It's beginning to look a lot like Hallowe'en

Halloween is cropping up all over our house. It has long been one of my favorite holidays so our halls are decked with pumpkin and bat lights that have journeyed with me since college, the front window is stuck with spooky clings, the bushes are decked in faux webs, the wreath is up, the box of costumes is out, the pumpkin cookies have been baked, the candy has been bought. Ahhh.

Tomorrow night will be pumpkin carving, after a day of partying in town and with our homeschooling group. We celebrate Hallowe'en via its historical and cultural roots, going all the way back to Celtic traditions and the festival of Samhain, so tomorrow night we'll read Halloween (for only the third time this week) and have Irish boiled dinner before we carve the pumpkins. This weekend we'll attend the annual Halloween Concert on campus (in costume, of course) and read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (for only the fourth time this week). Calvin has been cuddling stuffed pumpkins and ghosts and designing jack-o-lanterns like crazy. He's in love with anything bat right now, and any spooky story we can come up with (amazing what old folk tales will do for you). Yes, this is definitely a favorite holiday.

Some silly Halloween stuff (a portion of which is interesting):
Halloween printable activities
Coloring sheets
Activity suggestions (mostly arts and crafts)

Pioneer Days

In a tiny township not far away, a well organized group of history lovers gathers every fall to present the surrounding communities with Pioneer Days. The event is put on by seasoned reenactors as well as local volunteers and even a few families who live today in the manner of yesterday.

Fall seems to me like a great time to discover history, and one of the neatest things about an event like this is being surrounded by people who really care about our past and its preservation. The reenactors are there to spend the weekend living in the world of over 100 years ago, and it is fascinating to watch them do it. Sure they're putting on a show, but it's not a start, stop, rewind, replay show like in a museum, it's a whole weekend long show, and if you stop by and see them cooking in the morning that's because they are already starting the meal they will actually eat later that night. Most reenactors are plenty happy to share information about their activities and the world in which they (are pretending to) live, while a few would rather be left alone to the living itself, teaching onlookers merely by doing.

These local, historical society organized events can be a great place to really touch, smell, hear, and believe history.

From watching the shearing of sheep, to the carding of the wool, to the spinning, and then to the booth where you can by the yarn.

Churn the butter, and taste some that was finished earlier while you're at it, then go inside and see how that butter is being used to start dinner.

Help shred cabbage for the making of sauerkraut...

help collect, clean, and press apples, then taste the cider...

Then go for a hay ride—and not just any hay ride, but a ride through the still active farm fields that belonged to the family that lived in the house you've been visiting. This is the ride the workers would have made to look over the crops, and to bring stores from the barn.

Then go around the corner to the one room school house that the children from the farm would have attended.

That's living history.

Dexter Daze

Once a year our little village comes alive with all the party that a little village can muster—live entertainment, "art" booths, fundraiser food, kiddie fun, and a beer tent—and every year we make our way down to our little main drag to take part. The stores take advantage of the increased traffic and hold sidwalk sales, the neighbors take advantage and have garage sales, and I spent most of the time cooped up in the library basement running the biggest used book sale of the year. The boys, on the other hand, took advantage of the mock train rides, the bounce house, and the instrument petting farm. And there's always the food. Friday night we ate home cooked pulled pork and cupcakes, Saturday lunch we ate grilled chicken at the local church, and Saturday dinner we made our way into the beer tent for brats and brew, and then to the Dairy Queen for dessert. And when a weekend goes like that, there isn't room for much more, nor energy with which to say much more.

waterfowl

It was sunny this morning. Chilly, but sunny. We got an early start because I had to be at the library early in order to work the monthly book sale. I love monthly book sale day. I love talking to other book lovers and I enjoy stretching my organizational skills outside of the home, not to mention I love to shop. But while I was looking for a good copy of the Parlement of Foules, the boys were off looking for other kinds of fowl with our county parks and recreation nature guide. Rain boots, borrowed binoculars, and some winter gear was all they needed. The program was about waterfowl, and they found swans, several varieties of ducks, and even sandhill cranes. I'm feeling jealous. We hear the sandhills in our neighborhood all the time, but have only caught glimpses of them overhead, so this was a treat. I gather that they had a wonderful time, and Calvin keeps telling me that the "red head" duck was his favorite. Jon was most blown away by the powerful and expensive scopes some of the participants brought, and were willing to share with our interested son. And as the program came to a close our wonderful nature guide asked the participants if anyone would like to follow her over to a pond in Ann Arbor for more viewing, an offer which Jon and Calvin readily took her up on. I know Calvin had a great time, and I know he was greatly interested in the birds at the lake, but I understand he may have been a little side tracked by getting to walk over the railroad tracks to get to the second location. It's hard to tell.

Make believe

A wizard is a fantastic thing. There's almost nothing he can't do, and you're wish is his command. The wizard in our Oz books has done everything from creating an entire campsite and meal from nothing to saving a poor man from spending his life as a mable statue.

I think a wizard could be a lot of help around the house. Laundry, sweeping, cooking...what about paying the bills? And I Have a veritable library I'd like to read by the end of the year, do you think he could help me with that? If nothing else, my wizard seems completely capable of making snacks appear, of erecting amazing Lego creations, and losing anything and everything he lays his hands on.

Is there really anything better for the heart and soul than a good dose of make believe? We open all the blinds, we put away all the technology, we done our self-chosen personalities, and sometimes we even unplug the phones, then we live the magic.