First frost

Today was our first frost. It wasn't particularly thick but it was there for certain. When we were driving to visit a friend at about 9.00am it was still very evident on the grass. I love to see the changing seasons. In a life full of chaos and uncertainty some things never change, they just keep coming on round. I don't know what effect the sudden drop on temperature will have on our vegetables and the hens. We'll just have to wait and see.

Hama beads have made a big reappearance around here the last couple of days. Neither Hermione nor Miles have showed any interest in actually making hama designs on the board but Miles has delighted in spreading them all over the kitchen and dining room floor.

They have been swept, spread, swept and spread time and time over. Hermione has made necklaces and lain down and made the hama equivalent of snow angels. Miles has used them as earth in his diggers. Rainbow sprinkled floors and much fun had by all!





We have looked at A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert this week. It is a FIAR text and it tells the story of a mother and daughter who barter their belongings to get the daughter a new coat. It is set in the aftermath of world war two. It illustrates the process of shearing the wool from the sheep, spinning, dying, weaving and tailoring. It's also quite a good spring board to chat in general about war and it's ramifications - lack of money and poor availability of things such as clothes and food even for those who do have money.



We finished Horizon Maths Book 1 yesterday and stared Book 2 today. Hermione is still happily plodding along with it. She enjoys it and appears to have a natural flair for maths. It's colourful and progresses gradually with regular revision of things covered earlier. The only downside I feel is the currency aspect. It's American and therefore the currency sections are American. I'm going to adapt this book and see how things go as we get towards the end of it. It may be that I need to try to sort out an English equivalent.

I have made the decision that this year I will not send Christmas cards. Instead I am going to make a donation to chairty or possibly buy something through Oxfam (Hermione is very excited at the prospect of buying a goat for a third world family). Instead of a card in the post friends and family will get a Christmas newsletter via email. At some point between now and mid December I will have to sit down and figure out what to write without sounding too cheesy.