of peace :)

Some photos of the day:

She was happy to get her doll :)

He was happy to get his legos!

The doll, made from a Magic Cabin kit.

She tastes REAL tea from her 'Silver' teapot on her new Tea Trolley. She LOVES this thing!

Spies and Halloween

We should be making Soul Cakes today, because of the All Saints and All Souls feasts :) BUT, I made cookies yesterday, and two little munchkins got a LOT of sweet things from their Trick or Treating last night.

Here they are in their costumes :)

First, the inspiration for the costumes... Spy vs. Spy from Mad Magazine. Jacobite has shown them a few cartoons of them from online and they are captivated. One suggestion from me, and yes, they wanted to be them!

And so, Jacobite and I brainstormed, and came up with their costumes. These were REALLY easy, but a lot of fun and VERY much admired ;)

Spy vs. Spy

Spy vs. Spy from the front.

The "White Spy".

The "Black Spy".

Parents loved the outfits. Kids didn't know what it was, nor did they like the attention they got LOL. Well... except for our kids of course ;)

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET SON!!

Rebel turned 8 yesterday.
He woke up early and wriggled in our bed while Jacobite and I tried to get some more sleep. Finally we sent him down with a present from Nana and Grandad, to keep him quiet!

As I came down to make him some pumpkin pancakes (he loves pumpkin) I told him the story of his birth. He has heard the stories many times, but I like to tell them!

He did not want to go out for a special meal, instead he wanted to stay at home and have sausages (only because they were out of ham) and Lima beans. His greatest ambition is to get stronger!

He did not want a homemade cake, which was a shame because mine taste oh so much better, but we compromised. I wrote on a store bought cake with orange icing in a tube. Orange being his favourite colour.

He did well in the present department, faring well because the exchange rate is in my Mum and Dad's favour... meaning they get to send over lots of dollars for a few pounds!
Seriously though, they got him the ever impressive Lego sets, which later Jacobite and I helped someone get set up. Apparently he inherited from someone (not me) the inability to read the instructions first!
I got him halfway there so today he can finish it off. If he can find the piece he mislaid!

Oh well, he has some Rock 'em, Sock 'em robots to help ease any frustrations ;)

Now all he needs to do is hide the goods from his little sister, who has already tried to lay claim to the robots! (Takes after her auntie!)

Here is to eight more wonderful years!



PS Jacobite tells me these are terrible pictures of DS... and indeed they are not great. It is very hard to take a picture of a moving target... ;)

School in our house today

This is the image of school in our house today:

In case you wondered, M'lady is eating some of this:


A yummy cheese bread from the Taste of Home magazine (an essential for homeschoolers ;))

But I digress... yes today, the kids decided they wanted to dress up. Rebel has been wearing his 'cape' for the last few days (even sleeping in it at one point). I am beginning to think I really need to hem it!
M'Lady wanted her butterfly/fairy costume. The wings can be rather cumbersome though!

Exciting news... in the mail yesterday came my The Children's Year seasonal book... more on that later.
And from another blog or group (and right now I forget which, so please forgive me) , there comes this interesting link for seasonal things. Do take it with a pinch of salt, as some of the stuff is a little over the top, but the stories and dates there are worthwhile. More about seasonal stuff later... I have some reading to catch up on :)

Today we got Elementary Greek... this latter surprised me with the vehemence that Rebel and M'lady were asking to start it with. I hope it lasts!
It looks like a great program, and it comes highly recommended (plus it was really made with homeschoolers in mind!)
So why are we beginning Greek? Rebel is already well into the latter of the two Latina Christiana books, and is really doing well with Latin. This will be his second year of Latin... traditionally the time to begin Greek. And there you go!

Today's Lesson

We are currently studying that immensely interesting period of English history, the Norman Conquest. Of course, just before the Norman Conquest, there was the Viking invasion. And the Normans were the descendants of vikings... but I digress.
So we decided to keep pressing on with history over the rest of the summer until we can catch up a little.
First up... the vikings, and their ever present 'dragon boats' as M'Lady calls it.
THAT is from the wonderful (if somewhat lacking in detail at times) The Story of the World Volume Two: The Middle Ages.
The Normans were up next, and I managed to find some great online resources.
First, the helmet.
Rebel made this one ALL by himself, following the instructions from here. While he worked on his, I hastily made another... I was fearful of one of two issues... either he would make a mistake, or where one child went, the other had to follow. I was right...

You KNOW you can't leave one out of ANYTHING can you? They could not wait to decorate them, and I was afraid something would get broken (the scissors are out) so I took pictures!
There is a Norman ship to go with the Viking one... and the page they come from has some great Norman Resources.
While working on the hat, we listened to the brilliant Our Island Story chapters on the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings. THAT is also available for free, but takes a LONG time to download.

The Jamestowne 400th Anniversary Celebration

Historic Jamestowne Fort. These palisades represent where those of the settlers stood. Originally they were not going to build any because they were to trade with the local Indians. Captain John Smith worked hard to forge a good relationship with them, and was accepted as family by Chief Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas. Unfortunately for the settlers, they had arrived during a 7 year drought, and the Indians were less inclined to share their meagre harvests. The English did not realise that the Indians were hording because of poor harvests, and forced them to share. Or rather, Smith did :) When he was injured and sent home, the colonists endured a few years of starvation, and a few attacks from the Indians before the drought ended in 1613. Coincidentally, this is the same time John Rolfe manages to grow tobacco, saving the fledgling colony! He later marries Pocahontas, who became a Christian after she was kidnapped by the English (another attempt to get the Indians to share food... the English were TRYING to trade, the Indians would not do so). Pocahontas, who's real Indian name was Matoaca, is renamed Rebecca, and her marriage to Rolfe enforces a good relationship between the English and the Indians. The English and Indians interacted quite a lot, as is evidenced by archaeological finds, and there were even 'marriages' between them.

WE began the day fairly early. We wanted to get the most for our money, as the tickets were not exactly cheap (especially since we get in to the Historic Jamestowne site for free normally). So after a rather nice drive (no traffic) we park in our allotted satellite parking area, and proceed to the shuttle bus. I was not particularly pleased with this arrangement, as we had been assigned the furthest lot, the weather was hot and our bus was not air conditioned. All the schools in the area had been given the day off so their buses could be used. What would normally take about ten minutes for us to drive, took half an hour on the bus.

View of the swampland at Historic Jamestowne. Is this what the settlers saw?

We arrived in good time though, and passed through the security and on into the settlement.

Jamestown Settlement is a living history museum just down the road from the fort, with a number of great exhibits, a replica of the fort and of the three ships that came over; The Godspeed, The Susan Constant and the Discovery.

The Susan Constant, with The Godspeed and The Discovery behind her.

They had re-enactors there in the replica fort, and a number of activities. You can go inside many of the replica buildings... and even try out some of the replica furniture :)

Rebel trying out a replica joint stool.

Jacobite in a convertible table-chair.

M'Lady in a colonial hat (for which she received many compliments, and comments from other little girls regretting their lack thereof!), on a replica bench.

We ran past the church as the bells were being tolled (with a number of schoolchildren aiding the bellringer!).

Two gentlemen of the fort.

A young man (o.k. woman as a young man ;))

We petted the fort chicken, spoke to the ladies getting ready to bake bread, and visited the doctor!

The fort doctor.

After inspecting the military supplies, and tobacco barn, we went to visit the ships.

The tobacco barn.

On the way we passed the herb garden and the three sisters garden, planted according to the Algonquian Indian instructions... corn, beans and squash to one hill. These were just beginning to sprout and were planted rather earlier than the instructions in the link I sent, as the weather down here in Virginia is rather warmer than the instructions indicate. Here you can plant the corn at the end of April/beginning of May.

The herb garden. Not too different to mine!

A hill of corn, beans and squash!

The ships in the distance.

The family boat ;)

Walking around in the heat was thirsty work though! After walking around the settlement, we stopped for an outdoor lunch, where M’Lady threw some bread for the waiting birds… only to nearly miss a man. The look on his face was priceless!

Then it was a rather long wait for the shuttle bus to Historic Jamestowne where we were able to see them getting ready to cut the ribbon to the new museum/entrance area… and where we saw the archaeological dig of the original site and the governor and other dignitaries fill the time capsule.

Dr. William Kelso, oversees the archaeological digs at Historic Jamestowne.

There we saw the archaeologist who discovered the fort, Dr. William Kelso himself. We also got to see the archaeologists digging up a cache of weapons they had discovered. If you look closely, you will see the basket hilt of an old sword!

A recently discovered cache of weapons at Historic Jamestowne. Top middle of the photo is the basket hilt of a sword.

Archaeological students and teachers volunteer to dig at Jamestowne, a couple of them were working when we went. Weekday trips nearly always allow you to see the digs progressing, and you are often able to talk to the archaeologists there.

The old fort is delineated by a structure of sticks to give a ghostly impression of the original. It travels along the lines of the old fort, which have been re-buried since their discovery, just a few years ago. In fact, we have visited the site fairly regularly, and the discovery of the actual walls of the fort are very recent! Of course, the inspiration has always been the quadricentennial... they actually wanted something to show for a change!

They could have had this painting of Captain John Smith from 1617, by John de Critz. Unfortunately they didn't believe us when we offered it to them on loan. Their loss!

They have a brand new archaearium, a beautiful building with all the finds from Historic Jamestowne on show inside. M'Lady was most impressed with the skeletons, and has since drawn me a skeleton on my mother's day card, begged to go back to see the skeleton and repeatedly told me about the skeleton!

A century apart! These are the Jamestowne Honor Guard (17th century) and the Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps (18th century)... think settlement and revolution!

The opening ceremonies were started off by the Virginia Indian Tribes. I think they said 8 tribes were represented there.

Having visited the archaearium, we wandered back towards the front of the site, to discover that there was an event at the stage. People were gathering for the opening ceremonies... Welcome America I. We were welcomed by the Virginia Indians (their term) of a number of different tribes. Then various senators, dignitaries and the governor got up to speak... and the time capsule was filled with interesting goodies... including the Jamestowne stamp, and an English flag.

The Jamestown Commemorative Stamp is triangular to represent the triangular fort.

Filling the time capsule.

M'Lady got restless during the speeches, and started dancing.

Dancing girl.

After a bit she was just TOO restless, and we left to go over to Anniversary Park.

Anniversary Park was a special area made up of numerous booths and stages, acts and events.
It was very interesting... the delegation from Kent, England, were there (I used to live in Kent... I went to school there even ;)), so were various representatives of websites, travel agencies and Virginia companies and people. For instance, there were a few representations of America in this booth with the HUGE Clydesdale horse. He was 19 1/2 hands tall!

An American Horse. I am not sure what this exhibit was! ;) M'Lady liked the horse though!

NASA was there... they gave out some stickers and pencils, and did a photo of Rebel as an astronaught! He loved it! They also had one of those wooden astronaught things you can stick your head through... unfortunately it was pointing into the sun!

See, this is why the astronauts have sun visors!

After a snack from one of the many vendors, we sat to enjoy the symphony in Welcome America II... the Virginia Symphony and the Richmond Symphony had joined forces for the day.

Waiting for the music to start, Rebel decided he was big enough to hold his sister. It lasted about 10 seconds :)

First we had a performance of the Williamsburg Fife and Drum corps, then the Jamestowne Honor Guard performed for us. After that was a procession of all the flags of the USA.

A parade of the state flags, followed by the Virginia and National flags.

Once they left the stage, we were let in to sit in the seats near the stage. With two kids, who are rather young, we chose the back, although we could have got a view nearer the front. Luckily there were huge screens up for the kids to watch if they preferred!

The governor speaks again. Our view was better this time, and we are closer than the photo looks like we are :)

Once more the dignitaries spoke... and for the second time that day we hear the governor speak, one of the state senators spoke too.
Then we heard former chief justice Sandra Day O'Connor speak, then the music began.

Former Chief Justice O'Connor Speaks. You might notice the cameras in these photos... it was filmed to be shown everywhere sometime soon on your local PBS station. I will be the lady in the straw hat at the back... with the recognisable M'Lady on my lap :)

The conductor, Mark Russell Smith tells us about the pieces to be played just before he conducts. He is a talented and entertaining conductor!

The second conductor was JoAnn Falletta of the Virginia Symphony. She was a most interesting conductor to watch... she was really moving with the music, and it was quite easy to tell what she wanted them to do :) Here she is with one of the composers (I think it is Duffy)... although it is a little dark to see :/

Now we were in for a treat... FOUR pieces got their worldwide premier that night. FOUR pieces commissioned for that night. The pieces were by John Corigliano, John Duffy, Adolphus Hailstork and Jennifer Higdon.
Corigliano's work was Jamestown Hymn, and was the first of the four presented. It was beautiful! John Duffy presented Indian Spirits... a magnificent piece which starts out as a 'traditional' Indian piece and is rounded out with a full orchestra. It was our own personal favourite of the four, and just wonderful! Adolphus Hailstork’s Settlements was a travel through time, beginning with a flute solo to represent the Indians alone here, then with a jarring fanfare to show the English arrival, before becoming a medley of the flute and the orchestra showing the merging of the cultures. His explanation really helped the visualization of the music... my second favourite of the new pieces! Jennifer Higdon's piece Spirit, was a brass fanfare, and although a favourite with critics, it did not measure up to the others in our estimation! It was amazing... they also play Dvorák's New World Symphony in full. I was so please to get to hear this wonderful piece of work performed live. It was lucky for us that the weather was balmy... it had been in the mid to upper 80's during the day, so the evening was wonderful!

Photos can't do justice to the fireworks. They were playing music while we watched... and it was wonderful!

M'Lady was restless, but the after music fireworks were spectacular... and then we went up and met one of the composers -John Duffy. I wanted to meet Adolphus Hailstork too, but Jacobite was trying to find Sandra Day O'Connor! This was the first time we got to go hear music in an age... and the first time either of the kids had gone to the symphony. 4 Hours was really stretching it, but that was why we were at the back! They were superb, and DH and I were ecstatic that we could do something 'adult' for a change with paying babysitter fees :)

More fireworks!

A quick trip to another stage to see some tiny kids, the Dillon Junior Fiddlers (from Montana) 'fiddling', and then we caught the bus back to the car... arriving home around midnight. M'Lady was already out like a light, but Rebel, who refuses to "nap", was hungry. We gave him some food, then sent the poor pink-eyed boy to bed!
And that, folks, was our trip to the Jamestown 400th Anniversary celebrations!
If you would like to learn more about Jamestown, check out the homeschool resources here:
History at Jamestowne.