We don't really have January decorations for the house, so I left snowmen up through the month since it is still winter. In December the grandkids made the cutest wintery decorations and now I'm not sure what to do with them. I don't know if they want them back, and I don't know if they will travel or keep well till next Christmas. So anyway, here are pictures of some of them. They make me happy. And now, it's almost time to put up February decorations.
Just before Christmas the teacher of our class said she was getting mini stockings for each RSP student that comes through our class, which is about 25. She said we were welcome to add anything to the stocking. Rather than put in a couple of pieces of candy I had the idea to make scenic, Pacifica bookmarks for each student. Each year I make a couple of photo calendars which always include pictures I’ve taken of the beautiful walking trails, beaches, sunsets, paragliders, ice plant and other scenery in Pacifica. I realized that if I cut them up, the photos would be the perfect size for bookmarks. I thought that since these kids all go to school in Pacifica, and probably live in Pacifica, they might especially enjoy pictures of these familiar places, and a reminder of the beautiful place they get to be.
As I was making the bookmarks they were turning out great, but I had to step out of the classroom for a few minutes to hide my unexpected tears. Cutting into these pictures and giving them away made me feel like I was giving away a part of myself. I guess that is one of the definitions of a true Christmas gift. On the other hand, I started feeling better when I remembered that all the pictures were in a Snapfish file, and I can access them and print them again anytime I want. Hopefully that doesn’t take away from the sincerity of the gift!
Each bookmark fit into the stockings very well. I’ve had a chance to discuss some of them with some of the kids. It is fun that they recognize the places. One girl, however, didn’t and guessed that they were pictures of Hawaii. How flattering for this little town!
I was also happy that my co-workers wanted some too, and I am making some for my kids as well.
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This is my favorite - the view from our front window, down the street |
A little bit more about my color theme for the year, January focusing on the color black:
A few months ago I was helping a 6th grader with his science paper. They were supposed to choose an animal and tell something that was scientifically unique about it. He chose the black panther and we learned about the word "melanistic" which means :an increased amount of black or nearly black pigmentation.
Here is part of the boy's report - "Beneficial mutations in the black panther's immune system hides it's spots, making it easier to hide from predators or it's prey. It's black color gives it 'selective advantage' in dense forests where light is low."
So now you know more about the black panther.
And now it is time to watch the Avengers" Black Panther" movie and I hope to finish off the month by making Reggie one of his favorite desserts, "black bottom cupcakes".
Happy last few days of January!
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, so I don’t know if I’ve blogged about it yet - I don’t think so. But years ago I saw a movie where the daughter was describing her mother. She said her Mom had a reputation in the community - especially among all the other moms - as being “a trifle odd”. She wasn’t odd enough to not fit in, but I guess when she did something slightly different than or in a different way than the other women, they just accepted it, and chalked it up to her being “a trifle odd”.
I’ve thought about that a lot because sometimes I have ideas of things I’d like to do that are different from the norms. Often I feel hesitant because of that. Then I remember it’s okay to be “a trifle odd.” It’s not like I’m thinking of some crazy, whacked out, dangerous things - just things that aren’t necessarily the norm. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. When an idea doesn’t work out it tugs at the old self esteem. But another character from another movie made a pretty good point: “playing it safe can be very risky business”. So I think it’s important to try out some of my ideas, even if they are “a trifle odd”. When they have worked out it’s been pretty wonderful for the old self esteem. Here are some examples of things that worked out that are now part of our family story (and the things that haven’t worked out are not worth mentioning):
Backyard American Girl plays for birthday parties
Bake sales to earn money for outdoor ed
Homemade cookie mixes for presents or scout camp and girl’s camp fundraisers
Avenger Scarves (I still can’t say that or write that without laughing)
So maybe some of my posts will have the label "trifle odd" because these things keep popping up in my life, and I want to remember that it's okay to be a "trifle odd"
By spring of 2021 I was missing my grandchildren terribly. I hadn’t even met the younger two. I think I’m spoiled because some families go a whole year or more without seeing each other. But everything was still being affected by Covid and just so uncertain and I didn’t know when I would see them again. Most importantly I was taking care of my Mom and didn’t want to leave her for very long and we were being careful not to have many people over.
So, I came up with a project to virtually do with the grandkids, and it lasted well into the fall. I bought 10 flowerpots, painted their initials and polka dots in one color on each one. I bought 10 individual seed packets from the dollar store and zoomed with each grandchild, having them pick the flowers they were going to grow. Actually, I held the seed packets up like a backward deck of cards and had them choose at random. I don’t remember which ones everybody got, but some of the flower packets were: bachelor buttons, marigolds and zinnias.We put the flower pots on the piano bench, right in front of the living room window, to give them their best chance of sun.
While waiting for them to grow we saw what spelling words we could make from the flower pots. Avonlea and Emmy and Elijah, Audrey and Hannah visited in time to help water them. Addy, Isla and Bear visited in time to see which ones were growing. We also had a “video party” in the fact that I ordered the newest release of “The Secret Garden” from Amazon and everyone watched it in on their own time.
I believe all of the seeds sprouted, though only about 4 flowerpots grew flowers. It was fun watching and comparing them. Emmy’s had us laughing because it grew thin and tall and started wrapping itself around the other plants that were near it. Then it got little tinny bugs on the leaves so we had to “isolate” it from the rest of the plants. Hers never grew flowers, but we sure had a lot of fun with it.
In the fall it was time to “call it a day” as most were starting to wither and die. But, just in time for the grandkid’s October visits the flowerpots magically grew Reeses’ peanut butter cups!
One day, during the Pineda's visit, I got to go with them to the Botanical Gardens in San Francisco. It was fun and I hope to go again throughout the year. My favorite part was the bamboo "forest" we happened upon.
Our time with the Pinedas is running out as they will be going back to Idaho soon and we won't see them for months and months. Today I had grand ideas of doing an art project with them on my color of the month, black. But life is so busy and needs to be so practical now that I didn't come up with much. However, when cleaning the basement I noticed we had some black watercolors; and as I watched Julia and the kids from the window pull into the driveway I noticed the sunset was casting shadows all around - perfect for holding things up to the wall and tracing silhouettes. We also tried to name animals that were black in color, looked up their pictures, and watched a video that taught us the new term "melanistic". The kids then did some watercolors and I showed them pictures I'd taken in my walks of things in nature that are black. We finished the night with cookies and a fun family movie.
Our Christmas weekend was pretty quiet, considering we celebrated all together the weekend before. And, my poor Samantha was sick all of Christmas Eve (not Covid, thank goodness). So on Christmas Eve Reggie and I went into the city. I wanted to see the life sized gingerbread house but got the wrong hotel - next year I will remember it is at the Fairmont. But it was a fun afternoon anyway. In the evening Samantha laid on the couch and watched the musical Scrooge with us. We usually save that movie for last because it is one of our favorites, and a family tradition for generations now.
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Hannah in a "Scrooge" hat from the week earlier |
For New Years Eve Julia and family came over. I baked several treats and we had easy finger foods for dinner, and lots of cider of course. We watched the movie "Encanto" because their family highly recommends it and will never tire of it. It was pretty good. The highlight of the night for me was an indoor snowball fight and making homemade root beer from my Mom's family recipe.
We had been pretty disappointed all week long because we couldn't hang out with Hillary's family as planned. In this Covid world we're living in even common colds need to be avoided because if you get one you have to be cautious and stay home from work until you get a confirmed negative Covid test. But, some of Andrew's family were staying with them and they wanted to show them the cliffs by our house. So we decided to prepare a care package for them. The Dollar Store strikes again, and we filled a big box with fun things. We wrapped it up and put it out on the ice plant just before they got there. We than sat on the hill above and watched the kids find it. That was really fun. The box in green wrapping paper blended right in with the ice plant, but they noticed it right away. It said "Dobbins" on the top, which they loved, but then they started looking around and noticed us on the cliffs above them. And ps, the pictures are deceiving, because that is not a drop off right where they are - there are more slopes and trails to more cliffs that we don't go near.
