The Owl and the PussyCat

Quietly moving

We went out to the woods today, to relax and breath again. Listen to the wind blowing through the trees. Slow down.

Things seem to move so quickly now that we are living back in the city.  I have to remember how important it is to retreat to the woods every so often, when I need to slow down and live in the moment. 

I need to savor these last quiet moments of just the three of us, before our family  grows to four.

Happy Easter!

My parents are in town this weekend for Easter and to see us one more time before Baby Neave comes.  We took a nice drive to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  It was an overcast day but the flowers were magnificent.

I made Emma an Easter dress, and the flowers on the dress seemed so similar to these flowers above. I think they are called phlox?

This week I got a special, special present in the mail for baby Neave. 

It's a beautiful day gown made my dearest friend Kate, who as you may know, has been making dresses for Emma since she was a wee baby.  The embroidery  detail is equiste.  I think I may never want to put her in anything else.  It's just beautiful. 

Well, I hope that you all had a lovely Easter weekend.  The big count is now on, 3 1/2 weeks left until my due date!  Everything is pretty much ready for the baby.  The diapers have been washed and hung to dry.

 

The bags are packed and all of Ina May's advice whirling around in head is ready to be put to practice.  I'm ready whenever she is.  Here we go!

Already February!

Were oh were has the time gone?  I promise myself every time I get on this site that I will post more often, but then, as in this case, a whole month just slips by.  The month of January was great!  I am now in my 26th week and feeling good.  Emma has been having a good year so far as well.  She's getting really excited about her new baby sister.  She's been busy lately as well, taking a Music Together class down at the Armstrong Community Music Center, a Christmas present from my mom!  Thanks mom!  She's been making some really sweet friends so thats been making her very happy, Miss Social Butterfly that she is. 
Here are some pictures from a picnic we had with friend, along the Austin Town Lake.  It was the most perfect day to have a picnic.

The going's on around here...

I know that I keep mentioning this lately, but I am finally finding a certain peacefulness and balance here in our new life. It could also have something to do with being in my secong trimester and feeling fantastic, but hey! It has taken about 6 months for all of us to settle into our routines and adjust ourselves, but things are finally still and calm.
This house and our life finally feel familiar . It's hard to explain the balance, but I guess it means not having that longing feeling anymore.  As soon as Emma wakes up in the morning we just jump right into our normal pattern and the day begins without thinking.  There is always so much to do and even if we choose to stay home, we are always moving forward without noticing the loss of our old life. 

It feels good.

Also, I can now start to focus on my future a bit more, since we're finally in a place that feels like us.  For the last 3 years after Hurricane Katrina we were in a bit of a flux.  Making so many life decisions and not knowing what what was the best thing needed to make a better future for our daughter and ourselves.  Now, those days of Katrina are over and we have moved on to better days.  Austin is definitely a wonderful place to raise children.
There are talks between a friend of mine and I of starting our own natural home-based school with an emphasis in Waldorf, Montessori, and the daily goings on of a home.  It's super exciting and one of the best parts about this decison is that it just feels right.  I haven't woken up in the middle of the night in hot sweats thinking that I can't do it or I don't want to do it.  This day has been in the making fr both of us for quite sometime and it feels great! This will be a really amazing experience and what's even more wonderful, besides working closely with a really great Montessori teacher and friend, is that Emma and our new little one will be learning right beside us.
Speaking of the wee one. This week we had our ultrasound and found out that we are having a girl.  Emma is really excited especially since she had been asking for a sister since she found out I was pregnant.  I'm partly relieved because of the clothes situation and the fact that yeah, I get to make more pretty dresses! We're thinking of the name Neave.  Oh, she just kicked!  I think she approves:)

Josef is now finished with his first semester, so he has officially made it!!
It's always that first semester that tests you.  Can you do it, will you make it, are you good enough?  But yes, he did it and with A's!   Well done Josef!
It's so nice to have him home again, because I've now been able to have some "me" time without feeling guilty for taking away his "study" time. 
I've been working like crazy to make 75% of our Christmas gifts homemade.  The other 25% is ahocohol related, so, there's good reason for that 25%.  It was unfortuante that Josef didn't have the time this semester to make a batch of his winter ale, but he's thinking of doing some after the holidays.  
So, what have I been making you ask?  Well, there's been lots of knitting happening:  2 scarfs:  one cable and one lace, and a cabled hat;  One sewn knitting needle case and a couple drawstring bags to put lovely homemade soaps in made by dear friends of ours who own their own soap company here in Austin.  I am also in the process of making Olive for my great friend's lovely daughter, but whooo those darn legs are giving me the hardest time.  I'll show pictures of everything soon!
Yep, that's does it for what's been going on around here. Again, not a whole lot of picture taking going on.  I got out of the habit of dragging my camera with me everywhere and so I just need to get back into the habit!  It will happen, especailly when I see those cute little baby toes!!  Oh!  Roll on May 9th!

Sheepherding!

We went to the Austin Celtic Music Festival this weekend.  It was great!  We saw some good traditional Irish music and I was re-inspired to pick up my Irish flute again.  We'll see!

My favorite part of the whole festival though was watching sheep herding.  I don't know what it is about sheep herding, but I think it is absoutely the coolest thing ever!

 
This beautiful boarder collie is less than a year old and is so, so good at herding the animals.  Isn't she lovely?

Here she is in action.  The thing I find so cool is the body movements of the dog.  She keeps their head low to the ground, and makes slow and then quick movements, and then back to slowly creeping or just sitting and watching!  Just so cool!
I have always felt a little guilty for having a part boarder collie.  I mean, Syeeda was a rescue dog, but I always knew she was meant for greater things than just being our house dog.  She loves to herd Mingus our cat!!

Not only does this dog herd sheep, but she also herds geese.  These are a rare breed of geese and the owner said that now these rare geese actually come in different colors!  Strange.  I'm always a little weary when people say things that are natural, have started coming in different colors!

Maybe in my next life I'll be a shepherd!

 

Camera Shy

I don't know if it's that I haven't taken a lot of pictures in the last 5 months since we've been in Austin, but I think that I could possibly have one camera shy little girl on my hands.

 Every time I try to sneak my camera up to my face to take a picture, she has become as quick as a whip to turn a round or cover her face.

But, I was able to sneak in one picture of our Halloween butterfly. Just when she thought I was done!

Emma had an awesome time trick or treating time last night. We went with a friend and hit the neighbourhood next to ours, which is the old section of Austin complete with beautiful 1940's arts and crafts and cottage style houses.  It was nice just to be able to step onto the porches and see inside some of the houses, even just for a second.  And so many of them were just decked out in complete Halloween scariness!  Emma was SO brave.  After about 2 or 3 houses with me by her side, she became quite confident to walk up the path, climb the steps, and say trick or treat, all on her own, facing an array of scary costumed people !  I'm so proud of her! 

See the Obama sign in the yard?  It's getting really exciting around here!   It seems every other car in the city of Austin has an Obama sticker on it!  One of the reasons why I'm definitely starting to love Austin!  

On the baby front, I've started taking prenatal yoga at Yoga Yoga and I have a fantastic teacher.  I'm a bit out of shape so this is definitely a good thing.  Plus, it gives me a chance to actually focus on the baby and myself, instead of Emma.  A little bit of quite time these days goes a very long way!!
I've also been contemplating making my own cloth diapers.  It would greatly reduce the price if I made them.  I think I can do it!  I'm really feeling an incredible amount of energy in the last week and I'm ready to tackle a challenge! 
I hope that you all had a great Halloween!  I'm just waiting for Emma to awaken from her nap so we can hit the Austin Celtic Festival!  There will be Highland Games,  music , and my favorite of all, sheepherding!!
Have a wonderful weekend!

For the love of Green Grass

I've been having a hard time adjusting to the Texas scenery since moving here.  Dry, Dusty, Dry, Died.

Weird, because growing up in Louisiana, I could never really see why everyone thought the swamps to be so beautiful and mysterious.  And  only in the past 3 or 4 years, have I started to see it in a new light. As something wonderful and even somewhat magical to capture.
So as you see, my inspiration for taking pictures lately has somewhat dwindled.  I have become completely uninspired. Nature is my inspiration.  Where are thou, my muse?
I'm leaving for a full week Friday.  Heading up to my folks place to run barefoot through the lush grass, watch the bees settle on the flowers and just watch Emma play endlessly in the wide open fields.  Ah, for the love of the country!  I thought I'd never hear myself say that, but I do dream that our next house will be in the country or in a small town with a good size piece of property. 
It's strange to think that we'll only really be here in Austin for 2 years.  This is just a transitioning point for Josef to advance in his career. 
He's been seeing University Jazz teaching jobs posted in a lot of the small university towns in the New England area.  Oh, the quaint little towns with the beautiful colonial houses and large backyards. 
Oh, the prospect of actually having season.  Emma and I have been reading and talking a lot about the seasons and how the leaves change with each season.  On our walk this morning she saw a pile of dried leaves  and cried out "Autumn's here!!" 
Unfortunately, without telling her of course, it's not that the season's changing, but the fact that the leaves are dying on the trees, because of the lack of rain upon our fair city!  We had a powerful hurricane 100 or so miles away and we didn't even have a single drop of rain!  Amazing.
So, I must think of the big picture.  The five year goal so to speak.  I want to keep writing on this blog because I want to be able to look back at our time here with fondness, not with displeasure.  So I must find other means of inspiration if mother nature can not help me out.

But I can still keep thinking of that light at the end of the tunnel, of the lush grass wet between my toes.

Oh, for the love of simple pleasures!

First Date in Austin

I finally got a chance to get out of the house at night for the first time since moving to Austin!!  Can you believe?  The last time I saw Austin in the dark was the night we moved in, back in May!  It doesn't help that the sun goes down around 9:00pm during the peak of summer.
A dear friend of ours babysat while we hit the town!

We went to see The Lost Pines.

Oh, they were so, so good! Mostly all original tunes.

The restaurant where they were playing was where Janis Joplin made her start!  Pretty cool.

And the best part of this band was that the female singer was a huge Gillian Welsh fan so they did a couple of covers!!  Oh, and Gillian Welsh is coming to Austin for the Austin City Limits Festival!!  I can't wait!!!!

Oh, oh, oh, one more thing.. I found the best yarn shop in the world, alright, maybe in Texas...Hill Country Weavers.  I'm in love!

Decisions on Schooling

I've really enjoyed working part time at the Waldorf camp this summer.  It's been so refreshing hanging out with kids and just talking.  I haven't really interacted this much with kids since having Emma, and that seems not quite true since I'm always around children. But, without their parents being close by, children seem to talk more openly.  What they say to me makes so much more sense now, that I have a child of my own.  It was if I couldn't communicate fully with them before. and now, after having Em, I have learned their special language. Maybe I was trying to hard as a teacher, but now as a parent, I just am.

The one thing that strikes me the most in interacting with the children, is just how invaluable and precious they are. They are just such beautiful little angels and it's so sad to see them when they are going through difficult times, such as divorce.  There still seem to be a high rate of divorce these days. That really surprises me, because I thought that it couldn't get any worse than it was when I was in school.  I seemed to be one of the very few in school with parents still together. One little girl, age 6, really started talking about her parents and their lives, but then all of a sudden, shut down, and said she couldn't talk about it any more.  That seemed like such an adult thing to say, yet what these children are experiencing is far beyond what they should have to deal with at their age.  It's so crazy because in an age where attachment parenting is such a huge and popular style of parenting,  we can never really fully protect our children from life, real life, in all it's harshness.

Josef and I been going though some parenting decisions of our own lately.  I just finished reading a fabulous book called The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling.  Reading this book has made me completely gun hoe about homeschooling.  And Emma couldn't be in a better community when it comes to learning and socializing.  We are already members of a number of different Yahoo home schoolers listserves and it's nothing but positive stories and such great support. Here, in the homeschooling community of Austin,  there are co ops, clubs, classes that parents can plan and teach for small fees, field tips, playgroups, theaters, and part time schools that have classes two or three days a week.  There are just so many options for us, which is terrific!  And because there are so many options, we have confirmed our dedication to homeschooling.  I want Emma to have the complete experience which also means taking classes from other teachers and learning together with others as well as with Josef and me.  My view of homeschooling is that I want to give her something that regular schools can not:

A love for learning and discovering.  

 

** Is anyone else having problems uploading their pictures.  I thought it was my service problems, but the pictures still do not look quite right! Somethings up with the pixels***

I'm back! Honestly!

It's so good to be back! Hello out there, how are you all?  Well, what a crazy and wonderful month I've had since last I wrote.  I've really missed writing, but gosh, it's definitely good to take a break and just enjoy things for what they are. 
As in my last post from June 11, I had terrible issues with our telephone service, but since it is the summer, we kind of just let things go at their own pace.  We didn't call the phone service guy until a week or so after we received the service, and then I just recently bought a new phone for our landline.  Can you believe that I haven't had a land line phone since 2005!  Anyway, it's the summer, so what's the rush? But, I am glad the DSL is up and running.  I wasn't pleased with the way my pictures were uploading.  And so I didn't want to show you bad quality pictures, so the break was good.

We have all gotten into a lovely routinue here in Austin.  I have been working at the local Waldorf community school and just having a blast.  The kids are terrific and the teachers just amazing.  I'm hooked. Josef is back, playing Jazz for a living, which is fantastic.  He's super happy!  And Emma, well, just the fact that the pool is a bike ride away, is heaven in a basket for her!
Since we've moved to wonderful, hot, sunny Austin we have received visitors by the dozens.  It's been fantastic!  This coming weekend we will be joining my in-laws for a lovely 2 night stay at one of the local lakes outside of Austin.  I'm really looking forward to sunning myself, reading, and watching Emma as she learns to swim.  She has been making leaps and strides when it comes to swimming. I think by the end of the swimming season she will be able to do it on her own!  Yippee!
 On the sewing front, I have made about 4 sets of curtain for the house.  It's been great!  I received another gift certificate to Purlsoho for my birthday and went crazy with Heather Bailey's Freshcut. I'm in love! I also made some pillows with the fantastic fabric that Heather Ross has recently put out.
So, that's about what's going on here.  Oh, yeah, and you know what else happened these last couple of weeks on the digital front?  My Mac crashed!  Yeep, died.  Everything was lost.  Thank goodness I had backed up all my pictures the day before.  So, now I'm trying to download my Photoshop, again.  That's the problem with all this technology.  When one thing goes down, it feels as if everything goes down with it!  Crazy. 
Well, I'll see you all tomorrow, fingers cross!