Pink Blossoms

Today we celebrate the official first day of the Spring season, happy day! My body feels a little confused this first spring in Charleston as it seems like we've been welcoming spring in since February when the early tulip Magnolias started blossoming. It feels so early to me but I welcome it.

Our favorites so far have been the pink ones, in our neighborhood there are massive huge Azalea bushes, which Carys picks from to make endless bouquets.

A nice surprise was to find that we have some small Azalea bushes underneath my favorite palm tree. I didn't realize that they were Azaleas until the buds started forming, it will be fun to watch the bushes grow bigger each year.

Another nice surprise has been these pink fire bushes next to our front steps.

The kids and I did some spring planting in our small front containers with Pansies and Sage. They look so great against this wild bush, each blossom looking like a fire work.

 

See, its like a pink explosion,

Then there is my favorite, ever! I have always loved Red Bud trees, and always wanted one. So last summer when we did our garden renovation I had a small Red Bud tree planted...and then waited all winter to see these blossoms,

Our little tree did not disappoint, I think she's just lovely!

Since I really can't contain myself in my excitement for spring here are a couple of other blossoms, not pink, but so pretty,

This is one of the plants that actually never stopped blooming throughout our mild winter, I know that they are related to the hibiscus plant but I don't know much else about them beside that the kids think they look like fairy lights.

 Spring is here!

Harvest and the easiest soup ever

My aunt's wonderful garden on the farm in Asheville was just about at its end of production for the season when we visited last week,

Everything was wrapping up to be put to bed for the winter, but there were still a few things to be harvested and the kids were thrilled to help, treating it like a scavenger hunt to see how much they could find,

 We harvested, green peppers, banana peppers, spinach, lettuces, chard, acorn squash and other large autumn squashes,

 The kids also learned that it is great fun to pretend to be a garden bunny while harvesting. As garden bunnies they ate more handfuls of lettuce than they harvested, which I was not about to argue with!

My aunt sent us home with bags full of goodies from the harvest, that I've been finding ways to use in our meals for the past week, the easiest was making soup from this huge squash that Carys picked,

I simply cut it into four pieces (I cut it in half and then in half again), removed the seeds, put olive oil, salt and pepper on all of the pieces, and then baked it at 350 degrees for an hour or so. While it was roasting I sauteed a chopped Vidalia onion in olive oil in a large pot. Once the squash was soft when poked with a fork I scraped the fruit part away out of the skin and

put it in the large pot with the onion, I added some vegetable stock and then pureed the whole thing in a blender until smooth,

Really, the easiest soup ever, and so yummy served with seeded bread and a simple salad. Garden to table, Yum!

Lantern Walk

This weekend we celebrated the annual Lantern Walk with our Waldorf playgroup. This festival celebrates the turning inward of the season and carrying our inner light through the approaching winter months. I look forward to this festival all year as it is my favorite of all of the seasonal festivals that we celebrate on the Waldorf school calendar. Last year's festival was very special and this year was just as beautiful.
We gathered together in the park, at dusk, around an old tree.

Each family brings lanterns that they have made at home and that the children have been working on in playgroup.

These are the lanterns that we made as a family.

In the growing darkness we begin to light our lanterns,

That is when the magic really begins. Every year I am whisked away to a fairy land as we gather together in a circle and sing songs as the children's faces glow in the soft lantern light.

Then we walk through the park as a group, until we reach a spot where the "fairies" have left a picnic of finger foods for us to feast on. The children eat treats and run around playing while the parents chat, and all of us are filled with the newness and thrill of being outside in the chilly darkness.

Afterwards, we walked home through the park, crunching leaves under foot, the children were tired but smiling. Frank and I feeling so blessed to be a part of this special group of friends.

Embracing Autumn

It takes a little while for this summer girl to embrace the autumn spirit. I love the golden light and the changing colors, but often I find myself getting down about the approaching colder weather and missing my summer Mojo!
It helps me to take a look at all of the great things about this time of year, and with all of the fun of Halloween it hasn't been hard for me recently to love this season. In fact there are quite a few reasons to love it...
People in our Brooklyn neighborhood go all out in decorating for Halloween, so the neighborhood takes on a festive feeling for these weeks.

The park beckons with leaves,

leaves,

and more leaves.

Which of course we love to collect, 

and display.

Going for drives outside of the city,

to explore,

and to visit "The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze" that our friend runs every year, and being awed by the sight of hundreds of jack-o-lanterns lit up all at once.

Looking up as I walked around the neighborhood a few days ago and seeing the tail end of a huge rainbow....

 And perhaps my most favorite thing about autumn...having our first fire of the season, which we did last night as the weather has suddenly turned considerable colder (I mean really last week I was still wearing sandals, now we've gotten out the puffy coats).

Two more things that I am loving lately:
~ This pumpkin seed roasting recipe from my friend Laura is truly the best one out there, totally scrumptious, worth carving another pumpkin for I think!
~ Soup! I have been making soup weekly and I can not get enough, tonight I've got squash (acorn and butternut mixture) soup on the stove, and seeded bread from the farmer's market. I can't wait to eat!

I'd love to hear what you're loving about autumn.

xo

Our Nature Table

We are a family of outdoor collectors. There are little spots all over our home where we keep our collections, bits and pieces of things that we pick up when we are outside. But, there is one special spot where we like to celebrate the seasons in our house and this is on our Nature Table.
This became one of our traditions when Jasper's started his Waldorf playgroup when he was 3, it is one of the many elements of the Waldorf classroom that I embraced in our home. The children love it!
Our nature table is on a shelf in our kitchen. Throughout the seasons we all bring home things to celebrate and display.
Here it is yesterday at the end of the spring season, just before we took down our springtime decorations to make way for our summertime things...

There are little friends who live on the Nature Table during certain seasons, like these bunnies that I needle felted last year for Carys's Easter basket.

At the start of each new season we pull out the box with that season's decorations. So, yesterday on the first day of summer we decorated with our summertime things. Dolphins, turtles, ladybugs and flower petals all came out in abundance.

Our summertime nature table usually celebrates our frequent trips to the ocean, along with lots of special rocks...

The real magic for me lies in placing things that the kids have made, like this mouse that Jasper made at his playgroup, so that they seem as if they are about to scamper into their own little environment.

Easter wishes

I have always loved Easter, it feels like such a new beginning to me, a time of fresh starts. The fact that it falls at the start of my favorite season can't hurt either. While new things are emerging from the earth and we are shaking off the winter cold I start to feel like anything is possible. New found energy comes over me, and I feel joyful for all that I have.
Sending you some magical Easter wishes today, may you catch a few unexpected rainbows.


P.S. One of my paintings was featured on the Etsy front page this weekend, it was very exciting!

What we found

This week on our visit to Philadelphia...
Breathtaking blooms.

Two tiny snakes, who are being very well cared for in my proud little boy's bug catcher and who will be released tomorrow afternoon in a small ceremony following our Easter egg hunt.

Flowers flowers everywhere.

Amazement at how just two hours south of NYC everything seems to be in bloom, now we get to go home and experience spring again there! I just love this time of year!

Lot's of critters from my parent's yard to keep the snakes well fed.

And always, little hands with a token of beauty for mama.